Jersey Festival of Motoring

Although some intrepid travelers had gone ahead to check out the lay of the land the majority of the group sailed over together on Thursday, giving a chance to explore the island before all of the action kicked off on the Friday night

As is often the way on Jersey the convoy which set off from the hotel soon got separated. Those that had been waiting for the stragglers also lost the main group and were surprised to find the cars which had been behind at the meeting point and the cars in front nowhere to be found. Little did they know the others had taken the "scenic route". So onto the next stop, and the group was still not reunited, with poor telecommunications it was decided a parting of the ways was called for. The Steam Museum deserved a visit so off we headed, we found signs to five of them all with the same name. While there we joined forces with more lost sheep from the original group and headed for the pub where we caught sight of the main group, who had taken in some of Jersey's wartime history at a military museum and partaken of a cream tea with the unique Black Butter. Reunited at last, but sadly it was not to be as they overshot the turning and disappeared around the bend with replacements for their missing comrade from another group who had also lost their convoy.

We all made it back to the hotel safely in time for the a classic car cavalcade along the seafront, followed by the Belgium supercar club enjoying a slightly livelier drive. Then the racing began with the moonlight sprint which saw the coming together of a variety of vehicles ranging from classic motorbikes to the mighty 6lt full race E-type Jaguar and a monsterous big block Ford Capri which shook the ground we stood on. Nobody succeeded in breaking the 10 second barrier for the quarter mile but a good evening's entertainment none the less.

A show in the Peoples Park on Saturday with a hill climb and racing in the street in the town centre kept the lads occupied while the ladies headed off for some retail therapy, coming back with bags tied with ribbon that provoked comments of "Ooh that looks expensive!"

Sunday brought another show in the People's Park and more hill climbs in the town. Those who fancied change headed off around the island again to take in the views, the gardens and search for a crab sandwich. After an unexpected detour that took us away from civilisation, the quote of the holiday went to Shirley, who said "Ah signs of life!" just as we came to a graveyard.

Monday was a day where people did what they fancied, some heading off to the war tunnels, others to the zoo and others in search of orchids.