Y Register Tour of the Ardennes,
May 25 — 30 2006

by Ted Gardner

May 25th to 30th was the Y Registers 6 day escapade to the Ardennes in which 4 cars from the UK took part and 2 from the Low Countries. Unfortunately due to an ignition problem in the most difficult place on the docks at Dover our friend Alan Chick was unable to continue, being trucked home the next day.

Paul Gresser our committee member who does things had kindly arranged the hotels and communicated with those members from Holland and Belgium whom we met later.

The Catamaran fast ferry was taken to Boulogne from Dover with all 4 Y's parked together in the hold and soon we were trying to get out of Boulogne and route towards our first nights stop at Auchy Les Hesdin. Trying is the operative word, as a temporary stop had to be made to try and locate the way out of the town. A couple of very kind French offered to get into two of the cars and guide us to the correct road and then they had to walk back! Now that's good service.

A pleasant ride to Auchy where Paul and Felicity Gresser had already done a reconnoitre and a welcome drink and meal in the restaurant hidden out the back. I think it was here that Jack Murray made quite an impression on one of the lady waitresses.

A very pleasant meal and next morning we set off after refuelling to make the journey via the side roads, stopping at Albert for a bite and after a long journey and latterly in the rain after a stop in a lay by overlooking the river valley to our base for 3 nights in the French Ardennes in the town of Les Hautes Rivieres.

This was a Logis Hotel chosen by Paul Gresser and a very good one too. We parked our cars in front of the Marie not far from the Hotel and didn't take long to sup a drink or two and meet our friends from Belgium, Rob and Trudy Silk, and from Holland, Bert and Mia Keuren, who had already arrived in their Y's. Yet another Y owner Jean-Marie had also arrived in a Jaguar with Sylvie and sons Marc and Max from Luxembourg.

I seemed to be the only one with a view overlooking the river but I didn't know this until the following morning when I realized that the view of the night before, after a drink or five, was in fact the inside of the shutters!

In the morning the breakfast was followed by an "age 6 and under" task. Mollie had brought the Tour plaques and some clear plastic film with which to cover them.

We had two complete days so after breakfast we all decided to drive to the town of Bouillon and visit the Fortress. The drive was very pleasant being on winding mountainous roads in the thickly forested Ardennes with little other traffic ... but mostly in the rain. Strangely the rain didn't seem to spoil the enjoyment. At the town one of the party, who was leading at the time unfortunately managed to park us in a private car park which needed a certain amount of negotiating to get out of without spending money.

The Fortress is on the top of the cliff with the river in a deep ravine below it. After driving there via a convoluted route through very narrow streets some of us, it may have been all, managed to get in the Fortress at a reduced rate by saying we were "anciennes", a fact that was swiftly denied the other side of the barrier. The Fortress was fascinating but so was the display of birds of prey including a pair of Eagles and a Condor, a magnificent sight.

In this area one tends to drive between France and Belgium rather regularly, so much so that often one doesn't know which country one is in.

That evening we had been promised a special group meal by the Hotel proprietor who said he had arranged for a Wild Boar to be shot and cooked for us. So now there are only 5,999 of the beasts in the Ardennes. This was a very enjoyable meal as were all of the meals the group had on the trip.

The following day we all chose to drive into Sedan and visit another castle in a more relaxed manner, but first to park in the deserted square and take a coffee before the visit. On the return journey after another meal in the town, a stop was made at an indicated viewpoint but the view was difficult to see because of the trees. Maybe that was the view?

The following morning we said our goodbyes to our friends from Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland and started the journey back to Auchy again, the Hotel we had stayed at on the journey out. Mostly side roads were taken again and stops made for "urgent" reasons and food. Again we rested for a while in Albert where Jack pinched a parking place that a Frenchman was about to reverse into. There was no international incident so perhaps the Frenchman liked the cars.

During the whole trip the group was led by a particular car and the navigator was either, Mollie, Suzie, or Felicity. In this way we got where we wanted to go except for a minor glitch driving into Auchy for the last evening where some of us took the wrong road. Turning around in a driveway two cars got away with it but the writer was blocked by the drive owner and this clearly almost caused an international incident.

On the final day we had only to get to the Quay at Boulogne that was not too far so 4 Y types headed first for the Hypermarket just outside the town to stock up with wine and things.

It was here that the writer came into his own, and can claim to be the only driver to lead the formation and not take a wrong turning, taking the group the full 6 miles from the Hypermarket to the Quay without a hitch.

After the channel crossing we diverged on our final legs home after a very pleasant few days on the kind of trip many will recognize and like myself will be aching to repeat in similar form before too long.

Thanks go to Paul and Felicity for much of the organising and navigating, and to Suzie and Mollie also for navigating and again to Suzie for translation services frequently needed.