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In the few weeks after a Le Mans trip, the next
one seems a very long way away. But when I finally get to the departure
day for the next one, I always have that familiar sense of disbelief that it's
come around again - and so soon! As I sit here and begin to compose the
opening page of my 2013 story at 9 am on Monday 17th June 2013, sitting here in
my hotel room on the outskirts of my favourite place in France, I ponder on the
fact that this is the 28th time I've been here (29 if you count the very first
Classic in 2002). I suppose it doesn't quite dominate my life in the same
way it did back in the '90s - sadly work tends to do that more and more these
days, but while I'm here, I aim to make the most of it. Those who haven't
been will never understand the allure; it seeps into every pore and I almost
find myself willing the clock to tick more slowly so that I can enjoy every
moment absolutely to the full. Those who have been many times will
immediately recognise this desire!
It will come as no surprise to anyone to learn
that in 2013 I was going to Le Mans again with James and we would be joined in
due course by Tony - Bentley03 and tonypowe respectively on Ten Tenths.
This year James and I would be making our earliest departure for France,
catching the 2.45 pm ferry to Caen on Saturday afternoon - yes, a full week and
15 minutes before the race would be starting! The three of us had already had a pre-Le
Mans warm-up at the WEC event at Silverstone in April, the event having moved
from the previous August slot. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend of sportscars and curry!
Unfortunately, no members of my family were able
to take me to Portsmouth to catch the ferry this year, so Ian, my long-standing
work colleague kindly offered to do the honours. He arrived at my house so
early that he had to wait for me to shower (!), but we were soon on the road to
Portsmouth. We had allowed masses of extra time in case the traffic
was bad but needn't have worried - we had no problems at all and arrived over an
hour before I was due to meet James at 1.30. But it was dry, actually even
quite sunny although there was quite a strong wind blowing and I had quite a
pleasant wait.
James was bang on time. It was impossible
for me to suppress a smile as his familiar blue Camry turned into the ferry
terminal and we were soon booked in and waiting for the call to drive around to
the ferry. In fact, boarding was very swift this year and we were parked
and up onto the deck with a coffee with a good three quarters of an hour still
to go before we were due to sail. It was clear that the ferry was a long
way short of full.... We left a few minutes late at 3.05 pm but were soon
steaming across the channel.
It's never easy to think of things to write about
a channel crossing - we drank coffee, we ate roast chicken, we drank more
coffee and as Caen grew ever closer, we went up on deck to observe first hand
the acute excitement of another ferry docking......
At this time I was a bit concerned as although I'd
had a signal on my mobile all the way over, this disappeared when we started to
dock and my phone wouldn't pick up a local provider. I turned it off and
on again several times (as you do), and was really getting worried about not
being able to communicate with home when suddenly a provider appeared and I was
able to send a message home that we had arrived in France.
We left the ferry at 9.35 (French time, that is),
and headed off to our hotel, the Ibis Budget at Caen-Herouville. We had
decided to stop for the night close to Caen rather than driving down to Le Mans
straight away. Better to have a good night's sleep here and be refreshed
for the journey - and scrutineering - tomorrow! We easily negotiated the
automated check-in and headed off to our rooms. To my chagrin I fund
myself lugging some rather heavy bags up to the second floor (!), but once
there, the room was perfectly clean and decent. If I was pushed to
describe it, one word would come to mind - green....
And so it was off to bed at a very reasonable
hour. Le Mans 2013 was well and truly under way and I was seriously
looking forward to the rest of it!
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