Le Mans 2013 - Ayse's Story
Page 1 - Saturday
28 and Counting
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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