Citroën Classic Challenge 2015

[Philip Chidlow]

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

The CITROËN CLASSIC CHALLENGE for 2015

[Philip Chidlow]

Have ZX will travel...

[Tim Leech]

Im in!

[citsncycles]

More mountains to throw the GS at

Edit - stupid spelling

[saintjamesy89]

Sounds fab Phil, i'm sold!

[Philip Chidlow]

Well hop onboard! Time to get your GT sorted

[mike22861]

I'm in sounds like a great trip

[Tim Leech]

Cant wait! Its in the BX Clusive next month already! roll up roll up.....

[Philip Chidlow]

ROUTE PLAN Summary: see post later on (updated)

[saintjamesy89]

That sounds amazing Phil, any chance we could plot it on a map? I'm doubly looking forward to this as I can't come to the challenge ecosse.

[Philip Chidlow]

Here's what I've got. Slightly modified to reflect the firmed up plan.

[Philip Chidlow]

I have to add that the Saumur 'detour' is because it's such a nice place. And there's a world-class Tank museum there too

[mat_fenwick]

That looks great! There's a few places on route that I've been to (some many times!) but all are ones that I'd like to return to. Except perhaps the drive through Rouen, but there's no easy alternative.

I wonder about a quick trip to the coast, just to dip our toes in the Med? But that can be an individual choice if so wished.

[Philip Chidlow]

On that full day we have in the vicinity of Quillan, it's only just over an hour to the Med (eg. Leucate Plage) so if the weather's good (and it should be!) I think it would be an attractive proposition...

To further expand upon the route plan, and as per the e-mail I sent out to those on the mailing list:

...there's one issue it's impossible to avoid and that is that no matter what you do it's a bit of a slog through relatively crowded and uninteresting scenery for that first couple of hundred miles. If we all landed at Caen we'd be slightly better off but that's a hugely more costly crossing.

The interest for real starts from Gien onwards (remember that lovely drive along the Loire towards Nevers?) and the climb begins not long after, with Vichy in some hilly stuff and then on to the terrain of the Auvergne (the map shows how the route takes us into elevated terrain pretty much as soon as possible without passing through Paris!). The thermal spring riddled area, west of Issoire for instance has elevations of up to about 1900metres.

Should be fun. Hopefully we will be spending most of our time above 700m elevation, and much of it above 1500m.

Part of the reason I chose to take the route N/ NE from Pau was to go through landscape I'm familiar with and we will drive past where I used to live. That's a little indulgent but it does take us via some nice Bastide Villages to the wild terrain along the Lot to Cahors, getting us back into the elvated terrain on the edge of the Auvergne. And the landscape is certainly more interesting than the route Bergerac/Perigueux.

A quick stint on faster roads gets us to Saumur where there's an ace Tank Museum...

And if you've never seen a Loire Chateau then there'll be the opportunity en route to Blois and beyond. I've selected a route via Loches, which is worth a visit.

Phil

[Philip Chidlow]

Entry criteria: 20 yrs or older Citroen. Easy