Page 18 - PBCOctober2018

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 15 No.2 October 2018 @18

Mr Pickwick goes to France………. 2018

The base for our trip this year was St Jean De Luz. Ballie Mac, Mrs Baillie Mac and two
friends of the club Brian and Pam Tadman, flew from Gatwick to Biarritz on 26 July.
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Making our way by cab to the Hotel Donibane in St Jean De Luz where we were staying, we
found Jackson (Ron Norman) and Jackie had arrived after a long car journey over the
French Alps. As had Mr Brooks (Mike Radford) and Rosemary who had come via Plymouth /
Santander. We all enjoyed a well-earned aperitif in the pretty gardens of the hotel before
an enjoyable dinner.

The following day was Ballie Macs’ birthday,
which was celebrated in true Pickwickien style
in a restaurant at the Port of St Jean De Luz.
Two other friends, Ken and Catherine Daniels
joined us for dinner having come from their
house in France, for the Tour De France Time
Trial. We had an early start 6.30am the next
morning to beat the road closures to the Hotel
Bergara in Souraide where we had booked
breakfast and lunch.
The ensemble a la dejeuner

We had been told the way to come into Souraide by the owner of the hotel, as the route
we had hoped to follow was closed from 5am. With Jackson leading we followed him on a long
route to get into the village and fortunately we got through without any problems parked
the cars just by the hotel and sat down for a well-deserved breakfast at 07.45am.
Well done Jackson!

We had a really good position to see the Time Trial and it was
great to see Geraint Thomas seal his Tour victory with a super Time
Trial ride coming close to winning it by all accounts. Chris Froome
rd
rd
taking a 3 in the T.T. and with 3 place overall on the Tour.