Le Mans to Berlin and a bit beyond

[Wapping]

I would wind your awning out or you will have another C/van outside your door overnight...

That was job number one.

The ACO do mark out the plots pretty well.





When, 15 or more years ago it was a very unofficial campsite (actually a car park, which we campers took over) it was a bit more anarchic, but I don’t recall any trouble.

As I and my friends guessed, the most popular spot is to the right of the site, so I am glad I made the effort to arrive early. Not having camped at Arnage for years, I really didn’t know the form, so an early arrival was always a good idea.

 

[Wapping]

I would wind your awning out or you will have another C/van outside your door overnight...

That was job number one.



The ACO do mark out the plots pretty well:





When, 15 or more years ago it was a very unofficial campsite (actually a car park, which we campers took over) it was a bit more anarchic, but I don’t recall any trouble.

As I and my friends guessed, the most popular spot is to the right of the site, so I am glad I made the effort to arrive early. Not having camped at Arnage for years, I really didn’t know the form, so an early arrival was always a good idea.

I asked the ladies on the gate, how the multi-place areas get marked off. Apparently, people arrive early (I think at about 08:00) and arrange for them to be marked out:




That is good to know for the future, as we might have two vehicles next year.

 

[Wapping]

Home, sweet home:

 

[Wapping]

It’s a bit down on horsepower, but it trundles around just fine:

 

[Wapping]

Best to check that nothing has changed or closed. The Bar du Centre in Arnage, a steady (electric assisted) 10 minutes from the campsite at Arnage Corner.





Euro fizz is EUR 7.

 

[Wapping]

No trip report is complete without a picture of a motorcycle. Here’s two, ridden by Frenchmen:

 

[EVskiy]

It’s a bit down on horsepower, but it trundles around just fine:

View attachment 509582

I love my P-Line E-Brompton curtesy of @Fluffmeister. They are perfectly fine, I d imagine even better on a smooth bit of cycle path.

 

[Wapping]

I’d check but it’s raining.

It was still standing up this morning.

 

[snelly]

That was job number one.

The ACO do mark out the plots pretty well.

View attachment 509564

View attachment 509565

When, 15 or more years ago it was a very unofficial campsite (actually a car park, which we campers took over) it was a bit more anarchic, but I don’t recall any trouble.

As I and my friends guessed, the most popular spot is to the right of the site, so I am glad I made the effort to arrive early. Not having camped at Arnage for years, I really didn’t know the form, so an early arrival was always a good idea.

Take a piss at each corner to really seal your territory;

 

[Wapping]

Saturday, there’s nothing on at the track, so I’ll get on with a few chores and maybe pedal my way to the top of the circuit, if the weather brightens up. I also need to make a shopping list, ahead of the arrival of three friends.



I also need to do a little more work on my journey to Berlin and the visits to sites / sights that I want to make.

 

[Wapping]

I love my P-Line E-Brompton curtesy of @Fluffmeister. They are perfectly fine, I d imagine even better on a smooth bit of cycle path.

I bought the bike via the forum, too. It was sold by a forum member, on behalf of a friend who had used it on a canal boat. Some cosmetic scratches and scrapes (as advertised) but overall in good condition mechanically and in the battery stakes.

I agree, it’s a great way to get about, especially in its electric form. I used it yesterday to pedal to the bar in Arnage and then onto the large supermarket, just outside the town. There’s of cycle routes once you get from Arnage Corner into the town. For shopping, I use the small bag on the rear carrier and / or a rucksack. I do have the bag that clips on the front and carries the bike’s battery too. But, stuff loaded into the bag can make the front of the bike take on a life of its own, largely due to the small front wheel and the weight being carried further forward. I guess it takes on the motion of a pendulum…. But I forget my A level physics.

The bikes do hold their value well, though I was lucky enough to pick up a second (non-electric) bike via UKGSer at a very good price.

 

[Wapping]

It’s a bit Knights that say Ni, but…..

The simple stakes usually do quite well. I made them from some thin bar left over from the making of my father’s swimming pool in France. They have proved invaluable for pegging down tents on a beach and indeed here at Le Mans. The only problem this year is that the extended camping area is formed on what seems to be a compacted layer of old gravel, about an inch or so beneath the grass. Great for drainage but rock solid. I had to drive a six-inch nail in, to break through. Not perfect, but hey-ho.

Next year, some rebar and a lump hammer.

 

[snelly]

It’s a bit Knights that say Ni, but…..

View attachment 509835

The simple stakes usually do quite well. I made them from some thin bar left over from the making of my father’s swimming pool in France. They have proved invaluable for pegging down tents on a beach and indeed here at Le Mans. The only problem this year is that the extended camping area is formed on what seems to be a compacted layer of old gravel, about an inch or so beneath the grass. Great for drainage but rock solid. I had to drive a six-inch nail in, to break through. Not perfect, but hey-ho.

Next year, some rebar and a lump hammer.

Don't go upsetting the world without borders mob;

 

[Wapping]

Don't go upsetting the world without borders mob

Good fences, make good neighbours.

 

[Wapping]

The sun, for the first time today, has remembered that it’s June.

From what I have seen so far, though the main camping area is still empty, is that it’s pretty well organised. Not least compared with the self policed free for all that went on 15 or 20 years ago. All the pitches are marked out pretty clearly with day-glo green spray, with clear ‘No go’ channels marked in orange day-glo paint, to achieve at least some kind of safer access for vehicles, I guess

Nobody seems to be taking the piss, area wise. The very good natured ‘security’ staff, do do a walk about from time to time, just to keep an eye on things. The temporary but quite robust WC facilities are clean, as are the showers. If one thing Le Mans has been bad at (alongside the slide in concessions) is the number of WC’s (or even simple piss troughs) they have brought in to cater for the large crowds. There must be some simple ratio (or they can ask DavLav) to tell a organiser that you need X number for crowds up to X and Y number for crowds up to Y. This simple maths seems to have passed the ACO by, no matter how often you tell them in their ‘Tell us what you think’ post race surveys.

 

[Loiq]

there's a resturant really near the track, that's got a biggish cellar and after a very alcohol fuelled time we got invited to a private shoot that got out of control... I must dig out the pictures of that adventure

 

[Wapping]

I must dig out the pictures of that adventure

Please do.

 

[Wapping]

a resturant really near the track

The closest restaurant to the track is the Auberge Des Hunaudieres, with the Chinese resaurant next door, both on the Mulsanne Straight. There is also a hotel Arbor, further along the straight, before you get to the sharp right turn towards Indianapolis and Arnage.

One small aside. Lloyd’s Motor Club have, for years, booked the conservatory at the Des Hunaudieres restaurant on the Saturday night. Last year, Zak Brown (the multi-millionaire team principal of McLaren’s race teams) called the restaurant wanting to book the conservatory himself. “Non, Monsieur” came the reply. When asked why, he was told that LMC have been coming for years and they weren’t prepared to cancel them, even for McLaren or Zak Brown. A lesson in treating regulars fairly that the new owners of the Hotel de France could have taken onboard…. But that’s a different story.

 

[Greg Masters]

Look out for my friend, Rachel. She is currently at Mulsanne waiting for a supermarche to open.

She'll be marshalling on her own this year...

 

[Wapping]

Look out for my friend, Rachel. She is currently at Mulsanne waiting for a supermarche to open.

She'll be marshalling on her own this year...

Will do, Greg.

Top job the marshalls do, at all levels.