You are far to domesticated for a bloke.
Need to spend upward of £200 on a hotel room and £60 a night on some grub that’s how proper holidays are done, I’ve read it on here. Pitching tents, self catering at an Airbnb is a job not a holiday.
M’off…. For the month of June
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
Need to spend upward of £200 on a hotel room and £60 a night on some grub that’s how proper holidays are done, I’ve read it on here. Pitching tents, self catering at an Airbnb is a job not a holiday.
Day eighteen
Bright, sunny and going to be very warm.
Up to the track at some point this afternoon and then (hopefully) to Spa, to see the race cars on display. But my first port of call is in Stavelot to book a dinner table for Thursday evening and then on to Francorchamps village, to get some meat from the very good butcher’s shop.
Bright, sunny and going to be very warm.
Up to the track at some point this afternoon and then (hopefully) to Spa, to see the race cars on display. But my first port of call is in Stavelot to book a dinner table for Thursday evening and then on to Francorchamps village, to get some meat from the very good butcher’s shop.
There is an overlapping thread…..
Read about day eighteen here:
Post in thread 'Spa 24 Hours - 2025'
https://www.ukgser.com/community/threads/spa-24-hours-2025.480944/post-5859497
Read about day eighteen here:
Post in thread 'Spa 24 Hours - 2025'
https://www.ukgser.com/community/threads/spa-24-hours-2025.480944/post-5859497
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Bd weather reports from France and Belgium...all good with you?
Entertaining and informative 
Cloudy and (apparently) some light rain later. There again, being the Belgian Ardennes, it could snow or be a heatwave, all in the next 10 minutes.
Day nineteen
The track activity will start to ramp-up today, ahead of the 24-hour race, which starts on Saturday at 16:30.
Fellow forum member Andy J should hove into view later on this afternoon.
The track activity will start to ramp-up today, ahead of the 24-hour race, which starts on Saturday at 16:30.
Fellow forum member Andy J should hove into view later on this afternoon.
Just catching up....
I hope the weather changes for the better. It'll be slippery under those trees ...
I hope the weather changes for the better. It'll be slippery under those trees ...
Where on earth is he 
I’m back but lost all my data for the last few days.
Vodafone have now apologised, so I’ll get back on the case.
Vodafone have now apologised, so I’ll get back on the case.
Day twenty
Andy J arrived dead on time yesterday but silently…… in a Tesla! What was he thinking?
Off to the track we went, helped as I had already made a reconnaissance, to find out where they hide car park 6. It is hidden in a field, disguised as campsite 4.
A great day, watching the cars qualifying and practicing:
Andy J arrived dead on time yesterday but silently…… in a Tesla! What was he thinking?
Off to the track we went, helped as I had already made a reconnaissance, to find out where they hide car park 6. It is hidden in a field, disguised as campsite 4.
A great day, watching the cars qualifying and practicing:
Day twenty one, three weeks in
The 24-hour race starts at 16:30, so we spent the morning having a look around the paddock, most particularly at the huge area which Pirelli occupy to supply and fit the race control tyre. To give you an idea, in the main race there is some 70 cars. Each car has thirty sets of slick tyres, four per car, which is 120 tyres. Times 70 cars, gives 8,400 tyres, at about EUR 600 each, resulting in EUR 5,040,000 just for tyres.
The 70 cars grid starts to form for its rolling start, the teams setting up with their tyre crews:
The 24-hour race starts at 16:30, so we spent the morning having a look around the paddock, most particularly at the huge area which Pirelli occupy to supply and fit the race control tyre. To give you an idea, in the main race there is some 70 cars. Each car has thirty sets of slick tyres, four per car, which is 120 tyres. Times 70 cars, gives 8,400 tyres, at about EUR 600 each, resulting in EUR 5,040,000 just for tyres.
The 70 cars grid starts to form for its rolling start, the teams setting up with their tyre crews:
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Then, after the instruction, “Drivers, start your engines!” it’s off and running for the next 24-hours and quickly into some drama, when debris needed to be collected from the track in front of us:
The great thing about the Spa circuit is that its natural hilly topography, makes it an excellent viewing circuits for spectators, not least as you can walk (near enough) around its entire perimeter, which is what we did into the evening:
One race is over after five hours:
Before discovering that the (very good) restaurant above the pits, closes at 21:30 prompt! Which necessitated a stop at a kebab shop in Stavelot:
The great thing about the Spa circuit is that its natural hilly topography, makes it an excellent viewing circuits for spectators, not least as you can walk (near enough) around its entire perimeter, which is what we did into the evening:
One race is over after five hours:
Before discovering that the (very good) restaurant above the pits, closes at 21:30 prompt! Which necessitated a stop at a kebab shop in Stavelot:
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Day twenty two
The great thing about any endurance race of 24-hours, is that you don’t necessarily have to rush back to the circuit. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, arriving at the circuit at around noon, having secured a much better parking spot in Francorchamps village, a stroll from the the La Source entrance:
and, in the process, discovering that there is a bistro above the petrol station, which woukd have been handy last night:
Soon enough, 16:30 rolled along and the race ended in a pretty close finish for the top placed cars, along with some heartbreak for a car which expired with just an hour or so to go:
That’s it race done…. Until next time:
The great thing about any endurance race of 24-hours, is that you don’t necessarily have to rush back to the circuit. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, arriving at the circuit at around noon, having secured a much better parking spot in Francorchamps village, a stroll from the the La Source entrance:
and, in the process, discovering that there is a bistro above the petrol station, which woukd have been handy last night:
Soon enough, 16:30 rolled along and the race ended in a pretty close finish for the top placed cars, along with some heartbreak for a car which expired with just an hour or so to go:
That’s it race done…. Until next time:
To be continued……
Day twenty three
Now it’s the start of back to home.
I amended my intended journey a little bit, to allow Andy J the opportunity to recharge his Tesla of Awfulness.
That said, the diversion into a field, did mean that we’d discover a potential lunch stop for the future:
A semi recharge done, we trundled on to St Quentin, where the sun was beating down on the car park of a huge shopping complex. One thing the French do well, is their large supermarkets, so we took the opportunity to have lunch there whilst electricity flowed into Andy’s car. Then, it was off on the motorway to St Omer for the last night, staying in the ever popular Ibis Budget. From there it’s a simple walk into the centre of town, a couple of pints in the Queen Victoria on the main square, before dinner in the very good, Au P’tit Bouillon, a popular place:
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The owner is a helpful fellow, not least as we hadn’t booked a table, in a restaurant that was pretty much full, not long after we arrived. First in, last out; just as it should be.
Now it’s the start of back to home.
I amended my intended journey a little bit, to allow Andy J the opportunity to recharge his Tesla of Awfulness.
That said, the diversion into a field, did mean that we’d discover a potential lunch stop for the future:
I regularly stop in Chimay for lunch en-route to say Luxembourg or Germany, using the pretty good Casino brasserie and its decent sized car park.
Coming home from the racing at Spa, we needed to find a rapid Tesla charger for a car. One popped-up, which appeared to be in a field, which indeed it was. That said, it was by chance, opposite a rural micro-brewery, which seems to have a pretty good brasserie attached to it. The place is shut on Monday, so we couldn’t try it. That said, I’ve made a note of it, to try out in the future.
...
Coming home from the racing at Spa, we needed to find a rapid Tesla charger for a car. One popped-up, which appeared to be in a field, which indeed it was. That said, it was by chance, opposite a rural micro-brewery, which seems to have a pretty good brasserie attached to it. The place is shut on Monday, so we couldn’t try it. That said, I’ve made a note of it, to try out in the future.
...A semi recharge done, we trundled on to St Quentin, where the sun was beating down on the car park of a huge shopping complex. One thing the French do well, is their large supermarkets, so we took the opportunity to have lunch there whilst electricity flowed into Andy’s car. Then, it was off on the motorway to St Omer for the last night, staying in the ever popular Ibis Budget. From there it’s a simple walk into the centre of town, a couple of pints in the Queen Victoria on the main square, before dinner in the very good, Au P’tit Bouillon, a popular place:
Au P’tit Bouillon | Saint-Omer
Au P’tit Bouillon, Saint-Omer. 4 857 J’aime · 283 en parlent · 52 personnes étaient ici. 𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙩 𝙗𝙤𝙣 𝙫𝙞𝙣, 𝙘'𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙚 !! 🥘🍷 Bienvenue 𝗔𝘂 𝗣'𝘁𝗶𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗻 🤗 Fermé du Lundi soir...
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The owner is a helpful fellow, not least as we hadn’t booked a table, in a restaurant that was pretty much full, not long after we arrived. First in, last out; just as it should be.
Day twenty four
It’s a very simple run up the motorway from St Omer to the Chunnel. We arrived early and, contrary to dire warnings on this forum, were offered a choice of two departures, in all one hour or more earlier than our booked (fixed crossing) times. We accepted the earlier of the two and, at no additional cost, joined the train. The only delay being at the gateway to fortress Britain, where the Border Farce were on some sort of work to rule, creating queues:
From there it was “Home, James” and journey’s end.
Roughly 2,600 miles all in. Average MPG (according to the car) 23.5….. Not the most economical way to do it, but at least I don’t have to look for a charging station in a field. Oh, and I now have an odd, occasional metallic ‘clang’ from the offside rear. I guess a broken exhaust clamp…. I hope it’s not the suspension. Hey-ho, a first world problem.
Thanks for looking and the kind comments. It was fun all the way and proof (if any were ever needed) that you don’t have to sweat your nuts off on a motorcycle, in order to go away.
Richard
It’s a very simple run up the motorway from St Omer to the Chunnel. We arrived early and, contrary to dire warnings on this forum, were offered a choice of two departures, in all one hour or more earlier than our booked (fixed crossing) times. We accepted the earlier of the two and, at no additional cost, joined the train. The only delay being at the gateway to fortress Britain, where the Border Farce were on some sort of work to rule, creating queues:
From there it was “Home, James” and journey’s end.
Roughly 2,600 miles all in. Average MPG (according to the car) 23.5….. Not the most economical way to do it, but at least I don’t have to look for a charging station in a field. Oh, and I now have an odd, occasional metallic ‘clang’ from the offside rear. I guess a broken exhaust clamp…. I hope it’s not the suspension. Hey-ho, a first world problem.
Thanks for looking and the kind comments. It was fun all the way and proof (if any were ever needed) that you don’t have to sweat your nuts off on a motorcycle, in order to go away.
Richard
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Cheers Richard,,
Very well written and pictured aswell...
Very well written and pictured aswell...
Thank you.
