Tuesday 23 May – The Longest Day. “Might need a little help from The Man Above”
We awoke before dawn for a very long journey ahead. Today was to be a drive, drive, drive day with me at the wheel. The distance from our Le Mans overnight stopover to Burgos, Spain was to be 550 miles (890 km).
It was turning out to be a very warm day again. After getting some drinking water, Mars Bars and Crisps and having used the nearby field for our morning ablutions, and with the flags and scarves at the ready, we drove south through Le Mans towards Poitiers.
We stopped at Poitiers at a French bank to exchange my Scottish Five Pound Note for French francs. The bank employee had never seen this type of note and searched through sample specimen copies of various nations’ currency. After a brief discussion with his Manager, he refused to exchange my Scottish Five Pound Note. While Danny Martin and I were in the bank, John and Brian disappeared into a nearby café for food and drink (one of many on this trip!).
We departed Poitiers and headed south west towards Bordeaux. This part of the journey was easy. It was a lovely day with flat roads and excellent scenery. We stopped on the outskirts of Bordeaux for fuel (4th fill up of 10 required). We entered Bordeaux via a new suspension bridge over the River Gironde, and the view was spectacular. The River Gironde is the river that the Cockleshell Heroes used for a raid on German ships during the Second World War.
From Bordeaux, we drove to Bayonne and Biarritz, and crossed into Biarritz over the River Adour. This drive from Bordeaux to Biarritz was wonderful for scenery. France really is a beautiful country.
Having been on the road since dawn (other than the Poitiers stop) we decided to stop at a small restaurant for a meal and a drink. Brian with his limited French ordered burger and chips for all five of us. The meal was great, and was the first for Danny and me since the Ferry Crossing.
We departed Biarritz at about 6.00 pm and drove towards the French/Spanish border control crossings. On the drive to the border, we noticed snow on the peaks of the Pyrenees mountain range. The border towns in 1967 were Hendaye (France) and Irun (Spain). The border is separated by the River Bidasoa that flows into the Bay of Biscay.
At the Hendaye French border it was full Passport control, because Spain was a dictatorship under General Francisco Franco (a right b******!). We cleared the French Customs after a slight delay, and drove over to the Spanish border control in Irun.
The Spanish Guardia, the Civil Guards, were very pleasant and spoke about the upcoming European Cup final. We cleared Spanish border control without any problems and the guards wished us good luck and “Buen viaje”. We then departed Irun and drove via San Sebastian south west towards Burgos in Spain.
By this time it was getting very dark, and we had been on the road for about 17 hours and had driven over 550 miles from Le Mans in France. We decided to stop at a campsite in Burgos called “Fuentes Blancas”.
We were unable to find a safe and secure place to park because the campsite attendant, with his limited English, would only allow the car and two passengers into the car park. (Why this was, I can’t remember. Maybe camp rules, or because we did not have enough pesetas to cover the cost.)
After a brief discussion with the other four, it was decided that Danny and I would take the car into the campsite, and the other three would sneak in once we had parked the car. I parked next to the wire mesh fence and when the coast was clear, Martin, John and Brian lifted the mesh at the bottom of the fence and crawled underneath. They then joined Danny and me in the car to plenty of “high fives” and laughter.
It was pitch black outside, very damp and nearly midnight. We settled down for the night. We had a long day tomorrow again.
Jerry Woods
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