Euro Lambretta Jamboree 2001 - Langenthal, Switzerland
June
2001 - Page 1
After an extremely wet start from home on Saturday, Sunday dawned a better day as Graham, Linda, Martin, Mel and myself set off for Hull. A relatively uneventful trip to Zeebrugge was followed by a quick blast down to Brussels for our first night. Tourist information provided us with the address of a lovely hotel on the hill overlooking the city centre. After trying the scenic route, we enlisted the help of 2 police outriders who led us safely to our hotel. After a quick wash and brush up we headed off into the city centre to explore
Tuesday morning,
and after a relaxing breakfast, the day begins with navigating the Brussels
ring road. After completely circling the city at least once and being
accosted by a taxi driver eager to pass me a flyer for the Belgian Vespa
Club(!) we decided we had to admit defeat and stop to ask for directions,
finally finding the road out of the city. After finding our way off
the motorway and to Neufchateau we find there is no room for us at the
inn. Then began our weary search for somewhere to sleep. 2-3
hours later, and after I succeeded in getting everyone lost, we ended up
in Bertrix, a one horse town somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
2 bars (one of which closed at 9.30pm), 1 ‘hotel’ and a friterie so chips
all round (hey, not all bad then!).
Wednesday, and destination Nancy. Mel suffered a blow out on the motorway on the way but thankfully managed to control it, losing only a few inches of shoe leather in the process. After eventually finding a hotel (who thought it would be that difficult!) in the roasting heat we set off to sample the town’s hospitality. We finally persuaded Martin to choose a restaurant, settling for Chinese (where’s our prawn crackers?!) and then found a bar in the town square with an old Vespa Douglas chained up outside (quelle surprise!). Deciding to sample the more unusually named local brews, the lads started on Lucifer, eventually discovering ‘Desperado’, lager with a shot of tequila, destined to become the lager of choice for discerning Hunters everywhere!!!! After a quick boogie in the local nightclub it was back to the hotel for some much-needed kip.
Thursday and this must be Mulhouse! No sooner had we pulled up outside the station than we seemed to be surrounded by people asking us about the scooters. One old guy was from Nancy and was working in Mulhouse. He explained he had 3 or 4 lambrettas and was keen to find out how he could get parts, etc.
After exchanging addresses and taking lots of photos we promised to send him a copy of Scootering and some pics of the scoots and headed off in search of a hotel.
Graham gets his wish;
it’s a Formula 1! Not a lot going on in Mulhouse but we found a great
Turkish restaurant. French speaking Turks struggling to serve us
in English – interesting!
Hunters trip to Switzerland - Page 2