DAY 2

After a rather late night in the bar (i remember seeing 2.30am prior to going to sleep!), we managed
to get down for breakfast at 7.45am and enjoyed (?) a full english a-la french cooked breakfast. I've
never actually seen eggs that colour before, but they tasted ok i guess..

After an early morning car cleaning session to rid the front of the car of blood and dead insects,
where we suddenly became rather popular because we had a bucket, we set about the task of working out
our days route.

The Clue Master gave out the days sheet of clues to the assembled group, and we duly tried to get
into the brain of Chip (the Clue Setter), and work out what his devious mind has conjoured up for us
today.

First stop today was a town called Gien (an American Soldier starts this place), where we worked out
we had to go to a Hunting Museum (Musee de la Chasse - just as well Mikes' french is better than
mine!) and hunt down a very long horn from 1814 (the clue was "Get high and go hunting. If you got
the horn in 1814, how long would it be?")

After successfully navigating a bunch of rather somber looking people, we managed to locate the
museum, and discovered there was actually a large funeral taking place next door - no wonder they
didn't smile back!

The route to the museum took us past some rather interesting places, and at times we wondered if we
had mistakenly entered the wrong country...

Or indeed had come off the road completely...


The second stop of they day was a little confusing to find unless you happened to be a regular Pipe
Smoker (the clue was "Put E on your Pipe and Smoke it" - the location being Briare), but we managed
to get there in one piece, and located the "Watery Bridge" talked about in the clue sheet ("Pont
Canal") where we found a fascinating Bridge of water which ran over the top of the Loire River.

After a bit of searching around, the answer to the question "..and find out who is best" became
obvious once we found some graffiti on a wall under the bridge.

Next stop of the day was a town called Sancerre ("Doesn't sound very sincere to me").

The clue once at the location was "How fast do you have to go to get into the tower". This was quite tricky as what
appeared to be the obvious point of interest was a large Tower that was only open Saturdays and
Sundays after 2pm. However, a bit of clever Sleuthing on Mike's part revealed the rather sneaky
answer on a small padlock securing the gate that granted access to the Tower... (for those with poor eyesight, the answer was "Mach 2")

It transpired later on in the evening that we were the only ones to get this correct!

Fourth stop of the day found us in a town called Baugy ("Why You troubled Bag"), where the clue was
"What is the Total cost in the High Street". The picture explains all...

On to our next stop of Chatillon-en-Bazois, and we had been pre-warned that some physical effort may be required to obtain the answer to this clue. And the warning turned out to be correct, as the answer was on a small sticker at the top of a Swing/Rope Ladder frame. The question was "How old do you have to be to use the ropey ladder.

In order to obtain the answer, i ended up climbing up a rope ladder, standing on Mikes Shoulders and
shimmying across like acrobats to get a good look at the tiny white sticker on top of the frame,
which explained that anyone under the age of 6 must be accompanied by an Adult!

Unfortunately the close up picture i took of the sticker never came out as by this time i was hanging by one arm and
wasn't able to focus the camera with the other!

Stop number 6 turned out to be beyond our capability, as the clue had directed us to a "Table
D'orientation", however it turned out that this town had two, and 99% of us went to the wrong one!

After 2 hours of fruitless searching, we made our way to the final clue of the day, which was a town
called Couches ("Before you get home, stop and sit down here").

The clue here was "What geographical feature is missing from the Toilets". The answer was "Ile", as on a double-sided "Toilettes" sign, an I, E and L was missing.

Time was now marching on, and we made our way hurriedly to our evening's hotel in Chalon, where we
arrived soon after 8pm, not quite last!

After a hard days work, we have managed to extend our lead, although the team running in second place
as of last night, Jenny and Peter in the Caterham, did spend the morning in the hands of the AA, and
only scored average points due to lack of time.

The standings as of this evening are as follows:

1st Place - 515 points - Garry and Mike in the Evo VII
2nd Place - 415 points - Jenny and Peter in the Caterham
3rd Place - 380 points - Charles and David in the Porsche

Last nights 3rd place holders have slipped down slightly to 4th Place on 370 Points - Mike and Hazel
Mcloughlin in the Morgan +8.

With 150 points to play for tomorrow, we can't afford to relax at all!

Apart from all the above, the weather continues to get hotter - in fact it's so hot, Mike has
resorted to wearing shorts, i've resorted to factor 30 sun-tan cream, the tarmac on the D roads is
starting to melt, and the Sat Nav continues to work faultlessly.

We must extend our gratitute to Bill Gates for his wonderful mapping software, although we were missing a few roundabouts today!

Thats it for tonight - its gone 1.30am, (4 too many Pression can do that to a person!) so time for bed and we'll see how we get on tomorrow!

Garry and Mike