Day 1 - Jersey to Blois
Fri, 26/06/2009 - 22:06 — Garry Taylor
Welcome to the 2009 Gallery Barcelona Rally, which is of course in aid of the Jersey Hospice.
For those that have previously been subjected to our blogs, you’ll know what to expect; for all new comers, good luck!
Tonight’s updates are coming to you live from Room 157 in a Novotel in Blois!
The day started at the crack of dawn (well it did for me, although SOME one was still sleeping when I went to collect them (no names mentioned Mike!) with a breakfast at the Royal Yacht, followed by a true rally-style “launch” through the coveted JMC&LCC’s rally arch.
Thanks to Ben and co. for organising that; if it wasn’t for the Honary Police presence, we would no doubt have entertained the gathering crowds by leaving 4 darkies across Mulcaster Street!
The departure though the arch saw us furnished with the first clues of the day – the much loved “Boat Leg” – and we all started work on it whilst sat at the Harbour waiting for our slightly stricken vessel to arrive.
The said stricken vessel did manage to get us to France in about an hour and 45 minutes, so not to bad after all.
By the time we arrived at St Malo, we had answered questions like “You are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove and a gas lamp. You only have one match. What do you light first?” – the answer of course was the match.
Other gems such as “Is it correct that seven and five is thirteen, or seven and five are thirteen?” kept us scratching our heads for a while before it dawned upon us that the answer was “No”
Along with many others in that style, we also had plenty of the old faithful Ditloids e.g. “If 7DIAW is 7 days in a week, what is....?”
With his question SL T 8 M A 14 S T R T E, Chip was most surprised at how many of us knew that Sunlight takes 8 minutes and 14 seconds to reach the earth (it’s probably just as well the world has standardised on Google searching or there may have been a few arguments!)
Once off the boat, we gathered around our Clue Master and Mistress for the usual words of wisdom and reminders that this is not a race – and how the Gendarmes would happily relieve you of 90 euros if they caught you speeding...
By lunchtime, Nigel and David had first hand proof of this!
We were given our days clues and we set about working out the best route to Dol de Bretagne (Go and see the British doll) where the question we had to answer was “In site of the cathedrale at what number do you have sh*t in your hand?”
The answer was plain for all to see...
Happy with our answer, we decided a quick team photo was in order to show off our new outfits for the end of trip party...
(I can take it or leave it, but I think Mike is developing a habit..)
Onwards to Clue site number 2. 4 gees get muddled.
The clue “Dine with the duchess and in time find out what number of Romans is bad in Dodge City” found us in Le Duchess Ana, (a cafe run by an Irish lady who it turns out used to live just up the road from where Richard (our marshal) grew up. What a small world!
Inside, we found this...
...and came to the quick conclusion that the answer was IIII
From there we had a 60mile dash along a motorway to get to “The backward yommoce” (Ecommoy!) where we had to find out what “... Optic 2000 used to be called.”
We found an Opticians with the above name, and on the main square was a mural of the same square in pastimes, showing that the building used to be an Epicerie call “A Langlais”
Time was pressing, so we returned to the car, where Piers, our resident guidance system, told us to hang a left 0.9miles after we saw a man...
We topped up on essential supplies en-route...
...and headed for our final clue of the day, which was actually Clue 5, as 4 had already been cancelled due to our late arrival in St Malo.
Just as well, as we hadn’t actually managed to “Find a damaged root” on our map, which, it later transpired was because when circling Location 5, Mike had inadvertently drawn a line straight thru the name of the town (which was Troo) . No, honest.
Last stop, “A mountain with no anger” (Montoire sur le Loir) found us looking for the answer to “Stand and make music, two sides are three quarters but what is it?”
We headed for a Bandstand, and spent the next thirty minutes searching high and low. This was by far the biggest point scoring question of the day, with a massive 40 points on offer. Even with only 1 hour till our 8pm dinner deadline, and a 45 minute drive still ahead, we weren’t going to give up, and eventually Mike spotted a brass tap, which, after a quick study of the shaft, revealed the markings “3/4” on both sides.
...if you look closely, you can just make out the tap on the right hand wall.
Delighted with our find, we raced off (not that it’s a race) to the nights accommodation in Blois, where, having seen virtually none of our pack on the roads all day, we caught up with James and Nicholas in their Focus RS about 2miles before our destination...
As it transpired, even though it was now 7.50pm, we were by no means the last to arrive; some 8 teams were still outstanding, and indeed, dinner had to be delayed whilst the stragglers rolled in.
Even then, a couple of them missed the start of dinner and got a resounding round of applause when they sheepishly arrived at around 9.15pm!
After a pleasant evening meal, we all sang Happy Birthday to Bruce Renouf (Car 19) and tucked into some birthday cake.
Eventually, it was time for Chip to reveal the standings on day 1...
All in all, a great first day, although after seeing hot sunshine and temperatures of 26 deg C all day, it then proceeded to pour with rain, and thunder and lightning as we finished out dinner.
As you can see from the results, its tight at the top, and likely to be shaken up by tomorrow mornings quiz, which Chip has sprung on us all – we’re scared!
So without further ado, it’s time to upload this update, which is proving a little tricky given that we are at the end of a very long corridor – about as far away from reception as its possible to be without leaving the grounds of the hotel – and therefore we can only just pick up the Orange Wifi signal.
Until tomorrow, bye bye from Mike and myself!
Today has seen us cover approximately 230miles and here today’s complete route:
