Gallery Rally 2016 — Jersey to San Sebastian - Day 1

Jersey to Ploermel (via St Malo)

We're back! YESSSS! Its that time of the year, the time of year where we warmly welcome everybody (well, anybody who might be reading), to follow us around the globe (well, around some areas of Europe) on the customary annual Gallery Rally. So without further ado, welcome to Day 1's update!

As with all trips like this, we prepare ourselves by writing a list of everything we need to do and ensuring we prioritize...

So now that important job was done, we packed our bags, popped into town to buy Euro's, picked up our starters pack and then began the long task of reading every page, turning over every item in the pack, and ensuring that if there was any secret hidden tasks to carry out, we wouldn't miss out on any bonus points.

Once that was done, we made our way to the Weighbridge for 2pm, confident we had at least a likelyhood of some points for looking stupid..

(Not only was the hidden task to turn up at 2pm wearing a scarf, elsewhere on the page it said "on your head". Never afraid of a challenge, despite the tropical weather, we obliged Phil and Emma's desires.

We took time to meet and admire all the other teams, their cars, and their scarves...

(The above two pics show that this trip really can be undertaken in all types of vehicle!)

...then at the alloted time, our new Cluemaster Phil Balderson gathered us all around to welcome us and give us our first briefing of the trip.

Everything now being in order and fully understood, it was time to leave the safety of the Weighbridge, be handed our Boat Leg clues, and make our way down to the harbour, ...

After some fantastic navigation by the resident Navigator (Mike), we successfully arrived at our first destination. Jersey Harbour.

Following check-in, we immediately got to work on the boat clues, which this year was Soduko (of varying difficulties), and a sheet of general knowledge questions on other team members.

Having never done Soduko, Mike gave me a quick training course, and I then set about one of the sheets. I was surprised how quickly I picked it up, and was feeling pretty proud of myself if I'm honest. Right up until Mike pointed out that I'd just completed the "Kids" sheet. Still, got to start somewhere...

The "Easy" and "Evil" sheets were clearly out of my league, so I left Mike battling those ones. Amazingly, he managed to successfully complete both sheets.

Now there have subsequently been some allegations that some people may have used the Internet to gain answers. I mean really.... after all these years, who would think of a thing like that? However, whilst we can not confirm or deny these allegations, one of the questions in the "Team General Knowledge" was "Which team has a member who won a Silver medal at the 2015 Island Games".

Well whilst we all now know that was Mike, what no one realises was that Soduko became a top sport at the Island games in 2015. Who'd have thought it! (or believed it..)

Anyway, after doing our best in the General team knowledge questions..

..we were delighted to find that we were by this time pulling alongside the berth in St Malo Harbour, after a fast and punctual trip on the Condor Rapide...

So we returned to our cars on the car deck...

and prepared the Sat Nav for our Evening Hotel, which was about 80 miles or so away.

Before long we were on the beautfiul french roads feeling right at home on familiar french roads...

... listening to the wonderful French tunes (ok, Radio 2 actually worked for a good few miles, so Simon Mayo kept us entertained for a while before we switched to alternative media), and admired the ingenuity of the new parking schemes to keep the roads and ground level clearer..

Soon it was time - yup, you got it , time for the first Bug Splat of the trip..

And as the Sun went down....

...We drew ever closer to our nights accomodation, in its beautiful setting alongside a lake...

As we parked up outside the house where Les lives, we noticed that some of his friends had pulled a rather cheeky prank outside. Les will be so embarrased when he see's that in the morning...

It also sounds like a classic clue to us..

No? Jjust us then. Moving on.

Anyway, after picking up our room key, we walked down the immaculately clean corridor..

...and into our room with a view....

After admiring that for a few minutes, we made our way down to dinner, where we enjoyed a lovely 3 course meal and chatted to the teams..

It was soon that time of the evening where we all get excited. No, not that time. We mean the time when the Clue master stands up and tells us what silly mistakes we've made.

After reading the scores, and seeing the title of the final category, it finally dawned on us why some teams were seen coming into the dining hall giving their team mates piggy backs!

The above pic is of a badge that Phil and Emma were both wearing all day, but we, being gentlemen, were far to polite to stare at their chests when they were walking around, so we didn't notice what was printed around the side!

Anyway, below are the first day scores, all looks like it is set up for a challenging few days!

4th on Day 1; we're happy with that. Even happier with a small gift that was then presented to us from Phil and Emma.

They must have read our minds, as I had only been saying to Mike earlier that due to my Sister having the audacity to go on holiday, our supply of M&M's (usually supplied by her) was non-existent. How very convenient! :)

So that is Day 1 - not too much to report as no actual clues have been set yet - that is what we have to look forward to - along with a traditional morning quiz (no idea about what, but we were all advised that a brush up of our French Geography might come in handy. Got a feeling we should have studied harder in French lessons all those years ago!)

 

Anyway, that's it for tonight - below is a pretty pic, and below that is our short but sweet route for today.

Tune in tomorrow for Day 2!

Night Night from Mike and Garry.

 

Yes, you're right, we did seem to take a much longer route than anyone else!