THE ROUTE OF SAINT JAMES
16th—21st June, 2003
A trio of TOPS cars set out from
Portsmouth on the cruise that the wives had always been promised. The long Ferry to Bilbao in perfect weather
with two nights on board was indeed a pleasure with time for relaxation, whale
watching in the Bay of Biscay and an ample measure of socialising in preparation
for the adventures ahead.
The trio of rally virgins, Peter
and Anna Mann in their 1937 BMW 328 (very recently acquired) Graham and Mary
Burrows in their 1953 Fraser Nash Targa Florio (very, very recently
resurrected) and your correspondent and Helen in their 1934 6C Alfa Romeo 2300.
Julian and Heather Bronson (1937 Riley) were the main perpetrators and Andrew Day and Andy Hasdell (Speed Six
Bentley) were other pre war competitors on a rally that would take us down
through north west Spain to a starting point in Salamanca, west into northern
Portugal and then a largely coastal and mountainous loop to return to the Picos
mountains in northern Spain reasonably close to the return Port. Some 1200 miles of very mixed roads were
to be encountered and in a contingent totalling 50 cars ranging through MGA,
MGB, XK150, AC Aceca, TR4s (4) AC Ace, DB6, Sunbeam Tiger, Lightweight E Type,
Healey 3000, Porsche 2.7 RS - right up to brand spanking new XKRs and Ferraris
and Mercs. It will be apparent to you
that we were distinctive for our lack of prospects but, we thought, a modicum
of style!
Led out by the Bronsons, our
group of four set off for Salamanca and did the 265 miles at about 80 mph –
that should settle the old cars down a bit !
At the “rally hotel” in Salamanca
we were issued with the “Road Book” which was to be our bible for the coming
week if only to find the pre-paid hotels. It was in fact a huge hardbound
document utilizing the ubiquitous tulip system of route identification which we
felt would be better for us amateurs than the prospect of plotting map
references whilst tippling. In all fairness it did work and the skill of the
crews was only tested in the regularity function and not in purely being on the
route.
We made our mark before the rally
had started. At 3.00 am we were phoned in the room and asked “Senor you have
Alfa Romeo? She run away and crash, please fix”. In fact all that had happened
was that the handbrake wasn’t on firmly and the car had set off 50 yards across
the car park and mated with a modern, large and expensive 500 Merc. The front
wheel of the Alfa had firmly middled the back bumper of the Merc which was
obviously of the energy absorbing type as the damage was minimal (in the dark).
The rally itself proved to be a
most expertly run regularity trial, timed to the second, with prizes for both
individuals and teams of 3. To give
you an insight as to the likely progress of the rally I can confide that the
penalty points against the TOPS team on day 1 were 1,166 whilst the leading
team totalled 29. More of this ignominy
later.
Day One from Salamanca to
Vidago was, we were told, to be a gentle long run out past countless storks’
nests and through the wild rugged and remote areas of Tras-os Montes. The TOPS
trio stayed in touch with each other expecting the worst. Ironically, the roughest stretch of route - a
10 metre section of badly broken up road was encountered no more than 10 kms
after the start, but apart from some loose "gravelly" roadworks on
Days 3 and 5, this was the only poor quality road over which we travelled. A
wonderful sunny hot day and - arriving with a good thirst at the Vidago Palace
Hotel (self styled as the best hotel in Portugal – it wasn’t, but it was very
imposing). Graham Burrows amused us at dinner telling us of his encounter with
an attractive naked lady disporting herself on her balcony above him whilst he
fettled with the Nash –“ I looked up and there she was so I looked away (as you
do) and looked again a few seconds later and she was still there and remained
so for the next ten minutes, so I just carried on with cleaning the screen etc.
and enjoying the view. She was a genuine blond” To show you what sort of chap Burrows is you should know that
Peter was fettling the BMW immediately alongside him but was never tipped off
as to the visual delights available -
what sort of pal is he?
There was a footnote - when we
asked Graham to point the lady out to us in the hotel he wasn’t able to as he
said he hadn’t studied her face carefully!
Day Two took us into the
most backward part of Portugal and the sight of ‘our’ cars driving through
villages that looked as if they hadn't advanced since the Middle Ages must have
been quite bewildering. The Marshals at TC3 on this day seemed even more jolly
than usual, it was because the lady who lived opposite the Time Control decided
to be the perfect Portuguese hostess and ply them with a Pinot style drink
every half hour. We climbed across the Sierra do Geres and the Parque Nacional
reaching 1500m before dropping down to follow the route of the Rio Mino and
into the coastal town of Baiona. A
superb Parador hotel with terrific views and a terrace to swap stories on. It
had been hot again and some of the moderns were having to run with bonnets
propped partly open but our contingent were running well!
A pattern had developed to our
rallying with priority given to regular drinks and luncheon stops. Being the
tailenders in the rally scoring we started first in the mornings and thus
became known to the others as they passed us as we sat under umbrellas on bar
terraces. The rally timings made no provision for lunch stops and required a
constant average of 52kph for the entire route – this seemed to us to be too
high a price to be paid to excel and our plot was modified to enjoy the route
to the full but including a lunch stop.
Day 3 took us into the
hills above Pontevedra. Still very hot, requiring strong factor sun cream and
copious bottles of water to do the typical daily mileage of 300k. The roads are
demanding being twisty and steep but with great views. We pass through tiny
sleepy cobbled street villages driving very slowly along with the beasts taking
drinks in the fountain and sharing with villagers washing clothes. After lunch we find that Peter and Anna are
no longer with us but they do rejoin us at the hotel in the early evening on
the back of a lorry. It transpires that the clutch actuating rod had broken and
welding would be required.
Our hotel for two nights the
Palacio del Carmen in the historic Santiago de Compostela proved comfortable
and a base from which to explore the historic city and to join the pilgrims at
the cathedral. The city is almost fully pedestrianised and most pleasurable to
stroll through.
Day 4 (without Peter and
Anna whilst the car was repaired) was considered by many to be the best of the
event, the Finesterre Loop. Climbing
over the most westerly mountains in Europe the views, as we ‘dashed’ down to
the coast were breathtaking. The
beaches unspoilt and the sea so blue. Brilliant weather continued for us but we
are told that this coastal area does get a lot of rain and the greenery around
us bears this out. If the weather could be guaranteed I doubt you would find
better beaches anywhere in Spain! Another most enjoyable day maintaining our
standards of incompetence
Day 5 - the long day 390
km. We always knew that
Santiago to Oviedo was going to be a long day but we hadn't counted on the
heat! It was the hottest day of the
event and it took its toll on a number of cars and people, but we three kept
going with just the odd problem e.g. when Graham lost his engine on a really
very steep goat track and couldn’t get restarted. We came along some ten
minutes later and overheated whilst we got him going – (the Alfa has no fan but
did very well at all other times.) Peter
then joined us and couldn’t restart on the gradient so we all reversed back to
a flatter spot – chaos, and all before lunch!
A great dazed motoring and
another splendid hotel, the Reconquista. Oveido provided a nice evening out –
don’t the Spanish eat late! We came out of our restaurant at about 1 a.m. and
all the tables in the streets were now full and people just ordering.
Day 6 -
Finally the run across the Picos. Stunning !!! These are a beautiful range of mountains yet
to be destroyed by tourists. A close
study of the map will show that there are very few roads to provide access - if
you want to see the real Picos you will have to walk. For us there were tiny twisty climbs where only the fastest of the entrants could make their bogey
speed of 52 kph and to do so had to take some very real risks – bars and
restaurants were scarce but we found them. Wall to wall sunshine still and mid 90’s
temperatures as we ascended and descended the most dramatic hairpin roads. I
guess that one climb comprised more than a hundred hairpins and some of us had
sore hands from wrestling the (hot) wheel.
Our destination Fuente De is at
the end of the longest cul-de-sac in the world – the road just ends there
looking at 1000 ft face of rock which was most spectacular as dark clouds and
thunder rolled over as if to mark the completion of our sunshine rally.
The crews dined together and at
the prize-giving we learned that the winner (MGA) had amassed a total of 36
seconds penalties followed by the runner up (TR4) at 42 seconds. TOPS trio were
4,099 4,386 & 4,437 and if I was
last it was because of the poor service in one of the restaurants that delayed
me!
The old cars won a couple of
awards with the Bentley of Andrew Day being awarded “Spirit of the Rally” for
putting in a big drive from Le Mans (he is president of BDC) to Salamanca
arriving at midnight to start the rally. Our Alfa was voted “Most Desirable
Car” (I have it on good authority that Barry was voted “dish of the day” –
Ed)
An early start in drizzle to
return 200 km to Bilbao – you don’t want to be late as the boat only sails
twice per week. Everybody safely on board and time to reflect on a very well
organised rally that was fairly hard on the old cars (over 2,000 miles by the time we all got back home) but very
enjoyable for the old participants.
B.C.