At 8am on Thursday 3rd May our Don’s coach, containing 39 Twinners including 3 new members, headed south for Folkestone. We arrived in very good time, able to relax in the Eurotunnel terminal, only to be delayed by a last minute train cancellation.
Once across the channel we stopped for a service station lunch; the car park was full of gendarmes (rehearsing post Brexit measures?). The Périphérique around Paris proved a further hurdle with very heavy traffic, our suspicions of another rail strike confirmed by the sight of 12 TGV high speed trains parked below us. Thus arrival in Dourdan was somewhat later than anticipated, but we were soon whisked away by our hospitable Twinning friends for dinner in their homes.
Next morning we were off again at 8am for the 90 minute trip to Le Mans, a city both ancient and modern. Our visit commenced with a guided tour of the old town, including its decorated Roman walls and lovely cathedral, which contains C12th stained glass. An excellent lunch of Le Mans delicacies was accompanied by exceptional Jasnières wine from le Loir.
We then drove to the Sarthe circuit to tour the Le Mans 24 Hours museum, a fascinating display of 120 cars of 60 marques: Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar, Ford, Porsche, Matra, Audi and more, covering the history of the famous endurance race since 1923. Even the non ‘petrol heads’ among us found plenty of interest. Then it was back to Dourdan in time for dinner.
On Saturday our hosts took us out individually, to somewhere they thought (or knew) we would like. Chateaux, gardens, cathedrals or wherever, plus shopping in the market and exploring Dourdan or simply visiting their families we have grown to love.
That evening we all congregated in local restaurant Blanche de Castille for an excellent dinner, with warm speeches from the two Twinning chairmen and some extremely enjoyable musical entertainment in French and English. The Dunmow visitors began jiving, while Dourdan quickly responded with line dancing. A great time was had by all.
Sunday morning began with a joint committee meeting to discuss future events, followed by a mayoral champagne reception in the beautiful town hall. Dourdan mayor Maryvonne Boquet welcomed her guests warmly and Dunmow’s mayor Danielle Frost responded in similar vein, in excellent French. Guests enjoyed another motor show, this time the Dourdan club with vehicles ranging from a 2CV Citroen (originally 9 bhp) to a modern Lamborghini Aventador S (730 bhp). The Los Angeles County Sheriff was there to keep us in order.
After photographs and the usual protracted fond farewells it was time to board our coach. The run to Eurotunnel at Boulogne went so smoothly that we were able to board a train two earlier than anticipated. No cancellations this time, so we were all set for an early arrival back in Dunmow. Sadly the M11 was blocked for an hour north of Harlow by a ‘pop up’ diner which had fallen down, but we still got home at a reasonable hour. Despite the transport delays everyone seemed very happy with the weekend.