What a day! We left Geneva in warm sunshine and crossed the border into France, climbing up into the Alps. There were some fabulous roads heading up to La Clusaz, through some small gorges, and we continued to Col des Aravis for some welcome hot chocolates, as it was a little chilly in the cloud at altitude.
We drove all the way to Bourg St Maurice, via Beaufort, with about 7 or 8 other E-types, all enjoying some superb roads, truly fabulous scenery and some spirited driving. Much of my day was spent hanging out of the window to get the perfect shot of various cars, and narrowly avoiding death by wing mirror of an oncoming vehicle.
We then climbed the Petit St Bernard Pass, through La Rosiere and to the Col at 2,188m, which was the frontier with Italy. The road then descended to La Thuile, and we were tailed by 9600 HP and 848 CRY, so photos to be posted later. In fact some photos of the tour are online at www.classictravelling.com/gallery.
We stopped just below La Thuile at the tunnel which was the film location for the Miura crash at the start of The Italian Job, and filmed 848 CRY, the E-type from the film coming through.
We are staying for the next three nights in Courmayeur, at a wonderful hotel – also used by the film crew and cast in 1969 during the making of the film.
Tomorrow we’re off to drive more of the routes and locations used in the film, so stay tuned…
Classic Travelling was established in 2003 and offers motoring holidays for classic, vintage and sports cars. The founder of the business, Sarah Dowding, has extensive experience of touring and motoring, having driven well in excess of 250,000 miles over the finest roads in Europe, North America, and southern Africa. 