We all enjoyed a day off yesterday (Monday), which for most was a day of wandering arounf Neuchatel at the foot of the Jura mountains in Switzerland. Terry Light took the train to Geneva to collect his distributer that arrived the day after we left last week. Fortunately his car has not needed it and is still running “as good as ever” on the makeshift roadside version. Other members of the group took the boat or train to Murten, a pretty medieval lakeside town.

Today (Tuesday) was a much better day weather-wise than forecast. The journey up to La Vue des Alpes offered a stunning panorama, particularly for those who left earlier. We continued on to La Chaux de Fonds, epicentre of Swiss watchmaking. Some of us visited the International Horology Museum, which was simply stunning and awe-inspiring, andd incredibly interesting.

From there we passed many famous watch brands and their factories and then pressed on, across the border, into France. Today’s drive was mainly on good, fast open roads, across lovely rolling countryside with far-reaching views. It was great fun to have totally different roads from the Alpine extravaganza we enjoyed previously.

We had a truly international pack in our little group today, with a car from Idaho, USA, two cars from South Africa (Cape Town and Durban), a Swiss E-type and of course our British coupe. A brief stop for lunch at a great boulangerie gave us more time for enjoying the roads.

So we’re now in Troyes for our penultimate night. This is a gorgeous, half-timbered medieval city, also famed for its factory outlets, so I don’t think it will be a particularly early start for anyone on our last day, as we head north towards Calais.