I was wee bit excited about this part of the trip, as it would take us over the St Bernard pass. I haven’t the best track record for going over mountain passes in a Cortina though, as on a previous Cortinas to Cortina trip in 2007, we lost the clutch hydraulics(!) when going up to the St Gotthard pass.
Anyways, after packing the car, a 1965 mk1 1500GT I bought sight unseen 2 weeks before the trip, it was time to do some general checks under the bonnet, top up the oil, etc. I put the sat nav on, to check the route. Also, we would be going on some Swiss motorways that day, so a Vignette would have to be bought and displayed on the windscreen, when entering Switzerland.
Some of the cars leaving our overnight stop at the old Fiat Factory in Turin.
And another obligatory fuel stop before getting on the motorway
Clayton, Linda, Charles, Claire and Graham admiring the views while pausing to get away from the slow moving camper that had been holding them up.
Organizer Graham Orchard sent us a message, saying we couldn’t use any of the mountain pass tunnels in our old cars, due to some government restrictions put in place, following a big fire in one of those tunnels a few years ago, so we had to go over the top of the St Bernard pass, on the old road, which was fine by me.
By now, I was well underway up to the St Bernard pass, the way up there offered some interesting uphill sections, with loads of twisty bits, which meant an entertaining drive for a Cortina driver!
I stopped at the top of the pass, the weather was getting a bit grey, and some of the mountain tops were now hidden in the clouds.
The chef at the local “Albergo” (Inn) had his “siesta time” so no late lunch to be had there, but they did have a good apple tart.
Going down again from the pass meant even more entertaining hairpins, with no barriers at the roadside in some places, so you’d better not carry too much speed through those bends. There wasn’t that much traffic, so I stopped for a few photos on the way down, just had to be done!
I had left buying that Swiss motorway Vignette a bit late, eventually I bought it at a roadside café in Sembrancher, well into Switzerland. They had a couple of strange cars parked outside, maybe as advertising/movie props?
In the evening, I stopped in a small village and found a Pizza place. The pizza was good, but they had a funny way of making/serving light/non-alcoholic beer(?): “Ordinary” beer was filled in a large glass, and then mixed up with fizzy water on top, very strange!
Later on in the evening, it was getting dark and we got some heavy rain on the motorway, not something you want when your windscreen wipers aren’t very good. Got even worse when I got “tailgated” by other cars/people, who no doubt wondered what strange type of car I was driving? Their very bright headlamps/glare in my mirrors meant it was even harder to see where I was going. More than once though, people drove past me in the rain, giving me the thumbs up, so I guess they liked to see an old Cortina after all.
Arriving at the destination in the evening, Lake Geneva/Evian-les-Bains in France, it was a nice area, even in the dark, with loads of boats, including some expensive ones (Lausanne in Switzerland was on the other side of the lake).
I found my hotel, and even managed to find a parking space. Moments later, the Dutch guys in the mk3 Crayford also parked up in front of the hotel. We all went inside and were met by the Dawsons (MkIII estate) and Clayton Moore (1600E).
Another fantastic day of a very well organized trip, and many thanks to organizers Graham Orchard and Claire Palmer, for giving us all the chance to get together and experience it all!
All photos © Cortina MkII Owners Club LTD unless otherwise stated
