Our drive to Beaujolais was interrupted by an overnight stop in Bergamo in Italy, where we arrived at 8.30 pm, having driven through torrential rain for six hours. We ended up in a pretty revolting hotel and went in search of plate of spag bol.The nearest restaurant looked promising so we searched outside for the menu, we had barly hesitated for a mille second before the head waiter rushed out. He insisted that we come in and inspect the fish. He showed us nice pink gills, I looked at still clear eyes. After months of compulsory fogash there really was little option. By the time we had finished the chocolate fondue we all agreed we had a superb meal. The best ever said the blond, one of the best said Toad, high praise indeed for Vittoria the restaurant owner, who could have been slightly less liberal with the grappa.

We hit Belleville the next day, just in time for Lunch at the Beaujolais restaurant. The lievre was well hung and really tasted of game, it was also wonderfully bloody. At six that evening the rally started, check in and a meal at the Maison be Beaujolais featuring love in a lorry, the same dish I always used to serve, in England, on BN night. The next day the competitors were entertained for lunch by Gundel and the Hungarian Seven Wine judges (who were making a bold attempt to sell Hungarian wine to the French), before collecting their case of wine and heading off for the French border, which they could cross at midnight. Toad and I were already back on the Italian autostradas heading for Gailberg, where we arrived at nine in the evening. We were held up by; two major traffic jams, at Aosta Aosta and Milan; Italian customs at the top of the very snowy and icy pass we went over; and the mating of two lorries, in the snow, on the Austrain side of the pass.

By the time we arrived at Gailberg we were concerned about the conditions. The roads into the rally point were all treacherous. Snow had been a joke when we scouted the route, the failing air-conditioner in the car was then the concern. Therefore it was with relief that I heard the first car crunch into the car park at 6.50 the next morning. By 7.15 we had nine arrivals, including the Jet car Farrari, not the easiest car in snow. All the early arrivals were high speed cars, except Attilla Dull, of Premium Wine, in a ten year old basic Golf, but he had come via Basel, and thus left France much nearer the check point. Looking at the routes taken to Gailberg, we realised what a good choice it was. there were over four main conduits, and they all were about 950 kms. from Belleville. The sun came up exposing the full glory of the Tyroll covered in fresh snow. The excitement amongst the crews was evident as they chatted over breakfast. The cars started leaving at nine for the final 600 kms to Budapest. Just before we left at 9,25, the Novotel minibus became the twelfth arrival, having come via Italy. It was now clear to us that the snow and ice were no real prolem. On the contray, the fifty odd klicks of snowy mountain roads had slowed the fastest down and provided a challenging special stage.

We were cruising down the Klagenfurt to Graz motorway when the Porche of Team Replay jeans roared pass, proudly waving four Austrian speeding tickets. Less than ten klicks down the road we witnessed them receiving their fifth ticket, we later discovered they had nearly been locked up for doing 260 KPH. We do not know exactly how many tickets were collected by all the participants, but the Klaganfurt policeman's ball will be bigger than ever this year. We arrived eighth at the Kempinski at 2.40 PM, about fifty minutes after the first arrival (Eravis/Mazda in a Mazda 323) who had left 25 minutes before us, and we had stopped to make a phone call. Once the front runners had arrived the odd straggler came in and then here was a long wait until nearly nine when another raft of competitors appeared. A few failed to make it in untill the next morning, however the rally was accident free.