Home Show Reports Jaguar Entente Cordiale 2008

Entente Cordiale 2008

Before boarding the ferry from Portsmouth, owners assembled their Jaguars at the impressive Gunwharf Keys and Historic Dockyard

Between 16-22 May, rural France once again played host to Jaguars old and new as 100 cars took part in the 2008 Entente Cordiale tour.

Destined to visit the Brittany region of France, having gathered at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, the ‘Ententies’ travelled by overnight ferry to St Malo, arriving on the morning of Saturday 17 May, and from there embarked on a 237-mile drive to their base for the next two days in Vannes. The route included stops at the picturesque port of Concarneau, and at Carnac, one of the most important historical sites in Europe where the landscape is peppered with mysterious prehistoric standing stones.

Sunday’s itinerary didn’t include any road miles, but it did include a display of the participating Jaguars in Vannes town centre. The assembled cars obviously provoked a positive reaction as the Monday edition of the town’s newspaper carried a prominent story on the Jaguar invasion!
Monday’s route included visits to the atmospheric submarine pens at St Nazaire – which were opened especially for the Jaguars to park inside – and the fortified hill town of La Roche-Bernard before the return to Vannes. Tuesday then saw the Jaguars tour through numerous quiet country villages on the way to Honfleur, the base for the tour’s final two days.

The penultimate day of the tour saw Ententies enjoy a cheese and cider tasting session at St Hippolyte – a popular stop! – which was then followed by a gala dinner in the evening. A suitably leisurely start to the last day still left time for a visit to the Pegasus Bridge Museum before the short hop to the ferry port at Ouistreham and the return sailing to Portsmouth for an evening arrival.
Once again, full breakdown support ensured any mechanical issues on participating Jaguars, old or new, were sorted quickly, though the breakdown team were pleased to report no major incidents (they even found time to repair a spectator’s wheelchair in Vannes!).

Planning for the 2009 Entente Cordiale is already underway and details will be posted soon at www.jaguar-world.com. Alternatively, call Lynne Beadle directly on 01959 543529 for more information.

An historic car at an historic site – behind Colin and Angela Willcox-Jones’ E-type you can see just a few of the thousands of prehistoric standing stones at Carnac
Vannes – the base for two days and three nights of the Entente and, on the first of those days, a great display of Jaguars which the local community greatly enjoyed
The display in Vannes just happened to see a coming together of Jaguar’s past and present: Brian and Camille Mellor’s XF alongside Curly Goodwin’s 1931 Austin Swallow
A Jaguar sea view. There was clearly only one sensible way to park your car at the Piriac-sur-Mer coffee stop…one of many picturesque stops on the tour
 The submarine pens at St Nazaire were opened to allow the Jaguars to park inside – it made for quite an eerie scene which many were keen to photograph Russ and Sue Peart’s subtly modified XKR cruising sedately through the quiet town of Beuvron-en-Auge, home to many an enticing pâtisserie
There’s no doubting which country the Jaguars were in! Edward and Jacqueline Day pass a sign for the local Stade Rennais football club in their XJ-S
 Also in Beuvron-en-Auge, these cyclists stopped to take a closer look at Mark Charles’ V12 E-type. The Jaguars attracted much attention wherever they stopped
 Quiet roads and beautiful countryside – it doesn’t get much better!Michael and Anna Ferguson’s 1949 Mk V – the only example on this year’s Entente
Pausing for thought before leaving the beautiful town of Honfleur
Homeward bound! A ferry deck packed with Jaguars made for quite a spectacle
Plenty of Jaguars at St Hippolyte – but just marshals in sight as the Ententies were inside enjoying cheese and cider tasting!
 Plenty of Jaguars at St Hippolyte (left) – but just marshals in sight as the Ententies were inside enjoying cheese and cider tasting! Back on English soil, Peter Plummer (right) proudly holds the Noel Barker Award – his XK was voted by other participants as the car they would most like to drive on next year’s event. Other award winners included David and Annie Render who took home the ‘Spirit of the Entente’ trophy, while the treasure hunt prize was won by Jon and Lela Daniels

 

 
  		 
Banner