Tuscany 2010 Diary
Wednesday 7th July. A leisurely start leaving home at 11am and meeting up with Steve and Lesley after just 20 minutes for the journey down with 2 nights in France and via Switzerland to Italy where we start to meet up with more of the group.
Our first stop at a favourite haunt La Cour de Remi in Bermicourt, France
8th July We set off for Beaune with pleaty of time, following the River Seine to it's source and stopping alongside for a lovely lunch. We stayed at Le Clos, a smal hotel in Montagny Les Beaune, highly recommended
9th July We head off for Lake Orta in Northern Italy where we join up with 2 more Ferraris, Bruce and Jan's 430 Spider and Ton's 355 Spider being taken to Tuscany by his friends Gijs and Jose. Had a fantastic drive over the Alps via the Col du Grand St Bernard
10th July We head for Tuscany meeting Andrea, Rachael and Alessio in their GranturismoS on the Autostrada and stopping for an excellent lunch at Rapallo where Ton, Veerle and Casper join us after their holiday on the French riviera. We drive on to Tuscany to join our friends Eugenio & Maura and Przemek & Weisla. Others are due to join us as the Week goes on.
11th July A day of rest in theory! well not quite, we've arranged for a television to watch the British GP and then as we have two and a half Dutch people with us we're obliged to watch the World Cup. No offence to any Spaniards but there were none in our group so we agreed to support Holland :) the result was not so good :(
12th July A proper day of rest. Gijs and Jose fly home and we are joined by Marc, Zoe, Evan and Marc's father John and also Mike and Natasha in their lovely JPS Lotus Esprit Turbo. Marc, Mike and Natasha had spent the previous few days at Classic Le Mans
13th July. A large part of the group head for Maranello for a factory tour, it means an early start at 6.30am but at least the roads are clear. We meet Simon and Mark P at Maranello and they come back to Tuscany for a couple of days. Bruce and Jan head off home via Monte Carlo and the riviera. The way home was via the hills, a fantastic drive
14th July A few of us head off on a nice drive to Montalcino for lunch and a tour of the Biondi Santi Winery
15th July Very much a day of rest although Simon and Mark P head for home, the rest of us stay around the pool
16th July A few of the Ladies take us for a drive in the local countyside, ending up in San Gimignano for an Ice cream :) Casper came in the back fo the California, plenty of space for a 9 Year old
17th July Time to leave Tuscany and to say goodbye to our friends. Katy and I head for a week in Lake Orta whilst others make their way home
We spent a lovely week in the lakes, meeting Eugenio, Maura and family for dinner and meeting new friends. We made one stop on the way home near Auxerre in France at a small Chateau Hotel 'La Cimentelle', again highly recommended - they even have garage space for Ferraris :)
So for us 18 Days, 2,880 Miles, 181 Gallons of fuel (15.9 MPG or 5.65km/ltr to save you working it out :) ) great friends, fantastic locations and great drives. The California was the perfect car for the job, quiet and comfortable for the motorway work, open top for the country drives, great handling and performance for the twisties. Lots more pics at http://www.collinsclan.co.uk/pages/cars/tuscany2010/index.html and http://www.flickr.com/groups/tuscany2010/

Can't wait for 2011