Marilyn and David's Wedding Anniversaries.

Ninth, in September 2011, on the Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club trip to Austria in the 1976 Daimler Double Six Avon-Stevens Convertible.

Day One, Wednesday 31st August.

We boarded the 08.50hrs Shuttle for France and immediately found ourselves separated from the rest of the group by the loading staff!  There was ample time to put the hood down and prepare for the Continent. It was then a longish drive of 214 miles, much on motorway, to the first Hotel Quartier Latin in Marche-en-Famenne in the Ardennes region of Southern Belgium. This is a beautifully green and forested area.  We did find a nice restaurant for our lunch, but the service was very strange to say the least. After a wait of about 30 minutes from ordering, the waiter came to tell us that the machine for slicing ham had broken down and would we like to choose something else! Consequently, our "brief" lunch stop extended to 75 minutes. We ended up being about the last to arrive at the hotel but there was one compensation in that we had underground parking and the car hood could be left down.

Marche-en-Famenne was a delightful old-fashioned town with lots of cobbled streets and an impressive central square: well worth walking around and enjoying the atmosphere. There was an extensive sitting out area in front of the hotel and many of the group congregated there after arrival. We were treated later to a typical Belgian dinner and were able to meet all the other participants for the first time.