Big Entry for May Events

The very pretty MG TD of Jan & RokayaGrroeneveld

THE sunshine is here now, hopefully settled for the summer, and what a pleasure it is to get out a classic car and set off for the hills!

That is exactly what well over 80 people did last Saturday by joining in the CCCA May classic car run starting from Venta El Caserio which is on the main A-7 coast road between San Pedro and Estepona.

The sun did indeed shine and at one point the the thermostat was showing around 34 degrees.  Fabulous weather for May! Crews had enjoyed an excellent breakfast at Caserio, it’s always reliable there, whilst the registration process took place in the capable hands of Carol Giles and Angela Sharp.

A most marvelous and eclectic mix of classic, modern classics and even some moderns were gathered in the Car Park there and of special note were the glorious 1950’s MG TD of  Jan and Rokaya Groeneveld and the most beautiful drop-head Rolls Royce Silver Cloud 2 of Tony and Trish Minta.  Another fabulous Rolls Royce Corniche Convertible was in attendance driven by Jos van den Hoven and navigated by his lovely wife Gita.

Almost 40 cars prepared to head off in the direction of Estepona before leaving the A7 at Km.153 and taking the back road towards Casares and the climb up to the village, passing Venta Garcia, a popular lunch stop on previous CCCA runs.

Sadly, the gorgeous 1969 E-Type Jaguar of Haig Oundijan was in trouble, the electric cooling fans refusing to do their job on the long climb and forcing its owner to return to the coast rather than risk damage to its 6-cylinder, 4.2 litre engine.

No such problems existed for Clément Eijffinger and his wife Susan in their bright red Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spyder which was positively whizzing along like all Alfa Romeos love to do!

From Casares the route headed towards Gaucin and a fuel stop for those who needed it before continuing along the scenic A-369 in the direction of Ronda.  There are some excellent mirador along this road and many stopped to admire the view and take photographs.

Just as the route turned off to head down the A-373 to Cortes de la Frontera, came the first of two stops, this one for coffee or a beer and a tapa at Venta Solera.  This place is always much enjoyed as the owner there is famous for his game or venison-filled sausages that are so cheap to buy.  A wise choice for a stop by Run organiser, Ian Giles.

From here the route went via the old town of Cortes de la Frontera and looped around through spectacular countryside with wild flowers in abundance to arrive back on the A-369 Ronda- Algeciras road at Atajate.

The faster cars really were able to ‘stretch their legs’ on the next, very quick, section across the top of the fabulous A-369 to Ronda where the route turned south to head down the very long descent to San Pedro.  Often coaches are a problem here and cause traffic to bunch up and crawl down the hill but no such problems were evident and crews enjoyed the amazing views out over the Straits and to Gibraltar as well as the rapid descent.

Progress was stopped however, by a Giles-style ‘pit-Stop’ for a small glass of Cava and a chance for crews to relax and enjoy the sunshine and each other’s company before completing the final, short 14Km run down to lunch.

A first class menu was served by Michelle and her staff at Prado restaurant in the Monte Halconescentre just above San Pedro.  The restaurant had opened especially this Saturday for the CCCA and it was agreed by all that the food served was superb and with excellent, professional service to go with it.  I am sure many CCCA members will be returning!

The next event for the CCCA will be a display of classic cars in Mijas Pueblo this coming Saturday, May 18th.  The event will be in support of the art exhibition by famous artist Kelly Fischer in the Ayuntamiento there and so the Club will have around 20 cars on show.  Non members will be very welcome to come along, see the cars and enjoy a chat with members before they all go off to lunch in the Pueblo, leaving the cars one show for the duration.

The week after this, May 25th, sees the JEC ( Jaguar Owners Club) continue their programme of events with a car run and lunch.  I will have more on that in our next issue.

That’s it from until the next time!

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Written by

Ian Giles

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