Syd Stelvio - London to Lisbon Day 3
Le Mans to Limoge – 449km
Day three of the 2026 London Lisbon wasn’t the longest planned day of the event, but by the end of the day it certainly felt like some distance had been covered, and indeed some cars covered a bit more distance than others.
The heat increased dramatically today, with barely a hint of a cloud in the sky and no wind to take the edge off the temperature. For Dave and Jackie Batchelor in the Triumph TR4, it wasn’t just the sun that was cooking things, as they all but melted their ignition. It had quite literally been hot-wired at the distributor, after a mix up of polarities when attempting to diagnose another fault, caused a fry up of full English proportions in the British machine. Luckily, the Sweeps managed to find a new set of points somewhere in the depths of their truck, and car and crew were underway again.
A good job too, as the day ahead was a good one, with five enjoyable ‘Route’ sections, that transported the event through the typical rural landscape of mid-France, heading through the Loire Valley and skirting the cities of Tours and Poitiers on the way to Limoge. The rolling farmland was pretty enough, but the real highlights of the day were the picturesque towns and villages that dotted the route, with historic churches and traditional architecture leaving nobody under any illusion as to where they were. The buildings were often adorned with carefully coiffured horticulture, with climbing roses, fragrant wisteria and, of course, grape vines.
The lunch stop, when it finally came, built on this theme as the cars lined the cobblestone square of the town of Richelieu, built in the 17th century as a model of what a new town should be like. The locals, the Richelais, spent their time gawping at the motor cars now parked in their historic square, as all of the competitors enjoyed a leisurely lunch and an escape from the hot sun overhead.
It was a welcome respite, after a tough morning on the maps, tougher for some than others. Tony White and Terry O’Neill in the 1955 Austin Healey might have won the award for the most distance covered, with the Sweeps unsure where they were a lot of the time. At one point they lost them completely, and came upon them driving out of a field, how they had ended up doing that is known only to them and their God, perhaps they would be better with a 2CV.
The afternoon followed a similar pattern to the morning, but with some lengthy transit sections to get us across the distance to Limoge. There were delightful crossings over the multitude of rivers that flow through this part of the country, with the often-crystal clear waters looking particularly inviting as the heat of the day peaked. Agnete Segalstad and Rasmus Robak were feeling a little more heat than some, and not just because they are from Norway. The engine on the big Merc was running hot as their ignition timing was out, the issue rectified by the mechanics at the evenings halt.
Eventually all of the cars made it to Limoges, in the foothills of the Massif Central, promising higher things to come on day 4. We also welcome back Stephan Wagner and Gianna Theofilidou, and David Wilson and Stewart Rust, who have rejoined after their early troubles – albeit they are now in modern machinery. Let us see what tomorrow brings, as the event heads to Toulouse.
Syd.