We were departing on Friday 8th Sept in the 7.40 am ferry from Dover. Pete and Lisa had decided to travel down to Dover and stop over on the Thursday while John and Glen had to travel down all the way from Scotland and have a few hours kip at the services !

Pikey and Jaffa met up at Bhav's at some unearthly hour only to find the 'Bat' wide awake and raring to go ! Some last min shuffling with cars and the club bunting, and merchandise was split into 3 cars. We had bought some walkie-talkies and tried & tested them at previous shows. Virtually all the cars would be equipped with these and that way no one would get lost and everyone would reach there in a convoy. It would also save us a fortune in phone calls ! Channel 7 on the radios and we were on the off ! 3 XRs trying to go out of a residential area at 2.05am on a Friday morning just aint happening ! Was there an option of whisper mode for any XR's ?

Meeting Point: 3am at Watford Gap Services and like clockwork, we met Gengis, John Mc and company. A group pic later and we all convoyed down towards Dover at a steady 60mph so to conserve the 98 ron and fill up on the other side of the pond where its a tad cheeper ! Pete and Lisa met us up on route and we could not have timed it better ! All that remained was John Bell. A hands free call confirmed that he was ahead of us and would meet us at Dover docks. We all met up well in time and everyone was surprised how well their cars had done to the gallon. Jaffa got our booking references and it was time to go through passport control. If anyone had forgotten their passport then this was the point where you were on your own. Everyone got through ok and as we were a bit early, we decided to pull over for a last glance at the white cliffs of Dover ! When we decided to go, Bhav's car would not fire up and after a few dozen cranks, the battery was going low! The boys decided to bump start it and some even suggested pushing in the channel Gits ! Bhav looked under the hood and the fuel filter was errr... EMPTY! The 5.0L engine did do well to the gallon; averaging 28mpg but that was on its last drop! John B to the rescue with a Jerry can. A few cupfuls down the carb and a shove and it fired up with a growl ! All systems go and people were relived that everyone was getting on the boat with their cars.

The Boat: We sailed with P&O, all we wanted to do was chill for a few hours after driving for hours in total darkness! John Mc soon found a comfy seat and was in the land of 'Ness' counting thistles !!! While some went in search for the max strength caffeine shot, others went to the Duty Free shops. Jaffa was disappointed as he could not find any Duty Free 'BLING' for his car ! John Mc must have only counted 40 thistles and it was time to disembark !

Driving on t'other side of the road: Touchdown in France and the weather was just fine! Now all we had to do was; 1) get used to driving on the other side of the road, 2) fill up with some cheep booze for the obligatory 'pimp my room' party and 3) get some 98 as some of us were running on 'fumes'! This done and it was no time at all before we were in Belgium and an ideal stop for the cheep ciggys to keep patch wearers nerves calm ! It was like a mini event every where we parked up ! Even at the shops gave everyone a chance to park up in formation and take some piccys ! If only set up at the shows was this easy !!!

A bit of a rest later and we headed on E40 (no not an additive but a motorway number !) towards Brussels. We had a choice, go round Brussels or go via Antwerp. With the cars sounding good, we it would be rude not to go through the Kennedy tunnel. It's an experience driving on the Motorways and one thing is 'taboo' and that is hogging the overtaking lane. Its just NOT done ! Everyone stays in the right and the if you are in a rush and want to overtake then venture out in the left (fast) Lane. Everyone was happy and got used to this arrangement very easily but the blast through the Tunnel was over very quickly ! But no matter how fast you are driving, there is always another car way in the distance behind you and as soon as you have pulled out to overtake, they are peeling the sticker off your rear screen ! Bumper to Bumper takes on a new meaning at 80mph ! This with a car behind you is one thing but a Trucks do the same ! If there is a bit of a gap for them to get their cab in between you and the car in front, then they will go for it ! One certainly did with Gengis but the driver of this cab must have forgotten that he had a 40 foot trailer attached ! We all stuck together and the hand signals from the XR4 Register crew were universally recognised ! Tempers were flaring so we decided to pull up at the services to chill and.... yes... take a few pics ! After the coffee break and the Antwerp 'ring road rage experience', we headed on towards Aachen along the E313- E314. Everyone's car seemed to have a strange 'force' acting upon them along this stretch of the motorway. A quick radio check with Doh and he said his TVR was ok. It could only be one thing... we were close to the slip road to Genk and the Ford factory. Obviously the XR4s wanted to go back to their roots ... understandable.

Touchdown: Everyone was a lot calmer and at ease that we had finally arrived without any mishaps. We were staying at the Bastion Hotel in Heerlen where we were greeted by Simone. She took one look at Jaffa and said 'there goes my quiet night' ! This was Jaffa's haunt whilst trucking in Europe. It was time to check in and get to the Bar ! We all decided that dinner at the hotel was best option as no one wanted to drive anywhere after being on the road for around 14 hours and some of us were awake for over 20 hours ! Dinner would be served at 8pm. The food was excellent and the prices were very reasonable. A few burps of our appreciation went to the Chef and it was time to hit the bar. Some opted to surf the web and have a look at the Trax report as there was 8meg internet access for free ! We just could not get used to the fact how cheep the bar was, unlike the hotel bar prices over here ! One thing though, the bar closed at midnight every night! This wasn't a problem as the bar in Bhav's room was open all hours !

Pimp my Room:Everyone brought different versions of their poison at the 'Pimp my Room' gathering and plenty of alcohol was consumed. John Mc and Glen Fiddich had retired after 1am but we were joined by another character we haven't seen before.... MR Hyde ! His personality is like his car ! A wolf in sheeps clothing ! Yes, this is the story of Gengis and Mr Hyde ! He only comes out once in a while and only after a lot of drinks ! Don't get on the wrong side of this Animal. Its a good job none of us had annoyed him ! Time was ticking and even Mr Hyde was succumbing to the tiredness or the effects of the alcohol or both perhaps ! It was time to hit the sack after our 1st day overseas !,