To Cortina and Back in a Cortina By Glyn Dawson

When I learned of a trip to Cortina being organised by Graham Orchard of the MK2 Club I was excited as my wife Christine and I had heard from friends how good the previous trip had been somewhat 10 years ago. In March 2022 Graham sent details of the hotels (10 in all) and ferries and we went ahead and booked our place. Preparation was key and some months were spent getting our MK111 estate ready with everything needed, including a box full of spares should anything be likely to go wrong.

At last the day came on 2nd September to meet everyone at The Pump House, Maldon Essex and make our way to the ferry terminal at Harwich to catch the overnight ferry to Hook of Holland. In the morning we all met up on a car park and set off for the Louwman Museum where we parked up outside to show the cars off to visitors, and went in to see this excellent museum with many interesting cars, very well displayed.

The next journey was to our hotel in Nijmegen via the Kinderdijk Windmills and unexpectedly our road ended at a river crossing, so we drove onto a small ferry and continued our journey to our hotel which had been approximately 2 hours 30 minutes from the Louwman Museum. Evening was a get together where we enjoyed Pizza with fellow travelers.

Day 3 took us to Cologne in Germany which was a 1.5 hour drive to our hotel which, apart from getting stuck in a bus lane, was mostly motorway and next to our hotel was the impressive Motorworld Museum which housed a collection of Michael Schumacher’s racing cars and was also used for restoration of classics. We celebrated a great day in the evening in the bar with fellow travelers.

In the morning we had to get up early to journey to the Ford Factory outside Cologne for an arranged tour. We travelled in convoy so we could all arrive together. Firstly, we went into their museum of Ford cars and vans, this part of the huge factory was next to the River Rhein and we learned that cars were shipped along the river to sea ports in the Netherlands. Next we boarded a tourist train which took us inside the factory through all the processes of making a Ford Fiesta (no photographs were allowed here) mostly robots were used, people worked on the cars towards the end for testing purposes, everyone found the tour most interesting and informative.

After leaving the Ford Factory we had a long drive 3.5 hours on motorways to a pretty town called Speyer, the weather was very hot. Our hotel was luxurious with a restaurant round the corner. Some of our fellow travelers arrived much later than we did due traffic jams, so we had a well-earned rest and had a free day in Speyer following this journey. I spent part of the day washing the Cortina and helping a fellow traveler who needed a new diaphragm for their carburetor, which I had in my spares box, whilst Christine went round the shops and visited the Sea Life Centre.

The next day we had a 4 hour journey to Mittenwald still in Germany so we were away early before the heat of the day as with no air con it can be quite uncomfortable. The first part of the journey was motorway then we got a little lost so re-programmed the sat nav and luckily got on our way. Our route took us through part of Austria for which we had to stop and buy a Vignette at a services to comply with their motorway rules and we passed pretty villages and mountains. We had a rest day in Mittenwald and met up with fellow travelers to look round the town famous for violin making with a huge statue of a violin in the town square and a most beautiful church. At a bar in the evening we learned that The Queen had died which was a shock to us all.

The next day we were given specific instructions to meet at a car park in Cortina in Italy at 12 noon so we were up early for a 4 hour journey through the mountains and winding roads. Luckily we kept up with fellow travelers so we could help each other at petrol stations, toll roads and the like as we found this difficult not understanding the language and not many people speaking English. On arriving in Cortina it was raining which we didn’t expect but we were so happy to have arrived safely and drove in convoy around the town. The reception buffet at Hotel Cortina was amazing with a large cake beautifully decorated. We were joined by Cortina owners who had driven from Czech Republic, and in our party a couple joined us from Sweden and Holland. We stayed at Hotel Oasi for 3 nights sightseeing during the day and meeting up with fellow travelers in the evening.

A lovely time was had by all, our highlights being going up a mountain by cable car, such beautiful scenery. fantastic views and good company and of course we had to sample proper Italian Pizza. Part of the time was spent servicing the car, checking oil, water etc. by myself and other participants resulting in me digging out of my spare parts an alternator to lend out.

On day 11 we had to leave Cortina and drive to Riva Del Garda approximately 3.5 hours drive, this was quite challenging as the roads were narrow and mountainous (the Dolomites) and we were often stuck behind trucks and coaches but we arrived at our breathtakingly beautiful destination with space at the front of the hotel for our Cortina to be shown off.

Later in the hotel our organisers Graham and his partner Claire were presented with gifts for all their hard work organising the trip. We loved this location, the beautiful hotel gardens with Lake Garda through a gate at the end, good local restaurants, ice cream parlours and shops.

On our next journey we travelled to Turin driving round Lake Garda and then by motorway and toll roads to the city which was quite manic at times with other drivers changing lanes and speeding. Our hotel was part of a shopping complex but before this was a Fiat factory and the top of the hotel had been their test track also used in the film The Italian Job with minis chasing round on the roof. Leaving Turin we set off for Evian Les Baines in France where Evian water comes from, the journey was through the Alps and through the St Bernadine Tunnel which was quite exciting, they stopped us half way through to pay the toll charge and when we came out of the tunnel we had to buy another Vignette for crossing into Switzerland. Arriving at Evian we were thrilled to see our hotel was opposite Lake Geneva and we could see the boats on the water from our hotel window. Evening was spent in the restaurant with other travelers who we had got to know quite well by now.

Off to Dijon next through pretty villages and bumpy roads, Christine noticed that there were no lights showing on the adaptor plug for the sat nav and phone – we stopped to check things over and found a fuse needed replacing. All was well for the next 4 hours of the journey and we found our hotel in the centre of town with an underground car park. The town was busy with many shops and offices so we mainly stayed in the hotel bar and had a meal in the restaurant.

In the morning we managed to find our way out of Dijon and travelled around 3.5 hours to Chalons en Champagne which was a pretty town with Georgian style houses. We met with our organisers and Christine was booked on a champagne tour in the afternoon which she very much enjoyed and came back with the very best bottle of champagne after a tasting session. Evening was spent with everyone in a local restaurant being our last night away, no one wanted it to end.

Day 17 had arrived and we all set off for Calais over the pretty French countryside almost 3 hours of a journey which went OK until we ran over a pot hole/missing manhole cover in a rural area. The steering wasn’t quite as it should have been after that and we learned that a fellow traveler had suffered quite some damage to his Cortina after encountering the same hole in the road. Fellow travelers had a problem with their car overheating so we journeyed behind them until reaching Calais and miraculously everyone from our party who was booked on the ferry arrived at a similar time.

It is a holiday with a difference that we will never forget and if anyone contemplates doing this, just go for it, you won’t be disappointed. I had to replace the steering rack following the journey back, but overall I was very pleased with the car’s performance throughout the holiday. We’re looking forward to the next trip in another 10 years.