Le Petit Tour 2026

Back in January myself and fellow Central London Club member Owen floated an idea, let's do a proper drive over the summer! I haven't been to Europe in my current car, and Owen was keen to do a trip in his. We could also see if a couple of other people would join.

By the start of February we had a plan. Drive to Italy to see the start of the Mille Miglia, and then head over to Switzerland to attend the International Seven meeting at Kumschick cars. Both events in the same week at the start of June, perfect! We pulled the trigger by booking the Hotel Centro Paolo VI in Brescia and then LeShuttle, now we were definitely going. We also got a third club member to join us, Howard from the West London group. 

Over April and May we started to get organised, with Howard booking hotels to flesh out a route and I created a tour guide. We got some kit together, like spare fuel cans and a few basic tools, and also sorted admin things like an Emovis tag for the French toll roads, a Crit'Air sticker that's required in some French cities, and an eVignette to drive in Switzerland. With the start date of Friday 5th June we met up the weekend before to compare notes. 

My car is the blue Super Seven 1600 and Owen's is the Super Seven 2000 that was originally used as the press demo car. It's a large chassis so can get a lot more stuff in it. Howard's car is a 270S that was built from a kit by Caterham school (CC ran a school builds scheme in the early 2010's). His car has harnesses which are a bit of a faff when touring, especially at toll booths! We all had half-hoods and shower caps, I took both my standard and long nose ones and used my full-hood bag for extra storage. The day before the start was torrential rain and thunderstorms over London which finally cleared away overnight. The forecast over France and Switzerland was rain clearing away, it all looked promising.

Day 1 - Folkestone to Nancy: Let's do this !

Our shuttle train from Folkestone was scheduled for 10:30 so we arranged to meet at Folkstone services by 9am. I got up around 5am to make sure I could get over the Dartford crossing without any issues. Owen had booked a hotel in Folkstone for the night, but work commitments meant he didn't get there till 4am. Not much sleep for him! We all managed to meet up at the LeShuttle terminal, with Owen still sorting out all the stuff in his car. He got lots of tour merchandise done, jackets, t-shirts and caps for all us, a nice touch.

The shuttle train is super efficient, just over 30 minutes to get to Calais. It takes me longer to get into Central London. And then we're off to the first destination, the Lorraine Hotel Nancy West. We start off on the main autoroutes but then cut across on quieter roads, everyone getting used to driving on the right and judging speeds in Kilometres. 

We're using a combination of Apple Maps and Waze, and trying to decide on the routes when we stop. It's quite tricky keeping 3 cars together on the road, but we do have PMR radios which prove very useful. It's quite a trek, nearly 500 kilometres, but by 6pm we arrive in Nancy. Howard managed to miss the turning into the carpark and then spent 20 minutes finding his way back as it was only accessable from one direction on the main road. That was a long day !

Day 2 - Nancy to Küssnacht: Getting the miles done.

After an early night we're all refreshed in the morning and aim to leave around 9am. The goal for today was to get to a hotel in Küssnacht at the start of the Swiss alps. Howard had actually lived there some years before, so had booked a known hotel. The weather keeps getting clearer as we head across France and I'm mostly just wearing a t-shirt and using the heater a bit. We manage to get split up along the way, then regroup, and deal with the French petrol stations where you have to guess how much fuel you want and prepay for it. The roads get more interesting as we head into Switzerland and by 4pm we're at the hotel.

So far so good and we've got the long distance miles out of the way.

Day 3 - Küssnacht to Brusimpiano: And then there were 5.

Today was always going to be the start of the driving fun, heading over the Gotthard Pass at 2,000 metres and then into Italy. We start of at 9am and stop just before the mountains to take some pics.

As we're parked up who should turn up but another Caterham ! 

It's some Swiss guy who is going to meet up with a mate and drive to Corsica. They're heading over the Gotthard so we follow him to meet up with the other car and get a coffee. It soon becomes apparent that the Swiss guys are hardcore fanatics ! They love modifying their Sevens, and also driving them like total lunatics.

At the start of the pass there's a traffic hold up, so they wave us down the hard shoulder and then we head up the old Pass road, some of which is cobble stones. Crazy. 

At the top of the pass we stop for a break and then the Swiss guys head off to the ferry port.

We head down into Italy and towards Lake Lugano. Mad roads and beautiful scenery. 

The destination is the Hotel Caroline, just off the Lake. The air temps begin to rise as we get into Italy and I test out my cooling vest. It's around 30C as we finally get to the hotel. Luckily it has a swimming pool.

As I cool off in the pool Owen and Howard send out a drone to take footage of the lake (Owen brought lots of gear!). We finish off a crazy day with an excellent dinner, a 7-course taster menu. This is why we decided to drive to Italy.

Day 4 - Brusimpiano to Brescia: Got to love Italy.

Today was a short drive, just over 100 miles to get to Brescia. That suits us fine as it's getting proper hot and we want to get to the hotel before their carpark fills up. There's a limited amount of space and a lot of the Mille Miglia participants will be staying there. We start off with a photo shoot outside the hotel as the staff want to get some publicity shots. 

Then head down more beautiful roads and some auto route to get into Brescia by 1pm. 

We get the last 3 parking spots, perfect timing.

For dinner tonight we are meeting up with my boss Michele and his girlfriend Simona (I work in Bologna), and as we wait Owen helps out some guys trying to put the roof on an XK140. 

It's cool staying at the main hotel with the participants and their cars.

Day 5 - Start of the Mille Miglia: Classic car madness.

After 4 days of driving we finally get a day off, it's the start of the Mille Miglia ! We have breakfast outside in the courtyard of the hotel, and there's lots of activity with people prep'ing cars and reading route books.

Owen has to catch up on work commitments so myself and Howard head out to the start road to check out the cars. There's an official start ramp section but as you head further down you can just mingle around with the cars. And we are talking serious cars.

We have lunch by the start and take in the atmosphere. By 3pm everything has gone quiet and later we head out for dinner in town. 

We start checking the weather forecasts as tomorrow we're heading back to Switzerland.

Day 6 - Brescia to Bormio: Yes it finally rained.

So overnight there were thunderstorms around Brescia, but by morning it was all sunny again. We do a sneaky photo shoot in the courtyard of the hotel, no one seems to mind.

Today's destination is Bormio, a small town in Italy just before the Stelvio Pass. Our goal was to stay there tonight and then do the classic Stelvio tomorrow. After 5 days of clear weather we finally hit a day of changeable conditions. We would be heading into the Italian alps and was it definitely going to rain. So we head off with some trepidation. We head North to the start of the mountains, it's ok so far but the clouds are gathering. 

And then it starts raining. We all put half hoods on and get use to using the windscreen wipers.

As we head into the mountains it's very wet and at some point Apple Maps takes us up a tiny alpine road. It's seriously muddy and the cars get covered in gunk. We get to a point where the road is so bad that we have to turn around and head back to something with tarmac. After a very challenging few hours we get to the hotel. Luckily there's an underground carpark! 

We all chill for a bit and then spend 2 hours cleaning the mud off the cars. The hotel is kinda nice and has pool tables so we spend the evening relaxing after a hard day.

Day 7 - Bormio to Menzberg: Debbie arrives.

After the drama of yesterday we wake up to clear skies. Today we have to head over the Stelvio Pass and into Switzerland to get to a hotel in Menzberg. 

We will be meeting the Essex legend Debbie who has just driven out across France to go to the International Seven meeting at Kumschick cars tomorrow. As we drive up into the mountains it gets proper cold, there's snow on the ground. 

At some point we take a wrong turn and miss part of the main Stelvio but it's still crazy roads across the alps. Around 2pm we get to the hotel which is in the hills outside a village. An hour later Debbie arrives in her 1980's X-flow. 

She has been coming to Switzerland for decades and knows the owners of the hotel. We have a nice dinner and then tomorrow is the International Seven meet up.

Day 8 - International Seven Meeting: Kumschick cars

So Kumschick cars is the Swiss dealership for Caterham, they have a long association with the factory and have been selling them since the 1980s. Every year they do a Seven meetup and that's the destination for today. It's also Owen's birthday and his partner Natalya has flown out to meet us. With ballons.

We get to the dealership around 4pm and have a look around. 

Soon lots of cars turn up and it's a proper Seven meetup. The Swiss love to customise their cars, almost nothing was standard spec.

Day 9 - Menzberg to Troyes

So finally we are heading home and Debbie is joining us for the first part. 

We start off heading back to Kumschick so Debbie can say goodbye, and then we are heading out to France.

At some point we get split up, Debbie heads out to the countryside whilst me and Howard are on the autoroutes. Owen is doing Teams calls whilst driving somewhere. It's also getting very hot now, over 30C.

The 3 of us finally regroup and head to the  Mercure Troyes Centre hotel. It's got an underground car park and air conditioning, which is blissful ! Debbie arrives shortly after, having taken a totally different route. We head out into town for a meal, then it's an early start tomorrow.

Day 10 - Troyes to Home.

So the final day. Debbie heads off to another stop over in France but we head straight to Calais on the autoroutes. The roads are quiet and we make good time. It's getting really hot now (next week would be 40C in France), and we're glad to get to the Shuttle terminal. After 2,000 miles we did have a small issue with Howard's car, one of his front tyres has a slow puncture. At one point it's only got 4psi remaining. Luckily we have a portable tyre inflator and we keep pumping it up.

And then we're back in England and canning it up to the M25. What an amazing trip ! It was everything that we hoped for and everyday was a mini adventure. A proper road trip.