Classic Car Tours International

Name: Classic Car Tours International
Address: 5 Royston Road, Poulton Le Fylde, FY67JX, GB
Telephone: +441253884361
Price range: ££
Rating: 4.4

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Classic Car Tours International

European touring holidays for modern sports car and classic cars
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As a tour operator we design and organise escorted car tours in Europe for owners of modern sports cars or classic cars.We book the ferries and carefully choose stylish hotels in stunning locations.We also design scenic routes using great driving roads with interesting places of interest to visit en route including pretty villages, historic chateaux or villas, stunning gardens and fascinating mus

eums.Participants drive their own cars using our detailed roadbooks and marked maps and everyone has dinner together in the hotels each evening.A CCTI Tour Director accompanies each tour.

25/07/2024

Thursday, 25th July, 2024
2025 CROATIA COASTLINE SPRING TOUR
We are pleased to announce that our Croatia Tour is definitely on for 2025.
A 17-day tour, with 12 days in Croatia driving along almost the entire coastline from P**a, in the northwest, to Dubrovnik.
Our tour starts with an afternoon ferry crossing from Dover to Calais then we drive 25 miles to our Chateau Hotel for the night, near St.Omer.
We then spend the next 4 days driving to Croatia with overnight stops in Epernay, Beaune, Cogne in Italy and Lake Garda
On our, first day in Croatia, we drive east from Lake Garda to Triste then through Slovenia to the Croatian border where our tour of Croatia starts.
Our first two days are spent on the Istrian peninsula, in Porec.
On the morning of our second day in Croatia, we explore local hilltop villages on the Istrian Peninsula.
The next day we drive around the Istrian coastline via Rijeka to the island of Krk, the largest of the Adriatic islands where our next hotel is based.
The following day, we travel down the coastline visiting Zadar to Trogir, a small island and one of the jewels of the Dalmatian coast.
Our hotel, tonight, is in Split, which gives you plenty of time to explore the old town.
The following day, we visit the Krka National Park near Sibenik and take a boat ride from Skradin to visit the magnificent lakes and waterfalls.
We then continue down the coastline to Drvenik where we catch the ferry to another island, Hvar, where we stay for 2 nights in the charming harbour town which gives the island its name. The following day we relax around Hvar.
We then leave the island of Hvar and drive down the coast to Ploce where we take another ferry to Trpanj on the Peljesac peninsula famous for its oyster farms and vineyards.
Our hotel is in the pretty town of Orebic. The following day we take the car ferry to the nearby island of Korcula and drive around this pretty island before returning to Orebic. We then leave the peninsula and drive down the coast to Dubrovnik, "the jewel in the Adriatic crown" where we spend the next three nights.
The following day we explore Dubrovnik on foot.
The next day we drive south across the border into the independent country of Montenegro where we visit another UNESCO World Heritage site, Kotor, before arriving in the new jet-set destination of Port Montenegro.
We return to our hotel in Dubrovnik late afternoon.
On our 11th day in Croatia, we leave Dubrovnik and take the motorways northwest through the mountains to Rijeka.
The next day we take the motorway across the Slovenian border into Italy and across to Lake Garda to our hotel for the last night of the tour.
For full details of this tour, see our website:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/2021-croatia-coastline-tour/

12/07/2024

Thursday, 11th July 2024
LE TOUR DE FRANCE
The world's greatest sporting event came through our village today and we were there to witness it!

09/07/2024

2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Day 14 Friday, June 28th
Our tour of the Italian Lakes officially ends today although 4 cars are continuing to Lake Annecy in France on the way back home.
We've spent 13 glorious days driving through Europe, 8 of which were spent in Italy.
These are the Italian Lakes that were included in our itinerary:
Lake Orta, Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Piana, Lake Como, Lake Lecco Lake Mezzo, Lake Iseo and finally Lake Garda.
In addition to the above in Switzerland, our route included Lake Lucerne, Lake Sarner and Lake Lungern.
Arriverderci Italie!
To see the entire tour see our website:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/tours/

08/07/2024

2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Day 13 Thursday, June 27th
A clockwise tour of Lake Garda ( 80 miles )
Today we enjoy a leisurely drive around Lake Garda in a clockwise direction enjoying dramatic scenery further north ending in impressive rocky cliffs, sometimes swathed in pines that hug the shoreline of the northern tip.
Our morning coffee stop is at Gardone Riviera just north of Salo where you can visit the fascinating Il Vittoriale Villa and beautiful botanical gardens.
The route then takes us clockwise up the western shore of Lake Garda stopping to admire Limone Sul Garda before arriving at Riva del Garda, our lunchstop, at the top of the lake and Lake Garda's most famous holiday resort.
In the afternoon we drive down the east shoreline of Lake Garda to our first coffee stop, Malcesine, which after Sirmione is arguably the prettiest village on the lake.
We then return to Desenzano-del-Garda.
Dinner tonight is in the hotel's restaurant in Desenzano overlooking the lake

06/07/2024

Saturday, 6th June 2024
2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Day 12 Wednesday, June 26th,
A day exploring Desenzano and Sirmione ( no driving today )
After breakfast, we visit the Desenzano town centre with its restaurants, bars and cafes.
Late morning we can take a boat ride to nearby Sirmione, described as "the jewel in the crown" of Lake Garda.
Sirmione is a charming and atmospheric, medieval town on a peninsula at the south of the lake a couple of miles east of Desenzano.
The town can only be accessed on foot by crossing the moat of a 16th-century castle at the town's entrance. We then return to our hotel.
Dinner, tonight, is in the hotel's restaurant.

05/07/2024

Friday, 5th July
2024 TOADS' CHAMPAGNE/ BURGUNDY AND ALSACE TOUR
Day 11 Tuesday, June 25th
Bagni di Bormio to Desenzano del Garda, Lake Garda, ( 167 miles)
Leaving the Stelvio Pass, we drive over the Bernina Pass, (2,328 metres )then via Tirano over the Aprica Pass,( 1181 metres ) to Aprica our lunch stop.
After lunch, we continue via Edolo to Lake Iseo, and down the west shoreline, passing the Riva Boat factory, to Iseo at the bottom of the lake.
We then drive via Brescia to Sant' Eufemia and the Mille Miglia museum, our afternoon coffee stop, just 2 miles east of Brescia.
It is then only half an hour to our hotel for the next three nights in Desenzano-del-Garda on Lake Garda, at the bottom of the lake.
Our hotel is a 5-minute walk from the town centre and overlooks Lake Garda.
Dinner, tonight, is in the hotel's restaurant.

05/07/2024

Monday, 24th June, 2024
DAY 10, 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Malgrate, Lake Como to Bagni di Bormio, Italy via the Stelvio Pass ( 155 miles)
We leave our hotel and drive up the eastern lakeshore of Lake Como to the north of the lake where we leave Lake Como and head north to Chiavenna.
We cross the Swiss borderand drive through the scenic Bregaglia valley and then over the Maloja Pass,1,815 metres where we stop for photos.
We then descend and drive alongside Lake Silvaplaner to our lunch stop, a hotel in St Moritz overlooking the lake.
After lunch, we drive northeast to Zernez then over the Ofen Pass/Pass dal Fuorn, (2,149 metres) to Santa Maria.
Here we cross the border into Italy to Glorenza then via Prato a Stelvio and Gomagoi, to Trafoi our coffee stop at a hotel with stunning views.
From here we start to drive up the Stelvio Pass eastern slope with 48 hairpin bends all numbered individually from Trafoi. We eventually arrive at the summit, 2,760 metres which is effectively a village. Here we stop to absorb the view down the eastern slope before descending the Stelvio Pass western slope stopping to take photos.
From the summit to the bottom of the western slope is approximately 10 miles and then it is 5 minutes to our 5 * hotel, the Grand Hotel Bagni Nuovo, at Bagni di Bormio at the foot of the Stelvio, just next to Bormio.
This is a wonderful, atmospheric hotel and spa resort so there will be an opportunity to relax in the various pools in this magnificent setting surrounded by mountains.
Dinner, tonight is in the hotel's dining room.

30/06/2024

Sunday, 23rd June, 2024
DAY 9, 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Malgrate, Lake Como, local excursion ( no driving today )
Today is a free day with an option to visit nearby Bellagio.
Dinner, tonight is in the hotel's gourmet restaurant.

30/06/2024

Saturday, 22nd June, 2024
DAY 8, 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Orta San Giulio to Malgrate, Lake Como, Italy ( 155 miles )
We leave Lake Orta and drive 20 miles east to Lake Maggiore where our morning coffee stop is the stylish Stresa overlooking the Borromean islands.
We then continue north up the lake to Cannobio, our lunch stop.
After lunch, we drive clockwise around the lake and then down the eastern lake shore to Luino where we leave Lake Maggiore and drive east back into Switzerland to Ponte Tresa.
We then drive around the southern shore of Lake Lugano on a charming, picturesque minor road via Morcote, through stylish Lugano to the top of Lake Lugano, at Porlezza, where we leave the lake and drive east over the mountains passing the tiny Lake Piano to our afternoon coffee stop in Menaggio on the western shore of Lake Como.
We then take the car ferry to Varenna on the eastern shore of Lake Como then drive down to Malgrate, near Lecco, at the bottom of the lake, where our hotel, for the next two nights, is based overlooking the lake
Dinner tonight is in the hotel's restaurant.

23/06/2024

Friday, 21st June, 2024
DAY 7 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
A day relaxing around Orta San Giulio, Lake Orta, Italy.
Today we relaxed around Orta San Giulio, with a boat ride to the island of San Giulio followed by lunch in the main square and then a walk up to Sacro Monte, a UNESCO heritage site.
According to tradition, it was Onorato, the seventh bishop of Novara who in the 6th century recognized the strategic position of the island, and in general of the area of Lake Orta, as a defensive bulwark against a possible invader coming from the Simplon and heading towards the Novara plains. Recent archaeological investigations have highlighted that the island began to be fortified between the 5th and 6th centuries.
In the 11th century, it was described by Arnulf as an impregnable municipium. .According to a still debated tradition, the castrum built by Onorato is identified as the castle on the island mentioned by the poet and bishop of Pavia Ennodius.
The castle incorporated the remains of the church built by San Giulio inside a tower later transformed into a prison.
Archaeological investigations on the island have demonstrated the antiquity of human presence, attested from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.
According to the legend of the life of San Giulio in Roman times, the site was abandoned. It is possible however, although archaeological evidence is lacking, that the island was a pre-Christian cult centre.
This would explain both the reason why the evangelist decided to build the first church there, around 390, and the symbol overshadowed by the legendary infestation of snakes and dragons. Such reptiles would therefore be an allegory of Evil and, in this specific case, according to the Christians of those times, of paganism. Archaeological investigations have highlighted the remains of an ancient church, dated between the end of the 5th and 7th centuries, providing a historical basis for the Legend.
The Sacro Monte di Orta (literally: "Sacred Mountain of Orta") is a Roman Catholic devotional complex in the comune of Orta San Giulio (Piedmont, northern Italy) on the summit of a hill known as San Nicolao, on the eastern shore of Lake Orta. It is one of the Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. It is a stop-over on the CoEur devotional path.
Many of the artworks are of a high quality, some of the most highly thought of painters and sculptors of the period having been commissioned to produce them. The vegetation of the Sacred Mountain runs down to the shores of Lake Orta and was designed in line with ornamental criteria to match the architecture.
Construction of the complex, dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, began in 1583. The project by the Capuchin friar Cleto da Castelletto Ticino involved 36 chapels, of which only 20 were built. Until 1630 they were mostly in the Mannerist style, but from the mid-17th century, Baroque and other influences predominated. Construction ended in 1788.

23/06/2024

Thursday, 20th June
DAY 6 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Lake Sarner, Switzerland to Lake Orta, Italy.
Leaving Wilen, we headed south down the west bank of Lake Sarner, then our route took us up the Brunig mountain pass to Meiringen where we drove over the Grimsel Pass to Gletch.
Here we drove south to Brig and up the Simplon Pass where we enjoyed lunch on the summit.
We then descended the Simplon Pass southern slope over the Italian border and took the motorway southeast to Lake Orta, the first of our Italian lakes.
We then drove down the eastern shore of this pretty, yet little-known, lake to Orta San Giulio where our stylish hotel, a converted monastery, was based on the lake in the centre of this beautiful medieval town.
Orta St Giulio is absolutely captivating with its cobbled streets and historic buildings with frescoes with a charming square, on the lakeside.
The town overlooks Isola San Giulio, a mysterious island that we can visit tomorrow by a 10-minute boat ride.
Dinner tonight is in the hotel's restaurant overlooking the lake.

21/06/2024

Wednesday, 19th June
DAY 5 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Today we relaxed around Lake Lucerne.
After lunch with Bev and Alan, in a charming lakeside restaurant in Beckenried on the southern shore of Lake Lucerne, we literally jumped on the pedestrian ferry only to be told that it wouldn't return for 3 hours!
Anyway, a delightful sunny afternoon ensued and was spent on the classic paddle boat which took us to the east of Lake Lucerne amongst dramatic scenery.
All in all a wonderful, memorable afternoon!

18/06/2024

Tuesday 18th June
Day 4, 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Riquewihr to Wilen, Lake Sarner, Switzerland ( 185 miles)
We're leaving Riquewihr this morning in brilliant sunshine to drive 10 miles to Eiguisheim, one of France's most beautiful villages, where we'll stroll around the picturesque streets.
We then drive 20 miles to Mulhouse to visit the world-famous Schlumpf collection/motor museum now known as the French National Automobile Museum.
The Sclumph houses a fantastic collection of classic cars including the world's largest collection of Bugattis.
We then drive across the river Rhine into Germany and up another mountain pass to our lunch stop, a traditional German auberge.
After lunch, we drive through the Black Forest eventually crossing the border into Switzerland.
We then head south over the Glaubenberg pass to Sarnern, on Lake Sarner, where our hotel for the next two nights is based nearby.
Dinner tonight is in the hotel's restaurant overlooking Lake Sarner.

17/06/2024

Sunday 16th June 2024
DAY 2, 2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Today we travelled from St. Omer, near Calais to Echternach, Luxembourg.
After a morning on the French and Belgian motorways, we eventually arrived in the Ardennes countryside.
Durbuy was our planned lunch stop but on arrival, it was clear that it was full of visitors with no parking spaces free so we drove on to nearby Barvaux where we sampled a leisurely lunch in a local hotel.
In the afternoon we enjoyed our drive into Luxembourg on scenic roads, finally arriving in Echternach where our hotel was located in the woods near the German border.
It's a few years since we last stayed here and some recent hotel reviews were not too positive but any doubts soon disappeared with a welcome glass of champagne served by friendly staff. The rooms too, had been recently refurbished.
Finally, dinner served in the stylish restaurant was voted a huge success by our clients.
See the hotel: https://www.hotel-belair.lu/

15/06/2024

Saturday, 15th June, 2024
2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
Dover to Calais then Calais to Sant Omer
Today is the first day of our tour and participants crossed the channel from Dover to Calais from where it was a simple late afternoon drive of 25 miles to our hotel in Sant Omer.
For our full itinerary see our website:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/2021-italianlakes/

06/06/2024

Thursday, 6th June
In a previous post, I'd talked about my first sports car, a Swallow Doretti which I purchased in 1995, as an undergraduate at Manchester University.
Anyway, here it is in 1966 at Gilpin House in Cumbria's Lyth Valley with old school pals, John Kitchingman, Myke Treasure, and Dave Walker.
That was 58 years ago!

03/05/2024

Friday, 3rd May 2024
2024 LAKE DISTRICT AUTUMN TOUR
Following our successful tour in 2021 we're going back to the beautiful Lake District in north-west England, now a UNESCO world heritage site.
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and the Cumbrian mountains; and for its literary associations with Beatrix Potter, John Ruskin, and the Lake Poets.
SUMMARY ITINERARY
A 5-day tour of the scenic English Lake District, a UNESCO world heritage site, using an iconic hotel situated on Lake Windermere, the Lakeside Hotel, in Lakeside, just a couple of miles from Newby Bridge at the south-western end of the lake
Our itinerary incorporates visits to a dozen of the region's major lakes as well as driving over 5 of the major mountain passes: Wrynose Pass, Hard Knott Pass, Kirkstone Pass, Honister Pass and Whinlatter Pass.
Our route incorporates visits to pretty towns and villages including: Hawkshead, Bowness-on-Windermere, Grasmere, Keswick and Ambleside as well as visits to the Lakeland Motor Museum and The Jetty Boat Museum. There is also an option to take a trip on a passenger ferry on Lake Windermere.
For full details of this tour visit our website:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/tours/

24/04/2024

Wednesday, 24th April 2024
2024 ITALIAN LAKES TOUR
June 15th-28th 14 days/13 nights
due to a cancellation, we have a space on this tour.
A 14-day tour starting with an afternoon ferry crossing from Dover to Calais where we travel to St. Omer to spend our first night in a hotel.
The next morning we set off on our grand tour travelling through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, into Switzerland then Italy.
Our route takes us over a dozen mountain passes including the most iconic and notorious Stelvio Pass at 2,760 metres, (9,055 ft).
Days 2 and 3 include some motorway and main road sections to make covering the distance a little easier.
Once in Switzerland, we have two nights on Lake Sarner near Lake Lucerne.
We next arrive on Lake Orta, the first of our Italian lakes, where we spend two nights. We then drive around Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano to Lake Como where we spend a further two nights.
From Lake Como, we drive to St. Moritz where we enjoy lunch, then drive up the eastern slope of the Stelvio Pass to Bormio where we spend the night in a 5-star hotel at the foot of the Stelvio Pass.
The next day we drive over three more mountain passes via Lake Iseo, to Desenzano del Garda on Lake Garda, the largest of the Italian Lakes, where we spend the last three nights of the tour.
For full details of this tour, see our website:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/2021-italianlakes/

01/04/2024

Monday, 1st April 2024
It's just a week to the start of our 2024 Brittany Spring Tour, a 10-day clockwise tour of Brittany starting in St. Malo and finishing in Le Havre.
On this tour, we stay in 4 different hotels, all of which are members of the luxury "Relais et Chateaux" hotel group, and in each hotel, we stay for 2 nights making the tour quite relaxed.
Our tour starts with an overnight ferry crossing to St. Malo from Portsmouth.
In the morning, our coffee stop is the old Port Ke Jeruzal, near Dinan. Our lunch stop is the Classic Car Museum in Loheac. Our afternoon coffee stop is Rochefort en Terre.
We then drive south to our 5* chateau hotel east of Vannes in Southern Brittany where we stay for two nights.
The next day we drive to Port Navalo on the southern tip of the Golfe de Morbihan for our morning coffee stop. We then drive up the east coast of the Golfe to Vannes, our lunch stop, where there is an option to take a leisurely boat ride around the Golfe du Morbihan before returning to our hotel in Missillac.
The next day we leave Missillac and drive west to La Trinite, our morning coffee stop,
followed by the Presqu'ile Quiberon peninsula where we have lunch in Quiberon. We then visit the Alignments/Standing Stones in Carnac before arriving in the pretty port of St. Cado, our afternoon coffee stop. Our hotel for the next two nights is another member of the Relais et Chateaux group, in Kervignac.
The next day we drive to nearby Lorient where we visit the Eric Tarbarly Sailing Museum and Submarine Museum. Our lunch stop is Pont Aven, famous for the artists that it attracted in the 19th century. Our afternoon coffee stop is Concarneau on the coast. We then return to our hotel in Kervignac.
The next day we drive west to the Audierne peninsula where our morning coffee stop is the pretty village of Pont Croix. Our lunch stop is Audierne before driving around the coast to Locronan, one of France's most beautiful villages. Our hotel for the next 2 nights is a hotel overlooking a magnificent bay. near Plonevez-Porzay.
The next day we explore the region to the north. Our morning coffee stop is Morgot followed by lunch in Camaret sur Mer before returning to our hotel.
On our 8th day, we drive east to Huelgoat, our morning coffee stop.
Our lunch stop is Morlaix, once one of the largest ports in the English Channel. We then take the scenic coastal road to Le Dibden our afternoon coffee stop. We then continue around the coast via Plougasnou to Locquirec, where our hotel for the next two nights is located overlooking the sea.
On our 9th day, we explore the pretty coastal region to the west of Locquirec with lunch in Ploumanac'h and afternoon coffee in Perros Guirec.
On our 10th and final day, we drive via St. Malo to Le Havre to catch the overnight ferry back to Portsmouth.

26/03/2024

Tuesday, 26th March 2024
Following up on my previous post when I featured my first sports car, yes it was a Swallow Doretti.
One of only 176 in the world, a roadster with a 4 Speed Manual and an “A type Laycock De- Normanville” overdrive unit powered by a 4-cylinder 2.0 litre engine borrowed from Triumph.
They were rare, outstandingly well-made and beautiful cars. Produced by the Swallow Sidecar Company, the Swallow Doretti was introduced in the Autumn of 1954 to international critical acclaim.
The Swallow Doretti was the only car built by Swallow Coachbuilding Company (1935) Ltd – at the time, a subsidiary of the Tube Investments Group – and was only made between 1954 and 1955.
It was intended for export to the U.S. market, to provide a more refined two-seater British sports car than was available at that time. It is believed only 276 cars were made.
Based on the Triumph TR2 - using Triumph TR2 mechanicals – the car used Swallow's own design of box-section tube chassis, which provided improved stability, with a wider track and longer wheelbase. The body was double-skinned, having an inner structural skin of steel and an aluminium outer.
Tested by The Motor magazine in 1954, the car achieved a top speed of fractionally more than 100 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 12.3 seconds. The Doretti however, was considerably more expensive than its donor Triumph TR2.
Built to an extremely high standard the Doretti design concept was intended to appeal to an up-market buyer with an eye-watering price tag of £1,102.00 compared with the TR2 at £910.00.
Based around a tubular Reynolds 531 Chromalloy ladder chassis, the Doretti design featured a handsome Italian-influenced aluminum body with a large Ferrari-style front grill, sweeping front fenders and gently bobbed, distinctly British rear end.
With race-bred engineering in its veins, the Doretti was, at the time, one of the best-handling English cars made. Production was shut down in 1955.
The photo features an example that was sold recently,
It's the same colour as mine but with wire wheels.
In the summer of 1966, when cruising down Blackpool promenade, it was often mistaken for an AC Cobra, due to its distinctive grill!

23/03/2024

Saturday, 23rd March 2024
People often ask me "what was your first sports car?"
Well, the answer is here in the photo.
I bought this car in December 1965 for £129 and ten shillings when I was an undergraduate at Manchester University studying Management Sciences.
At the time I still had my first car, a 1275cc Ford Popular, affectionately referred to as a "sit up and beg" Pop, so that made me probably one of the few undergraduate with two cars!
Anyway, back to the photo. When I purchased the car, from a motor dealer in St. Annes on Sea, the bodywork was immaculate, which is not how it appears in the photo.
During the University's 1966 Rag Week, after a heavy drinking session, I crashed the car one night somewhere in the countryside around Macclesfield whist racing Philip Morgan, a mate in his 1275 Mini Cooper S.
Neither I, nor my passenger Humphey Odd, was hurt, but as you can see the car was bashed up a bit.
I learned a few things that night:
1. Drinking alcohol does not enhance your driving skills
2. A brand new Mini-Cooper S goes around corners faster than a 1950s sports car on bald tyes.
I sold the car in 1966 on a dark rainy night for £85 to a post-graduate living in my street in Didsbury and I was never more relieved to sell a car!
I learned recently that an immaculate example of this car can now be worth in excess of £80,000 but I'm glad I took the money at the time!
Anyway, is there a petrolhead out there who can name the make and model?

22/03/2024

Friday, 22nd March 2024
Spring is certainly here.
I heard my first cuckoo of 2024 yesterday here in the Lot in south-west France

27/02/2024

Tuesday, 27th February 2024
People often ask me how I got into organizing car tours.
Well, my first proper car tour was in this actual car,, a Ford Galaxy 500 and in 1970 I drove it from New York to Los Angeles a distance in excess of 3,000 miles.
I was delivering the car for a New York-based "Driveaway Agency" which arranged the delivery of cars on behalf of owners who were re-locating and didn't fancy the prospect of driving their personal car thousands of miles across America.
Accompanied by Dave, my 17-year-old younger brother, we set off from New York on a Friday afternoon, and fought our way through 5 lanes of heavy traffic towards Pennsylvania on our route to California.
As you can judge from the photo, it was a very big car, over 17ft long, with a huge 7-litre engine.
It was also the first time that I'd driven a car with an automatic gearbox so our departure from New York was a little daunting.
Our route took us via Chicago, Denver, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas before arriving in Los Angeles 10 days later.
With the exception of one night when we stayed in a hotel, we slept in the car each night and met all sorts of fascinating characters, it was a true adventure.
The amazing thing is that the total cost of fuel, for a trip of over 3,000 miles, was less than £40, ( in those days a pound was equivalent to 2.5 dollars and petrol was so cheap).
This was certainly the age of bargain car travel!

11/02/2024

Sunday, 11th February 2024
Why not join us on our 2024 Italian Lakes Tour?
June 15th-29th

A 14-day tour with 9 nights spent in hotels on lakes: Lake Lucerne 2 nights, Lake Orta 2 nights, Lake Como 2 nights and Lake Garda 3 nights

We also visit other lakes, including, Lake Sarner, Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano Lake Piano and Lake Iseo.
Our tour starts with an afternoon ferry crossing from Dover to Calais where we travel to St. Omer to spend our first night in a hotel. The next morning we set off on our grand tour travelling through France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, into Switzerland then Italy.
Our route takes us over a dozen mountain passes including the most iconic and notorious Stelvio Pass at 2,760 metres, (9,055 ft).
Days 2 and 3 include some motorway and main road sections to make covering the distance a little easier.
Once in Switzerland, we have two nights on Lake Lucerne before arriving at Lake Orta the first of our Italian lakes where we spend two nights.
We then drive around Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano to Lake Como where we spend a further two nights.
From Lake Como, we then drive to St. Moritz where we enjoy lunch, then drive up the eastern slope of the Stelvio Pass to Bormio where we spend the night in a 5-star hotel at the foot of the Stelvio Pass.
We then drive over three more mountain passes via Lake Iseo, to Desenzano del Garda on Lake Garda, the largest of the Italian Lakes, where we spend the last three nights of the tour.
There is an option, at the end of the tour, to spend the night on France's Lake Annecy on the way back to Calais.
For full details of our tour see our website:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/2021-italianlakes/

03/02/2024

Saturday, 3rd February 2024
Last bookings being taken for our 2024 Brittany Spring Tour
This is a 10-day tour of France's Brittany region with its stunning coastline.
Our 10-day clockwise tour of Brittany starts with a Portsmouth-St. Malo overnight ferry and finishes with a Le Havre -Portsmouth overnight ferry crossing.
On this tour, we stay in 4 different hotels, two of which are members of the luxury Relais et Chateaux group, and in each hotel, we stay for 2 nights making the tour quite relaxed.
Our route takes us south to Vannes on the Morbihan Gulf in southern Brittany and from there we drive west along the southern coastline, up the west coast and up to the scenic north coast of Brittany.
See our website for full details of our tour:
https://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/2020-brittany-tour

Address

5 Royston Road
Poulton Le Fylde
FY67JX

Telephone

+441253884361

Website

http://www.classiccartoursinternational.co.uk/

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As a tour operator CCTI designs and organises car tours in Europe for owners of modern sports cars or classic cars. We book the ferries and carefully choose stylish hotels in stunning locations. We also go to great lengths to find great driving roads and design scenic routes with places of interest to visit en route including pretty villages, historic chateaux or villas, stunning gardens and fascinating museums. Participants drive their own cars using our detailed roadbooks and marked maps and everyone has dinner together in the hotels each evening. A CCTI Tour Director accompanies each tour to ensure that the tour is smooth running and that all participants, whether new or repeat clients, are made welcome.