I've been meaning to do this for ten years, watching Top Gear in Vietnam reminded me that however grueling it was on occaisions, it was a holiday, and great fun.

1997 marked the 50th Anniversary of Innoccenti, manufacturers of Lambretta scooters from 1947 to 1971

To mark the occasion there was a rally in Milan . . . . . rather than stick the scooter in a van, pull it out on the outskirts of town and ride in like a vast majority did, a group of us decided we'd ride to Milan, all the way, on 1950's lambrettas . . .

having re commissioned this Li125 found in Worthing, I used it for commuting to work for a few months and covered 900 miles with total reliability . . .

loaded up and ready to go.

We headed for Portsmouth to get the ferry to Cherbourg on the Saturday morning . . .I conked out in Chichester in traffic!

later diagnosed as a demagnetised flywheel, it eventually restarted and we made it to the port ok.One other minor delay, me again! and we stopped for the night near Saint Mere Eglise a wonderful French house run as a B&B.

I had a nightmare run on the Sunday stopping a dozen times with a blocked carburetor, I think we only made it as far as Chatau du Loir just south of LeMans, just our luck the 24 Hour race was the same weekend and everywhere was full up . . .some nice cars about though.

On the MOnday morning I removed the fuel tank, washed out all the corrosion silt, fitted a massive renault filter and the problem was solved. thereafter the bike ran faultlessly . . . apart from the flywheel falling a apart in Milan!

I can't remember where this is, somewhere between LeMans and St Ettienne and another leisurely lunch stop

we stopped in Thiers for a night

quite a pretty part of France

then headed to St Ettienne for Lunch, as one does

then east to Grenoble for a night stop there. We got lost heading out of town, only to be pulled over by a French registered Citroen driven by an Englishman who guided us out of town and up one of the biggest hills I've ever seen . . . . the Alps.

it gets quite hilly here . . .

and the weather wasn't great

once at higher altitude and in the wet, the bikes started running very rich, we were literally down to first gear, Mark actually had to get off and walk the last few hundred yards as his scooter wouldn't pull him as well.

Once we'd made it to the top at Briancon we steamed down the otherside toward the Italian border

once we'd crossed the border everything changed . . . the sun came out, as did the requirement to look cool . . . we're in Italy!

From here on it was a luxuriant warm cruise into Turin. . . at 75mph with the clutch in down some of the hills!

I seem to have lost a night stop somewhere, Turin was Thursday night, we took the penthouse suite at the Hotel Plaza, not because we were being flash, it was the only place with 6 beds!

Friday was merely a cruise from Turin to Milan singing Edwin Starr, 25 miles to myself for 4 hours and slowing down to smell the coffee at the Lavazza factory . . .after a weeks journey (and a lot of lunches) we arrived at a woeful campsite at the end of the city airport runway! 960 miles for that! Apparently the previous day had been a total washout with a flooded field . . we were the lucky ones only to have to tolerate a million mosquito's!

dressed up (sort of) having met up with Henry, far right, for the night out on Saturday.

L-R Mark, Adam, Emma, Andy, Lester, Henry, its me taking the dreadful photo, I elected to take throw away cameras and kept one in my jacket pocket, literally snapping on the road, no digital back in the 20th century.

I barely remember leaving the campsite all weekend, my scooter started wailing like a Banshee when we got to Milan so I literally dropped it in the field and went to the van selling Peroni . . . . I'd had enough riding for one week, we just ate drank and shared tales of woe/joy with other scooterists who'd actually ridden to Milan, a vast majority either flew or drove cars/vans so didn't really have much to say for themselves.

We Packed up on Sunday morning to head back to Turin, I thought I'd better check the scooter over, oh, the flywheels fallen apart, thats what caused the noise, the mazac cooling fan had sheared its screws and started walking off the magneto rubbing against the steel cowling . . . araldite to the rescue. We drilled a few holes, glued it together and forced some self tappers into the holes. Its still like that today and has never budged a millimetre.

The return journey took us back to Turin, 7 of us now with HEnry joining the party. A quick engine rebuild on Henrys SX150 in the Plaza Hotel car park at 6:30 am, as not to be outdone the crankshaft bearing started squealing . . .araldite to the rescue again.

Monday morning we headed north or at least we thought we did, we got stopped by the police going the wrong way

they were very nice until we suggested Lambrettas are better than Vespas . . they are, but they had guns so we agreed to disagree politely.

once we'd done a sneaky U turn and found the right road we headedNorth east up to the traforo del frejus, 7 miles underground on an ancient scooter is quite an experience, a poor night stop in a road motel on Monday night, La Chambre I think, all I remember is no sleep, snoring and a very rapid noisy river right outside the window!

On Tuesday, the beautiful Lake Annecy and a stop for lunch, despite the poor weather ( back in France) the place is lovely

From Annecy it went a bit cross country and we made it for a night stop in Bourg en Bresse

raising the tone of the Hotel de France by parking our scooters outside the front door.

a reflective and tired me preparing to leave on another days riding

Wednesday took us west to Macon and North to Auxerre, an evening of babyfoot in a local bar and cleaning them out of Armagnac and pretty much everything else!

The Thursday was a nightmare, it rained heavily all day, Henry lost concentration he was enjoying it so much and couldn't resist the lure of a wet muddy ditch

amazingly for a Lambretta the lights stayed on, even with the bike upside down in a stream.

no real harm done, just dented pride, and the rest of us with wet pants from laughing so much.

this pictures a good one as it was taken by Adams proper camera!

I lent Henry my spare helmet . . .open faced as both his where sodden and we headed on, round Paris and stopped for our final night in Beauvais, hot showers and radiators covered in gloves and clothes is all I remember.!

Friday morning took us to Dieppe and the Ferry back to Newhaven

. . . . only 760 miles home from Milan going the more direct, but equally scenic route.

we got home on Friday evening about 8pm, 2 weeks, 1600 or so miles.

If you went, or have any photos of the rally I'd love to hear from you . . . .

the scooter now resides in my hallway . . . still original and un restored, with its S2 headset back on, its a little tatty, but still running, with its original engine and Ducati points ignition system . . . they don't make em like they used to!