Saturday 18 September Lille

Saturday 18th September

A good job we are not going out at 08:30 as I think I would be going on my own!
Some of the party look a little worse for wear at breakfast as they tell tales of the previous evening spent with Claude in his Cuban bar.
Unusual spirits, dancing, falling over and walking into lampposts seems to be how the evening went!
By 10:30 we are all present, including Gos and Mrs Padwick (Caroline P), and are on our way to Mons. We are going to visit the military cemetery in Mons where the first and last soldiers were killed in the First World War and then spend a little time in Mons before going to the races for the afternoon.
As we approach Mons on the motorway I have to divert because the coach is too high, wide and heavy to drive through the roadwork’s ahead. I had seen the signs for these roadwork’s as we neared Mons but thought they were for lorries only as they only showed a symbol of a lorry. Wrong!
S o I drive back to the previous junction and take the low roads to Mons. This is a better way scenic wise but we have lost twenty minutes. Looking at the map later I could have joined the road I wanted without going back down the motorway for a junction but it is always easy after.
By the time we reach the cemetery it is decided to go straight to the racecourse from here.
The cemetery is in a lovely setting amongst trees and is more like a garden than a place of rest. These cemeteries are always interesting and this one especially as it has German graves as well as Commonwealth.
We now have to find the racecourse, or Hippodrome as it is here, but there are no signs! We know it is in the town of Ghlin on the outskirts of Mons but there are no signposts or adverts anywhere. It is not even marked on the detailed map I have!
I decide to drive to the railway station and ask there which is what we do. I walk into the station shop and ask the lady working there but she speaks no English although I understand enough to know it is back over the river towards Ghlin.
The bus driver I ask is the same so we continue back over the river to Ghlin convinced there must be a signpost somewhere. No chance!
Roger, sitting at the front, gets the Hippodrome on his mobile via the google maps and our little blue dot is going in the correct direction.
We drive through Ghlin looking for a signpost but to no avail. I follow Roger’s blue spot as we cross a canal and head towards what we hope will be the Hippodrome.
The first sign we and advert we come across is at the entrance to the course! Don’t they want anyone to go?
The entrance is a very reasonable €4 per person and I am directed to a field to park. The facilities look modern with one large stand and buildings housing stables and a large shed where the horses have their shoes replaced. The shoeing of the horses is obviously very important and I can hear lots of hammers going as I walk past.
The stand is on three floors with the bottom floor housing toilets and weighing rooms while the first floor has a couple of bars, seating and a row of rather dodgy looking bookies!
All of the chaps and chapesses have gone up to the second floor where there is more seating and a bar/restaurant where you can be served your beer and food.
We are only expecting four races but it appears there are ten! And a mixture of racing with your normal flat races plus buggy races where the jockeys sit in buggy’s pulled along by the horses. They must be strong horses to pull some of these buggy’s as some of the jockeys have dodged a salad or two in their time!
I have a bet on the first buggy race but don’t really know what I am doing. I lose!
The next race is a normal flat race with six runners. I fancy number six so go in and see one of the dodgy bookmakers who has crossed out the number six and put it next to number three. What’s going on there? I find one who speaks English and he explains that if I back six and it wins I win and if three wins I also win! Strange. I can’t make head nor tail of the betting slip.
Six wins and I collect my winnings, the €10 I bet with and €9 winnings! I didn’t expect much but have a funny feeling I have been turned over as the bookie turns his back on me and hides the lady with the book before turning and giving me my €19. I am €1 down on the day so call it a day.
I watch the next race from outside before going back to the coach for a siesta.
They all come back after six races as we don’t want to be too late this evening because we are all going out for DC’s 40th tonight.
We all meet in the now infamous Cuban bar before walking to the old town and the restaurant where we are eating.
We are sat downstairs in what looks like an old cellar and before long there is beer and wine on the table followed by the food. I enjoyed my meal and I think most people did.
After the dinner we all returned to the Cuban bar where Claude seemed very happy to see us. I only stayed for one beer before going off to bed. The others stayed out for differing times ranging from 01:30 to 05:00!!