STYLISH
Off on a whim...
ESCAPING THE WINTER BLUES, MICHELLE LAIDLER MAKES A LAST-MINUTE DECISION TO JUMP IN THE VERSATILE VAUXHALL TIGRA, AND HEAD SOUTH. HER DESTINATION? SUN, SNOW- AND ST TROPEZ Words by Michelle Laibler. Pictures by Simon Stuart-Miller.
24 hours ago I was bored, tired and overfed - sharing the post-Christmas limbo, perhaps, with the rest of the country. Still, there was the Tigra on the driveway, and that's where the long, enticing daydream kicked in, with visions of the open autoroutes of France. Stir in a backdrop of Alps, a spot of snowboarding and a glass of vin chaud. Then maybe point the Tigra even further south, roof down, through the Var region and on towards St Tropez, simply to sit in a café and watch the world go by.
It was one of those magical 'why not?' moments - a flash of temptation fed by the appeal of one of the most versatile cars around (a sports car with a folding hard top and a decent boot no less) plus five full days worth of empty diary. So why not indeed!
By morning, with a little help from the Eurotunnel, the daydream had become reality, accelerating away from Calais onto the autoroute, with the Tigra's sporty exhaust note underlining the sense of liberty - freedom (for a few days at least) from the winter blues and from Britain's holiday traffic.
There's a fresh dusting of snow on Northern France's rolling fields and the autoroute is clear and dry and the Tigra and I can settle into a safe, relaxed cruise.
This isn't jerky, town driving; this is closer to flying. A hypnotic and enjoyable way to cross a country.
Almost before we know it we're south of Grenoble, on the N85 'Route Napoléon', and what's surely one of the most spectacular roads on the planet. We're doing this portion of the N85 in reverse, from Grenoble then south to Gap. This is the Hautes-Alpes, a vast region of magnificent lakes, lovely villages and impressive architecture, and both the Tigra and the road itself flow from one smooth sweep to the next. Because the Tigra may be compact in size, but with its surefooted agility and it's huge when it comes to fun.
There's much to be said for grip and security over slip-sliding edginess - and the Tigra has more than enough grip to satisfy most people's driving abilities. So on these roads, just as on the autoroute, it's easy to fall again into the appropriate rhythm; accelerate, brake, change gear, turn. . . and repeat until breaking into a grin.