Utterly amazing as this holiday has been, it’s also been non-stop, so it’s been nice to have a couple of quieter mornings, with no check-out or breakfast deadlines to meet!  After another leisurely breakfast basking in the sun on the patio, we enjoyed looking through and editing yesterday’s photos.  I’d taken rather a lot (both of cars and flora and fauna), so it took me rather a while!  We then headed out to do a shop that will hopefully keep us going for most of the F1 weekend, as the days are going to be long.  This took rather more time than we’d expected.  The first supermarket we headed to (in Stavelot) was clearly too small, then the one we ended up in (in Malmedy) was ridiculously huge, with so much choice that you didn’t know where to start!  We didn’t get back to the cottage until 3pm, when we had hoped to be setting off for the circuit!  Ah well, we quickly unpacked the shopping,  wolfed down some lunch, checked directions for the entrance and were out of the house again before 3:30!

Along with our weekend F1 tickets was the promise of an opportunity to explore the pits on the Thursday.  We’d been rather excited when we’d discovered this, as the pits at a Grand Prix are normally a seriously no-go area for the general public (unless you’re seriously loaded!), but we weren’t really sure what to expect.

As we descended down the main street of Francorchamps , we were surprised by the hoards heading in the same direction!  Maybe this wasn’t going to be quite as exclusive as we had possibly imagined!  We spent a little too long trying to find a car park (due to me being rather indecisive), but eventually plumped for the circuit one.  This actually turned out to be a good choice, as it was free today (unlike the local ones, who were charging 10 Euros).  From there, it was only about a 10 or 15 minute walk to the La Source entrance, where we joined with a few thousand other fans queuing to enter!  It was a lively and eclectic group of people from all over Europe, with many English fans – I suppose it’s our next closest race after Silverstone – but all very civilised, and it moved enough for us not to become frustrated.

Within about 45 minutes, we were in.  First, we had to walk across the track at the first corner, which was very cool!  The pit lane, as you can imagine, was heaving with fans snapping away.  Due to the crowds, it was a bit difficult to get close to the garages or the drivers, but we did manage to capture Gutierrez, di Resta, Rosberg and Webber (either with Tom stretching up over the heads of others, or me clambering the fence!).  The atmosphere was exciting and seeing the pits, front wings, cars and drivers up close was a great experience!

Nearing the end of the pit lane, we saw Mark Webber flying past everyone on his (very expensive looking) bike, and, at one point, being chased by a slightly mad fan!  It appeared that he was off to cycle a lap of the track, so we decided to wait near the entrance to the pits to snap him on his return.  As we waited, many people seemed to be finishing jogging a lap – no mean feat, as it’s just under 5 miles and incredibly steep in parts!  Webber soon returned, with a big grin for his fans, and we managed to get much better photos than earlier.

We walked back up the hill to the car and headed back to the cottage.  SATNav took us down the route to the circuit that we had planned on walking tomorrow.  After seeing quite how far and how unbelievably steep it is just to get to the entrance (let alone the amount of walking we’ll do trying to find the best spot at the circuit), I suggested that maybe we should drive to the car park right by the gate instead.  I think Tom was a little bit more convinced as we descended the hilly road back to the cottage!

An early start awaits us in the morning, as we intend on being parked up and at the gate ready for the circuit opening at 7:30 am, so we better finish packing up our bags for the day and get some dinner on ready for an early night.  Live F1 tomorrow – woohoo!

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