This morning I noticed how everyone was freaking out about a regularity test we had scheduled for later in the day. We would have to drive around an airfield and hit controls in a given number of minutes, whilst calculating in the time it would take to pass through checkpoints.
With even the most seasoned navigators worried, I thought there was a high chance that I would make a mistake. Mario was oblivious to what lay ahead when I proposed to him that I drive and he navigate.
When we finally arrived at the regularity test, Mario was confused before it even started. It was around an airfield and some of the tracks we were meant to take were very hidden. We definitely saw more of the airfield than we were meant to and it felt like I drove half the course in reverse, having to go back and find the correct way.
At some point we saw a car ahead of us take a right turn. We had no clue where we were meant to be going, but as the car ahead had a reputation for always being lost, we decided to take a left. They saw us drive in the opposite direction and promptly turned around to follow us. We were both lost.
After developing some grey hairs, we somehow made it out of the labyrinth. We stopped using the stopwatch halfway through so were pretty certain that we didn’t make any of the times. We were just glad to have made it out and Mario gained a new appreciation for the difficulty involved in navigating.
In the evening, a welcome had been organized for the cars by the marina. A man who said he was from a Citroen car club, came up to Mario and asked if he could take a look at the Traction Avant.
Mario started telling him about the problems we had experienced along the way and that we were looking for spare parts to fix our water pump. The man said he had some and Mario decided to follow him to his workshop which was located 32km out of the city. He had everything we needed to fix the water pump! After everything was working again, Mario tried to pay him for the parts but he refused to accept any money.