Loire Valley

The Tour: Le Touquet, a chateau in Fontainebleau, Chateau de Chambord, Chaumont-sur-Loire

The queue for LeShuttle's Flexiplus lounge told its own story. McLarens, Ferraris, Lamborghinis — you name them, they were there, idling politely in line like schoolboys waiting for the tuck shop to open, their owners doing that studied nonchalance that only a man leaning against half a million pounds of carbon fibre can attempt.

The Rolls Royce Dawn two-door convertible in Powder Blue is sleek, attractive and comfortable. The ideal car for a luxury tour of the Loire Valley, via Paris and Fontainebleau.

Rolls Royce are shedding their chauffeur-driven image, producing luxury tourers that are comfortable on long journeys. So I decided to test it with a thousand-mile plus drive across to France.

Everything was planned at the last minute as Covid restrictions in the UK were bouncing up and down faster than a bumbling Prime Minister caught on a zip wire.