memory’s not what it was but the monument in the cliff face on the bends, i think was near pouilly en auxois - sure i remember you came off the A6 near chien blanc services and headed north on a national and there it was? 
La Roche-sur-Foron… rings a bell…■■?
The only monument I remember was on a hairpin just before a climb in the Nantua area, but I always knew that as a Resistance Memorial - don’t remember a naked lady, must have been concentrating on the road 
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Surely the steelworks was on the run up to the Blanc itself. They later made a flyover in the westerly direction leaving the mountain road for eastbound traffic, still hairy though. The flyover ran over the top of the steelworks and the sulphur (?) fumes made you wonder if you’d make it to the top before being gassed. Slow going on the grade, too.
I once followed a Frenchman down the cliffside road and his rear linings started to burn. I shouted to him on the CB but he didn’t reply. He made it to the bottom in one piece and with very little use of the brakes which cooled them down by the time he got to Cluses for the customs. He told me that he’d heard me but couldn’t reply because he needed all his concentration to keep it on the road. I thought he looked a little pale in the face though. 
On another occasion a family crisis at home meant beating it back at high speed and throwing caution to the winds. Flying down towards the monument I bounced the trailer wheels a couple of times on the low wall seperating the road from the drop. Telling the story afterwards an old hand just said ‘just get the command module past mate, the rest will follow’ 
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Its on the Cerdon on the right going up.
klunk,be great if you find that photo and post it here.harry and jj,i have checked the towns mentioned on my french map[i still have 2 bags of them]they dont correspond.
as for the steelwork,spardo has it right,its nearer the tunnel,they built the flyover it inthe late 70s early 80s.
i remember when we went through the towns.and the smell of the sulphur was terrible.
spardo.it was a ressistance memorial,i am sure of that.
it seems some germans were shot there[or maybe shot down in a warplane] in the village,the germans came looking for the ressistance fighters that shot them,of course no one said where they were,so they took the women and childen from the village and shot them where the memorial statue now stands.
that was the story i was told all those years ago.
starting to feel old now.
if i ever do go to italy on holiday be car,i will use the national road all the way and find the statue.
it been a constant source of irritation to me for years.
harry you were posting at the same time as me.
thanks.you just answered my question.i had forgotten the name of the village.
now.
where is the monkey house.
anyone remember?
I think I only stopped there once & even then they were altering the road. If its the one you mean it was on the right coming down& they had added a huge greenhouse along the front of the building so that some of the diners were inside the building & some were in the green house. They had removed the windows & doors on the front of the place to give it the impression of all one room. But it was a good restaurant.
think i only went in the monkeyhouse a couple of times (no monkey in residence) around 1988 - i remember they were in the process of bypassing it and the parking was a crap bit of rough ground on right and resto on left when you were italy bound, but sorry cannot recall name of nearest village/town
Same one then.
Cerdon, yes that’s the place, a real tight hairpin in the bottom of the valley. The monument is marked on the map. I think the reason I missed it last time I was that way in the car was because I took the direct route along the D979 from Nantua to Bourg-en-Bresse.
Would the Monkeyhouse be at Bellegarde? In my memory that was the first section of the autoroute (A40) they constructed. I never stopped there though, it was always The Bakehouse for me and then a flyer over the top.
I think the monument you are talking about was in Valle Ouche on the outskirts of Poully-en- Auxois, I remember it was a fairly twisty road and the monument was on the left as you decended after a tight left hand bend.
kerbut:
I think the monument you are talking about was in Valle Ouche on the outskirts of Poully-en- Auxois, I remember it was a fairly twisty road and the monument was on the left as you decended after a tight left hand bend.
i’m sure there’s one there kerbut as i said above, but the one greg meant was definitely cerdon as harry posted - the monkeyhouse wasn’t at bellegarde, there was a decent restaurant there though as one of ours spent 6 days there once waiting for 7 new tyres for a rentco stepframe
it’s like the amnesiacs anonymous forum on here ain’t it - or senile corner 
jj72 You’re right!! Jeanette’s was at Bellegarde by the fire station . Jeanette married the English trucker on International (Irrational )Express. Patsy Brenner. Ex Commando & stood no nonsense.Good man! ( If you are reading this Pat ) When he moved in with Jeanette he drove for Stouff out of Paris.
Talking of old times I have just had a card from Violette & Rachel out of the Fina at Tunnel St. Marie…
You guys that used to run France and Italy in the 70’s & 80’s I wonder if any of you would have known a good friend of mine: Arthur Gardner from Garstang, Lancashire. Used to pull for Tony Febland at Blackpool, running to Navara.
Latterly he had an “S” reg Volvo F10 painted maroon & gold. NLV 166S
I had a trip to Frosinone, Rome with him in 1986. Reloaded at Zanussi, Padova.
Tony Febland rings a bell…?
travel.webshots.com/photo/144255 … 5945kHAQNc
Better snap of the Statue on the Cerdon.
Yes, the pass was called the Col du Cerdon. The monument at its foot was called “Monument au Morts du/des Maquis” (Spardo will correct my French if necessary.) It means " in commemoration to those memebers of the French resistance who lost their lives"
It is popular to decry France’s war-time activities. The simple truth is that they helped win the war with us in many ways. The resistance members were incredibly brave. As one who experienced nothing but kindness from the French, during my time travelling through by truck, I will defend their reputation against anyone.
Patsy Brennan? Good guy indeed as you say, Harry. Do you remember his pal Kenny Long? Always travelled together. Out of Stratford, as I recall. Was sadly killed in Belgium. (Run over by a car as he staggered back to his truck, from a bar)
Yes I remember Kenny. He was a mate of mine. When he bought it he was living in Italy with an Italian girl & was driving for an Italian firm…I think he bought it near ZB. Possibly the old Total. I know he was on his way to the UK.
On the subject of untimely deaths, one firm that has had more than its fair share is Roba. There was Mc Coy ,killed at Peronne North in roadworks. There was Sean’s dad Killed in ZB when he was asleep in the cab & the gas bottle exploded ,splitting the cab in two. There was Gordon who bought it in France near Luneville. There was the young guy that caught salmonella in Belgium & died in Canterbury hospital… They were all on their way home. Those are the ones I remember… I know the true stories behind all these deaths ( Except Seans dad ) …but let the lads RIP…
I remember Roba of course. Swis firm weren’t they? I knew nothing about all those sad deaths. Probably well after my time. Sean’s dad? Do you mean Sean Moran off SCA and everywhere else? Surely not.
Harry, I didn’t know that Patsy had been a commando. I can remember Kenny telling me to be aware that Patsy could be very dangerous to upset and that he had a bit of a past in Ireland. I didn’t enquire any further, simply 'cos I liked the guy so much and didn’t care what he may,or may not, have been up to earlier. After all, how many of us can truthfully say that we have no skeletons in our cupboards?