Experiencing the thrills of one of Europe’s ultimate drives (with a few Michelin-starred pit stops): Tackling France’s ‘Route Napoleon’ in a Jaguar F-Type

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After slipping his shackles on the Mediterranean island of Elba Napoleon Bonaparte bowled up at Golfe-Juan aboard the brig, Inconstant. With his motley crew of supporters he marched into the tinsel town of Cannes, then a fishing port, gathering more cut-throats and rakings before setting off on foot to recapture Paris. It was March 1 1815, and the start of The Hundred Days – the last gasp of his empire.

I decided to follow in his footsteps along the famous 200-mile ‘Route Napoleon’, through the western Alps. Like Napoleon, I went on to Paris along the great flat plain of eastern France, though the iconic eponymous journey officially ends where the Alpine scenery ends – in Grenoble.

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But unlike the little General, I was in a soft-top Jaguar F-Type, as I didn’t have 100 days to spare. I had sailed into the Spanish port of Santander after taking the Brittany Ferries cruise from Portsmouth, then drove over the Pyrenees and across the whole of the South of France to get to the start.

295afa3474e1a4234c547784c803eab8 Experiencing the thrills of one of Europe's ultimate drives (with a few Michelin-starred pit stops): Tackling France's 'Route Napoleon' in a Jaguar F-Type

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