Aston Martin Michels Rally 2013 in Belgium

Early Saturday morning on the 16th June, we started our journey from home to Stadhuis Oudenaarde which is about 45 mins away as the Aston Martin Michels Rally will kick off from there. It was a nice drive on a weekend morning with a slightly cold breeze and traffic free roads.

Stadhuis Oudenaarde - There were already more than 50 Aston Martin cars parked at the parking lot in front of the City Hall, attracting many passers by.

 Luc and I are also wearing the AM polo T for the event which is a first experience for me.

 We had a light breakfast in the Stadhuis and then a short briefing before we start the rally. This picture is a view of the carpark taken from the building which you can see Aston Martins of so many past and present taking part.

It's such a lovely sight of all these beautiful cars!

This is the 2nd René Michels Rally taking place in the Vlaamse Ardennen which is in the same area as the famous Ronde van Vlaanderen (cycling) and this place is filled with farmhouses, lush green fields and windmills. It's a picturesque journey for sure.

We went through quite an amount of narrow roads which is meant for one car at a time.

We even had to slow down when there are people who are riding on the horses were trying to get by so that we don't scare the horses with the roaring engine. During the journey, we encountered countless horses and also people riding their bicycles.

After 70km of driving, we stopped by at Flobecq/Vloesberg at Lumen 7 which is a house built in 1905 owned by the Hallet-Jouret family and survived the wars. Today the house is refurbished but maintaining its original structure and can be rented as a holiday home for 14 to 16 people. We stopped here to try one of their local beers called Quintine.

I must say that despite my limited precise pronunciation of Dutch/French street names and my first time in a rally, I've been a really good navigator. We started with 3 Aston Martin in front of us and at a few junctions, they made a wrong turn but I didn't follow and we managed to arrive at every stop early and without a glitch! That's a pat on my back for myself.

I really like some of the Vintage AM that took part in the rally. The condition of these vintage cars are unbelievably tip-top and the cars are all sparkly-polished too!

There were 2 new Vanquish there and they are stunning!!! The interior was beautiful and there were at least a million stitches used.

Another beautiful vintage Aston Martin.

The world's most beautiful four-door sports car - Rapide S. This one here is their latest model with bigger front grill and a more sporty interior that has stiches that matched the colour of the car exterior.

After driving for almost 100km, we stopped at Hof Van Nassau in Zottegem for lunch.

Along the way, we saw a local cycling event taking place and also the staff of Aston Martin posing at bakers on the side of the street handling us a pack of Mattentaarten from the famous Lekkerbek bakery which is so delicious.

 It's a delicacy from this area where people will drive all the way here just to get their hands on some Mattentaarten.

 Luc enjoying a beer at one of the stops.

After driving for about 170km, we arrived at the destination which is at a beautiful castle called Kasteel Steenhout in Vollezele. It was unbelievably huge!

 It's a private property belonging to one of the rich business man in Belgium who happens to be an avid collector of Aston Martin vintage cars too. I think he owns 20-30 of them and was so kind to allow the rally participants to have a cocktail evening at his place.

Car enthusiasts checking out the vintage cars.

 One of my favourite Vintage Aston Martin.

 Of course I had to take the opportunity to camwhore with some of them.

A beautiful Vanquish which I liked very much but it's €250k here.

 Aston Martin is celebrating it's 100th birthday this year!

We went home around 8pm. What a wonderful experience and on the way home, another Rapide was driving along side our car too and it felt so nice to be watching such a sexy butt of the Aston Martin during the journey home. The event was very well organised and there were at least a hundred AM that took part in this rally. I had a great day.