Or as close to celebrity as a town with a population of 604 can hope to get. In today’s cut-throat festival climate a little individuality goes a long way – in the case of Llanwrtyd Wells (say: thlan-oor-tid) a little individuality took this tiny Welsh town from obscurity to international tourism stardom. From tomato-throwing festivals in Spain to cheese rolling in England, it seems, the “mine’s weirder than yours” ethos now wins. Gone are the days when a highbrow arts festival, venerable sporting event or a superlative samba carnival was the only way to get on the international events calendar. Festivals are in vogue. From Addis Ababa to Aberdeen, tourism organisations are desperate to jump on the festival bandwagon.
Doubles start at €48 (£34), room only.FURTHER INFORMATIONTurin Tourism (00 39 011 535 181; www.turismotorino ).Italian State Tourist Board (020-7408 1254; www.enit.it).Cannes Tourism (00 33 4 92 99 84 22; www.cannes.fr).French Government Tourist Office (09068 244123, calls 60p/min; www.franceguide ).. Doubles start at €195 (£139), room only.Hotel Ibis Gap, 5/7 Boulevard Georges Pompidou, Gap (00 33 4 92 53 57 57; www.ibishotel ). Doubles start at €125 (£89), including breakfast.Hotel Majestic Barriere, La Croisette 10, Cannes (00 33 4 92 98 77 00; www.lucienbarriere ). Doubles start at €89 (£64), including breakfast.Le Meridien Lingotto, Via Nizza 262, Turin (00 39 011 664 2000; www.lingotto.lemeridien ). Four days’ rental of a Peugeot 206 or similar in the south of France starts at £77.17.STAYING THEREBest Western Hotel Piemontese, Via Berthollet 21, Turin (00 39 011 669 8101; www.bestwestern.it/piemontese_to). Tickets can also be reserved through Rail Europe (08708 371 371; www.raileurope.co.uk) from £19 one-way.Hertz (08708 448844; www.hertz.co.uk). You can fly from Grenoble to Gatwick on British Airways (0870 850 9 850; www.ba ), to Stansted on Ryanair or to Luton on easyJet.GETTING AROUNDTrenitalia ( www.trenitalia ) The journey from Turin to Nice takes just over four hours.
I avoid the bit about seducing a stranger so I can hide in her house before killing her.The final day sees a leisurely drive up to Grenoble, where we drop off the car before flying back home It’s raining in Luton. Not as much fun as being in the movies.GETTING THEREYou can fly to Turin from Stansted on Ryanair (0906 270 5656; www.ryanair ) or from Luton on easyJet (0905 821 0905; www.easyjet ). This is where the Jackal spends the night, at the luxurious Hotel du Cerf He drinks Calvados after dinner, so I do too. The only moment of tension comes when it’s my turn to drive, and over-acceleration into a bend threatens to return us to The Italian Job – specifically, the last scene, with the coach hanging over the edge of the cliff.But we survive, and after rolling through Sisteron we find ourselves in Gap. The mountainous drive through Grasse, Castellane, and Digne would be awe-inspiring anyway. The knowledge that we’re following in someone else’s tyremarks (albeit a fictional character’s) adds an extra dimension. Ours has the same effect.Back on the road, we follow the Jackal’s route, the N85 north from Cannes.
Soon we’re climbing into the Alps, and once more it’s fun to tick off towns and villages against those in the story. While deciding whether to abandon the mission, he takes coffee on the terrace. Jo and I think this would be a good bit to recreate.Our demeanour, however, clearly inspires less respect in French waiters than Edward Fox’s “Englishman abroad” routine. If the Jackal had had to wait as long for his coffee as we do for ours, he’d have reached Paris to find de Gaulle dead of old age In the novel, the bill causes the Jackal to wince. It’s from here that the Jackal telephones Paris (“ici Chacal”) and learns that his cover has been blown. There’s a toll motorway that would be quicker, but the film is set in 1963, so accuracy provides an excuse for our stinginess Once in Cannes, we locate the Majestic Hotel.
