Once again Scotland will be watching a major tournament from the outside looking in as France host the 2016 European Championships this summer.

In a cruel twist of fate we will be there - for the friendly in Metz this weekend - but will be heading home again before the party gets started next Friday.

The last time France were hosts The Truman Show was in the cinema, B*Witched were number one and Uma Thurman had just married Ethan Hawke.

Thousands of supporters, decked in kilts, glengarrys and a pint in each hand provided the colour, the fun and the good humour across the French cities that year. The plan was to make it a long stay as well if Del Amitri's single Don't Come Home Too Soon was anything to go by.

Ok, so it wasn't a classic, but it was our answer to Three Lions which spent most of the competition at the top of the UK charts.

Sorry, we're not trying to rub it in, we know it was 18 years ago. There are fresh wounds that really shouldn't be reopened but if we're to give you a feel of what France will be like this summer who better to ask than the Tartan Army who were there the last time?

First up for the Scots was a dream showpiece, opening the tournament against Brazil, the world champions.

Clark Gillies from West Kilbride made sure he was at the Stade de France for the fixture of a lifetime after being bit by the Scotland bug at Euro '96.

"I'd been at the England game that year so there was no way I was missing the Brazil game in '98" he said. "I was 16 at the time and arrived in Paris the morning of the match with my Grandfather.

"As we lined up to get into the ground Scotland fans were scaling the 15ft fence around the stadium. One guy got over, ran up to me and asked for my Scotland cap, then ran off into a crowd with police in chase."

Clark was there to witness not only John Collins' penalty and Tom Boyd's infamous own goal, but also a Brazilian legend.

"Ronaldo seemed to be about 20ft tall that day and just god like," he continued. "The game itself seemed to pass by in minutes although Collins' penalty took a lifetime to hit the back of the net."

You'll be hard pushed to find a Scotland fan who doesn't have a memory or a story to tell when you ask them about the 2-1 defeat in Saint-Denis, but few will compare to Clark's pre-match experience.

"They played All You Need Is Love by The Beatles before the game," he said, "But an old French supporter next to us was standing up the whole way through it thinking it was the national anthem!"

Next up for Scotland was a 1-1 draw with Norway in Bordeaux, one of 10 venues used in the World Cup. This one, and seven more - Saint-Denis, Marseille, Lyon, Lens, Toulouse, Saint-Etienne and of course Paris will be invaded by colourful supporters once again this summer. Lille and Nice will also be occupied instead of Nantes and Montpellier this time around.

Michael Pace from Leith made the journey west and says the opposition supporters quickly warmed to the Scottish spirit.

"The party with the NorWeegies was a sea of tartan and red that went on all night in the city centre, there were about 40,000 people there.

"They were all twice the size of the Scots - and about four times the size of me.

"The stadium has since been rebuilt with a new name, it was called Stade Parc Lescure when we played there.

"It was one of the smaller grounds, about 30,000 were there that day. It was the main game in the group for me, I didn't think even Scotland could lose to Morocco so I knew a good result could be huge for us.

"It's the same old story every time though..."

Some fans made the west of France their base for the tournament. John Daly from Renfrewshire stayed south of Bordeaux with a group of 14 but it proved to be impractical for the final game of the group stages.

"We managed to swap our Belgium v Mexico tickets with some guys from Brussels so we could go to the Morocco game. It was over in Saint-Etienne though, about five hours away, so we had to drive over for it.

"It was a torturous journey and we couldn't find a hotel so had to sleep in the car after the match.

"The game itself was an enormous let-down but the shenanigans before and after were superb. The Moroccans were brilliant fun."

And the driving didn't end there for John. The magic of going to see a randomly selected match in the tournament was in danger of being lost in this case.

"We had tickets for the Saudi Arabia v South Africa game back in Bordeaux the next day so we hit the road again at 5am," he continued.

"We reached the ground just in time but the place was deserted. The security guard on the gate was astonished to see the three of us turning up in Scotland gear."

It wasn't all about the football though, travelling around the country was another big part of the experience for the supporters.

It's almost tradition for the Tartan Army to make a straight forward journey complicated - why go direct when you can take a detour through three countries and save £20?

Kevin Donnelly from Dumfries cut corners on the accommodation but learnt the hard way that a little luxury goes a long way.

"We went over in a bus from London and went around France for two weeks," he said. "It only cost us £315 including accommodation because the Formula 1 hotels were in the middle of nowhere.

"But they were really cheap, basic and awkward to get to.

"To get to the one in Paris we had to get a train to Versailles and then jump on a bus. The one in Lyon was in between a motorway and a train line. It was also on the flight path for the airport.

"To make things even worse there was an industrial air compressor in a factory next door so most of us, including the guy that organised the trip, moved out after the first night.

"We also couldn't face the bus journey back so got the Eurostar and ended up arriving home a day early."