Sunday 29 June 2014
Day 5. Dijon to Noyon
Back road France. A few miles, kilometres, ridden. A stop. A coffee. A few more miles. A few breaths of air. The day went on like that. Chats with those that will.
The most remarkable part of the day was my long desired but long put off to the Buffalo Grill and later watching England get knocked out of this years World Cup. The former more of a high point if I'm honest.
Day 4. Evian to Dijon
Two foods, if you include mineral water, in one title!
We started the day with a jaunt down to the lake Geneva waterfront for a walk and coffee and croissant. Funny how in a country that does coffee and croissants beautifully it's quite difficult to find places that offer the two together. It was lovely weather and we had planned a relativity easy day on the bikes. The problem with that can be that you fart about a bit and take longer than you should.
We rode out from Evian and westish around the lake when I noticed a rather nice looking cable car. Got to be worth a look I thought. You're not getting me on that! Bryan suggested. Little persuasion was required though and soon we were enjoying the trip up and then the view out over lake Geneva as well as the site of para gliders leaping off the edge of the mountain we'd come up. A stunning site and something I think I might have to give a go this year.
The day warmed as we continued west then north until we arrived in a very warm Dijon. The thermostat reading 89f as we pulled into our upgraded Ibis budget hotel, with aircon. Worth the extra few pounds each given the heat.
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Day 3, hope you're not getting a big brother voice yet!
For day 3 we had planned a bit if a loop initially up into the alps and Chamonix then back round toward lake Geneva to stop near Evain les Bains, yes where the mineral water comes from.
I'd looked forward to sweeping mountain roads and and impressive views this day. And to an extent to got them. What we also got was increasingly more traffic, much of it gravel type lorries difficult to pass safely. And for the last 15 miles or so drizzle and rain with low cloud. We had a nice tarte citron in a cafe though so it was still worth the ride. And the mountain pass we came across toward out hotel was wonderful, if a little damp. The villages were just about in Switzerland and looked very, well Swiss I guess you'd say. I think another trip that way to,take in more will be on the cards. Possibly to be read about in my cycling blog though.
We ended the day at another, our last, formula 1 hotel, and a pizza. The sun shone for us at the end of the day.
Day 2, Orleans to Macon
I was looking forward to day 2. I'd downloaded the France maps to my satnav using the slow but free wifi in our £24 a night Formula 1 room. I've found it easy to follow and generally accurate in the 3 years or so I've used it. And, the rural parts of France we were set to travel through looked like just the sort of roads with villages and small towns I enjoy so much.
We set out after something of a lie in toward Gien. On the river Loire and with a rather nice bridge, if you like that sort of thing.
Our first excellent cafe au lait of the trip and a brief walk around with croissant and fresh peaches left us eager for more.
Next we aimed for Varzy. The roads got better and better. The traffic was hell! 5 cars in 55 miles! 😀
Sweeping bends and wooded areas. Comfortable 70 degree warmth. Sticky tyres. 61mpg out of my ecu remapped Aprilia. Life was very good.
We stopped in Varzy for a leg stretch, parking in the village centre. A fellow sitting on a step across the road gestured to us and got up to walk across, my thought being that he'd be telling we couldn't park where we had. But no! A swift bonjour and he was asking if we'd lake a cafe. Non I replied, gesticulating in my best French that we were stretching our legs only. With that he told us all the nice spots in the village worth looking at, including the medieval drinking and washing area I've pictured, before bidding us a good day. We'd arrived in France!
We continued on similar roads, stopping for another cafe au lait, there were lots over the week, before arriving at Macon about 7. The Formula 1 hotel was situated to all intents and purposes on a service area by a motorway. That sounds bad, but the services were rather excellent.
We showered and walked across the road to a service restaurant where we're offered a table and a three course meal for €15.40 per person including a quarter litre of vin rouge. The salad bar was great. The steak good and the tart tartin finished me a treat. France is expensive? Not if you know where to go it seems.
Day 1. D day landings and exciting sat nav
Day one saw us landing at Caen. I'm not quite sure why an alarm call is compulsory over an hour before docking, but 5.15 was our wake up time.
We quickly showered and dressed before hanging around a lot before being allowed down to our bikes.
We had discussed an initial ride to Pegasus bridge, an important bridge fought for in the Normandy battles, so made our way there straight from the ferry. We could see it quite easily for the main road out of Caen so quickly found ourselves outside some locked gates peering through at the bridge and other artefacts. One being a glider used to take men and machinery into this battle. This was how many of the allied troops arrived into battle so I understand.
It's certainly worth a look but I would suggest getting there a little later in the day once gates are unlocked. The downside of a rather early docking on the Caen ferry I guess.
We checked our sat navs at this point as we wanted to have a look at a landing beech or two. It was at his point I noticed that when I put French town names into my machine that they weren't being found. It seems that a recent update had only loaded UK maps while deleting all other maps. Not the end of the world of course, we had the sat nav on Bryan's machine and a map backup. Sounds simple. Maybe not so.
We entered a town name that would take us near to Juno beach initially and I set off following Bryan. Noting as we went that we seemed to be heading southwest, a little odd I thought as I knew the area we were looking for should be northeast from our start point. 'It'll reroute' I thought. It did, lots!
We eventually followed our noses and arrived at Juno beach to find some rather well preserved machine gun stations and some impressive monuments. Worth a look.
We comtinued the follow our noses technique, I'd looked at the map, and found Omaha beach and then the rather impressive American cemetery nearby. I've loaded a picture of the graves at the American site. It's beautifully laid out and good to see such care taken over the site.
We had spent all morning looking around the sites so felt we should head south to southeast to Orleans next. We had a hotel booked and wanted to get the 200 miles done in time to get something to eat in the evening. Bryan programmed the sat nav again and off we set, northeast. A little distrust in the machine crept into my mind which a decided to ignore for now as we continued in the same direction for about 30 miles. Eventually I passed Bryan and indicated the we could head a little south, we did this and stopped for a light sandwich and a chat about where to head. I lead the way aiming largely south with and easterly inflection from time to time. Trying all the time to avoid going toward Caen. Caen 15kms said a sign. I headed further south. Caen 9kms said another, then Caen 7kms. It was at this point that we realised one of the lesser known rules of cosmology. That being, the sun has the greatest gravitational pull in our solar system. That's followed by Jupiter, eventually earth and the moon, but not far behind is Caen. It's own gravitational pull dragging in unwary motorcyclists from all directions. Be wary of it if you go that way.
We spent the next few hours heading toward Orleans. The sat nav seemingly working well until we got close when, apparently, we needed to have an unguided tour of a number of industrial estates and a hospital car park. After half an hour of this we decided to ignore the satnav and I headed toward where I thought we were staying. I'm happy to say we booked into our hotel 20 minutes later, having travelled a aliteracy more than our predicted miles but happy to get a rest.
Tuesday 17 June 2014
That Pensive 'Do I need a beard' look.
Bryan contemplating the weeks bearding at Omaha beech D day landing site
He's not looking very sure do you think?
Sunday 15 June 2014
The Crack
It's almost three years since my last motorised two wheel adventure and over the last winter I felt it was time to end the drought. A brief trip to France with a view of taking a short look at some mountains seemed like a worthy overall goal. Initially I thought it might be a good trip to take solo but quickly decided that it'd be good to see Bryan abroad on his bike. He's toyed with beards a few times and I'm sure could make a gallant effort of facial hairiness.
On the subject of beards, I've been sporting a trimmed version of my Scandinavian facial hair since coming back three years ago. A rather nice young lady seemingly liking the feel of it up close somewhat turning my attention away from regular shaving.
I'll get a picture posted of our faces on day one shortly.
New Beginnings
Well hello. It's been a while. How are you?
And time to start another little adventure, this time to France with a small foray into Switzerland.
I'm the only 'bearded bloke in Norway' on this trip. But Bryan, who almost joined us in Scandinavia, has been forced onto his BMW 1150 GS this time.
We've just arrived at the waterfront in Portsmouth having said goodbye to our lovelies in Eynsham square at 7.20.
I'll fill you in on the route in the next few days.
Nice to see you again.
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