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Old 17-05-06, 06:33 PM   #1
454697819
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Default My French Trips.... Lots of pics... 56k Warning

So here you are, my french trip, please ignore any spelling and gramatical errors for 24 hours as this has taken me 2 hours to put together and im still fazed from getting back, so ill edit it and spell check it all tommorrow.

cheers
Alex

It all started about six years ago, when i mentioned to my dad, whilst flicking through boxes of the old BSA 650 he still has in the garage, that we should go to france one day on bikes, and from then on it became something we would do.

Well this year the time was right, he has a bike so do i, and we both had the time, and to cap it all off, it was my 21st birthday present too what a top top dad

Ill try to keep it brief, but if you want more details drop me a pm, we did some fantastic roads that id love to do again and are well worth dropping onto should you happen to be there one day.

So the story Begins..

I live in leeds, so the first jaunt for me was on wednesday 10th May 06 as a 180 mile ride to Stowmarket where my dad lives....

This is me leaving Leeds



Seee... it just is a little small...

and 180 miles later im there in suffolk... very hot day actually



me and dad with a dry run of loading the bikes up..

This is my dads bike an 02 Guzzi Nevada 750..



now the plan was to leave that evening and find somewhere to stay in calai that would have given us longer to get to Chinon, where our first hotel was booked, but Euro tunnel wouldnt change without wanting more money, so we opted for the night at home and a longer day on thursday.

So this is us leaving at 5am the next morning... stupid time o clock... witha long drive to folkestone then a 300 mile jaunt to Chinon....



we packed fairly light which did help. and the panniers on dads bike were great

So a 140 miles later we were at the euro tunnel and got on board... would have taken photos but my camera went doo dah and didnt want to...

any way... safe and sound in france we set about riding to chinon, to a little hotel called hotel Dideroit...



dont look a long way but trust me... your **** will say otherwise..

First picnic of bread, cheese and pate... mmmm yum....were just north of Le Mans at this point



although we wanted to drop off onto some "fun routes" we did blast a lot of the way to chinon though the auto routes... fantstic roads really, clear, fast and little traffic,, even the views there were lovely..

any way.. several hours later we arrived in Chinon... this is a "where the hell are we stop" (there were lots of them)



even this bit was just wondeful, beautiful scenery, i really miss it already, wonderfull little town too.

Hotel Dideroit... once we hda found it 30 mins later it was 2 mins from the above pic even though i said "can you remember where it is dad?" typical.. anyway



Me completley Drained.... Personal Millage check at about 750.. so about 400 in france..



just have to say, riding on the "wrong side of the road was eisier than imagined so any one who might be scred, dont be its great and seems to make more sense??

We headed off into town for a lovely meal and a reflection on the day, with a view to it being less miles tommorrow as we only had about 250 to do..

Friday Chinon To Limoges Area



the next bit was a ride from chinon further sout to just west of limoges, to a house that belongs to a familly friend, not many miles but we tried to avoid the auto routes so it took us most of the day, great roads, great weather,,, an brillient time..


On the way we stopped at a little set back to have a some lunch... and took this pic.. we werent as misserable as we look... promise...



My dad having another "when do i tell alex were lost moment"



Several Miles later (almost there infact) another where are we moment



we were begining to realise that actually, some of these french maps are in fact complete and utter crap.. but between the 4 or 5 different versions we had, and our pigeon french we got by..



the bit we wanted (Mozzerelles) was simply 2ks to the right of Montenboeuf... and we got there about 10 minutes later.... however with in that ten minutes dad dropped his bike at 1 mph turning around in sumones drive.... no damage was sustained except his pride.. i didnt even rub it in..... MUCH



he were are about 5.30pm... the place has been shut up since christmas. and we said we would open it up and cut the grass aswell as it giving us a good second point to stop towards the pyrenees. they only bought the house 1 yr ago and havnt had time to do it up yet.. but if its anything like his house when its finished it will be awe inspiring!

we popped back to Montenboeuf to the local "Spa" and to get some fuel... he my dad is demostrating his sheer upper class ness witha bottle of the local vin (chinon wine actually) Bought in the local Spa.... Parents.. you cant take them anywhere...



Later i went exploring the grounds and found this....



its an old hay fluffer.... covered in brambles...
and thats the only attempt ill ever make at an artistic shot... with my digital camera...

any way,,, that night it rained... and rained and rained and rained..... and thundered and lightninged.. (sp) and rained and rained and tripped the electrcitiy and rained a little more... my heart Sank....... but we woke up and eventually the cloud broke and the sun came out.... we were slightly sluggish to get ready that mornign but we put that down to the vino....

Saturday - Mazarolles To Pyrenees

Personall Milage to date 835 From Leeds... About 500 In France

here the bikes are packed and ready to go.... with a shamefull pose from my dad



We left Mazarolles and departed for somwhere close to the Pyrenees, with aview to crossing over a pass on sunday into spain, this map shows Roughly where we ended up



Again, we rode south avoiding autor routes where possible but using them to munch miles where required, be warned though Payages will charge you the same as a car for each bike... thieving gits....



this is us just off the payage near Toulouse, again a lovely day and great scenery all around you,

not really sure where we were here, except i know that we stopped in a little village to get some fuel, a fuel can as we needed somsort of reserve if there wasnt going to be a fuel station open in the pyrenees on sunday and some food.. but yes, youve guessed it.. that is my dad and he is looking at another different map....




we made good time that day, but called it a day after Toulouse where we decided to look for somwehere to stay, and stumbled accross this little place,



its a converted mill and it only has one room, but it was about the right price and the food in the resturant was great, unfortuantly its also a house, so they had guets around and they were nosiy till about 2 am... apparently as i shoved my ear plugs in and fell asleep..

earlier though i came back to the room to find my dad worshipping the gods of french maps... it did pay off though



Woke up to a wonderul day and had a few mins to take this pic... somes up the sv in france really...



today was the day we did what most of the tri pwas about.. crossing the Pyrenees into spain, the night before dad had consulted with the french maps and the plan was to head towards.... errr .... errr... well any way... accross the pyrenees and into spain towards Jaca if time allowed...

heres pretty much the route we took...



:P

no serioulsy infact it was a lot windier that that!

Sunday - Pyrenees & Into Spain

only after about 10 minutes fron leaving the hotel we stopped to take this... its my first sight of the Pyrenees.



you can just make out the mountains in the distance it truly was wondeful to see it..

We carried on though some wonderfull roads through into the foothills and areas of the pyenees... when we got to just after Bagbneres Du Luchon we stopped at this little place...




for guess what.... a coffee and a map reading session....

it is however very upsetting after you have ridden for 20 minutes up a very difficult path to get wher eyou think you should be and see this



however it turned out we wer ein the wrong place and went back the right way... straight on...



in my dads defence it was the maps fault.. road names are miss printed and change with little warning, but any way.. back on track

we continued to clib towarde the 3km tunnel that leads you through the mountain at about 3000 metres high... but it was roads like this all the way







nothing except being there can realy justify how good it is, everything is just lovely

about an hour later we crossed the tunnel into spain,

(from spain side looking back)



what my dad and i completly forgot was that neither of us speak one word of spanish... which made life a little interseting.



we contninued on for about another 30 minutes, stopping for some fuel in the mean time (no need to have worried about the fuel can.. everywhere was open)

then we stropped for a picnic... it was about 30 degrees and very warm... the temptation to slip into jeans was imense, but we styed good boys and stayed geared up..



this is where we had a quick picnic before descending down the mountain and heading off towards Jaca,

After looking at the map we decided Jaca would probably be leaving it to early in the day to stop and we should carry on towards Pamplona and stop along the lake somwhere and graba hotel...

however.. what we quickly learnt was, where in france whatever route you take you will find a hotel, ths isnt true in Spain, its 112 k from Jaca to Pamplona, and thats a long way when ur tired, and you want your bed, the roads were still twisty and i have to say the Spanish drivers are the SCARIEST I have Ever Seen



halfway around the lake we stopped in this layby to take a breather, the sv was really hurting me by this piont and i was in agony. about a minute later though a polic ebiker came around this conrer at about 90 mph interesting, but he couldnt corner for toffee... made me gigle..

a few miles down the road we stopped again..

a quick consult with the map



and we were in the right place,

this long road that turned into motor way severla miles down the road would lead us to pamlona where we would find a hotel..



spanish motorways are scary places... and i didnt rate it much, but it was a chore so we got the miles out of the way, and they were all miles we would have to do the next day.

On the outskirts of Pamplona we sore a sign for a holday inn and at 49E it sounded like a bargain... tired and exhausted we dived off and headed for it... it was 6 weeks old and was great



We even got secure parking, and it was on an industrial estate nex tto a complex with about 15 diffrent resturants in it just what we needed.

Monday - Pamplona To Santander Ferry Port to Plymouth

The task today was to ge tto santander and not miss the ferry, it only goes twice a week, monday and thursday, i didnt want to have to be phoning the boss...



the map sums up most of the day really, we burnt miles on the auto routes to get there, tbh it wasnt much of a highlight, Santender is very lovely, but not if your just nipping though



final services stop and some lunch before the last 50k to Santander, saw some other british bikes here, and then met up with them at the ferry port.

Millage since Leeds About 1450.. i was in a lot of pain..witha jumper down my trousers to pad me out a bit

here we are at the Brittany Ferries Port at about 2pm





we were both exhausted and tired, happy to be there in one piece knowing that witha 20 hour ferry ride to plymouth we might well have some time to recouperate. we even had cabin on the ferry so i could get some proper sleep in.

And thats pretty much it, we got off the ferry in plymouth along with what must have been 50 other bikers, and continued to Exeter services, origionally i was going to go back to suffolk then back to leeds on thursday, but the pain was too much and i decided to save myself 180 miles and headed straight back to leeds, it was a shame to leave my dad there as he was going to see a few friends on the way home who i would have love to have met, but my body was just saying "Home",

here we are saying goodbye aftyer the final stop for fuel , coffee map read and cake,





It was a great few days but no wi faced the lonely 300 mile home ride, with only my memories to reflect on.

this is me... 1884 miles after leaving on wednesday, not the highest millage mini tour im sure, but im bloody proud of me, my bike and my dad, despite my jests about the maps, we were never really lost, and we always had a great laugh,
the only wet weather i rode through was the final 15 minutes coming through leeds to home... typical huh...



were hoping that we can extend this trip to a proper week / 10 days with other members of the family making it out to, including kitten whe she passes her test... i truly cant wait, and i have reviews of sports tourers sitting here in front of me as i cannot go through that much pain again any time soon.

All i can say i sif you want to go.. go do it now.. befor eyou never do, ill be doing it again soon, im even hpoping to brush up on my french properly for next time, but any way, untill the next set of pics, rubber side down and take it easy.
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Old 17-05-06, 06:39 PM   #2
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That looks so much like fun. Getting lost is part of the holiday

The Spanish sign said 'no motorcycles' BTW.
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Old 17-05-06, 06:44 PM   #3
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Looks like you had an awesome time < jealous.
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Old 17-05-06, 06:47 PM   #4
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fabulous pic Alex looks like you had a great time - i'm not jealous not one bit
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Old 17-05-06, 07:09 PM   #5
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Default Re: My French Trips.... Lots of pics... 56k Warning

Quote:
Originally Posted by 454697819


nothing except being there can realy justify how good it is, everything is just lovely
That is just a stunning view.

Sounds like you guys had a great time. I liked your route thru the Pyrenees btw
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Old 17-05-06, 07:32 PM   #6
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Cool! Great trip
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Old 17-05-06, 08:09 PM   #7
Ed
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Cor Alex that's a fantastic trip!! Envy, envy.
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Old 17-05-06, 08:58 PM   #8
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Great trip Sorry about the pain in the *rse tho. Did oy have an OE seat or a gel seat?
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Old 17-05-06, 09:18 PM   #9
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briiliant mate

as a regular piccy poster I know how difficult it is to host and post and then dialogue the pics- you did ace!

whatI am truly jealous of is the relationship with yer dad- ace!..
my dad and i dont get on- we are both stubborn !!... what a memory and what a way to spend some quaulity time with your father...

I am very jealous.... however- wouldnt want the sore ****- I recall the feeling from the AR05.!!!
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Old 17-05-06, 09:26 PM   #10
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very well put together 454697819 you did a grand job! great photos and great trip with ya dad. you cant beat the father son thing
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