Road Closed

Today started off well - we got up early, packed the bikes and set off for Folkestone. Got through customs without a hitch and then had time to enjoy (???) a Burger King breakfast in the terminal building. We were letter 'N' and when called, dutifully set off for the train. 

On the other side, there were a couple of hitches. Firstly, my bike wouldn't start so I had to jump start it, (with Nia on the back and in the middle of the train carriage). Then the sat nav took us straight back to the check-in for trains back to the UK!!!!!! Following a very skilful bit of manoeuvring we got out of that pickle only for the sat nav to die on us!

So an eventful couple of miles, but thankfully all seemed to sort themselves out, (apart from the Sat Nav being a liitle temperamental at times). 

The autoroutes get you from A to B in the shortest time - great for some but on a biking holiday you want to experience the place you're visiting and not just blast past everything to get to your destination.

France has beautiful countryside (Britain does too) and the most wonderful little villages each with their own unique character. The numerous large crucifixes holding a carved sculpture of Jesus frequenting many road junctions, houses and cemeteries, near to Calais. The fields of corn and stunning forests. We rode through single width lanes, dodging the spray of water as the Farmers' watered their fields. The wind farms were plentiful and the roads were sparse of cars.

We crossed over bridges which when looking to the left or right, revealed a beautiful vista of a waterway.

We met some interesting folk today - the guy from Belgium, on a campervan holiday with his 2 young son who loved the opportunity to sit on the bike. Their grins were from ear to ear. The bloke in the cafe, where we stopped for lunch who insisted on telling me about the time he had a car crash in York ( I'm French) and the lady in the Boulangerie who asked a hundred and one questions about where we were off to.

We stopped for lunch by the Notre Dam. Not the one in Paris, but in this little town just to the north of Rouen.

Did I just mention Rouen?

We were meant to bypass the centre of Rouen, but we hit our first 'road closed'. The closure created a rather large traffic jam, however we filtered that without any problems, only to have to ride through the centre of Rouen, literally in the road past the entrance to the most majestical cathedral and along the banks of the River Seine.

The second road closure, this time with no forewarning was in a small town of Dreux where we dutifully started to follow the 'Deviation' signs which disappeared before you could blink! 

Nia had a bad case of arseysoreitis today and we decided that drastic action was required. Good job I was in the cubs and Anne the Brownies - well it was Nia who came up with a solution. I popped into an Intermarche and bought a cushion ( the type for a garden chair) and tied in to the pillion seat. Success - comfort for tho bot!

We really did ride through some wonderful scenery on great roads today. There were roads that were log and straight lined on both verges with neat lines of trees and roads that swept to the left and right where you could gracefully lean the bike into. There were canals and rivers and rows of golden fields - a great day!

We finally got to the budget hotel (should be mega-budget hotel) in Chartres with the incredibly rude receptionist. No key card or key for this hotel - a code! No restaurant, but bizarrely, next door was a most wonderful fish restaurant! Lovely especially when washed down with a nice cold Muscadet.

So that was our day - tomorrow we'll be riding down towards Limoges and we'll be staying at a Biker hotel!! Wish us luck!

 

Ouch, my arse hurts!

Well what a lovely ride. It was in parts but why didn't someone tell me that the whole of the South East becomes a car park on a Friday evening rush hour???

We took the M4 to Chippenham and then went cross country on the A and B roads. We rode past the chalk horse carved on to the side of a hill in Wiltshire and had a fish finger sarnie for lunch in a delightful pub garden under the watchful eyes of a number of 'stalking' ducks!!

For me, there was a time to reflect - we rode from Farnham to Guildford on the Hogs Back, a road often took to the Frances Harrison College of Nursing from Frimley Park Hospital. And then there was Guildford where I had my graduation in the Cathedral.

Then there was the traffic and lots of it! We filtered past lots and were stuck in lots too. There were some funny moments though, like being behind the Plumbers van which had the number plate, PO0 4 EVA and passing a pub called The Curious Pig, but on the intercom, Anne thought I'd called her a curious pig!!!

After getting through Royal Tunbridge Wells the traffic thinned out and the roads were fantastic winding roads with great views and majestic little villages - a great reward for slogging through the traffic.

So here we are, checked in at the Premier Inn and waiting for our evening meal, alas, in the Beefeater and not Nando's. You can't have everything your own way, can you? And our arses? Well all 3 are bloody sore (233 miles over 8 hours in the saddle).

Here are the girls, tucked up fr the night....

The Night before....

Wow - it's finally time. All the planning, all the preparation, was it worth it?

We packed last weekend as we knew we would be having busy weeks at work. We had planned for a restful evening to wind down before the off tomorrow. So did we?

No!

Everything was unpacked and painstakingly slowly, repacked. It took all evening! But we managed it. The panniers weigh a similar amount, the top boxes are ok and we decided on no tank bags this year (easier to just park up and go for a wander).

So the plan for Friday is M4 to Chippenham and then A and B roads until we get to Nando's, I mean Ashford in Kent (where there just happens to be a Nando's).