Maison Laudeire - Normandy

We do comment on the smooth surfaces - you're very aware of them when you have no suspension, just skinny tyres pumped up to 70-odd psi.

We stayed at Maison Laudiere for 3 nights on our way down to Spain.

After a long, incredibly hot and eventful first day en-route from Ijmuiden to Maison Laudiere - 500 miles.
Firstly I ran out of petrol .

Secondly broke my new phone when I laid the bike over onto the right-hand pot to swill the petrol onto the pump side of the tank (I put my jacket under the pot so as not to scrape the recently refurbed head guard - guess where the phone was)

Third the final drive oil seal gave up the ghost weeping oil all over the back tyre and brake plus we had to filter through what felt like the entire length of Belgium.

We arrived at ML at 22:15 to say we were frazzled would be an understatement!! On arrival we were greeted by Nigel and Carol, within moments Carol had disappeared and reappeared with two beers, and then another two and several more over the course of the evening - what a women.


The next day Nigel rang the dealer to check they had the oil seal and reserved it, he then ran us about for oil and stuff to do the repair. It started raining but being made of stern\simple stuff we decided to ride up to Caen to purchase the oil seal within moments of setting off the heavens literally opened plus the satnav went bzzzt and blue screened (turned out that the power supply\GPS holder had shorted out) regardless we thought we'd push on but not for long my bike was twitching all over the place with the oil on the tyre and the sheer amount of water on the roads - we saw sense and returned to ML intending to go the following day.

Seeing the atrocious weather and wanting to help Nigel offered to drive us up to Caen on the afternoon which would have been a 130 mile round trip, I ask you who would do that for a perfect stranger. We declined and had a lazy afternoon lunch with Nigel and Carol. In the evening Nigel dropped us off in a nearby town with plenty of restaurants and bars and later came back and picked us up. On Wednesday it was still raining on and off but we went up to Caen and bought the oil seal planning to do it on Thursday morning, on Wednesday evening Nigel and Carol did a barbecue which in fairness to Carol was one of the best meals of the entire trip.

Thursday saw us up bright and early, oil seal replaced using Nigel’s tools and us on our way at lunch time with Nigel’s usb power lead to charge the GPS overnight.

Would I recommend Maison Laudiere and Nigel and Carol – absolutely unreservedly, we were treat like long lost friends - both of them simply could not do enough to make our stay comfortable and to help us out with the bike repair and other things.

Nigel I know you probably monitor\read this thread. Many, many thanks to you both for your help and hospitality. I posted the GPS cable back to you today so you should have it soon.

I’d like to be able to report the rest of the trip went smoothly, which it kind of did with the exception of someone running into the back of me at a roundabout near Pau (no damage done), Les getting lost three times and the speedo drive failing somewhere near Bergerac on the way home but apart from that it all went like clockwork……………

Hi John

Thanks for your kind words, always glad to help out as nothing worse than being stranded on holiday due to something you could fix with a little help Thanks for posting the lead back too.

We were eating cold sausage and chicken for a couple of days after the bbq!

Good to hear you both got home ok even though you had a few further issues!

Regards to you both.

Nige and Carole

Spent a couple of nights at Maison Laudiere last week and can't recommend it highly enough

Unfortunately I missed Nigel as he was in England but Carole was the perfect hostess, had one of her famous home-cooked meals on arrival and after a long second day visiting various WW2 sites, availed of another as I was knackered and didn't fancy eating out.

Altogether, a great place to stay and I'm looking forward to a return visit as soon as I can arrange it

Hi Arthur

Sorry I missed you but had to come over to England to sort some stuff out.

Good to hear you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you if you manage another trip over sometime.

Cheers

Nige and Carole

Just booked up today for 3 nights in September.

Looking forward to it.

Hi Jonathan

Look forward to meeting you all in September.

Rgds

Nige & Carole

I stayed at Maison Laudiere last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night with a couple of mates, Daniel and Paul. I had the king size room and my mates shared the twin room.

On arrival we were met by Carole and Nigel who quickly provided pieces of wood for our side stands, as they have a gravel drive. After our welcome we were handed a beer and shown to our rooms. The property has been very carefully renovated and to a very high standard. On our first night we ate with our hosts and Carole produced a superb selection of food for us, we were stuffed afterwards. The beer and wine continued to flow and we all slept very well

The next day we had a gentle ride around the area with routes provided by our hosts and on our return Nigel grove us into town for us to eat at a restaurant, picking us up later in the evening.

The next day the weather was really iffy and very wet, no problem, Nigel sorted us out with a route to Cancale where the sun was shining, again, in the evening we had a trip into town for dinner, with Nigel driving us there and back

Breakfast was excellent too, with bread and pastries from the local shop, proper tea and coffee.

All in all, a fantastic place to stay with genuine, friendly hosts who know exactly what you need after a day in the saddle

Very highly recommended.

I have just returned after a three day break at Mason Laudiere. I can only echo the above comments.

The building has been renovated to a high standard and its custodians Nigel and Carole run it to an even higher one going the extra mile.

Good food wine and beer , taxi service to town with gourmet guide , local knowledge par excellence , bikers route cards maps of the area etc.

All of this service made discovering parts of Normandy that I would probably not found on my own devices more enjoyable.

Thanks a lot Guys hope to return in 2016

Frank

Hi Jon thanks for your post and comments.

Really enjoyed meeting you all and glad you enjoyed the local roads, etc. Hope you all had a great time on your last few days across to Belgium and Paul was OK with that 300 mile ride from ours! Oh and many thanks for the tripadvisor post too!

Regards to you all.

Nige and Carole

Hi Frank

Thanks for your comments too, was great to meet you and glad you were able to take in the routes with some decent weather as well!

Hope you had a good ride along the 'beaches' when you left us and be good to see you again in 2016 if you get over this way.

Regards

Nige and Carole

Tank said:

Hi Jon thanks for your post and comments.

Really enjoyed meeting you all and glad you enjoyed the local roads, etc. Hope you all had a great time on your last few days across to Belgium and Paul was OK with that 300 mile ride from ours! Oh and many thanks for the tripadvisor post too!

Regards to you all.

Nige and Carole

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Paul was knackered after the 300 mile trip to the Champagne region. He exited a roundabout a little too fast and grabbed a handful
Bike sat up and he went over the curbing and took out a sign before entering the opposite carriageway Fortunately there was nothing coming.

For the trip to Belgium we hit the autoroute to Brugges, he was a bit happier. He really enjoyed his first big trip but was amazed at how tough it was.

Oooops

Sounds like he might benefit from some further training to be on the safe side!!

At least he got away with that one

Thanks Nige and Carole for a superb stay,everything 5 star as usual.
The other lads really enjoyed it and we will all see you in 2016

Hi Ric

Great to see you and Pete again and to meet Alan and Steve. Be good to see you next year as and when you plan a road trip to Normandy.

Take it steady.

All the best

Nige and Carole

Ahh, i can feel a trip coming........

Going in late June, can't wait.......

Hi Steve, thanks for your pm! Have called and pm'd you so pop me a message when you can!

David, looking forward to seeing you in June, hopefully will have dusted off the cobwebs from the Tiger by then so we can get a ride-out, not even taken the cover off it since last November!!!!

I look forward to it!
Not the D911 or D999 though, you've proved I couldn't keep up, even on my Fireblade let alone the BMW...... Had something in my eye that day, couldn't see properly....

See you soon

David

What if I promise I will only use 1st, 2nd and 3rd???????

Having said that will need 4th 5th and 6th gears for Paul's GS!!