2 weeks in Europe, looking like a bunch of grapes.

charliemopic

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OK, first the grapes. This was the track of our trip, closely resembling a bunch of grapes, ironic as it was a staple food this year.

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First night was in Rouen, a cheap B & B motel in the city centre. It was a good evening with decent food at the square where Joan Of Arc was executed.
Unbeknownst to me, an old school friend of mine was in Rouen the same night and posted similar pictures on social media, small world eh

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Night 2 was spent in a caravan on a holiday park on the outskirts of St Nazaire for 20 euros via booking.com. There wasn't much there but we'd stopped earlier for supplies and even got invited to a 20th birthday party by another resident, at least that's what we thought she'd said :D

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The U Boat pens were massive and a bonus to be able to ride inside them.

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After a quick look around we were and heading to Bordeaux via a coastal route, the roads not being as straight and boring as we were led to believe. Booking.com came up trumps yet again with a little cottage belonging to a vineyard owner in a rural village just to the North of Bordeaux. Once again attempting to prove how small the world actually is, the place was owned by a chap who used to work for the same employer as my touring buddy, a gentleman by the name of Sir Frederick Barclay.
After a wet couple of days, it was great to use the washing machine and free tablets :DD

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Day 4 saw us ride up the Col D'Aubisque, my god it was cold, wet, foggy and miserable with a coffee at the top being a necessity.

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We headed back down looking for better weather and lower Col's............................and cows.

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Shame you had low cloud on Aubisque. It's a favourite, especially the bit from Soulour through the gallery road section. I really like Marie Blanque too, it is a handy pass to include in a loop from Jaca in Spain, into France, over some Cols and back into Spain at Ainsa.
 
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I pitched a tent once, near enough at that very spot, to watch the Tour de France pass by the next day. It was motorhome city, parked all the way up the col. A great experience.
 
Im not going to gripe about your report🤣. Great to see someone grabbing the last good weather for a tour, or maybe I spoke too soon. Im in 👍👍
 
Excellent start, thank you for taking the time. (y)

Rouen is a beautiful little town with lots of history and very easy to reach from the Chunnel.
We stay here:-


Straight off the motorway, 5 minute walk into the town centre, underground parking, nice rooms and excellent breakfasts. Decent prices if you book direct via the Accor website/App.
 
From Col de Marie Blanque it was off to the Spanish border and a bit of stickering, my first time riding a bike in Spain and another country to tick off the list. We'd booked a place called Hotel Candanchu which at first sight made me think of The Overlook Hotel from The Shining, mainly because it was fairly empty being the end of the season.
Met a couple of Brit bikers from Devon, John and his newly bike test passed daughter Zara were travelling for a month through Spain & Portugal raising money for some charities which had helped John after his bike accident, we all went out for dinner & a few beers and had a great night.



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With sore heads, we said goodbye to our 2 new friends with a promise to meet up again next year at our groups annual 4 day weekend, this time in the South West of Britain.
I'd been wanting to see Canfranc Estacion for some time, though an overnight here was well over our €35 limit 😁
Day 5 carried us further South toward Jaca and then East to Biescas where my mates battery on his RT gave up the ghost, we managed to get it started with a jump pack and made our way back West to Sabinanigo to find a garage who managed to get one in from Jaca. After a Spanish 30 mins (4 hours in Brit time) we were back on the road N260a to a booked place in the village of Labuerda, a few miles North of Ainsa.



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