day 1
day 1. 7-45 and time for the off,getting quite excited at the prospect of two weeks around europe.standing in the garden and the unmisstakeable sound of a gs coming down the road.dave and val come in the house with big beeming smiles on their face,no more sleeps says val are we ready,yep lets go.on the m56,then m6 pretty uneventful and dry weather[yippee] until we reach the m1 then slowed to a crawl for miles.eventually came across a bad smash on the northbound section,some poor bugger being cut out of their car by the fire brigade.not a good way to start our journey.the police had closed the m1 and there was miles of tailbacks,the reason our lane was so slow was all the morbid people slowing down to take a look.anyway we crack on again and no problems until we get about 8 or 10 miles from the dartford bridge and an almighty queue to pay.we thought we might have avoided this being a saturday,but no.on to the m20 and what a revelation,very little traffic so its throttle wide open and pulling into the eurotunnel parking area in no time.this was my first time on the train,im usually a boat man,but i cant praise this enough.within ten minutes of arriving the bike was parked in the train,and we were off.got chatting to a couple going to belgium on a gs for a baccy run,then just time to pick my nose,scratch my arse,and we were in france.and still the sun shone.off the train and just up the road to the petrol station for juice and a coffee.we were heading for
www.lesballastieres.com in gauchin verloing about 60 miles away.we were soon there.come off at junction 5 of the motorway says the instructions,but for some reason the satnav wanted us to come off at 4,but we ignored it and were soon in the b and b.sue and paul came out to welcome us,showed us where to park our bikes in the barn[excellent].took us into their garden and immediately thrust a cold beer into our hands.sheer bliss.after another 2 or 3 cold beers we headed off to our rooms.thank you to whoever recommended this it was great.massive bar area to chill with,pool table, dartboard,football table game,and tons of reading material,mostly bike mags[what else].a quick shower,some directions from sue our host,and its into town.we passed a kebab house,but thought no we are in france so we will try a french restaraunt[we wish we hadnt]none of us could speak french,so we just pointed at something on the menu and hoped for the best.mine came on a 16x10 roofing slate,at least the others got a plate,unfortunately none of us enjoyed what we had been given,but we were that hungry we just ate it.our own fault for not listening at school. meal finished a couple more beers and we had been told about a bar up the road called winstons[good french name] settled in there with a few more bikers who were also staying at the b and b.a few more beers and a couple of games of pool,a short stagger down the path and off to bed.aprox miles 360
Did you get your oil bottle sorted?
Nice one wide! Looking forward to the report.
