France - 6-day "Iron Man" blast in May

[fishbird]

Hi oldrascal,

Could well be up for this trip. Seems little interest from elsewhere don't understand why? Unless there are PM's flying around. Version 2 may suit me better (more wine & food time) but lets see what develops.

 

[oldrascal]

Thanks for the interest Fishbird and do keep an eye on this thread as we get closer to the dates. For the moment, there's really not much activity and nary a PM in sight. I suspect that the Easter weekend has something to do with it as has the fact that 6 days is a sizeable chunk out of the work calendar and may be hard to organise at shortish notice.

Certainly, the 3-Day Bimble to Brittany that has just finished - see linky - had a huge amount of interest although it ended up with 5 riders having a blast. We will see.

I also have a preference for Option 2 and agree about the food and wine.

 

[fishbird]

Will stay tuned in.

 

[oldrascal]

I woke up this morning to bright sunshine, warm winds and the definite smell of Spring in the air and thinking just the day for an invigorating blast around the South Downs on the GSA. That is until I was carrying out my domestic shopping chores in the tin box after breakfast and came across the hordes and massed ranks of Easter Monday holiday-makers already forming on the roads. The bypass was jammed solid and the caravans out in force and going - well, nowhere fast actually. Not the day for me then.

So whilst waiting for more fellow Tossers to express an interest in this trip and having far too much time on my hands, I have been a'wondering, a'pondering and a'thinking - and it goes like this. We all love our bikes and I am certain that we also all are itching to get over the Channel and head South to the sun and amazing open and empty roads in France - that is a given. But thereafter we probably start having diverging agendas.


There are those hard-nosed bikers who love nothing more than pushing the limits of their skill and endurance to arrive at their goal knackered but uplifted by having faced the challenge and won. Others may consider that the road itself is the journey - and enjoy camping and gentle touring. And good luck to all and sundry I say as we are all the standard bearers of personal freedom, fighting the mind-numbing bureacracy of the State.


But I am getting carried away with rhetoric and need to focus on this upcoming trip to France. Here I must reveal my guilty secret and admit that I am a lover of good French food and a fan of regional French cooking. Having 'suffered' the attempts at 'gourmet' cooking, mangled by certain British restaurateurs and innkeepers in France, I am inclined to steer clear if possible of anything but authentic regional chefs and local hotels on this upcoming journey.

I am sure that it is possible to construct a trip consisting of 2 days travel to the southernmost point on the journey, a day and a second night at the chosen hostellerie with rideouts to local attractions end then with 2 days to head back up country to Blighty. If the route follows a strict 'no toll road or motorway' ethos and we try to stay on minor country roads, we can take a more direct route at a sensible and enjoyable pace; make stops every 90 minutes or so as we pass the local cafe set on the banks of a meandering stream; have time to appreciate the subtle change of countryside and climate as we descend ever further south towards our goal; and then ride onwards refreshed and invigorated by our own sense of exploring the country we have chosen to visit.


So to bring this ramble to a conclusion, is there an appetite (excuse the pun) of making this trip more of a scenic/gastronomic tour by motorcycle and thus removing the 'Iron-Man' element of the admittedly puerile caption? I would love to stay one night, at least, at a really different hotel - something like this amazing place, the Hotel Radio near Clermont-Ferrand which is an art deco hotel constructed in the image of an old valve radio:

This hotel has already been the subject of another thread in this section here. But France is awash with interesting and different hotels, cafes and reastaurants and price need not be a limiting factor if we choose wisely.

So, OldRascal's Tour Moto/Gastronomique anyone?

 

[wheeledwidewebb]

'Oldrascal', you are so enthusiastic it is a credit to you, seems strange that people are not biting your hand off to go with you.

I could kick myself for not signing up for the smaller trip you did because this one is just a bit too long for me and a little too close to my Italy trip at the end of June.

I know this post doesn't add anything to the thread but I just wanted to give you some feedback and moral support for your venture.

 

[oldrascal]

You are a star wheeledwidewebb and your support is greatly appreciated, it can be lonely in the ivory tower. I am sure that things will liven up as everyone gets back to normal after Easter. In any case, I want to limit numbers to a maximum of 6 as it is just much, much easier to book and do things ad hoc with a small party - many more than 6 or so frightens the horses in my view.

Having now done some more research, I will be planning the tour based on 5 days and 4 nights as<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_1806727", true); </SCRIPT> follows:

Day 1: Channel + 250-300 miles on minor roads + overnight stop at choice hostellerie with local cooking + glug. ​

Day 2: 300 miles, again on minor roas to farthest South hostellerie + grub + glug ​

Day 3: Guided ride out to mountains and local attractions then back to base for grub + glug ​

Day 4: Say farewell to our hosts and head over to Burgundy with gourmet lunch stop - then hotel near local vineyard for wine tasting then grub + glug then drunken sleep and much snoring. :cool​

Day 5: Straight dash to Channel port and home.​

Also, to give people more of a chance to arrange their lives if they are thinking of coming, I think that it is worthwhile being flexible on dates, so I propose the above 5 days somewhere between May 13th and the first week in June.

Its a real shame you can't make it wheeledwidewebb but it does seem to be running your Italy trip pretty close. Next time hopefully.

 

[fishbird]

'Oldrascal', you are so enthusiastic it is a credit to you, seems strange that people are not biting your hand off to go with you.

I could kick myself for not signing up for the smaller trip you did because this one is just a bit too long for me and a little too close to my Italy trip at the end of June.

I know this post doesn't add anything to the thread but I just wanted to give you some feedback and moral support for your venture.

I'll happily second that!

This could be a great trip, one to look forward to. Suitable time to properly sample local fare and scenery with a healthy dash of motorcycling to boot!

For me though, it would have to take place during May as I have signed up for the Gathering of the Clans 5th-7th of June.

There must be more GSer's who fancy this trip out there?

 

[oldrascal]

'Iron-Man' morphs into 'Iron-Gut' (part 1)

Although the thread has been strangely quiet, much activity has been taking place behind the scenes and with PMs to make sure that this will be one of the best rides. That said, the initial aim of a rough'n'tuff blast down through France and back again over 1,500 miles and 6 days of intense riding has modified and become something altogether more - how shall I put this gently - 'digestion-centric' will do over 5 days, returning on Saturday May 23rd.

The plan is now to spend as much time as possible on minor roads as we wend our way down through France with as much emphasis on enjoying and savouring French culture, food and wine as on seeking out the best and emptiest biking routes. Here is how it is looking.

We will use the Portsmouth-Caen route which leaves on Tuesday May 19th at 0800 and gets into Caen at 1500. This is the perfect
start point because this gets us straight down through some great countryside and fast and lightly trafficed roads and in the right direction.

So if we clear the boat and customs by 1530, we can still crack off a good 2 hours or so of riding before fatigue and common sense kicks in. If we break the minor road rule for this first bit, that should set us down as far as Belleme, a good 100 miles further South, where there is a cracking Logis http://www.relais-st-louis.com/uk/carte_uk.php.

Shared rooms are about €30-€40 each (or €55 or so for a single) and the grub is - er, just bloody marvellous. Anyhow, after a long first day I think that its always a good idea to kick off the ride with a quality meal and rest.

If we start earlyish on Day 2, we should have a really fun and relaxing amble down minor and scenic roads to our next destination around 300 miles further South in the Limousin department. Although no firm bookings have yet been made, Tony who runs the excellent RidersRest (linky) at Treignac near Limoges tells me that he currently has availability. For those of you unfamiliar with this very biker friendly establishment, it is highly appreciated and recommended by too many forumites for it to be anything other than top notch. So Day 2 sees us landing at RiderRest for some decent grub and glug, tall tales and deep kip.
But Tony also knows the surrounding roads like the back of his hand and on Day 3 we can either take notes and make our own way or, for a modest stipend, Tony will guide us to the best spots. That sounds like a day in Paradise.

The planning for Days 4,5 and 6 and then some MapSource routing will be posted later after sifting through the expected masss of replies.

 

[fishbird]

Iron Gut Tour

Looking good oldrascal. I'll be taking industrial quantities of these with me "Gaviscon Extra Strength"

Can't wait for the rest of the itinerary!

 

[oldrascal]

Its puzzling indeed that there has been so little 'take up' on this proposed outing to La Belle France to ride some great roads and eat some authentic French grub - all under the clement weather of late May. In fact, apart from the stalwart enthusiasm of Fishbird, this is turning out to be a bit of a damp squib.

So what to do and why is the proposition not resonating happily with fellow Tossers? Possibly 6 days is just too long to get permission from your SWHMBOs (resident issuers of leave permits) or simply is it that everyone is on a diet and can't face endless dishes of France's finest being shoved under their noses accompanied by silky regional wines? Nah....can't be that, knowing what a bunch of greedy fat-bellied gut buckets we all are.

So is anyone keen in principal but stymied on the details or what? There is still time to modify route and location if enough response is received. Let's hear it from you then.

 

[Deleted account W]

It does seem odd that it's not drawn much interest, perhaps it's the blue text

 

[Steptoe]

perhaps it's the blue text

No, it's the font, definately the font.

 

[oldrascal]

Oh crap, here we go again. Just cause you lot have bloody 20:20 vision, some of us like bigger fonts and the blue is just so.........er, fetching, don't you think.

Right then, just to prove a point, 'Arial 2 point' in black it is. Now we should see some action if the comments are valid. But beware, 'cause if it doesn't work, I definitely feel a pink font coming on to let me get in touch with my feminine side.

 

[fishbird]

Oh crap, here we go again. Just cause you lot have bloody 20:20 vision, some of us like bigger fonts and the blue is just so.........er, fetching, don't you think.

Right then, just to prove a point, 'Arial 2 point' in black it is. Now we should see some action if the comments are valid. But beware, 'cause if it doesn't work, I definitely feel a pink font coming on to let me get in touch with my feminine side.

The Pink Iron Butt/Gut might just attract others to this soiree

 

[oldrascal]

may be all we manage to attract if we keep writing in girly colours.

 

[fishbird]

Mmm.....fair point

 

[oldrascal]

Its the way of life that things sometimes conspire against the success of a venture - the Bad News is that it looks like the 6-day jaunt that I was trying to organise this month is not going to happen. There is just too much going on and it has proved hard to get enough people to commit to make the trip worthwhile. But the GOOD NEWS is that the same basic gastro/biking trip to France is now going to take place in June.

So I am closing this thread and starting a new one headed: "JUNE - the Great Gastro Blast through France". Let's hear it from you if interested so that I can lock in some firm dates.