France: so near and yet still an adventure

[Ross Dean]

So here goes.

I am off to France on Friday for five weeks or so travelling alone and camping. I am looking for a place to live for my family and to travel by back roads. This is why I bought my second-hand R1100GS in July and, at last, I am off. I have no detailed route planned. In fact my only plan is to keep the Atlantic close to my right hand and get down from Calais to south-west France; no GPS and no schedule allowed!

Sometimes, life just works out well ... I hope

Hello to anyone else travelling in France and northern Spain - perhaps we will meet on the road.

Ross

 

[Blackal]

Have a great trip

Only bit of advice............ don't look to buy a house ( to do up) in a "dead village" - they may look cheap, but they will probably always be in a dead village.

Al

 

[Farmboy]

Best of luck and happy house hunting,

the best trips always have NO destination and NO timescales


Chris

 

[Ash]

camping for 5 weeks in sept/oct.
brass monkey and balls spring to mind.
www.hotelformule1.com
allways warm/clean and cheap all over france.if camping gets to much.
you can pick up a directory at any F1 hotel.

 

[Monsieur]

Good luck with your house hunting - let us know how you get on

 

[JDH]

RESPECT Have an enjoyable, safe and successful trip mate.
Keep us informed as to your progress.

John

 

[Ross Dean]

GS styling

I am writing this in a small hotel room in Pau (France), after a fantastic few day's riding in the Spanish and French Pyrenees (Basque country).

I really should post this on a "Futures" forum but cannot find one. If there is such a forum then my apologies ...

I've been riding a stock black 1999 R1100GS with its standard (very) dark screen and red seats for a few months now; some 9000 miles through England, Scotland, Wales, France and Spain. Everywhere I go, the noise and styling turns heads and keeps them tracking - its an ego boost worthy of comment and the bike cuts the mustard over roads from extremely rough, narrow, broken tarmac tracks in the Pyrenees to fast French motorways. I have no riding experience of the bike but expect that the R1200GS has superior engineering. The trouble is it looks like a big trail bike. The GS is so much more than a rough road machine. This a plea for a retro-styled GS! Please BMW, produce a 1200 GS that looks and sounds like an 1100! And, please, get rid of the aluminium boxes ... there is something special about the "in your face" functionality of the R1100GS and its unique styling - the heads do turn! Make the style count again - the bike is worth it!

Ross

 

[Dahoum]

 

[Decster]

Hey Ross

Glad you are enjoying the bike.

Howabout a longer report about your trip in France for 5weeks.

D

 

[falcoron]

house hunting

I am writing this in a small hotel room in Pau (France), after a fantastic few day's riding in the Spanish and French Pyrenees (Basque country).

I really should post this on a "Futures" forum but cannot find one. If there is such a forum then my apologies ...

I've been riding a stock black 1999 R1100GS with its standard (very) dark screen and red seats for a few months now; some 9000 miles through England, Scotland, Wales, France and Spain. Everywhere I go, the noise and styling turns heads and keeps them tracking - its an ego boost worthy of comment and the bike cuts the mustard over roads from extremely rough, narrow, broken tarmac tracks in the Pyrenees to fast French motorways. I have no riding experience of the bike but expect that the R1200GS has superior engineering. The trouble is it looks like a big trail bike. The GS is so much more than a rough road machine. This a plea for a retro-styled GS! Please BMW, produce a 1200 GS that looks and sounds like an 1100! And, please, get rid of the aluminium boxes ... there is something special about the "in your face" functionality of the R1100GS and its unique styling - the heads do turn! Make the style count again - the bike is worth it!

Ross

Ross,
please keep us posted on your house hunting. I am going to do the same thing once i sell my house. Any tips or contacts would be appreciated anywhere from Limosin and further south.
Cheers
Ron