French Mountains and Lakes Tour August 2012.
Saturday 11th August
The bikes are prepared ready for the off, just need to ride onto the road and put the panniers on. Julies bike first ,she is anxious, all the weight fully loaded, same everytime we go away. I know she will be fine. Mine next, starts with loud clattering sound. That’s a first on this bike, have I overfilled the oil. Ride it out onto road, clattering reducing. Put it in the “They all do that Sir” !! box.
Boxes on ,ready for the off, my bike will not start, think about running back inside to post on ukgser 1200 forum. Run through obvious, sidestand up, kill switch in right position,ignition on,all ok.Now the tourettes started , places to be , travelling peeps to meet up with.
Try this says a calming head voice. Sidestand down and back up, starts on the button, clean sounding burble from the engine. We are finally off.
Meanwhile over in Rotherham Brother in law David having his own last minute meltdown finds nail in his rear tyre NOT turns out to be a piece of stone. From this point on all 3 bikes run without fault for our 2600 mile trip. Faultless. Other than Gixxer running out of fuel.More of that later.
We trundle down to the Tunnel the last 10 miles running a little behind time, radio round to say final check in for train 20 minutes away lets up the pace. Gixxer takes point suddenly overtaken by Plod , ohh four cobs and a brown loaf, ere we go. Anyhow he had bigger fish to fry. He Ho lets go. We arrive just in time for loading, suddenly we are deploying into France and into first petrol stop. They only have 98 ron petrol ok for mine, gixxer and F650gs single want 95 sans plomb. Pop aif a gallon in each,wont hurt em. 30 odd miles to our first stop in St.Omer.We find fuel for our onward Journey to Macon in the morning.
Julie and I are in an Etap Hotel ,David and Tracey an Ibis in the Centre, we meet up for a wander round
then find a very good restaurant 8pm and 26 deg C so a drink is most welcome, mines water the others sample todays local brew.
food was simple but good.
Fully fed and watered we are off to bed.
Sunday 12th August
Up and off early, 406 miles to Macon today all A routes to another Etap.
Uneventful ride. 32 degrees C and bike gear though, we drink a lot of water and slowly cook . Into Macon for tea another nice restaurant in the centre. One of the Towns on the Tour de France Route. David has been growing his sideburns in tribute to Bradley Wiggins, at present they are frankly ridiculous bits o bum fluff. At every opportunity he mentions that he is Bradley in order to get free food and beer only he doesn’t speak any French, so goes unheard. Everytime we see anything to do with Tour de France he has to have his photo taken. More of this later.
The inside of the Cathedral was interesting to the photographers, David and I were hunting food.
David returning after a pose with tour du france boys, cant quite make out his sideburns.
The food was good if a little odd,
Raw egg does appear quite a lot in France.
David Ordered an Omlette and this arrived because he is Bradley Wiggins you know. Upgrade.
For me water and you guessed it a
but with Lardons mmmmmmmmmmmmm
Found these Aliens in the trees and it was getting dark so we legged it.
Bridge at night.
Monday 13th August
Onward
Off at 9am to Ride down to Castellane, A routes to near Grenoble and then N and D roads and N85 Route Napoleon to Les Lavandes Campsite for 4 nights. The bikes in this heat are doing nearly 10mpg less at 80mph, shock horror, with 15km to nearest fuel stop gixxer 1000 runs out of fuel. I ask others to continue to services as Julies reserve light pops on at 130 miles since last refuel, never has this happened before its always 160miles shown. Was 35 deg C though. They move off reluctantly but its safer for them.
Two Gendarmes on BMW RT`s swarm past dive into a refuge wave us in and then they open a gate and beggar off. They re lock gate and leave us stranded in small refuge. Before I departed I had a heated debate with myself about what not to pack. Thankfully practical head won, that Rainbow packing case strap Did come in useful after all. With that and a Rok Strap rubber part I fashioned a towing strap and towed the beggar 15kilometers to next Aire with Fuel. Managed 60mph to keep up with flow of traffic and not attract too much attention.Dave loved it.
Off the A routes and stopped for lunch, then found the N85 for an excellent run to our campsite. Only to be told in no uncertain terms we are Complete. With a mention of a Reservation we were greeted as long lost friends and shown to our pitch. This site has no amenties but the cleanest showers and toilets in France. Mainly static vans but ideal base for us as a bit quieter than the full on family sites. Very short walk into Castellane. What a lovely place it is. Very relaxed feel to the place. Eating out for all tastes and budgets. Regular typical French markets and a good range of shops. Its an ideal stop/base for Gorge du Verdon,Route des Cretes or D23,Moustiers St Marie. Would certainly go back for longer next time. So much to see. Must return.
A few photos that do not do the place justice.
David showing off his sideburns, the girls go wild
They see him now.
Presenting themselves
Once we have thrown a bucket of river water on them, we suit up and ride the Gorge du Verdun and Route des Cretes D23
Julie sits on fence with 700 foot drop behind her. WOW
Who was that masked man
We return in time for tea in Castellane, even more impressive at night
We have a run up to Mustiers St Marie today for a look round and its market day.
The bike of the day
Markets
Make Julie Happy
As does seeing things like this (might not work)Press picture
Will try to post next section soon, on the road to Briancon. Route des Gladius and some of RGAlpes.
Saturday 11th August
The bikes are prepared ready for the off, just need to ride onto the road and put the panniers on. Julies bike first ,she is anxious, all the weight fully loaded, same everytime we go away. I know she will be fine. Mine next, starts with loud clattering sound. That’s a first on this bike, have I overfilled the oil. Ride it out onto road, clattering reducing. Put it in the “They all do that Sir” !! box.
Boxes on ,ready for the off, my bike will not start, think about running back inside to post on ukgser 1200 forum. Run through obvious, sidestand up, kill switch in right position,ignition on,all ok.Now the tourettes started , places to be , travelling peeps to meet up with.
Try this says a calming head voice. Sidestand down and back up, starts on the button, clean sounding burble from the engine. We are finally off.
Meanwhile over in Rotherham Brother in law David having his own last minute meltdown finds nail in his rear tyre NOT turns out to be a piece of stone. From this point on all 3 bikes run without fault for our 2600 mile trip. Faultless. Other than Gixxer running out of fuel.More of that later.
We trundle down to the Tunnel the last 10 miles running a little behind time, radio round to say final check in for train 20 minutes away lets up the pace. Gixxer takes point suddenly overtaken by Plod , ohh four cobs and a brown loaf, ere we go. Anyhow he had bigger fish to fry. He Ho lets go. We arrive just in time for loading, suddenly we are deploying into France and into first petrol stop. They only have 98 ron petrol ok for mine, gixxer and F650gs single want 95 sans plomb. Pop aif a gallon in each,wont hurt em. 30 odd miles to our first stop in St.Omer.We find fuel for our onward Journey to Macon in the morning.
Julie and I are in an Etap Hotel ,David and Tracey an Ibis in the Centre, we meet up for a wander round
then find a very good restaurant 8pm and 26 deg C so a drink is most welcome, mines water the others sample todays local brew.
food was simple but good.
Fully fed and watered we are off to bed.
Sunday 12th August
Up and off early, 406 miles to Macon today all A routes to another Etap.
Uneventful ride. 32 degrees C and bike gear though, we drink a lot of water and slowly cook . Into Macon for tea another nice restaurant in the centre. One of the Towns on the Tour de France Route. David has been growing his sideburns in tribute to Bradley Wiggins, at present they are frankly ridiculous bits o bum fluff. At every opportunity he mentions that he is Bradley in order to get free food and beer only he doesn’t speak any French, so goes unheard. Everytime we see anything to do with Tour de France he has to have his photo taken. More of this later.
The inside of the Cathedral was interesting to the photographers, David and I were hunting food.
David returning after a pose with tour du france boys, cant quite make out his sideburns.
The food was good if a little odd,
Raw egg does appear quite a lot in France.
David Ordered an Omlette and this arrived because he is Bradley Wiggins you know. Upgrade.
For me water and you guessed it a
but with Lardons mmmmmmmmmmmmm
Found these Aliens in the trees and it was getting dark so we legged it.
Bridge at night.
Monday 13th August
Onward
Off at 9am to Ride down to Castellane, A routes to near Grenoble and then N and D roads and N85 Route Napoleon to Les Lavandes Campsite for 4 nights. The bikes in this heat are doing nearly 10mpg less at 80mph, shock horror, with 15km to nearest fuel stop gixxer 1000 runs out of fuel. I ask others to continue to services as Julies reserve light pops on at 130 miles since last refuel, never has this happened before its always 160miles shown. Was 35 deg C though. They move off reluctantly but its safer for them.
Two Gendarmes on BMW RT`s swarm past dive into a refuge wave us in and then they open a gate and beggar off. They re lock gate and leave us stranded in small refuge. Before I departed I had a heated debate with myself about what not to pack. Thankfully practical head won, that Rainbow packing case strap Did come in useful after all. With that and a Rok Strap rubber part I fashioned a towing strap and towed the beggar 15kilometers to next Aire with Fuel. Managed 60mph to keep up with flow of traffic and not attract too much attention.Dave loved it.
Off the A routes and stopped for lunch, then found the N85 for an excellent run to our campsite. Only to be told in no uncertain terms we are Complete. With a mention of a Reservation we were greeted as long lost friends and shown to our pitch. This site has no amenties but the cleanest showers and toilets in France. Mainly static vans but ideal base for us as a bit quieter than the full on family sites. Very short walk into Castellane. What a lovely place it is. Very relaxed feel to the place. Eating out for all tastes and budgets. Regular typical French markets and a good range of shops. Its an ideal stop/base for Gorge du Verdon,Route des Cretes or D23,Moustiers St Marie. Would certainly go back for longer next time. So much to see. Must return.
A few photos that do not do the place justice.
David showing off his sideburns, the girls go wild
They see him now.
Presenting themselves
Once we have thrown a bucket of river water on them, we suit up and ride the Gorge du Verdun and Route des Cretes D23
Julie sits on fence with 700 foot drop behind her. WOW
Who was that masked man
We return in time for tea in Castellane, even more impressive at night
We have a run up to Mustiers St Marie today for a look round and its market day.
The bike of the day
Markets
Make Julie Happy
As does seeing things like this (might not work)Press picture
Will try to post next section soon, on the road to Briancon. Route des Gladius and some of RGAlpes.
