29th June 2014
Despite an inordinately generous dose of alcohol (the waitress was apparently using a wine measure for the Cognac
), I sleep fitfully. It's warm and humid and I soon hear the sound of continuous heavy rain. I wander over to the window and it's falling straight down like stair-rods.
Poo
Peter and I meet up for breakfast and tackle the weather problem. Our initial target had been a return to the Dolomites, which we visited a couple of year back, but we have unfortunately chosen a bad period for weather in central southern Europe...
The only weather window we can see in any forecast is fine weather in the Dolomites on Tuesday. We toy with the idea of having a day off the bikes and seeing if things improve, but this idea is quashed when we find the hotel closes on a Sunday and that we have to be out by noon.
Really? A hotel that closes on a Sunday?
Hey-ho. Over a protracted breakfast we decide to bite the bullet and retrieve what we can from a poorly dealt hand of weather. We are going to leave at midday and blatt down the Autoroute to Perpignan and then ride the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Although this means yet more Autoroute time, it will give us several good rising days in good forecast weather in an area neither of us is terribly familiar with.
It rains all the time we discuss this. Eventually we pack and get kitted up (my subconscious has blocked out the food & drink bill
).
I walk out to the bike and press the starter at exactly midday and we set off through the centre of Gap in a soft drizzle.
The roads are quite busy and we carefully make our way through the town and join the Autoroute heading southwest. Just after we've got our Péage ticket, Peter stops to take off his waterproof gloves and jacket, as it's looking a little brighter.
When he tries to restart his bike the alarm activates. It seems to be locked into a cycle and he can't get it to disarm (even tried using the spare key-set I'm carrying). Eventually I am forced to take action and tell him to read the manual. Just after he does this, the alarm starts to behave itself - although Peter assures me that it was nothing to do with reading the manual...
I get the feeling we'll be removing the alarm when we get home...
We get underway and head into drier weather, although...
...clouds stuffed full of rain lurk on all sides...
The Autoroute is quiet and we make good progress...
We pass through a couple of tunnels...
...past field upon field of soft fruit crops swathed in netting (gravity reduces as you approach the equator, so they have to keep the fruit contained)...
It's getting quite warm now and I've decided that I'll get de-kitted when we next stop for fuel. Shouldn't be long as Peter refuels at about 150ish miles...
We pull into an Aire and fuel up, buy some baguettes and something to drink and then find...
...a shady picnic table to have lunch at.
Very civilised.
After an hour or so we pack up and start heading southwest again...
The sun is now out and the weather is beautiful - this morning's drizzle is just a bad memory...
As we ride through Aix-en-Provence, the Autoroute is lined with flowering bushes...
We stop to pay yet another toll - this Péage plaza is a huge Stalinist affair...
The climate is definitely Mediterranean now, with tall conifers lining the road...
After yet another toll, we decide to stop for a drink and an ice cream...
...we're on holiday, after all...
We get back on the road and encounter an unpleasant gusty wind coming from the northwest - the Mistral, perhaps?
The windsocks set up at the roadside are at 90º - the effect is to severely buffet the bike. I'm suffering particularly as it's catching the peak of my XD...
As we approach Perpignan, our target for tonight, the weather starts building to the north of the Autoroute...
...and over the Pyrenees beyond the city...
We encounter a few fat, hard, cold drops of rain, but motor through it without incident.
Peter's TomTom GPS is in charge of finding the hotel. It stops outside a large cemetery and says we've arrived (perhaps it was the dead centre of town?).
We put in an alternative hotel and a few minutes later...
...arrive at the B&B Sud and check into our small...
...but perfectly adequate rooms.
After a shower and change, it's time to eat. It so happens that there's a Steakhouse over the road...
Where we have a light repast...
...followed by a couple of beers.
Not the most exciting day's riding, but we should now be positioned for something a little more interesting...
Oops - almost forgot the bridge...
Despite an inordinately generous dose of alcohol (the waitress was apparently using a wine measure for the Cognac
), I sleep fitfully. It's warm and humid and I soon hear the sound of continuous heavy rain. I wander over to the window and it's falling straight down like stair-rods.Poo
Peter and I meet up for breakfast and tackle the weather problem. Our initial target had been a return to the Dolomites, which we visited a couple of year back, but we have unfortunately chosen a bad period for weather in central southern Europe...
The only weather window we can see in any forecast is fine weather in the Dolomites on Tuesday. We toy with the idea of having a day off the bikes and seeing if things improve, but this idea is quashed when we find the hotel closes on a Sunday and that we have to be out by noon.
Really? A hotel that closes on a Sunday?
Hey-ho. Over a protracted breakfast we decide to bite the bullet and retrieve what we can from a poorly dealt hand of weather. We are going to leave at midday and blatt down the Autoroute to Perpignan and then ride the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Although this means yet more Autoroute time, it will give us several good rising days in good forecast weather in an area neither of us is terribly familiar with.
It rains all the time we discuss this. Eventually we pack and get kitted up (my subconscious has blocked out the food & drink bill
I walk out to the bike and press the starter at exactly midday and we set off through the centre of Gap in a soft drizzle.
The roads are quite busy and we carefully make our way through the town and join the Autoroute heading southwest. Just after we've got our Péage ticket, Peter stops to take off his waterproof gloves and jacket, as it's looking a little brighter.
When he tries to restart his bike the alarm activates. It seems to be locked into a cycle and he can't get it to disarm (even tried using the spare key-set I'm carrying). Eventually I am forced to take action and tell him to read the manual. Just after he does this, the alarm starts to behave itself - although Peter assures me that it was nothing to do with reading the manual...
I get the feeling we'll be removing the alarm when we get home...
We get underway and head into drier weather, although...
...clouds stuffed full of rain lurk on all sides...
The Autoroute is quiet and we make good progress...
We pass through a couple of tunnels...
...past field upon field of soft fruit crops swathed in netting (gravity reduces as you approach the equator, so they have to keep the fruit contained)...
It's getting quite warm now and I've decided that I'll get de-kitted when we next stop for fuel. Shouldn't be long as Peter refuels at about 150ish miles...
We pull into an Aire and fuel up, buy some baguettes and something to drink and then find...
...a shady picnic table to have lunch at.
Very civilised.
After an hour or so we pack up and start heading southwest again...
The sun is now out and the weather is beautiful - this morning's drizzle is just a bad memory...
As we ride through Aix-en-Provence, the Autoroute is lined with flowering bushes...
We stop to pay yet another toll - this Péage plaza is a huge Stalinist affair...
The climate is definitely Mediterranean now, with tall conifers lining the road...
After yet another toll, we decide to stop for a drink and an ice cream...
...we're on holiday, after all...
We get back on the road and encounter an unpleasant gusty wind coming from the northwest - the Mistral, perhaps?
The windsocks set up at the roadside are at 90º - the effect is to severely buffet the bike. I'm suffering particularly as it's catching the peak of my XD...
As we approach Perpignan, our target for tonight, the weather starts building to the north of the Autoroute...
...and over the Pyrenees beyond the city...
We encounter a few fat, hard, cold drops of rain, but motor through it without incident.
Peter's TomTom GPS is in charge of finding the hotel. It stops outside a large cemetery and says we've arrived (perhaps it was the dead centre of town?).
We put in an alternative hotel and a few minutes later...
...arrive at the B&B Sud and check into our small...
...but perfectly adequate rooms.
After a shower and change, it's time to eat. It so happens that there's a Steakhouse over the road...
Where we have a light repast...
...followed by a couple of beers.
Not the most exciting day's riding, but we should now be positioned for something a little more interesting...
Oops - almost forgot the bridge...
