Having recently got back from our annual hols and had time to reflect, i thought i may as well do a RR , so lets begin.
As the saying goes best laid plans of mice and men, we were due to leave from plymouth on sunday the 22nd of may going to santander to start our five week trip around spain, portugal and into morocco, with our return taking us back up through france to home. Then on the tuesday before our departure we get an e mail rom brittany ferries telling us the boat has been cancelled and to ring them for other options, there turned out to be no suitable options (gutted), and we were not left with any alternative but to change all our plans and get a boat over to france and make our own way to spain and leave out morocco and maybe portugal to. So an overnight ferry from portsmouth to Caen was booked for sunday night that would see us in france at 7.30 am the next day.
The ride down to portsmouth was a wet one and took us about 4.5 hrs to do the 230 miles, at the docks there were a fair few people who had also been hit by the cancellation of the other ferry and were in the same situation as ourselves, having had to alter their plans.
After a brief wait the boat was loaded and we were off. We got settled down in our cabin for what would be a very calm sailing, this allowed us to get a good nights kip ready for our arrival in Caen.
The boat docked bang on time and we were off to our first destination 330 miles south to limoges for an overnight stop, we had chosen to take peages down to tours and then do the last 130 miles via smaller roads, we had a good ride down the weather was warm and we were in no hurry so we stopped off at a couple of nice villages to have a look around and then moved on,the miles ticked by without any drama, although i did think it strange that when we stopped for fuel on the peage there was a sign saying 20ltr maximum per fill, but never gave it a second thought, anyway we arrived at the digs in limoges dumped the gear and went out to find somewhere to eat. After tea it was time to find somewhere to stay for the next destination we had chosen, this was the Lott valley area where we would hopefully be staying for a few days, so i fired up the laptop and loaded up booking.com and 20 minutes later we had a B&B sorted for 4 nights, all i had to do then was to plan a route down there, taking in some of the wonderfull villages on the way. this left us with a short hop of about 130 miles and all day to do it in, so plenty of time to take in the sights.
Next morning 9am start first job is to fill up with fuel, so i find the nearest petrol station on the old sat nav, a carefour, and head off , talk about a queue they were 10 deep at all pumps, very strange but hey ho we have all day so i queue up and fill up and off we go to our first stop of the day, the little medieval village of Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche where we have a wander around and take a few pics and have a coffee, then make our way back to the bike only to find as i take it off the stand to spin it around it has a flat rear tyre,Lots of bad language ensues, then out comes the repair kit and compressor and i proceed to fix it,a little while later all done and sorted we carry on to our next stop the village of Montignac where we get our dinner and have a look at the place. dinner and pictures done with, time is getting on and we head towards our stop for the next few nights the B&B Lavandes et Roses en Quercy at Saint-Cernin, this proves to be a bit of a mare to find even though i had put the exact coordinates of the place into the nav, it did not help that the sign to the place had been knocked over and the fact it was down a very well concealed driveway,anyway digs found gear unloaded time for tea and plan for tomorrow.
As the saying goes best laid plans of mice and men, we were due to leave from plymouth on sunday the 22nd of may going to santander to start our five week trip around spain, portugal and into morocco, with our return taking us back up through france to home. Then on the tuesday before our departure we get an e mail rom brittany ferries telling us the boat has been cancelled and to ring them for other options, there turned out to be no suitable options (gutted), and we were not left with any alternative but to change all our plans and get a boat over to france and make our own way to spain and leave out morocco and maybe portugal to. So an overnight ferry from portsmouth to Caen was booked for sunday night that would see us in france at 7.30 am the next day.
The ride down to portsmouth was a wet one and took us about 4.5 hrs to do the 230 miles, at the docks there were a fair few people who had also been hit by the cancellation of the other ferry and were in the same situation as ourselves, having had to alter their plans.
After a brief wait the boat was loaded and we were off. We got settled down in our cabin for what would be a very calm sailing, this allowed us to get a good nights kip ready for our arrival in Caen.
The boat docked bang on time and we were off to our first destination 330 miles south to limoges for an overnight stop, we had chosen to take peages down to tours and then do the last 130 miles via smaller roads, we had a good ride down the weather was warm and we were in no hurry so we stopped off at a couple of nice villages to have a look around and then moved on,the miles ticked by without any drama, although i did think it strange that when we stopped for fuel on the peage there was a sign saying 20ltr maximum per fill, but never gave it a second thought, anyway we arrived at the digs in limoges dumped the gear and went out to find somewhere to eat. After tea it was time to find somewhere to stay for the next destination we had chosen, this was the Lott valley area where we would hopefully be staying for a few days, so i fired up the laptop and loaded up booking.com and 20 minutes later we had a B&B sorted for 4 nights, all i had to do then was to plan a route down there, taking in some of the wonderfull villages on the way. this left us with a short hop of about 130 miles and all day to do it in, so plenty of time to take in the sights.
Next morning 9am start first job is to fill up with fuel, so i find the nearest petrol station on the old sat nav, a carefour, and head off , talk about a queue they were 10 deep at all pumps, very strange but hey ho we have all day so i queue up and fill up and off we go to our first stop of the day, the little medieval village of Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche where we have a wander around and take a few pics and have a coffee, then make our way back to the bike only to find as i take it off the stand to spin it around it has a flat rear tyre,Lots of bad language ensues, then out comes the repair kit and compressor and i proceed to fix it,a little while later all done and sorted we carry on to our next stop the village of Montignac where we get our dinner and have a look at the place. dinner and pictures done with, time is getting on and we head towards our stop for the next few nights the B&B Lavandes et Roses en Quercy at Saint-Cernin, this proves to be a bit of a mare to find even though i had put the exact coordinates of the place into the nav, it did not help that the sign to the place had been knocked over and the fact it was down a very well concealed driveway,anyway digs found gear unloaded time for tea and plan for tomorrow.
