Post by yamaha on Sept 4, 2008 9:15:29 GMT
Just returned from my biking holiday to the Loire, tired but happy.
A friend, Neil, who has only recently got his bike license, also expressed an interest in coming, so we both set off last week for our adventure.
3.30am last Wed saw us meeting up, dreary eyed, at the Podimore services on the A303 for our longish trip to Dover for 10.45am Speedferries sailing to Boulogne. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, so spent an hour sitting on the seafront watching some swimmers going back and forth along the front, and wondering who was the daftest - them, or us for sitting watching them!!
We arrived in France late morning, and decided a leisurely ride to Abbeville would be enough for our first day, eventually finding a campsite at Long, just outside Abbeville. Not a bad little site, and cheap at 9 Euros for both of us!! Only drawback was, no food available locally, so we had to ride back into Abbeville to find a meal.
This being France, we just parked both bikes on the pavement outside, so we could keep an eye on them - don't think we cold do that in England!!
Our destination was Blois, in the Loire, for an international microlight rally, so the next day we headed off again south, after stocking up with a French loaf and some cheese.
We eventually found a lovely municipal site at Vendome, camping Grands-Pres', a lovely site with a nearby swimming pool, and a 5 min walk from the lovely town. Did I ever mention that I don't do walking? Even I could manage this distance!! 5 Euros each per night, constant free hot water, and resident ducks that shared your breakfast with you - bliss! We stayed there eventually for 5 nights, visiting the Show on the Saturday, temp at least 32 c - meeting some aquaintences who had flown down there for the show.
It was so lovely to sit outside our tents in the evenings in balmy weather - not that we had much choice, and the only rain we had was the early hours of Sunday morning - a cloudburst and lightening, but we were still tucked up in bed, and didn't get wet.
Monday morning saw us packing all the gear back onto the bikes for our return journey. Driving all day, with frequent stops, saw us pulling into Boulogne at 7pm, in brilliant sunshine, tired, sore, but happy!!
Managed to transfer our booking forward to the midnight sailing, as we didn't fancy unpacking the camping gear again just for one night!! I suppose that 5 hours was the low point of the holiday so far - when the sun went down, it got chilly, so we were more than happy to board!!
Arrived in Dover about 12.15am, overcast, and not too warm. hit the road, stopping at Clackets Lane on the M25 to don the wet weather gear, and cover everything over that we could.
From then on it POURED down - M25, M3, stopping at Fleet Services primarily for fuel, but glad to be under their canopy, where we could clean visors, etc. Visibility was a real headache for us - with the visors closed, they misted up - with them open slightly, rain was dripping off our noses!! Lorries were passing us - but we could slow down to avoid their spray, but when we hit the A303 it was a different story - we couldn't avoid the oncoming lorries spray - and it was bucketing down by then!!
Arrived home, soaked, just before 6am, after travelling at least 500 miles that day - and a hot bath never seemed SO lovely!!
Neil did really well, being new to biking, and I think the trip has boosted his confidence to maybe try it again - I certainly noticed his riding had improved vastly by the end of the trip.
We did about 1300 miles, and used about 100 litres of fuel.
Mike
A friend, Neil, who has only recently got his bike license, also expressed an interest in coming, so we both set off last week for our adventure.
3.30am last Wed saw us meeting up, dreary eyed, at the Podimore services on the A303 for our longish trip to Dover for 10.45am Speedferries sailing to Boulogne. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, so spent an hour sitting on the seafront watching some swimmers going back and forth along the front, and wondering who was the daftest - them, or us for sitting watching them!!
We arrived in France late morning, and decided a leisurely ride to Abbeville would be enough for our first day, eventually finding a campsite at Long, just outside Abbeville. Not a bad little site, and cheap at 9 Euros for both of us!! Only drawback was, no food available locally, so we had to ride back into Abbeville to find a meal.
This being France, we just parked both bikes on the pavement outside, so we could keep an eye on them - don't think we cold do that in England!!
Our destination was Blois, in the Loire, for an international microlight rally, so the next day we headed off again south, after stocking up with a French loaf and some cheese.
We eventually found a lovely municipal site at Vendome, camping Grands-Pres', a lovely site with a nearby swimming pool, and a 5 min walk from the lovely town. Did I ever mention that I don't do walking? Even I could manage this distance!! 5 Euros each per night, constant free hot water, and resident ducks that shared your breakfast with you - bliss! We stayed there eventually for 5 nights, visiting the Show on the Saturday, temp at least 32 c - meeting some aquaintences who had flown down there for the show.
It was so lovely to sit outside our tents in the evenings in balmy weather - not that we had much choice, and the only rain we had was the early hours of Sunday morning - a cloudburst and lightening, but we were still tucked up in bed, and didn't get wet.
Monday morning saw us packing all the gear back onto the bikes for our return journey. Driving all day, with frequent stops, saw us pulling into Boulogne at 7pm, in brilliant sunshine, tired, sore, but happy!!
Managed to transfer our booking forward to the midnight sailing, as we didn't fancy unpacking the camping gear again just for one night!! I suppose that 5 hours was the low point of the holiday so far - when the sun went down, it got chilly, so we were more than happy to board!!
Arrived in Dover about 12.15am, overcast, and not too warm. hit the road, stopping at Clackets Lane on the M25 to don the wet weather gear, and cover everything over that we could.
From then on it POURED down - M25, M3, stopping at Fleet Services primarily for fuel, but glad to be under their canopy, where we could clean visors, etc. Visibility was a real headache for us - with the visors closed, they misted up - with them open slightly, rain was dripping off our noses!! Lorries were passing us - but we could slow down to avoid their spray, but when we hit the A303 it was a different story - we couldn't avoid the oncoming lorries spray - and it was bucketing down by then!!
Arrived home, soaked, just before 6am, after travelling at least 500 miles that day - and a hot bath never seemed SO lovely!!
Neil did really well, being new to biking, and I think the trip has boosted his confidence to maybe try it again - I certainly noticed his riding had improved vastly by the end of the trip.
We did about 1300 miles, and used about 100 litres of fuel.
Mike
more biking.