Europe Part 1

 

We're off! - Europe

Firstly, a big thank you to everybody who made our send off such a
memorable day at Claytons bar and the Port of Dover.  It was great to see you all there

and made us feel quite emotional. So much so that Martin went completely
the wrong directions out of Claytons, enough said!!

Having left Dover and arriving in Calais at 20.00hrs we headed for Bouloigne
to spend the night.  With our friend Graham in tow for the first 2 weeks we
knew he would keep our spirits up. Within 24 hours we realised we needed to
re-think our luggage strategy as the pannier bags we had were packed to
capacity were not up to the job.  We found a fab shop in France called
DECATHALON that sells everything and purchased some waterproof diving bags
that took the stress out of the panniers. Problem sorted!

We headed for Le Mans which was about a 5 hour ride.  We had to brave the
ever changing weather conditions as the rain seemed to follow us through
Northern France in stark contrast to the great weather we left in the UK.
Spent the next night in Le Mans at a cheap hotel that proved very cosy. Grahams
flatulence will only be suffered for 2 weeks but Martins snoring is somewhat
of a longer term problem!!!

The following day saw us head for the coastal town of Sable d'lomme as friends
of Graham lived there and offered to put us up for the night.  Steve and
Chrissie were the perfect hosts, so much so that we stayed for 2 nights
though this was due to a repair we needed done on Martins bike as the ally
gearbox casing needed welding.  Managed to get a temporary fix and after
abusing our hosts hospitality we were off early the next day heading for
Biarritz on the south western tip of France.  This was a long ride and we
spent about 8 hours on the steel horses.  We were saddle sore to say the
least.

We stopped at la Rochelle on the way to Biarritz for lunch and met a
smashing couple from Woking who were asking us about the trip.  They were
in port on a cruise and said meeting us had made their week!!!  Must have been
a terrible cruise then!  It made us fee good about what we were doing
though!

Made it down to Biarritz about 8.30pm, eventually found a hotel that would
take 3 sweaty bikers and headed into town for a few beers.  Met some other
english guys, Andy & Mel and drank with them for the evening.  Be warned,
Biarritz is mega expensive, about 8 euros a pint in certain places.  This
was impacting our budget heavily and didn't realise just how expensive
France was. We stayed for 2 days!

Leaving Biarritz was exciting for us as we would enter Spain today (Country
no. 3).  We rode into the Pyranees and WOW!  The scenery
and roads were spectacular.  With the weather improved we were in our
element.  Loads of switchbacks and great curves that really tested our
handling skills and we loved it.  2 days of this and we didn't want it to
end! Graham acted as camera man and filmed us riding some great bends with
stunning backdrops.  We stayed our first night in Spain not far from
Andorra in a small town called Boltana.  The hotel was luxury as we had our own
rooms. however, the restaurant was also the lòcal bar, convenience shop and
all round meeting joint.  We had the most disgusting frozen pizzas ever
here so had no option other than to wash away the taste with consumate amounts of
beer.  Well Graham did at least.

We left early next morning aiming for Martins place near Papignon back in
south east France.  Great house and allowed us to hole up for a day and a
half to sort out laundry and provisions.  We also reviewed our kit as we
knew we needed to travel lighter so what could we dump and how could we
pack it better?  We mananged to lose some stuff but think we will need to loose
more when we get to Africa.

From here we headed for Nice where we would stay with another of Grahams
friends, Paul.  Again a great host.  We rode the cote D'Azur and called in
at St Tropez on the way for a drink.  The journey was great and made even
better by the French Airforce flying abaove us for about half an hour
performing amazing stunts.  We are sure it was for our benefit so thanks
whoever organised this.