The trip home: Sadly it was all too soon to start making our way back home. The depleted Brit Pack were planning to meet at the top of the Col with Gregg (who'd nipped out to buy a present on the way). My SatNav (and stupidity) took us on an unscheduled trip through the main town, mainly a depressing mixture of expensive designer shops, but with a range of Motorcycle gear shops as well. However we still arrived just before Gregg. Gregg took us down some fantastic roads on the way back, particularly a tight technical road running along a narrow river valley. Great fun, until I lost the front on a very tight bend on some gravel, however the slow speed and a well timed foot down saved the day. We stopped for coffee and then pressed on towards Carcassone, grabbing a swift lunch on the way. We passed this amazing sight, the world's largest solar furnace, I remembered taking a picture of this on my school French exchange trip, so it's been there for at least 40 years (apparently it was opened in 1970)! More info here: The World's Largest Solar Furnace, France — Alastair Philip Wiper The temperatures were rising again as we hunted for fuel in out of town shopping malls. It started to turn into a bit of a slog as we tried to build up some miles to Albi and then Espalion. Riding alongside the River Lot was most agreeable and as the temperatures dropped in the evening our Sat Nav's played another trick, diverting us away from the signposted route. We rode up and alongside a fabulous gorge rising up from the river, lovely surface and minimal traffic with great views of the soft rolling hills and farmland. As Peter said it was the biking equivalent of a nice cool shower at the end of the day, we just cruised along taking in the sights. However the roads got smaller and smaller until we were almost driving along farm tracks (with tractors and farm dogs). Finally we popped out right next to the main road we should have taken! It was almost 9pm when we arrived at the hotel. This caused a bit of a panic as I'd stupidly made the booking for the next day! Luckily they were very quiet and we were not really expecting to be able to get any food, everything in the village was shut up tight. The owner/manager/chef (we never worked out what he was) took pity on us and offered to cook us something. He served up a fantastic 4 course meal for less than the cost of pizzas! 337 miles, a long day in the saddle
Return Day 2 It was going to be another long day today, we were heading for Reims, a trip of 458 miles. The first part of the day we rode over small roads in the Auverge area. Very quiet, but the roads were a bit dull. We got to Clermont-Ferrand and fuelled up, we could see the Puy de Dome just off to the left of where we were and I suggested we could head over and ride to the top for both the view and to grab an early lunch. Despite seeming to be very close the Sat Nav's took us right through the middle of the city, hot, crowded urgh! We finally arrived and we discovered that in the 25 years since I visited you can now only get a train to the top... Sorry lads. We returned down the hill, past the giant Michelin factory and hit the motorways. From Bourges we cut across country to Auxerre and Troyes. We stopped for fuel and petrol and the weather was just starting to turn, big black clouds and strong guests of wind. Despite this Peter was convinced he would be fine in his jeans! We set off and the weather started to get worse. Pete and I stopped some he could swap trousers and within minutes the heavens opened. It was really grim riding, very wide open landscapes with really strong cross winds and driving rain, not pleasant. Every time a lorry went past in the opposite direction we would be thrown around in the spray and wind blast. Overtaking became an exercise in hope. We spotted the others waiting for us, sheltering in a small shopping arcade and pulled in. They had relocated from a lay-by after a close encounter with falling tree branch. The weather stated to ease off as we entered Reims and found the hotel. There was a great secure garage to park in but by this time it was almost 10pm. We headed into town and found a fantastic place serving great burgers & pizzas (and beer). Although we were totally knackered Pete still managed to retain his title as EMM Pool champion....
Final day We were slow to get up the next morning, we only had a short ride up to Calais, easy yeah? We got the bikes prepared in the fantastic parking garage. Tony couldn't find his hotel key and the Hotel 'Madame' was a bit upset until he explained he must have left it in his room (it actually slipped out of his luggage when he got home). We took a quick detour to have a look at the old circuit of Reims, a lovely set of buildings that are being restored. We were entertained by a nutty French guy pulling rather good wheelies down the main straight, which is now a public road. We all did a quick ride by, which Tony recorded, but it wasn't as impressive as the wheelies. As we headed for the ports we got a text message warning of industrial action by ferry workers at Calais and diversions at the shuttle terminal. The service station was filled with frenzied speculation and rumour, but we headed on. Paul had a plan! As we got close the terminal we could see the stacks of lorries on the motorway, the exit ramp to the shuttle was closed (the strikers had set fire to tyres and damaged the tarmac), the line of traffic on the authorised stretched into the distance. Pauls took a sneaky turn through a coned off exit and we worked our way round to the other side. We removed our Sat Navs and made sure everything was secure on the bikes and keeping close together we rode along the hard shoulder (this is France of course), dodging the refugees at the side of the road who were trying to get into the slow moving lorries. Another bit of nifty filtering and we had made it to the terminal! We were offered a choice of an earlier train, excellent result! Graham videoed it, but I think you need to be on the European Multistrada Meeting Facebook page to watch: Graham Smith | Facebook However our joy was short lived, after waiting in the holding area for about 30 mins we saw smoke rising from the tracks. The French strikers had set fire to more tyres (actually on the train tracks). We had been chatting to some customs guys who were updating us on the situation. Just as we were about to board the train they suspended all services and after a wait we were send back to the terminal. We settled down for a long wait. After 4 hours we were starting to make plans for sleeping on the floor when suddenly the terminal opened again and we were on the train by 7:30pm. Back in England we made our way up the motorways, saying our goodbyes as each person peeled off. A really memorable trip and one to be repeated next year (hopefully), the roads and above all the great company of Ducati riders from all over Europe made it a fantastic experience. Sadly my parking spot on Friday was nothing like as nice as the one from a week earlier.
What a fantastic trip, thanks for taking the time to write it up, really great. Also quite interested to consider the train option to get closer and fresher to the interesting stuff. We all invited next year then?
Good write up Chris. It's good to know what you lot where up to whilst I was enjoying the hospital hospitality! Not at all envious.
The train option was brilliant. Instead of the hotel in Toulouse, we could have taken the sleeper, which would have made the finances more beneficial and also given us more time as we could have dropped the bikes off later.
Glad you had a good trip and the weather behaved (it can get really wet out there!). Thanks for posting.
I look fantastic in that video, I must speak to my agent! Great video bud! Happy memories apart from Steve's untimely demise!
I remember going into the hotel on the Sunday evening and the guys face when he said the rooms were booked for Monday :Facepalm: They did rustle up a lovely dinner though .....
