Off to Switzerland for a week or so soon, courtesy of my father, for whom I shall be carrying-out various odd jobs - ladder work, tiling, hold-the-end-of-this-while-I-cut-it etc...
He is paying my expenses, but can't understand why I want to take the bike instead of flying -about the same price.
I have tried to explain - Can you imagine how it feels to get off a cross-channel ferry at 6am
with 500 miles of glorious, open road in front of you?
It must be a bike thing..........
|
|
sounds fantastic to me,have a good trip and enjoy the ride to switzerland.
|
Thanks, hm. I plan to cross Portsmouth-Le Havre on the 2300h, returning a week later on the same boat.
Costs nearly twice as as much as from Dover but a much shorter trip - on both sides of the channel - and the chance to get a bit of kip.
I have done this trip in one hit before but it means getting up at silly'o'clock to catch an early ferry from Dover. 650miles is not easy in a day when you include a ferry.
|
Blast!
Spent hours planning a nice route on fast A and B roads that avoids Paris - Only to find I will be riding through the Tour de France on the 15th..........
Best get the map out again.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 05/07/2009 at 16:25
|
What kind of bike are you planning on doing this on ?
I've just got back from a 2k miles in a week road trip with some mates. Nürburgring then down to a place near Nantes before heading back yesterday. Even with waxing, the chain is history.
I did just over 700 miles yesterday, that finished the chain off although I had a lunchbreak and reapplication of wax. That was on a CBR600.
|
What kind of bike are you planning on doing this on ?
SQ
Hi gmac.
It's a Triumph Sprint RS.
No worries about the chain - not sure what it is made of but it only seems to need adjusting once a year.........
I was a bit worried - swapping a shaft-drive for a chain, but these new chains seem to last forever.
Got to go now - just flown in from Bordeaux and booked on the 2300 from Portsmouth tomorrow..............
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 14/07/2009 at 00:58
|
Got to go now - just flown in from Bordeaux and booked on the 2300 from Portsmouth tomorrow..............
Have a good one and don't forget to get of the Autoroutes and have some fun on the twisties on the way. I know you have those at your destination but their is nothing like a good twisty road to wake you up after the fuel stop splash and go monotony of the motorway.
Edited by gmac on 14/07/2009 at 17:51
|
Update..........
After riding through a thunderstorm on the way, and THREE separate, violent storms on the way back yesterday, I think the chain may fluffy-diced........ I only noticed the funny rattling noise when I rode onto the ferry without a helmet. I'll have a look later when I've had a bath and a kip.
Lessoned learned ; Get a new map next time, take chain lube.
I managed to get lost in large towns a couple of times - not fun, in a heatwave, in the rush-hour - only to find when studying a new map afterwards that I could have bypassed them.
Roundabouts have proliferated in France in recent years but the French have yet to learn how to use them. Most of these roundabouts are small - Even major A road junctions sometimes have a single lane roundabout and the HGVs have to slow to walking pace to gat round them.
The Trumpet has so much torque that I managed to lose the back end twice pulling out of a roundabout. And that was being careful - 2000rpm in third? Mind you, there was about 2 inches of water on the road..........
The 'Plat du jour' is recommend for lunch. About 7 euros seems to be the norm. Or 11 euros for the full menu. Even with today's carp exchange rate that is good value.
Oh yes - I got stuck in a small village where they were hosting a bicycle race. A long, long detour in the end that cost me at least an hour. I didn't realise that they closed the whole road.
Recommended roads? Basically, the further you get the better they get. I love the passes over the Jura. Under-populated region with few large towns. Wonderful scenery and lovely road surfaces.
|
|
nice update keep em coming.
|
|
Having kept my fuel receipts I have as a matter of interest calculated my mpg. 55 overall - that is with making-progress-without-being-too-silly, but usually rapid acceleration away from lights and roundabouts to get past caravans and HGVs. 90% of trip non-motorway - so I am impressed. Yes, I know you can get that out of a diesel car, but I would still be stuck behind that camper-van in Dijon now, and somehow, I can't imagine it being as much fun - smiles....
|
|
|
