Hi all,
I'm off work for the next 2 weeks and if anyone is travelling around any of the UK or (even better!) heading off from the UK to France then give me a shout.

I have no real plans myself, but thinking about heading for France early next week on my own if nothing better comes up.


Cheers!
Cammy.

Just a thought if you have this much time to spare why not go to germany and visit the nurburing very nice place and also the roads in this area are great. Sundays are normal open day for the track so there are normally loads of bikers and cars there, plenty to keep you entertained for a while

and then go to:-
Bienvenido a la Web del Moto Club Pistón

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Dave

Just come back from Southern France/Italy three days ago.

Still in the high 20's and no bugger about as the French & Italians are all back at work. Glorious!

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Stu
Ride Safe & Rock HARD!
04 1200GS

I'm only wearing black until they find something darker!

SAVED PLANET ROCK!

Sparky, I seen your other posting asking for accomodation recommendations for France and you mentioned you would follow up with anything good you found.

Did you find anything good? Any recommendations yourself? Any places to definitely avoid?

Cheers fella!
Cam

Re the 'Ring... absolutely recommended! Top entertainment, even from a spectator's viewpoint. Combine this with a run around the Mosel Valley/Eifel and then a troll down to the Black Forest - ace roads and pretty quiet this time of year? Then a swing down the Rhone Valley to Provence for a bit of sun... oh, i'm drooling!!

I agree 100%. Even the regular public roads round the Mosel and heading down to the black forest are great fun.

If you visit the 'ring, leave the bike in the car park of Beim Hannes cafe and you can spectate on the entry to Ex-Muhle or walk along to a great viewpoint above it and along to Wehrseifen. I watched the maddest endurance race there last month with 911 GT3's, Vipers, Astons and Lamborghini's sharing track space with Saxo's, Opel Manta's and ancient BMW 3-Series' and also the Tourist day on the Sunday. Saw quite a few accidents and to be honest, I bottled going out on the Sunday. Monday evening was much quieter and plenty of other bikers there to encourage, give advice, etc.

Get the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam and it's only about 3-1/2 to 4 hours at legal speeds. Well worth it.

Hi Cammy,

Sorry for the delay getting back. I'm having massive computer probs this week, the Blue Screen of Death is my new best freind.

I ended up staying in an ETAP hotel at Beaune. They are a chain, so not that great if you'r looking for homely and cosy, but they lock the gates of a night and the price is excellent. B&B for 38€. Rooms are always warm and clean, with your own shower & toliet.

Have great trip.

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Stu
Ride Safe & Rock HARD!
04 1200GS

I'm only wearing black until they find something darker!

SAVED PLANET ROCK!

I agree with that assessment of ETAP; they are part of the Accor group which has 1000s of hotels across the continent.
The advantage of the chains is that, like McDonalds, you know exactly what you will get for your money, and they are easy to find en route.

In ascending order of price, Accor have Formule 1, ETAP, IBIS and Mercure (maybe others, I am not totally sure from memory).

The competitor chain is Premiere class/Campanile also from memory, and Kyriad is another chain I believe.

Often, you can get into one or other without pre-booking, which is handy for making progress during a days ride when you are not sure just how far you want to get in that day.

Once you have got to one, pick up the brochures to find out where the others are - also gives phone numbers etc if you do feel like booking ahead.

As you enter most town outskirts you will see the adverts that give directions to whatever is in and around that town; the downside is that the cheaper ones are often on the outside of the town or city, on the ringroad for example, perhaps even on an industrial estate.
Also, some of them are grouped together, so if you don't get into your first choice, unlikely at this time of year, you just move on 30 metres or so.

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Dave

Hi Cammy, did you end up going anywhere nice? I'm looking for inspiration myself.

Hi folks, quick update.

Got the Chunnel across to Calais. Very easy, very comfortable and very fast. Would definitely use it again, but try to book well in advance to get a decent price.

From Calais I headed down to Le Mans. This was the only accomodation I had booked. La Lune Lake B&B which is probably 20 minutes from town / race track. I'd only planned staying one night, but the place was so nice and hospitality was sooo good I stayed on another to explore further around. Love it would go back.

Next stop was Sens (south of Paris before Troyes). Again stopped for lunch but there was a festival on so decided to stay the night. That night the rugby (England v's France) was projected onto a big screen near the Catherderal. Was superb. Made some good friends immediately and decided to stay there another night too. Visited FontainBlue Castle etc. Loved that.

From Sens I blasted to Luxembourg and arrived about 2pm. Bad choice. There was nowhere to stay. Tourist office informed me that there was a European convention on and everything was waaay busier than normal. Even the Hostel was chocka.

Didn't hang around, headed out to Germany and Bonn. AutoBahn = fun by the way. Arrived late and out of luck again. A business convention this time. Everywhere I tried laughed. So I headed south towards Koblenz. Eventually found somewhere cheap and very basic but by this time i didnt care.

Was up early and headed to the Nurburg Ring. Good shout folks. This place is superb and the villages to see over the Nordshleife are good fun.

Next stop was Brussels. Just OK. Only stayed for 1 and a half days.

From Brussels I did the entire trip back to Edinburgh. Work early, headed back to Chunnel, arrived Folkestone and ploughed all the way back to my own bed for 9.30pm. Was very tired and wouldn't recommend that distance. Well not on my R1.

All in all, it was a great trip and a bit of a wee adventure for me. Already planning something bigger for next year.

Thanks for everyones input!!!!

Cam

Nice one.
Change your R1 for a Yam Fazer 1000 and you will get 5 times the distance with 10 times the comfort + the same performance (in the real world of real roads) and you might see more of the scenery with your head up!!

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Dave

Autoroute says 586 miles from Brussels to Edinburgh, which I wouldn't put my hand up for.
But good to see you had a good time though.