Hi, basically what i done was broke my trip into approx 250 mile segments. And then look on the map for a town or village that was approx 250 miles from my set off point.
For example, set off point Le Havre, approx 250 miles to Vierzon.
Then type into google "campsites in Vierzon" and then just print off a map of Vierzon showing 2 or 3 campsites.
But to be honest you dont even need to do this as allmost every town has signposts for campsites.
No need to pre book so you can keep your plans loose and change routes etc if you want.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Tue 9th June.
Im all packed and ready to pull out of Millau, I've had a great time here and met some good people that I wont forget for a long time.
I have a look at my map, im heading to Limoges today, approx 200 miles north west of Millau, but first i need to head south twords Montpellier for a few miles so i can jump on the A75 and head back north over the Millau bridge, i've been under and around the bridge in the last couple of days but not across it yet.
I head out of Millau climbing steeply up a mountain side which gives some breathtaking views of the town, the weather is really nice today and it feels good to be heading somewhere new.
I join th A75 and head twords the bridge, the motorway is really quiet for what should be a really busy time for commuters on the way to work etc.
I reach the bridge after a few miles and I have to say that in my opinion it looks even more stunning whan approached from the motorway than it does to drive underneath it.
I cross the bridge and pull into a viewing area so I can take some pics.
Back on the road again and I jump off the motorway and pass thru some lovely towns and villages, all very peacefull and quiet.
I start to feel hungry and decide to find somewhere that i can have a proper meal and not just more baguette and cheese.
I arrive at a small village near Figeac, there's a shop, a restaurant and a post office (i think).
I park outside the restaurant and walk inside to find what basically is somebodys front room turned into a cafe, its quite busy with local workmen and all of them turn and look at me as i sit down at an empty table.
There's 2 set menus, one is 9 euro and the other is 10, I choose the 9 euro menu and wait for my food.
A few minutes later im served a big basket of fresh bread, a large jug of red wine, a large jug of water and a dish of fresh hot chicken casserole.
The meal is gorgeous but of course i couldnt touch the wine as i was riding my bike.
Time to hit the road again and pretty soon i pass thru Brive and I get back on the motorway for the last stretch up to Limoges.
I have directions to a campsite but decide at the last minute that i'll stay in a hotel tonight and get some proper sleep.
Im sitting on my bike on the side of the street when 2 English fellas walk up and ask if im lost, both of them are in their 60's and come from Liverpool.
They have riden here on ST1100's and are staying just around the corner in a new hotel.
I book myself into the same hotel and head down to the bar to have some food.
The bar food is very expensive so i buy a drink and decide to walk into town to have something to eat later on.
Im standing at the bar and i notice a woman sitting on her own about 20ft away, she smiles over at me and gestures for me to join her, I walk over and she introduces herself, she's here to collect her friend who works in the bar.
We talk for a while and i tell her of my trip and of the sites I have seen and she tells me about herself and that she runs her own pizza parlour and delivery service a few miles outside town.
Her friend finishes work and we say goodbye and they leave.
Im starving now so i head into town and buy myself some fast food and then go back to my room for some much needed sleep.
Tommorow im heading for Le Mans to watch the practice for the 24 hours du Mans, but before that i need to stop off at a place which would turn out to be the highlight of my trip, it is both beautiful and horrific at the same time.
Its called Oradur sur Glane.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Wed 10th June.
I rise early and head down to the restaurant for some breakfast.
Straight away I bumb into the 2 Liverpool lads that i met yesterday.
We all sit down and swap stories and it turns out their heading to Oradur sur Glane this morning aswell, i ask if its ok to join them and they say no problem.
We finish breakfast and agree to meet in the hotel garage in half an hour.
Half an hour later our small convoy is pulling out of Limoges and heading thru the rolling green countryside twords the infamous town of Oradur.
I've seen pics of Oradur and read about it online and I decided early in planning this trip that I would visit the village to see the scene of the cowardly massacre for myself.
We arrive at Oradur and park up in the new town that was built after the Nazis burned the original to the ground to cover the evidence of their attrocities.
There are lots of police and tourists here and we discover that today is actually the 65th anniversary of the massacre.
We spend a couple of hours walking around the old town, visiting the church and other various buildings where the killings took place.
The old tram lines are still in place and I can see that the town was very affluent in its day.
We visit the visitor centre and I buy a book on the history of the town and then, all too soon its time to move on, Im riding to Le Mans today and I've prebooked a ticket to watch the practice tonight for the 24 hour Le Mans race this weekend.
We bid each other farewell and I head off on my own to Le Mans.
The weather turns really bad again and pretty soon im riding in torrential rain, if i didnt have a ticket prebooked for the practice tonight i probably would have thrown in the towel after a couple of hours and waited out the rain in some hotel.
I battle on and the rain just gets worse, with really strong winds aswell.
My mood has been really down since visiting Oradour, I cant get the thoughts of what the Nazis done to those civillians out of my head and its distracting me from concentrating on the road.
I stop in the city of Tours and eat some food that I had stored in my luggage, shortly after this I turn on my heated grips, my hands are cold from the driving rain, but they only last 15 minutes, water has got into the switch and the grips are stuck on full power,I pull the fuse to kill the power to the grips and continue on my way.
I get to within 5 miles of Le Mans and I hear a strange noise and I think to myself what now?
I pull over and open my visor, the noise I heard is the race cars on the track 4 to 5 miles away!!!
I ride into Le Mans and collect my ticket and head for the camp site.
55 Euro for 1 night camping!
I pitch my tent as fast as i can and walk thru the site to the race track to watch the cars go by.
There are lots of upper class British guys here in their early 20's driving porsche 911's etc, and I suddenly feel very out of place on my trusty V-strom.
I walk into the grandstand and as i do a corvette streaks past at close to 180 MPH sounding absolutley evil, it is easily the most intimidating engine sound I have ever heard, only to be passed by an Aston Martin, who in turn has a v10 diesel Peugeot on his tail! (Peugeot would go on to win the race at the weekend)
I Have been a mechanic for the past 19 years and have worked on numerous competion bikes in the UK, Ireland and the USA I can say this place is like Mecca to me and the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck and on my arms as I stand directly across from the Aston Martin pits and listen to the scream of their engines as they pull in to make adjustments.
The atmosphere is unbelievable, as are the prices for food and drink, a can of coke was over 4 euro!
At 11pm I head back to the tent to catch some sleep, there's parties going on all over the campsite so I pop in some ear plugs, crawl into my sleeping bag and even though im in Le Mans and surrounded by thousands of people having a good time i still cant shake the black mood thats been hanging over me since Oradour.
Sleep is not going to come easy tonight.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Thursday 11th June.
Im awake at 8am, and its eerily quiet.
I climb outside and im standing in what must be one of the largest and at the moment, quietest campsites in Europe, thoundsands of tents and hardly anybody to be seen.
I pack my tent and load my gear onto the bike.
I was going to visit the Le Mans museum but im not really in the mood as I have'nt had a good nights sleep or had a shower for 24 hours so i decide to hit the road and head in the general direction of Le Havre to catch my ferry which is leaving tommorow evening.
I look at my map and try to decide whether to spend my last night in France in the town of Caen or Rouen.
I decide on Rouen as I can visit Caen when I do my Normandy beach trip sometime in the near future.
I leave the campsite and pull into the nearest petrol station to fill up, the fuel here is 20 cent a liter more expensive than the norm!, but im too tired to care.
Next stop Mcdonalds for some breakfast and then onward to Rouen.
The weather is fine now and the road is good, it runs alongside the motorway at times and passes thru some lovely villages and towns.
I meet a lot of British registered sports cars heading in the direction of Le mans for the race weekend and judging by the amount of Aston Martins/Porches/ferraris I meet I guess the recession hasnt effected everyone!
Im looking forward to my last night in France, maybe Ill find a good bar and party the last night away, who knows?
Everythings going well but then, about 20 miles form Rouen, the bike starts to lose power and drops onto one cylinder, I pull over and have a quick inspection and it seems to be missfiring on the rear cylinder and the engine managment diagnostic light is on, remember that diagnostic tool i didnt bother packing?
I reckon I could do with it now!
I decide to struggle on into Rouen and find a B and B and somewhere to work on my bike.
Riding in thru the outskirts of Rouen the bike dies!
I pull over and break out the tool kit, just then a Honda Varadero 125 passes in the opposite direction, he sees me and does a u turn.
He gets off his bike and tries to help but he only speaks French, and I only speak English (and Irish, but I doubt he does!)
I tell him im a mechanic and he seems to understand, then he gets on his bike and he gestures for me to follow him, I fire up the bike on one cylinder and fall in behind him as we cross park greens, go the wrong way down one way streets, ride footpaths and basically break every traffic law in the book, both of us laughing like idiots.
After about 10 minutes we arrive at a Yamaha dealership.
He goes inside and returns a couple of minutes later with the chief mechanic who also speaks English!
I tell him the problem with the bike and he asks if I am a mechanic, I say yes and the next thing I know my bike is on his spare workbench and he tells me I can use the workshop and his tools to repair my own bike!
I thank the Varadero rider as best I can in English, I shake his hand, he slaps me on the back and rides away.
After a couple of hours I have narrowed the problem down to either a faulty rear fuel injector or faulty wiring to the rear fuel injector, but the shop is about to shut for the day now so I decide to limp to Le Havre 50 miles away for my last night, at least if I can make it to Le Havre, then I can push the bike onto the ferry tommorow if I have to.
I thank the mechanic in the shop and leave some money in his tool box as he would not accept it from me personnaly.
Im really touched by the kindness and generosity of the Varadero rider and the people in the Yamaha shop, none of them had to help me but all of them did.
Can you see that happening in England?
The next 50 miles to Le Havre were nerve racking as the bike lurched and farted all the way there.
After what seemed like eternity I make it into town and find a cheap hotel with a garage near the ferry port.
That night I had dinner in the worlds dirtiest cafe, had a drink with a barmaid in her 60's with the breasts of a 20 year old, and got locked out of my hotel for a while until the security gaurd finally decided to wake up and let me in to get some sleep after what had been a long hard day.
I hope the bike starts tommorow!

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Reminded me of my first solo trip to france, scotland-dover-calais-troyes-annecy and monaco,2006, Been to la rochelle this year, 2 up on yam xjr 1300, got drenched most days so my bike touring days were over, yam replaced with kwak zx10r for quick blast outs, now after reading your story i find myself planning a solo trip to barcelona on the kwak, inspired once again, cheers pal

Great report, I'm enjoying reading it! What sort of prices were you paying for hotels/campsites on average would you say?

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99 Adventures - It's about the things we do, the people we meet and the places we see.

Campsites were around 12 to 15 euro per night, showers on site, shop nearby etc.
Hotels were about 50 euro per night, although I stayed in a new hotel in Limoges and that cost me 95 euro!!!
Im still annoyed with myself for paying that much for one nights accomodation.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Thats good, im glad this trip report has inspired you to get back travelling again.
In my opinion travelling solo is the way to go as you are not tied to anyone else's schedule and also it forces you to interact with the local people, and the best memories I have are the experiences I had with the locals.
Only problem now is that I find riding in the U.K. to be pretty dull, thats why im off home to Ireland on the ferry with the v-strom tommorrow night for 3 days!
P.S. Post a trip report when you get back from Spain, I quiet fancy a ride down to Barcelona or Madrid early next year, it would be nice to hear of your experiences down there.
Slan.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Heres a video I made of the trip.
YouTube - Motorcycle trip from England to Millau in France
Hope it works, its my first attempt.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474