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