23:57 hours in the saddle
1122 miles ridden in France
Average speed 46.9 mph (includes short stops)
One Week Getaway in France 2002
For various reasons our family holiday in the sun had to be cancelled and Susie and I thought about just taking a week each, but separately. As I had two weeks in September already booked off in my diary I thought about my options for one of them. So in the early hours of 16 August I sent this email to the SWeST list::
"I am contemplating skipping work for a week in the second week of September and taking a solo ride down through France and back. This is by no means cast in stone but just wondered if I should take this trip if anyone else may be inclined to accompany me."
Just after 11am Daryl replied:
"I may be interested in trip to France if it's Ok to be on non-triumph bike , succumbed to Blackbird."
I replied:
"I'm not proud, I'll ride with a Honda in tow :-)"
And that was it, off-list Daryl and I made the arrangements by email. We spoke twice on the phone but the first time we actually met was in the Brittany Ferries terminal at Poole. I hasten to add that Daryl's membership to the list was by virtue of his, now relinquished, ownership of a Sprint ST when the list was started and not because a Triumph list has suddenly opened its doors to just anybody :-)
As for Spain, the heated waistcoat was worn but although I didn't put on my jacket liner I took it with me this time. I also now have the Autocom full bike-to-bike set up using the Icom IC-F22SR PMR 446 radio and have a spare radio and earpiece which I took with me for Daryl. Only one-way comms so he couldn't answer me back but it did mean that I could tell him in advance of any uncertainty in navigation and hazards and also meant that he could charge on ahead at times and/or just take the lead with me feeding him navigational input.
The entire route
We boarded the ferry at 11pm with only 3 other bikes and headed for the cabin Daryl and I were sharing, dumped our gear and headed for the bar.
Contents - click on the text to go to the relevant page
Day 1 - Cherbourg to Saint Groux - 330 miles
Day 2 - To Saint Beauzeil - 158 miles
Day 3 - In Lot et Garonne - 89 miles
Day 4 - To Arnac Pompadour - 159 miles
Day 5 - To Fontevraud l'Abbaye - 162 miles