This report is a bit late and will not have the usual amount of detail, the current Scottish government seem to be operating a draconian oppressive regime at the moment so I am reluctant to share much more than some of the memories of our recent trip in case the thought police arrest me for daring to enjoy myself. The trip down the west coast of France and then heading due East just north of La Rochelle entering Italy via the Alps and back across the Alps via France to the UK was excellent. The Covid situation seems to be taken more seriously in France despite their apparent high cases, we stayed mostly in the tent (unlike Scotland all campsites were open for business and welcomed tents, enhanced cleaning was evident at all sites). We were cooking for ourselves in the field with the occasional treat in a hotel (to avoid weather) Italy was its usual culinary delight and great to see our extended family and friends. The most unsafe we felt was in the North of England at a services where we witnessed crowds of people not giving a jot about social distancing or with no respect for anyone else, Pics to follow and hopefully sometime in the future I can resort to posting real time stories without fear of recrimination. The bikes by the way were excellent, Fionas ER6 behaving well and the Bonneville performing well also, 3200 miles, one chain adjustment for each bike and running out of fuel on the Bonnie just short of Cambridge services highlighted the lack of capacity in the tank (165 miles, 53 miles with the fuel light on)
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6am, ready to leave
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Gretna services, we were cold at this point
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Further south, warmer
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In France warmer still
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Bike luggage explosion
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Honfluer, worth a visit
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Street entertainment
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Le Manche
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Pretty place and quite busy
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Panoramic view
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| Gino view |
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Fiona view
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Services view
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| Hotel to avoid a storm |
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Almost made it, cup of tea on the go
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Still wet so another Hotel
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Theiviers
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Nice wee hoose
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Waterproofs again
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Nice countryside
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Stopped here for a tea and pee break
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The rain stayed off and we had great views
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Drone time
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Stunning valley
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Le Puy St Mary
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Hot again
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Wonderful rural roads
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High above the valley
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Provence
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Hot hot hot
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AMet Mark and Mika, out for a meal and spotted this at a second hand shop, not for sale
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This was for sale
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Nice kit
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| Great couple of days with Marc and Mika but time to move on |
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Marc showed us the nice roads out of the area
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Nice route
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And lunch before goodbye
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Fancy perfume factory I believe
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very old houses
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Camping at Les Moustiers
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Church built into the mountain (I didn't walk up)
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| The view of the village from the campsite |
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Went to the town for dinner, shit service, I'll no be back
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Visit for provisions
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| Very hot |
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Preparing another culinary delight
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Lac du Verdon
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Braw
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5 Star campground at Puget Therniers, brillant toilets and showers, short walk to the town (for shit service)
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On the Route Napoleon, worth a stop
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Enhanced boobies
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Dinner by the tent
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Heading to Italy
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Crazy roads
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| Drone time |
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Hairpin city
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Hill forts
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Hill Bonneville
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Just hills
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Drone time
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Yeees
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The old home town looks the same
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Perfect food
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Spotted Brunos Morini on the way back to his house
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Heading to Castello Vittorio for lunch the SP65, try it if you dare
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Drone time
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Altitude sickness
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Preparing to leave Bruno's place
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Lunch stop
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| Heading North |
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| Mont Cenis pass, almost 7000 feet |
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It wiz cauld
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These guys love the hill forts
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Instant pizza machine, may invest in one.
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Lac du lac
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Chambery camping
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Prc du Morvan, at over 2000 feet it got colder at night
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Great campsite and at 4 Euro a bottle of wine a great place to stop
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Trying to retain heat
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Hotel again as it was Baltic last night, in Chalons sur Champagne
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Nice square
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ambience bien
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Waitress took a crap photo
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Hmmmmm
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Chalons
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From oor windae
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Soaked waiting for the chunnel
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On the train back to blighty and misery
These photos were taken with another camera and are out of sequence and i'm too lazy to sort that oot but here they are anyway |
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Classic camp scene
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Chef 1
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Chef 2
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Alouette
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We had a storm the night before, this is Marc sneaking up on the huge puddle in his awning, oor tent was fine!
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Outside Bruno's place
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Forest walk
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Wsan't worth it, all eateries were closing
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We had wine so we were fine.......
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Last nights 50 mile south of Calais, nice town, HQ for general Haig during WW1
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Fin
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Great pics, makes Johnshaven seem rather mundane!
ReplyDeleteEric
cheers Eric, must schedule an adventure to the North East to sample the delights...
ReplyDeleteGino