France

It is good to be back in France, a bit of camping and some hotels,  temperatures have been in the main pretty brutal and we were going to the Gironde area but it's on fire so we headed a bit further North.

We took the small roads right across France and despite it being slow it was brilliant, relaxed, hardly any traffic and good road surfaces , the only thing is you need to keep an eye on the speed. Having being on the receiving end of a through the post fine a few years ago I am now a bit more careful.

In the main it has been too hot to camp but we did manage a few days, at the last site our neighbour was a Guzzi owner who actually lived in Flers where we stopped for the night before we arrived in the campsite in the South of the Cherbourg peninsula.  

Now in Le Havre for a couple of days before making our way North towards Escalles on Friday. The pictures tell the story better than I can, keeping on keeping on.....

Hot

Rural France is lovely 

very nice

camping

enjoying 

vino

the following night, cooking in the field

the next day I forgot to take the tea strainer off the bike when I left, luckily it was still there when I got to the bike shop

we needed oil for a wee top up, ,not bad after 5000 Miles in very hot temperatures 

it was a bit cooler for a while

no idea

flers 

we were starving and the only place open at 6pm was an Indian, very good as well

Nice church

And impressive Fish Market

beer time

on the road again 

camping again, escaping the heat, in the shade

Nice site by the sea, we think that's Jersey in the distance

it got cooler at night thankfully 

Nice sunset

and moon

getting ready to go for a beer 

having a beer

art

on the road again, very hot, just outside Caen

le Havre

canny get food when you want it but can get beer !

streets scene

ships pass in the night

braw sunset from our balcony

Cathedral, 80% of Le Havre was flattened by allied Bombing in 1944 before D Day, most of the buildings are new

quirky place

very quirky

And that's all for now, keeping on keeping on .....

Beura Guzzi friends rally and Switzerland ( and Lichtenstein)

We arrived at the Guzzi meeting early, one of the first arrivals and met Monica who I had been talking with as one of the organisers,  she gave us a few tips of where to put our tent. At this point we had almost the pick of the place and decided to camp under a tree offering some shade. 

After getting sorted out we went of for a well deserved cold beer. The rally is free and they make money from the bar and food, we had to get tokens for beer, a fiver for a beer which was a bit expensive but when you like at what you get for free you don't mind paying.  We heard an English voice and we made ourselves known, Paul, who had lived in Germany for decades and knew the rally well having been there many times. A few beers and we got on well, Paul said to get the ribs to eat, they were being cooked on a massive BBQ , the flames were so high they had to take the tiles off the roof so as not to set fire to the building, also using a hose to stop the timbers being burned! Paul got us a massive section of ribs which were incredible. 

Jake and Ali appeared at some point and the evening degenerated into one of these nights.

Saturday morning arrived along with the sun so we had to get up, after a coffee the Scottish contingent walked to the town for breakfast and an attempt to find a proper toilet, none of us were happy with the squat toilets at the site but unfortunately they seem to be a thing in these parts, this led to much moaning and to some unwanted squat exercises!,

The evening passed with the usual rally nonsense,  drinking, dancing at at one point Ali persuaded Jake to get his bike out of the van only to be told he couldn't drive it into the dancing area.  We met our pal Steva from near Genoa and one or two other Guzzi people until it was time for bed.

I was up early on Sunday and saw a fire at the end of the field, not good, especially when it appeared to be a mk2 lemans on fire, very sad . We said goodbye to Ali and Jake and done a quick exit towards Switzerland. 

Switzerland,  my almost least favourite Euro country,  not for scenery at which it excells but for the prices, robbing bastards,  of course that was before we went into lichtenstein for a quick stop, total robbing bastards,  but it was our 63rd country we have ridden our bikes in so it had to be done.

So all good, now in France for a few days camping so we will see what that brings, keepin on keeping on ....

 tent up

I want one  now, a Guzzi Ercole 

fully faired version

Paul and I shooting the shit

different but the same 

hidden from the sun

sidecar corner

ribs being cooked

jake And Ali

Alessandro, big fan of Scotland 

Steva 

we were pissed at this point, Steven and Monica 3rd 4th from left

sad

Switzerland 

English guy who works as a bus driver here bought this 3 years ago

warm outside our digs 

a castle in Lichtenstein 

really not worth the effort 

Nice passes

pino, German sicilian on his way to sicilia stopped for a chat

Nice toon

old school

And then a night at a former colleague from Fiona in bern for a catch up and today France 

We keep searching for the unexpected but so far it's still the same ........