So after a great weekend at the Yetholm Norton meeting we left for Ashford, just over 400 miles South in order to catch our Train (Chunnel) the following morning, the first part of the journey we were on the small roads before a 350 mile blast on the A1, A1M, M11, M25 aand M20, now that doesn't sound exiting and it wasn't believe me. The traffic on parts of the A1 and A1M was terrible so lots of filtering and slowing down but we made good time and rolled into Ashford at 4.30, time to fuel up at the local Sainsbury ready for the off in the morning, we tried to go to the Supermarket but as its England they shut at 4pm on a Sunday, not a bad idea, people need some down time but we will be aware in future.
We have stayed in the Holiday Inn Ashford Central before, if you book it in advance its actually quite cheap, less than £60 on that Sunday but the service was terrible, a barman who obviously couldn't be bothered being there and who kept disappearing, shit service, shit food but hey ho, we are on our holidays. Chunnel the next day went smoothly despite Brexit and Covid (Lots of paperwork to be done beforehand but that's life) and we got a French stamp in our passports for the first time ever! We only had to go a handful of miles to Escalles to meet our Belgian friends, Geert, Peter and Eddie and we found a great restaurant for lunch whist we waited for them, we were just finishing when the guys arrived so we sat through another serving, great service and great food (Unlike the previous night) After lunch we took a small tour of the region with Geert leading the way, it was a small tour with plenty stops including for a beer, something that is a no no in the dictatorial state that is modern Scotland. A nice authentic B&B for the night but with no facilities for an evening meal and not wanting to ride our bikes after more beer the ride to the restaurant and back cost us 160 euros! The only taxi in the region is in Calais and that was our only option!
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| Lunchtime wine |
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| The guys join us |
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| A stop to look at a map of where we were |
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| White cliffs of Dover |
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| Peter reflecting on life |
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Posing
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We said goodbye in the morning and the guys headed home whilst we headed for Dijon a trip of around 370 miles, a long boring and expensive day on the toll roads and we decided to get a Hotel as the weather wasn't great , we got a hotel in an Industrial estate in North Dijon for £45, we didn't expect much but it was excellent with a great restaurant and I'd stay there again. The "Covid pass" was necessary for all Hotels, cafe's and even Camp sites in France, luckily we had managed to upload our QR codes into the French Covid app or we could have been pretty miserable. The next day it was pretty wet and we had a 300 mile run to Vaison La Romain so Toll roads again, a pretty hard day not helped by biblical rain for the last 45 minutes before Vaison, flooded roads and no visibility, we decided again to Hotel it and opted for a posh hotel in the old town for the night, biggest issue was riding up the cobbled narrow streets, at one point I had the Bonnie side on on the cobbles. A great meal in the restaurant, not a lot of speaking though as the storm was that wild we couldn't hear each other, hooray for a hotel bed!
The following day we made the most of our late checkout and then rode into town for lunch and to get our covid tests organised for the next leg into Italy and of course to get provisions, we then rode the short distance to our campsite, pitched the tent and spent the day chilling out. Around 4.30 pm I noticed a very black sky approaching which was worrying, I spoke to Pierre the campsite owner but he didn't thing the rain would reach us, he was wrong, luckily we had battened down the hatches just in case and had taken refuge in the on site common room to have a wine and figure out what the weather was doing. Down it came again in biblical proportions, one of the fellow campers (in a caravan) offered to go and get Pizzas, at least we wouldn't starve and we had copious supplies of wine on site so nothing to worry about, the rain stopped before bedtime and glad to say the tent survived .I have to say our fellow campers (Motorhomes and caravans plus one other tent) were concerned our small tent would survive and Pierre suggested we sleep in the bothy which was a nice touch. The following day we made our way into town for our covid tests, thankfully ok, had lunch, done a washing at the laundry and once again just chilled out, this is a brilliant campsite and next time we will spend more time here. Dinner by the tent and nice (cheap) wine, perfect! Another great night in the bothy before our next leg into Italy.
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| View from the hotel in Vaison |
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| Nice town |
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| Black clouds though |
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| On the balcony |
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| The owner covered our bikes so the leaves and debris wouldn't fall on them |
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| Dodgy streets |
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| Expensive but worth it |
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| Wet day |
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| Dry day |
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| Laundry time |
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| I love this door |
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| Sightseeing |
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| At rest |
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| Next year I could be drinking these |
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| Wet time |
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| Postcard buying |
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| The old town |
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| At ease |
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| At ease facing the other way! |
