Summer 2020 - Road Trip?

I had hoped that Claire would have felt able to go on the bike.  

I looked in October at the long ferry to Spain when Brittany Ferries released the prices and the booking system opened for the summer.  In the end that didn't go any further.

We toyed with a cruise but none met with where we wanted to go or the dates didn't quite fit when I can go.

So. No cruise. No bike trip. 

Some while back when I was hoping for a bike trip I had a look at visiting the eastern part of France - the Vercors. I scrapped that and deleted all the routes I had worked out.  Until I started going on trips with my brother where he plans to the Nth degree, including prospective fuel stops.  

I haven't been that exact.  My level of planning was to choose a place, what to do/see and where to stay to achieve that.

A chance email from Claire and a French contact from work about Evian les Bains has given me food for thought.

I do have some restrictions.  As I change my plans and refine them over time, I like to book hotels on the no prepayment and free cancellation basis.  

Luckily booking.com offers this and their service is automated.  I'd hate to see a list of hotels that I have booked and subsequently cancelled.

I have also started to book the hotels with Topcashback. The cash back is pretty small and Booking aren't the fastest at paying out. Of course, they don't release any cash until after you have stayed and paid!

Back to Evian. The hotel Claire's friend Véronique stayed at looks very nice. It's not too expensive but doesn't meet my booking criteria!  There are others.

For a bike trip, and with a passenger that is out of practice, I chose shorter days of max 200 miles to enable us to arrive and see places rather than simply riding from hotel to hotel and seeing little of each area. Plus "local" days where we stay several nights and visit locally. A bit of R&R off the bike.

I certainly don't envy the people feel that to be a "real" biker they plan trips around the whole of Europe in two weeks.  They come back and proudly boast that they did 4000 miles.  What the heck did you see? Did you have time to interact with the locals as you whizz past at 50mph?

Anyway. I am currently looking at a car road trip.  Mileages can be stretched easily when in a car.  It's less intense and less strenuous sitting in an armchair..... On the bike you have more stops as the fuel tank is much smaller. The Insignia does around 650 miles to the tank when cruising on motorways at around the 70-75mph mark.

Initially it will be based on the Insignia not going AWOL  a few days before we leave. But with the fall back of going in the Corsa.

So where to go?