On the Road Again!

The first job of the day was to junk the old boots and get some new ones.  So once we left the hotel we went different ways. I had Google Maps which seemed to have no idea that it was straight forward to find and I had a great loop trekking about 4kms when 1 would have been best. In the end the deal was done. Boots bought . The first part of the non toll route was in rain that occasionally became drizzle. Today we had two fuel stops. Sticking to the speed limits or there about produced over 59mpg for the first stop.  We stayed on the N10 in its various states and departmental names. Lunch was at a massive truck stop just off the N10. It had stopped raining but we weren't fooled. Waterproof gear stayed on until the fuel stop just after Bordeaux. We guessed the owners might have been Portuguese!! I had become separated from Neill as we turned onto the toll free A10. There was a single lane flyover looping to the right and left over the N10. It was nose to tail. Crunch. T...

We have had the routes sorted out for quite a while and the outward journey will be taking the westerly "N10" route nearly as far as Bayonne before cutting inland. The first stop will be at the Kyriad Hotel in Chambray-les-Tours to the south of the main city of Tours. Claire and I stayed nearby many years ago at a Campanile Hotel.  I don't remember ever staying in a Kyriad before but they are part of a larger chain. According to the route planning software it should take us the best part of seven hours to complete a non-toll journey of over 310 miles.   Neill has planned the outward journey and we will follow a route he took a few years back when he did the trip solo. There is a fuel stop around halfway where we can have lunch at a McDonalds. I don't tend to use them when away, and rarely at home, but they are good for free wifi and of course a McPee. Day two is also a long day in the saddle. The planner shows it as 316 miles and another 7 hours in the saddle. The se...

I have cancelled the Première Classe hotel in Joué de Tours and the Campanile in Bayonne in favour of Neill's choice of a pair of Kyriad Hotels. His Kyriads are a Chambray-les-Tours and Orthez.