On the Road Again!

We decided to have breakfast in the hotel and then leave. It wasn't cheap but you could eat enough to make sure that lunch wasn't needed. Over breakfast a couple of other guys said that there had been an accident after the racing and they couldn't get on the D338 from the Le Mans ring road.  It must have been behind us as we had no problems getting back to the hotel. Can only hope the riders are all okay. We left at a few minutes to 10am.TomTom decided to come back a different way to the one we went out. The N12 and N154 instead of the variants of the 138/338/438 that was formerly simply the N138. The route includes some sections of dual carriageway and single. The limit goes up and down depending on whether there's a "median" or not. The blanket 80kph limit outside towns stretched to 90 on some sections where they have a passing lane. Usually these were less than a kilometre! Must be fun on busy days stuck behind a truck! We made good progress to Rouen and on...

Moto2 was the first of a Marquez brothers benefit day.  British interest was minimal with Jake Dixon on the Angel Nieto team Triumph. In the end there was a three Spanish rider podium. I was down behind the VR46 grandstand at the end of the start/finish, queuing for the chance too pee up a wall in the official pissoir, when Marquez was on the podium. Suddenly loads of them in the grandstand starting booing and stamping their feet. Not very sporting. Back in position and before the MotoGP race there were speeches (in French) and then La Marseillaise. Hardly a whisper from the French. WTF? Tune into a rugby international and especially in Paris the French blow the roof off the stadium with their singing! Our interest was in Cal Crutchlow who had qualified 15th. And a second choice of Jack Miller from Australia. And of course Valentino. In the end Miller briefly took the lead in front of us before   Mark Marquez cleared off. Jack eventually dropping to 4th behind the two wor...

Started off badly!! We loaded the bikes and Neill set off and I went to follow. CLUNK!! In all the messing about I had set off with the bright yellow disc lock still in the front wheel and we took a tumble in the car park.  Luckily I had my left foot on the ground but Pepé is a heavy bastard and my leg crumbled and I had to lay it down.  It looked as though it rested on the left pannier. One of the French guys ran over to help. Filled will embarrassment I had it on two wheels without much help. Adrenaline I guess! The only damage was to the lock itself in that the key wouldn't unlock. It turned part way but the lock body itself was a bit skew-wiff in the casing.. Luckily another  French guy (GS1200 owner)  with an adjustable grip wrench broke the casing to get the key to turn. Otherwise I'd not be going anywhere. Phew. Modified Lock After that the ride down was a little odd as I was picking up every noise and weave in any uneven road surface as a problem of the tumbl...

Up early and breakfast taken in the hotel. We were away by about 0845 and the non toll road route took us the best part of 50 minutes. In the Rouge car-park they check the bike and with a log book put a sticker on the headlight and matching receipt for you. As we didnt have log books with us we ended up with wrist bands. Then we were off with our chairs and waterproof trousers. It drizzled all-day. At least with somewhere to sit it was less miserable between practice and qualifying. We'll a bit nearer the Dunlop bridge tomorrow. On the way back we stopped at a war memorial to Leclerc's armoured division that battles locally after D-Day to capture Alençon. Some shopping at Lidl and then dinner at Buffalo Grill again. Tonight was Caesar salad night. Up earlier tomorrow.

As usual the Shuttle was late leaving the UK end. Only 40 minutes so not long. Quiet if long no toll ride down. Made longer by blanket 80km speed limit outside towns. And innumerable roadworks and long detours or deviations as our French friends call them. Does that make us deviants!? Neill led us up what looked like a farm track and back again when Wailly Beaucamp had the high street dug up. The detour seemed about 10 miles to cover 1 mile of work. The wonders of France. PS, no bugger working though.  First stop in the Rouen ring at a McD for WiFi and lunch. Second stop for petrol. With the low speed limits Pepé managed 181.3 miles with loads to spare in the tank. Averaging over 46mpg. Neill's BMW 1600 was even  better. Just short of Alençon we stopped in "biker rest" stop organised by the local FFMC group. Free coffee etc but donations accepted.  And then to the hotel. We were later than anticipated but have room 6. Not very big but will do as we expect to be out in the...

When we went in 2012 it was pretty miserable and it rained nearly all the time.  We hardly had chance to get out of our waterproofs the entire weekend. The weather forecast id looking better this year - but do we trust weather forecasters at all? So what to pack? And more importantly what to wear on the ride down? And what to pack it in?  I have the Klicbag panniers but they are rather small for a long weekend away and need something extra.  Okay, four days and three nights away. When Claire and I went  to the Somme for the centenary I bought the Saddlemen sissy bar bag. It is enormous. Superb for two of us for a long weekend including dress-up suits and dresses. Later the same summer I used it for Czech for the GP in 2016 and It was great for a longer trip and I was able to stash some wine bottles in it.  So I need to find space for pants/socks/.t-shirts for three days, jeans and trainers (that take up a lot of space), hoodie, light w...

Planning a route is the easiest bit.  After all when you have a TomTom (other GPS systems are available) you simply type into it where you want to go and eh voila! It takes you there. Magic. Of course there are some settings and preferred roads you might want to set. For me it is no tolls. I don't mind highways but prefer them to be free. And so that was entered into the mix. Another consideration are fuel stops.  I didn't used to bother as I kept an eye on the trip counter and in conjunction with the fuel gauge decided when to stop when it looked likely that fuel was needed. Pepé has a sensible operating range of about 180 miles.  The buttock clenching stomach lurching maximum is about 200.  I try to never get anywhere near that far on a tank with 189 being the furthest I have risked in the past.  For this trip I looked for hypermarket fuel stops at around the 160-170 mile mark.  The home to hotel and hotel to home distance is around 230 miles. It does mea...

Only a fortnight to go and we will be off on the short run down through France to Alençon  and our hotel for the MotoGP weekend in Le Mans. I had a look at some routes to put into my TomTom. I copied them from Neill's MyRouteApp and then renamed them for my TomTom (with the AFR19 from end)  and added a fuel stop. Home to Hotel Hotel back home With no tolls specified on the unit and in MyRouteApp it looks about 226 miles each way.  At cruising speed of say 70mph I'd expect the Rocket to need a fuel stop at around 170 miles, so I needed to add one stop.  This is based on me having a full tank before getting on the Eurotunnel train at the UK end and filling up at the Carrefour in  Alençon after Sunday's racing. The no tolls route still uses sections of Autoroutes between Calais and Rouen but these are the free sections and then national roads thereafter.  With speed limits vastly reduced on national and departmental roads that should do wonders for f...

My brother, Neill, and I have been looking at this since the autumn.  By the time we thought of it, the hotels near to the circuit had gone up astronomically and were mostly booked up.  There are a few in the £150 to £350 a night category. So I had to expand the search outwards and to cut down the journey on the way there to the north of Le Mans.  Gradually the search area had to be increased up to 60kms radius. I have a booking with booking.com at a hotel just to the north of Alençon, breakfast included.  It's not far from the F1 hotel we stayed in back in 2012.  That seems to have disappeared from the booking's site.  The nearby Campanile where we ate is a lot more expensive and doesn't come with included breakfast.   I do like the Campanile idea though and Claire and I stay in them quite regularly when we are away even when we have Reggie with us.  But at over £40 a night more it might not be worth the change. How to get there? ...

It's a bit premature, but if you don't act quickly then the opportunity is lost.  I was looking at the "local" MotoGP dates in the calendar for 2019. As we are going to Assen in September for the BSB Round in the car or by bike (to be decided) I discounted that round.  It doesn't leave that many within a few miles of the channel ports and so I thought of Le Mans and the French MotoGP. It's the weekend of 17-19 May.  It's not a school holiday and so I should be able to get the Friday and Monday off the "book-end" the weekend.  I checked on booking.com and of course there's hardly a hotel in sniffing distance of Le Mans itself.   So I have booked a hotel,  on the usual "no prepayment/free cancellation" basis in  Alençon .  It's called the  Hôtel Inn Design Resto Novo .  Part of a small chain across France. When Neill and I went in 2012 (!) we stayed at the Formule 1 hotel in  Alençon .  We ate in the nearby Campanile and eve...

No photos this time as I used the Canon and the Sony cameras rather than the iPhone. Have to wait until I get home to use the laptop. After breakfast Saturday we took the non-toll route to Le Mans. Woody leading as my TomTom was misbehaving. ( http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tomtom.html ) At the track they affix a sticker to the headlamp and give you the other half. On leaving both have to match. They also want to see the biker's log book. French ones are small, our are four pages of A4 and paper. As it is peezing down there is no way I am getting mine out of the topbox! We arrived in time for the Moto2 free session and all three classes qualifying. All the commentary in French. A summary in English at the end is spoken by a guy that learned English in a vacuum. It drizzled all day. Rained hard at times. Almost trench foot. Sunday. Up earlier, same route, same rigmarole to park, same logbook stays in topbox. Found a space near where we were yester...

Gros Horloge The day started well. Sunny. Met Woody at the Stop 24 services and fuelled up and the had 3 mile ride tithe Shuttle. The train was packed with bikes all heading one way or another the 250 miles to Le Mans or thereabouts. Our first stop was Rouen for lunch and a look around the old city. The cathedral was being renovated and we were unable to see the statue of Joan of Arc. We did see the old clock down a side street and went to have a look. The final hundred or so miles off toll roads took us in a strange loop when we expected the N138. We arrived at the hotel about 5pm. A quick change and we were out again to the supermarket to buy provisions for Saturday's practice day.

The MotoGP season is due to start and this year we have out annual trip acrossd the sea to Europe and we have chosen the French Grand Prix. Despite looking for hotels before the date of May 20th was confirmed and unless you are Richard Branson, hotels are out of site. In the end we have three nights in an F1 in Alencon about 50kms away.

Tickets went on sale today and Neill went online and bought them. We opted for the weekend tickets as they are only €10 more than Sunday only. Also collect on site was €1 rather than €30 for them to be sent DHL. All in €135.

We are planning a trip across to France for the 2012 GP at Le Mans.  We have been to Assen in 2009/10 and Brno in 2011, and wanted to try another track and GP that we have never been to before. The next nearest to make a weekend of it is France. So Le Mans it is. This trip so far is just me and my brother, Neill, but I have posted a note on the Kent Centre SOC forum to see if anyone wants to join us this time. I have started a new blog just for this event - http://thedevallboys.blogspot.com/