Well, day 2 really as day 1 was riding to Portsmouth to catch the overnight ferry to Le Havre. Anyway, uneventful day's riding. Damp start getting off the ferry at 7:30 bleary eyed. Headed down to Troyes, getting well and truly gridlocked in Rouen on the way. That's when the 'avoid auto-routes' idea went out of the window and we hit a few larger roads in order to get to Troyes at a decent time.
Arrived to find our hotel, with character;
Despite outward appearances, it was a fab place and had secure parking for the bikes. We even left the keys in the ignition it was that safe. The town itself is typical mediaeval / renaissance style;
Nice meal in the evening with my travelling companion, Darren (aka Daz);
Where do the stairs on the right go to?
Day 2;
Leaving Troyes for Montreux, sunshine all the way, with a stop off at a champagne chateaux en route (it would be rude not to). Lovely tasting session at the end of the tour as well!! This is the place;
And here are their cellars;
Then off to Montreux, largely on auto-route where a fully loaded 'Bird can cruise comfortably at 130 (the signs on the side of the road said the limit was '130', I just forgot it meant kph and not mph...) stopping for the odd pikkie en route. This is Besancon;
And here is the view from the hotel in Montreux (it took a few hairpins to get to this one);
Montreux is hardly a happening place. Picturesque, but quite boring. Hard to imagine it was the inspiration for 'Smoke On The Water';
It was during this evening that I first had doubts as to whether I'd go on tour with Daz again... When we went into town for some grub, I suggested an Italian style place just near the foot of the mountain we had climbed down. Ever in need to finding the life and soul of a place, Daz decided we needed to trawl the entire area of Montreux first to make sure there wasn't a better place. An hour and a half later, knackered and me getting seriously shitty as I was absolutely starving by now, we ended up in the restaurant I suggested in the first place!! Oh, and guess who didn't bother to bring any Swiss francs with them? Daz! So muggings here had to pay for dinner and the taxi back up... I resisted the urge to test the velocity of a Daz when thrown off a mountain...
