I immediately thought of Maxxipants, who would have checked and double checked everything was working before a journey. But you will just have to believe me when I say that I had little time to prepare and pack for this trip.
So I set off again after consulting the Michelin map with the next three towns in my head. As someone who is finding it increasingly difficult to remember which day of the week it is, there was a flaw in this plan. Plus, I don't have a tank bag on the GS, so nowhere to put written directions either. Anyway, the first bit was easy, sticking to the free autoroute down past Lille to Valenciennes. While I would not want to say any part of France was uninteresting, the NE is rather flat and featureless. There was some interest for me in watching the large John Deeres at work.
SW of Valenciennes, the countryside became a little more undulating, interspersed with woodland. I had not pre-booked a hotel, just seeing how I felt after the trip to the ferry. As it was, I felt as fine as the weather, so just kept on going. Meuberge was a modern industrial town with only chain hotels, which I vowed to use only as a last resort. By Chimay I had done over 350 miles in the day, as my back side was telling me. In fact, I hadn't noticed that I had strayed into Belgium. Had seen a hotel advert board just out of town, so used the Zumo to find it. Situated in a quiet village, in the bottom of a valley, the patron turned out to be a fellow biker with an old BMW R90 and a Ducati 1000S. So the GS was stabled with these. Literally, as this was an old cow byre under what was a farmhouse.
The next morning there was the sort of patchy fog you get with High pressure, but with the promise of another fine day ahead. So I spent an hour trying to get the Zumo working again. Had to be a connection problem somewhere. Cleaned battery terminal rings, and checked fuse. Noticed verdigris after the fuse on the positive lead, so cut that section out, but still no joy. Thought there might be similar problem in the four female contacts in the small round socket that plugs into the mount. With my best French, managed to borrow a needle, to clean these. Dismay when that didn't work either.
Fog was thinning, so set off on the first part of the tour - following the River Meuse down to Charleville- Mezieres. Crossing the river for the first time at Revin, the river was a good width, in a very steep wooded valley. The floral town was well worthy of a picture from the bridge, but I thought there would be plenty to follow, so didn't take one. As it turned out, these towns were less attractive, and quite industrial. The SW route I wanted to take to the Lorraine, followed the river via Sedan and Verdun. Vauban would be turning in his grave at the sight of a GS meandering along what was the killing zone of his fortified city.
- Sedan
- Verdun walls
The steep valley gave way to rich undulating farmland. At one small town, saw a motorcycle repair van outside a house. Explained my connection problem, and asked if they had a circuit tester I could borrow. Don't think they had much of a clue, as their best diagnosis was duff GS battery. I don't think so. So half hour wasted and still no Zumo.
Found a modest hotel just outside Neufchateau, then walked the village before diner. All the older houses were built from limestone, and all had a large doorway, harking back to the time when they were agricultural. Here again I was offered free garaging through the big doors, in what was an old barn annex.
- House in the Meuse region
Set off Eastwards on the Saturday morning catching up with the Moselle at Epinal. Driving through town, I spied a Honda dealership. Right, this time I thought, they're bound to have a multimeter. The mechanic tried to fob me off by saying there was also a BM place in town, but I explained it was a general electrical problem, and I also had a CBR 1100 ( HAD, as in past tense). At last a multimeter was offered, so I was able to ascertain that current was reaching all four ports in the small round Zumo socket. Till now, I have never used the tiny screws to secure this, all the time unplugging it, if I wanted to take the mount off the bike. However, I found that a good contact could only be made if the socket was slightly askew, by using one screw only. Alors, il marche bien maintenant.
SW of Epinal, the scenery became more wooded and mountainous as I entered the Vosges region. The plan today was to find accommodation early outside Mulhouse, as a) it was a sunny and very warm weekend in a tourist area, and b) I wanted to leave my panniers, to be able to have a good thrash up the mountain passes. Couldn't find anywhere to my liking in Thann, I backtracked along route 66 ( well the N66 then, to be exact ). Then saw a B&B I had missed before. A warm
in a modern house with outdoor pool ( very tempting, but I still wanted to do some riding). Offered the best double room, but a little trop cher pour moi, so did a deal for two nights in a single room.Leaving the panniers, off I set for the mountain pass known as the Grand Ballon (1424m, 4700 ft) . Turning left off the D13 to join the route, I was immediately confronted by two hairpin corners that were cobbled. Excuse me! What's that all about? Anyone unfamiliar with the road, coming fast downhill the other way, would have had a nasty shock. And in the wet, I hate to think. It was also popular with masochistic cyclists, who probably like having their gonads pulverized.
- Vosges
There were a hundred or more bikes at the café at the top, but I was the only Brit. The others were mainly Swiss and Germans. Ascended the Hohneck summit, where I had my first view of the tip of Mont Blanc, far off to the South. Then right, over the Col de la Schlucht to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Colmar. The guidebook said the Issenheim altarpiece, a graphic depiction of the Crucifixion was a must see. So I made my way to the museum d'Unterlinden. However my noble intention was dashed when I saw the entry price of E7. The post cards in the shop were so comprehensive and detailed, I felt that I had seen it, so thought that the E7 would be better spent that night supporting the work of the local vignerons.
I would recommend a visit to Colmar. There are streets of well preserved half timbered buildings, with a little Venice district on the riverside.
Now to the highlight of the tour, and the main reason for the visit: The Cite de l'Automobile, incorporating the Schlumpf brothers' Bugatti collection. Over six hundred cars displayed, the pride of the collection being the two Bugatti Royales, out of only seven made, and several examples of my favourite since childhood, the racing 35C. Did you know that up until 1923/4, French, Italian and German cars had the steering wheel on the right, like us? Would like to visit a US museum, to see when the transition point came in the States. I must have spent over four hours here, admiring these beauties. Although the main hall was lit by hundreds of reproduction street lamps from Paris, the lighting was still on the dim side, so these photos have had to be tweaked a bit.
- 1st Royale
- 2nd Royal with Park Ward body
- My favourite, the supercharged 35C
Then on to the Train museum, which was good, but the lack of information from the audio guide, made it less interesting. There were some French equivalents to our Mallard, and some exhibits made in the UK in the early 1900s
On the way in to Mulhouse from Thann that morning, I passed a huge LeClerc car park, where there must have been a thousand or more bikes congregating for rides up the mountain passes. For the rest of the afternoon, I amused myself on the Ballon d'Alsace passes with the other bikers, stopping briefly for a cool drink and making contact again on this forum.
That evening, I had a good chuckle reading the local Alsace newspaper. Two delinquents had brought attention to themselves by daft acts, and found to be in possession of cannabis resin. One had kept circulating a roundabout at night without lights. The mini headline was "No headlight, but with shit".
Leaving the Vosges by the SE on Monday, there was a fertile farming region growing mainly maize, before reaching the more rugged Jura mountains, and a new country to me - Switzerland.
Some garages were alternating the petrol price between CH and Euros. It was immediately apparent the price was at least 25% cheaper ( E1, instead of E1.25 to E1.32 in France). Now don't get me started on the EU, but may be it's because the Swiss don't have a wasteful and overbearing beaurocratic system, unless they have vast off-shore oil reserves of course.
Swiss time was running out ( Da Da Da, Da Da, Da Dum….. ), so decided not to take southern route round Lac Leman, via Montreux. With hindsight, this was the one regret of the visit. Taking the Chamonix road would have brought me closer to Mont Blanc, but at the time I thought it would take more time than I had.
Anyway, after negotiating Geneve, made my way South to Annecy. But not without the customary Deviation due to road works. As I arrived to find a bed at Sevrier, on the shore of the Lac, the last of the sun's rays were making the surrounding mountain peaks glow a pinky red. What a fantastic spot.
- Lake Annecy
Faced a dilema on the Tuesday morning. Knew that I must start heading North in order to make the ferry on Thursday morning. But these rugged Jura mountains were such a draw, I just wanted to see more and more. In fact they reminded me of the way we used to paint mountains as kids, with peaks in the foreground, then more behind them, and more behind those…. Add to that a misty quality to the morning air, made me decide to do a tour, what the heck. So glad I did, as the D12 North off Faverges took me up to truly Alpine territory, with wooden chalets laden with geraniums, and the clatter of cow bells when I stopped to take a photo. After la Clusaz, went to the top of the Col des Aravis, with a last look at M. Blanc glinting away.
- Even cows have to hang out their coats to dry
Still couldn't say farewell to the mountains, so instead of cutting NW to Bourg en Bresse, and quicker motoring, I cut up through the High Jura Regional Parc, via the D14 and D991, then W to St Claude. Utterly brilliant.
Ok, now I had to do some serious riding NW, via Beaune towards my target of Auxerre. Didn't quite make it by 30 miles, overnighting at Avallon instead. But as I had seen so much more of the Jura, I was well satisfied with the day.
This had left 330 miles to do on Wednesday, keeping off the autoroutes of course, cutting cross country on the slower route nationals through the towns, and where possible the D roads passing vast tracts of farmland, getting back to sugar beet country of the north.
Stayed at a logis L'Escale at Cap Blanc-Nez, just a few kms down the coast from Calais. Of all the hotels on the trip, it was the best value. Offered free garaging for the bike without asking. After all the jambon and fromage from previous days, the fresh seafood was a delight.
Although I had taken my car to France dozens of times before over twenty years, this was my first adventure on a bike. I made the transition to riding on the other side easily, and just had to remind myself to drive on the right after stopping to take a picture etc. After years of having obstructed vision for overtaking, being on the bike was such a joy.
You might all scoff at the Beemer, but it was averaging between 50 and 54 mpg touring with two heavy panniers and top box. One of those panniers was packed with my thermal linings and warmer gloves, none of which I needed for the trip.
As you might have guessed, I was completely won over by the Jura, especially the lakes and mountains. Those of the Vosges had been "softer". By that I mean rounded and mostly tree covered. In contrast the Jura ones are shear, jagged and reflect the light. So that area will be my goal next time, as there is so much more to see. It will need longer, but I would like to cross over the Alps into Northern Italy.
Chris
Oct 09
Here is a link to a slideshow of these pics plus more from the trip http://s342.photobucket.com/albums/o417/XXtremist_photos/France%20Sept%2009/?albumview=slideshow
Not like being there, but the next best thing 
