Another Adventure Begins
Thursday 11th September 2014
It's misty and just starting to get light at 6:30am. The year is wearing on; soon be time to put the clocks back.
But not before I go to Turkey and find Noah's Ark!
The mist clears slowly and I pile on the miles down a quiet A1. I'm trying a different set of tyres for this trip, recommended by Andy at A18 Motorcycle Tyres. I've been on Dunlops for years, on all my bikes, but these are Comtinental Roadattack GTs, and hopefully better wearing for this heavy bike.
When I returned from the last trip the Dunlop front tyre was strangely triangular in shape, I guess from all that time running at 45 degrees on the tournanti of the Alps. The initial feel of the Contis is good. We'll see how they manage the miles.
I stop for tea and a sandwich at a layby on the A1 just before Peterborough. Thickest sausage sarny I ever had.
Then it's an easy run down the M11 and round London on the M25, which for once has no traffic jams. I'm at the Channel Tunnel two hours before my scheduled departure time, but I'm invited to take an earlier train.
In the shuttle I meet three guys from Melton Mowbray on their way to Southern France. I'm not the only crazy biker heading south for the winter.
And so with time in hand I'm bimbling south into France heading for Les Ballastieres in Gauchin-Verloingt. I've stayed here a number of times before, usually on the way home.
It's an old farmhouse built in the French style like a minor fortification, a square of buildings around a cobbled gated yard. It's run by Sue and Paul, an English biking couple and the great advantage for the solo traveller is the hayloft, a communal sleeping space that is just €18 for B&B.
In the evening I stroll into the neighbouring town of St Pol where there is a bar restaurant where they brew there own wheat beer and then back for an early night.
It's misty and just starting to get light at 6:30am. The year is wearing on; soon be time to put the clocks back.
But not before I go to Turkey and find Noah's Ark!
 |
| All packed and ready to go |
The mist clears slowly and I pile on the miles down a quiet A1. I'm trying a different set of tyres for this trip, recommended by Andy at A18 Motorcycle Tyres. I've been on Dunlops for years, on all my bikes, but these are Comtinental Roadattack GTs, and hopefully better wearing for this heavy bike.
 |
| Triangular tyre |
When I returned from the last trip the Dunlop front tyre was strangely triangular in shape, I guess from all that time running at 45 degrees on the tournanti of the Alps. The initial feel of the Contis is good. We'll see how they manage the miles.
I stop for tea and a sandwich at a layby on the A1 just before Peterborough. Thickest sausage sarny I ever had.
 |
| Thick sausage sarny |
Then it's an easy run down the M11 and round London on the M25, which for once has no traffic jams. I'm at the Channel Tunnel two hours before my scheduled departure time, but I'm invited to take an earlier train.
In the shuttle I meet three guys from Melton Mowbray on their way to Southern France. I'm not the only crazy biker heading south for the winter.
And so with time in hand I'm bimbling south into France heading for Les Ballastieres in Gauchin-Verloingt. I've stayed here a number of times before, usually on the way home.
It's an old farmhouse built in the French style like a minor fortification, a square of buildings around a cobbled gated yard. It's run by Sue and Paul, an English biking couple and the great advantage for the solo traveller is the hayloft, a communal sleeping space that is just €18 for B&B.
In the evening I stroll into the neighbouring town of St Pol where there is a bar restaurant where they brew there own wheat beer and then back for an early night.
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| Queueing for the channel tunnel |
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| On the train |
 |
| Must be France NEXT POST |
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