Here we go.
Nigel, Dale, Winger and myself set off on Saturday morning and had a rain interupted trip to Dover.
Boarded the Norfolk line boat and set off to Dunkerque, landed, turned right down the A16 and right again onto the coast road the N940.
This has to be the best road to start any trip of France on, nice tarmac sweeping bends over the cliff tops, stunning views and no bloody tourist traffic.
After a few miles you come to a 2nd World War bunker that is now a museum (musse) the Batterie Todt.
This is worth a look + there is a little cafe next door.
You have to pay but it is worth it and you need to have at least a couple of hours.
NO! the horses are not real,
Inside are all sorts of things, Guns like this, Uniforms, Bombs, Helmets infact every thing that was used at the time, there are more rooms than you wil believe and a surprising amount of exhibits.
The outside has Guns and Canon of all types
along with quite abit of other stuff.
Including this bloody great rail gun, it sits on its own rail carriage, has a range of 46 miles and is still pointing at Hastings.
Bigger than you think.
Carrying on down the coast and then turning inland we made our first night stop in Abbeville, I tried the same hotel that was used on the 2006 trip but they were full, so back on the bikes and ride to the eastern side of the town, this only takes a few mins and we stop near the railway station .
Nigel made enquiry's at the Grand Hotel and we end up wth 2 rooms at about 55Euro's a piece.
Remember I did say the GRAND HOTEL
When I was a lad this may have been the best Hotel in town, but that was 40 years ago, never mind ; it was clean and the people were really friendly.
Two lads from London turned up and booked a room so we all went into the town for a meal.
Good food- Good laugh- Good start to the week.
Next day kept heading south the weather was brilliant and made to much riding a battle with the heat ( how can we moan about to much sun !!! ? )
The rest of the week was all about the same but it did try to rain on Wednesday even though it was still warm, got down as far as Niort and then started back up, arrived in Calais Friday night and had a steady ride back to the boat on Sat.
Check out the rest of the photo's.
The bottom end of the Loire valley near to Nantes.
St Martin, this has got to be the busiest village in all of France, the traffic never stopped all night and we were stopping in the cafe (hotel) on the right.
This is some special kind of sweet shop.
Not both sexes at the same time.
Sunset over the Loire river.
The last one is a view Calais that you would not expect, the other side is all industrial.
If you fancy France make sure you stay away from the tourist areas, keep to the small villages and every one will be friendly , ontop of that you will find some of the best biking roads you could dream of !!!
