Flers to Vannes (27 July):

Here right away things start getting interesting – and remember the ‘something strange’ earlier I mentioned – it happened on this day.  The first town I go through from Flers is Domfront. 

I traveled through the city wall and stopped to take a few pictures as I had not done this before even though I had visited the town before. 

Further on down the road, not sure of exact location I zipped past a small châteaux that was near the side of the road (don’t know what road I was on) and the chateaux was not remarkable except that there was a beautiful clearing across the road that had what looked like Roman statues in the garden.  I had gone about a mile and said to myself, sh*t, am I going to zip past everything or am I going to stop and take pictures which is one of the reasons I am taking this trip.  You know how when you get moving down the road that you just want to keep going.  Anyway, I stopped and went back and parked in front of the garden area and got my camera out. It felt good to get off the bike seat for a few minutes and I needed the rest stop. 

I was in the process of taking pictures when the châteaux owner and his wife came out and asked what I was doing.  He asked me ‘Why was I taking pictures?”.  I told him that I was doing it because the statues were unusual and beautiful.  He warmed up to me at that point and invited me back to the châteaux for a drink.  We chatted and he showed me more Roman ruins on his property as well as his restoration projects.



The family dog bounded up and dutifully dropped a yellow golf ball at my feet and we play ‘chase the ball’ for a few minutes while we walked the grounds.  I did not take a picture of it.

Athena, this Roman statue was over 2000 years old.

A stone dog guarded the gate.

This lovely statuette was in a hidden garden.

The statues were indeed Roman.  One of Bacchus, one of Athena and another which lay in ruins which he said was hit by lightening.  I took several pictures and he provided me with his email address for me to send copies back to him.  All-in-all a nice rest stop and further warning to me to not just zip past things but stop and enjoy the sights that are presented on the road.

A strange incident…

Now comes the ‘really strange’ thing that I told you about earlier.  I don’t expect many of you to believe this but I swear it is the absolute truth.  This was the result of the GPS taking me on a twisted route through a small village (don’t remember the name).  The GPS took me off the main route through town and I came across a small picturesque bridge at an intersection with an old house and small garden located along the stream.  I pulled up the road and stopped.  I got the camera out and walked back to the bridge and started looking for the best angles for pictures when I saw this flower box on top of the Wall with two birds sitting next to it.  Perfect, I thought.  I raised the camera to my eye and framed the shot, however, the birds must have flown away as they were missing when I looked through the view finder.  I took the camera from my eye and looked at the flower box again and saw that the birds were still there in the same exact location next to the flowers.  Strange.  I put the camera to my eye again and to my amazement the birds were missing in the view finder.  I switched from eye to camera and back again a dozen times and it was clear that I could see the birds with my own eyes but when I looked through the camera they were clearly missing.  Next I tried to look through the view finder with the right eye and kept the left one open.  I could see the birds with my open left eye and not through the right eye and the view finder.

I have no explanation for this and I present the exact picture I took where I clearly saw the birds – except you can’t see them.

This was turning out to be the start of a pretty interesting trip and I was only in to my second day.

I continued by traveling south through Mayenne and Laval and then headed west as I reached Château-Gontier.   Somewhere along the way I passed a field of sunflowers.  I rested my butt and took a few pics.

I felt like I was finally on my way as I got closer to the coast.  I stopped at Châteaubriant near the châteaux for another brief rest and took a few pictures.

I did not buy a steak here at the restaurant.

At this stop, I reviewed the map and the time and made a slight alteration to my travel route.  I had intended to head west into the peninsula to Port Navalo south of Vannes but I saw that the ETAP hotel was north of Vannes so I decided to head into the northern peninsula to Locmariaquer.  

As I said the weather was great on the trip and I took some pictures of the beautiful sandy beach. 

Vannes to La Rochelle (28 July):

The intent for the west coast part of the trip was to follow mostly coastal roads south.  To make each day trip I selected a few coastal areas I definitely wanted to pass through but found that staying on the coast all the way was either not entirely possible or if it was it would have had high tourist traffic which I wanted to avoid. 

My first destination for the day was a small island called Noirmoutier-en-I’lle about 160 km south of Vannes.   There were two entrances/exits to the island and I was going to use both.  I arrived at the one that was actually a low water causeway that was covered with 5 feet of water at high tide.  Luckily, I had arrived at low tide. 

I stopped to assess the route and saw that the causeway was well defined but bumper to bumper cars for several miles and also it was very wet and slippery within 100 meters starting the journey.  I had seriously given consideration to forgetting it when I saw a BMW moto pull up and head across.   As he disappeared into the causeway I said – what the heck – so headed out.  Then I did what bikes do best and skipped around all the cars for several miles till I got to the island.  Yes, it was wet and slippery but I figured nothing ventured nothing gained.  Stopped at another point warning that this would be submersed at high tide and took a picture of what I had just crossed.   

There were hundreds of parked cars along the causeway as I drove by and many people out in the flats with shovels and baskets, I suppose gathering ‘fruits-de-mer’.

After getting on the island, I drove around a bit and took a picture of the local châteaux.

I left the island over a normal bridge and thought back that the wet causeway was the more interesting and better part of the trip.  I had driven a few miles into one of the next towns and noted that there was salt water and sand all over the lower part of my bike so I stopped at a convenient roadside pressure-wash station and hosed it off to prevent corrosion.

La Rochelle to Libourne (29 July):

Next destination for the day was Les Sables-d’Olonne.  I drove into the town just to check it out and saw that it was a tourist town.  I got some cash at a local ATM and quickly headed south.  I stopped at the beaches and took a few pics.

I was getting disappointed that there did not appear to be any well defined coastal roads that were not tourist routes and then discovered exactly what I was looking for south of Royan.  I followed a great D-road coastal system (starting off on D-145) from Royan down to near Bourg that provided me with views of the sea, countryside. lowlands and bluffs with narry a car to be seen.  In fact, in order to do this, after D-145, I had to ignore my GPS all the way.  It kept trying to get me on a D-route further from the coast and every time it told me to turn left, I turned right or went straight on.  These roads were not in the GPS nor on the map. 

I came across a slue at low tide near Maubert and decided to give my butt a rest.  I got off and took some pics and then saw a very beautiful girl walking in the distance and she seemed to be steering her way right to me.  In fact, that is what she did.  How pleasant.  She was a college student and wanted me to help her fill out a questionnaire concerning the use and preservation of the slue area as a natural resource.  So for the next 10 minutes we got to play 20 questions and she wrote down what I told her.  A nice rest stop for sure.  This coastal area is an area that is worthy of much more exploration on a future trip.

Here you see the slue at low tide.  All the boats are stuck in the mud but the ducks are still happy.

I saw some more sunflowers.  I told them all a joke but they just turned their backs to me.

Libourne to Pau (30 July):

My coastal trip was coming to an end and the Pyrenees mountains were my next destination.  I left the coast in preference for some nice roads outlined in my book – ‘Best Rides – Motorcycle Atlas of France’ and plotted a course to Pau.  This took me inland then south.  I don’t know what the area is like if I had followed coastal roads from Bordeaux to Biarritz so I guess I will have to leave that for another day.

The great weather continues.  What can I say – every day is sunny with some clouds and temperatures to the mid 70’s.  It could not have been better riding weather.  As soon as I got into the Pyrenees foothills I knew I was going to like this leg of the journey.  You have to see and drive it to appreciate it.  I took pictures so hopefully it will stimulate some of you to give them a try.

Anyway, before I get ahead of myself, I have to tell you about another interesting stop in wine country south of Bordeaux.  I am driving through some pretty country on highway D-118 (I think) near Bodus, when all of a sudden I see off into the grape vines the tall walls of an ancient medieval castle standing tall in the grape field.

Bordeaux country where grapes are everywhere.

There were no signs for this and it was not a tourist stop.  I found what looked like a road that would lead up to it but it was rather steep and gravely and with a full travel load on my bike I thought it best not to make the attempt.  I drove 100 meters further on and found a farm road that wound out into the grape vineyard. 

I followed it to a point where I could see the wall and parked to walk over to it for a closer inspection.

As I got closer, I could hear a tink-tink-tink sounds from a hammer hitting stone coming from within the castle walls.  As I got closer I cold see what looked like college students using hammers and chisels tapping on stone blocks.  I thought that was intriguing.  They were forming flat surfaces on stones for what I supposed was a college class designed to show students how stones were formed before being used for castle walls.  I introduced myself to the students and took some pictures of the area as well as them working.  It was another interesting rest stop while on the road. 

Here are two co-eds and an Afghan student tinkering away.  I think they were going to restore the castle one stone at a time.

I find that the stops can be as interesting as traveling the roads.  The combination of them both makes for very interesting trips.

I was getting hungry so I jaunted off the GPS route at the nearest small town and stopped at the village square.  I parked under a tree and got my lunch fixins’ out and had a nice rest.  When lying back under the tree I saw that they had trained the sycamore trees to provide for the shade of the square.  I see a lot of sycamore trees on the trips and many interesting ways they use them.  Many provide Grand Allees along the routes into and out of towns and some are trimmed square but I had never seen them trained to provide a trellis of shade overhead. 

Driving along I saw this view as I crossed a bridge in a small town.

Continuing along I started into the foot hills and right away I knew this was going to be glorious. 

Finally, I reached Pau and unpacked all my gear.  I had been hearing my front brake scratch from time to time and did not fancy heading up into the mountains with them sounding like that so I headed out to get my evening ready-meal, a full petrol tank and stopped at the local Honda dealer for a look-see at my brakes.  They installed new front brake pads in about 20 minutes and I drove off feeling much better.  In under an hour, I had gotten my food, gas and new brakes installed.  I was ready for the mountains.

Pau and the Pyrenees mountains (31 July):

I was staying two nights in Pau to allow for exploring mountain roads from Pau to Biariritz and while I had not originally thought about it, this turned out to be a very smart move.  The next morning I headed out and started climbing up.  Once again, the weather was perfect.  My first transition before I started to make real altitude to a mountain road was a sharp turn right at a small village and then up what looked like a steep 45 degree angle and gravelly to boot along a narrow 1-lane passage between old stone buildings that edged the narrow street.  I had not been able to see this fully until after I had already made the sharp turn and found myself having to gun the engine to keep the revs high to make it to the top which was at least 200 meters away.  There could be no stopping till I made it to the top and I could not see this until I was into the climb.  If I had dogged the engine or had stopped, I would have slid back on the gravelly road.  All of this was going through my mind as I kept the revs at about 3500 and maneuvered as carefully as I could to the top of the road.  Wow, I thought – that was hairy.  And I was just getting started. 

So, here is why it was smart to spend two days in Pau.  This had allowed me remove the top-box and all the weight from cloths and gear and let it stay in the hotel while I made the mountain trip the next day.  As I said, this was not planned but I definitely see the wisdom for planning this in the future on such mountain trips.  Had I had the fully loaded top box and other gear loaded on the bike it would have provided a much higher balance point and a lot more weight to manage in that first steep climb.

I stopped at the top of the hill to catch my breath. Took a picture of course.

Interestingly, and gladly, that first transition onto the mountain road was the hairiest part of the day’s ride.  Well, not entirely if you look at what came a little later.  But first a few views of the passage.

The first pass was about 1400 meters and open range so you had to watch for the cows and horses that used the mountainsides as pasture.  This was one of the passes and the cows at this point at least were cooperative and stayed off the road. 

I challenged this horse for a race but he was not interested.

Another pass was about 2800 meters. 

Then I was close to Biarritz and I slid down the mountain into town.  I found this to be more trouble than  it was worth.  Had a hell of a time finding the beach road as the signs would come and go.  

When I finally got there I stayed a while to rest and took this picture.  Topless girls abound but of course in France being topless is not considered nudity.

It looked nice and had this been the kind of vacation where I was planning to rest in the sun by the sea I could see staying here but for this trip it was fighting the tourist traffic and not very pleasant.  I was glad to get on the road again.  Of course, I had plotted a mountain trek for the return trip to Pau so I still had some good times to come. 

Heading back some low clouds were starting to roll in.  You can see them here in this shot as I start heading back into the mountains.

Nice mountain streams were close by and many some small towns with ancient picturesque churches could be seen rising out of the forests in the foothills. 

A bridge to nowhere…

Now I am getting into some altitude but I am still on designated D roads.

As you can see on the sign, I am following part of the 2010 Tour de France route.  A water fall can be seen to the left on the mountain wall.

So much for the tourist roads.  Now I head off for 80 miles of mountain pass roads that my GPS say are not there.  These are ‘nearly’ one lane roads and for the most part they are in good condition, however, there is gravel chip from time to time and you never know where those times will be so you stay on your toes.

As you can see from this shot, I am above the clouds and the weather looks great.  You can see the edge of the road and see the gravel chip surface.  The drop offs are steep in most areas and if you take a tumble you would not stop for 800 or 900 feet.  I saw very few cars on these mountain-pass roads which was good for maneuvering. 

The next picture shows something interesting.  I am looking down at the thick white top of a cloud bank that seems to be standing still filling the valley from side to side.  I say ‘seems’ because as I parked there and looked around it became obvious it was not standing still at all.

Each time I looked at the clouds they appeared to be nearer.  They seem to be flowing up the mountain like a sloshed bowl of soup.

This drew my attention and as I studied the cloud and considered the possibilities, it was obvious that it was actually rushing like a freight train upward, directly at me.

One leg of the cloud snaked its way toward my location

As the next shot shows, I am quickly deep in the cloud with visibility of about 20 ft.  And, I have about 80 miles to go on this mountain pass road made up of gravel chip with steep sides that drop off 900 ft.  At this point the beautiful day looks like it has turned into a survival run down the mountain. 

Anyway, no more pictures of clouds as I was too busy trying to keep on the road and away from the 900 foot drop offs.

Well, obviously I made it but it was not something I had planned on doing, at least like that.  But as Nietzsche says – “what does not kill you makes you stronger”.  I felt pretty good I had made it. 

The rest of the day’s trip was below the clouds (my feelings are that clouds should stay above you).  

Pau to St-Gaudins (1, 2 August):

I was hoping not to have to deal with clouds again but weather was settling in and it was obvious that I was either going to be socked in with fog or get wet in the next few days. Turns out it was both.

I stayed in the foot hills from Pau to St-Gaudins and this is a typical shot for the days trip.  I did this as I definitely wanted to stay out of the clouds.

All in all a pretty nice day on lots of small back roads but as the day progressed it got worse.  It looked like tomorrow was going to be rainy.

The next day I got up and assessed the weather.  My original plan was to head north for 160 km on mountain roads D33 to C28 then C13 to N260 and finally to Andorra.  But, I did not want to travel 160 km with 20 foot of visibility so I decided against that route.  Actually, my return for that loop was to come back on N20 and I could see that if I took this to Foix then D117 a lower route might keep me with better visibility.  So, I thought, I will take what would have been my ‘easy’ return route from Andorra and use it as my 'going-to' route.

After I got half way there it was obvious that the weather was progressively getting worse but I pushed on.  Next, I find myself actually on the mountain road heading to Andorra and at about 40 miles out, I hit the clouds.  I forgot to mention that traffic to Andorra was bumper to bumper and going at about 2 miles per hour when it was moving at all.  So, 40 miles to go, bumper to bumper slow to stop speeds and I am considering rolling around and heading back.  Clearly this days destination was going to be a bust.  But, wait - I thought, I am only 40 miles away from my destination I can’t turn back now.  So, at 20 feet of visibility, I start passing cars 20 at a time and more as I edge my way up the mountain.  For the next 40 miles of passing on mountain roads in the fog with little visibility (I know – not smart) I make it to Andorra.  Wait till you see my picture.

Yep.  That’s it.  People tell me the small country of Andorra is beautiful but you could not prove it by me.  I guess I will have to try it again some time.  I did eat lunch there in a restaurant and it was good.  Saw lots of tourists buying junk and cigarettes.  So, after lunch, I have about 160 km to go back to the hotel with my great Andorran picture and it starts to rain – hard.  I pull over and put my rain gear on and just keep my head down for the ride.  A not very pleasant trip back to the hotel. 

I had to laugh after about 30 miles down the side of the mountain as there had been no stopping for passports or customs officials but French customs had cars out and pulling vans and cars over left and right checking for contraband that taxes had not been paid for.  After 30 miles I bet they had thought they got away with it.

So, one day in 10 that was not so good. That is pretty good for being on the road and I am not complaining.  I got to see Andorra – sort of. 

St-Gaudens to Brive and back to Paris (3,4 August):

From here on out it was just a return trip to Paris.  I took some pretty nice D-roads up to near Cahors and then I just took the rest of the way as straight as possible on D820.  Here was a brief stop for a rest. I stayed at the ETAP in Brive.

The next day I was to head for Blois for the night but after studying the map I said – what-the hey I can make Paris in one day if I take the auto-route; so I did.  I was ready to get home after a full 10 days on the road. 

I will say in advance that I now realize that I probably passed a lot of Bike Club France members on this route and sorry I had not planned stopovers to say high.  I got so wrapped up in the planning for this trip it just slipped my mind.  I will definitely correct this on future trips.