My neighbour John had told me about a great little patisserie 5 minutes walk away. Went to investigate. There's a gate at the back of the site that opens onto a path by the river. Walk by the river for few hundred yards then over a footbridge and you're in the town. Picked up a couple of fresh almond pastries. Very tasty, and a pleasant little walk to get them.
Packed everything up for one last time then headed towards Calais. Intended to stick to the departmental roads rather than autoroute and headed back on a similar route to the one I took down here. If the weather turned or I needed to make up some time then I'd be following the same line as the autoroutes so could quickly and easily reroute. I could probably do the same journey on péage in half the time, but time was on my side so I decided to explore.
The general route was Charleville-Mezieres to Cambrai to Arras to Bethune to Calais. Fine those towns on a map and join up the D roads. That's my route.
The route was quite chilled. Lots of stuff to investigate given more time. Understandably, given the area, there are lots of war cemeteries and museums. I also passed a roundabout with a statue of the Eiffel Tower in the middle. Pretty sure I passed the Statue of Liberty's torch and hand at one point. Both obviously slightly smaller versions of the originals.
Fancied grabbing a quick set menu or Routier stop before boarding the ferry but I never took time out for it.
Quite chuffed that I successfully translated a French roadwork sign. One of the roads was closed but my sleuth-like translation skills determined that only for certain times and days. Looked like I'd be OK so stuck with it.
Arrived at Calais and managed to bag a slightly earlier crossing. At least I thought I did until the curse of Catherine struck once again. I was just about to roll down the ramp to the platform when a Eurotunnel van drove up and blocked the path. There was problems with our train and we got shifted to another. At least they're regular. Everyone just rolled down the next ramp to another waiting train. Minimal delay.
Rode off the train back in Folkestone and began the long trek home. All 270 miles of it.
All was going swimingly until about 100 miles from home when the bike gave up the ghost. First the battery symbol appeared on the trip computer. This is usually pretty serious, especially when the red warning light illuminates. Which it did.
I was on a busy stretch of the A1 so wasn't gonna pull over if I could help it. All ran fine for the next few miles when the dash started playing up. First it started flickering on and off before dying completely. All dashboard lights went out, the speedo needle dropped back to rest position and the tacho needle stuck at whatever position it was in when the dash died.
Again, the bike continued on so I didn't pull over.
Eventually the engine died. Like it or not, I was pulling over. Tried the usual remedies of swearing and hitting it, but the bike refused to start. Eventually called my insurance company for breakdown recovery. Good old Auntie Carole, she sent out SOS Motorcycle Recovery Services. They only do bikes so you get a van - not a flatback or car transporter. Took a while to arrive but I had all my camping kit with me. I had enough water, teabags and UHT milksticks with me to keep me going for a few hours so the stove came out.
I stuck my helmet by the roadside a good stretch behind the bike with a flashing warning light gaffa taped to it. I've always considered helmet behind bike was the international sign for 'bike goosed', but you rarely see it.
The recovery bloke who arrived was brilliant. The bike would fire up with a booster attached to the battery but it wasn't gonna get me home. It was carefully loaded into the back of the van and I was delivered to my doorstep.
Not the ideal way to end the trip, but I was just relieved that it happened when it did and not at the beginning of the trip or when I was abroad.
Casualties this year have been one pair of tyres, one zip (damn you Dainese and your cheap nasty zips), one visor bolt from my helmet, one headlamp bulb, one litre of oil, half a brake pedal and whetever comes from the diagnosis of my dead bike.
Absolutely all of our kit got used, except the stuff you always hope not to to use (first aid kit and tools mainly)
If I'm honest, organising flights for my co-pilots was a right pain in the backside, especially when you want to travel with no set agenda. It was definitely worth it though and they were both great company
...except Sam
...oh, and Catherine
Looping back a couple of times also meant repeating some roads, but there was nothing repeated that wasn't enjoyable.
Trip total 4255 miles, plus 106 miles in the back of a recovery van!
Exchange rates were €1.15/£, 1.6CHF/£, €1.3/CHF
1l of 95 unleaded was around €1.37 in Germany/Italy/France/Belgium, €1.20 in Austria/Luxembourg, 1.70CHF in Switzerland (around €1.30) and £1.15 back home.
nice one fleagle - wheres yer pics at please.......
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