Apart from one brief spell of rain, we've managed to avoid rain all holiday so simply looked on this as retribution.
Called in to see the folks on the way home then rode through the dismal British weather to complete the trip and park the bike up for a well deserved rest. It's behaved impeccably all holiday. It had a top up of oil in Gex (about 1,600 miles into the trip) and a mirror rattled loose so was quickly nipped up with a spanner. It asked for nothing else all trip.
It's been another great trip this year. Given that we only had 11 nights away, two of which were on the ferry, I wasn't sure how much we'd be able to achieve. As it turns out, we did pretty damn good. We rode three of the best biking roads in Europe - the Black Forest High Road, the Route Napoléon and the Routes des Grandes Alpes. We had a day off the bike to enjoy time with friends out in France. And despite the forecasts saying otherwise, the weather for the most part was superb.
A fair chunk of motorway riding was necessary on the first and last day abroad, but it's bearable. You just need to grit your teeth and get through Belgium.
Catherine was unsure of France, having experienced very little of it, but her opion has completely changed. She already knew that she loves Germany and Italy. She's now seen that France is a beautiful place full of great people, roads, food and drink. And marmots. Big vicious scary marmots.
Once again she's been perfect company. A fearless pillion, always up for banter with complete strangers and generally an all round good egg. And very very opinionated, but in a good way.
Next time, she is definitely* bringing her own bike.
* Ignore all similar statements made previously. This time she really means it.
Trip total 2170 miles
Exchange rate was €1.19/£
1l of 95 unleaded was €1.50 - €1.60 in France, €1.30 in Luxembourg, 1.70CHF in Switzerland and £1.32 back home.
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