11th anniversary of Europe and Morocco trip - Review

[BurningGiraffe]

Day 36 - 07/06/10
End Location: Latour de France, France
Days Mileage: 143
Total Mileage: 5186

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Woke early but didn't need to push on. Chris and Brian set off and shortly afterwards I made my way to the Cathar fortress of Queribus which was atmospheric and un-restored, with a long and fairly treacherous subterranean passage which I was able to tackle with my headtorch. It was a bit of a slog up on foot and a treacherous ride down on freshly gritted and steep hills.

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I was soon at my second destination of Peyreperteuse. This was more like it - very interesting with lots of different time periods and details. I passed Chris and Brian on the steps to the higher of the two keeps and warned them about the grit before heading on to my big destination of Carcassonne.

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It was a long ride on very windy back roads but I arrived in the early afternoon and spend a couple of hours checking out the possibly over-restored citadel. But very impressive for all that but not as enjoyable as Peyreperteuse. On the way back I felt I could better the satnav and cost myself an extra 20 minutes to get to the campsite. Spend the remainder of the evening drinking and jabbering with Chris and Brian.

[BurningGiraffe]

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[BurningGiraffe]

Day 37 - 08/06/10
End Location: Montagnac, France
Days Mileage: 111
Total Mileage: 5297

Feeling pretty grim. Yesterdays short entry would indicate that it was a fairly uneventful day but it actually had more to do with sitting up drinking with Chris then dashing off a few words before sleep. Chris and I got on very well and having them both to chat to has been really nice after the great conversational drought of Spain. When I finally surface I found a postcard from Chris with his email address, wishing me luck, which really cheered me.

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After a friendly parting with the patron and a good chat with some Canadian cyclists at the village shop I was on my way with the satnav really not helping. The weather got colder and greyer so I stopped at the Oppidum d'enserune which is a Celtic hilltop village. The excavations were nothing special but the museum was phenomenal for a single site. Most impressive was the 13thC drainage on the plains below, like a huge wheel of fields.

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Struggled to ride on in the grey weather so opted for a municipal campsite at Montagnac, after several wild goose chases.

[BurningGiraffe]

Day 38 - 09/06/10
End Location: Robion, France
Days Mileage: 114
Total Mileage: 5411

A really good nights sleep although my second snooze in the morning was destroyed by someone mowing the neighbouring pitches! Weather decidedly iffy again and I eventually hit the road at 11am!

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An uneventful journey to Nimes where the satnav did itself proud and let me straight to the amphitheatre where I parked up with a host of other bikes. The amphitheatre itself was very impressive (the most intact in the world apparently!) but they had filled the arena with tarmac which did reduce the atmosphere somewhat! After chatting with some Americans on a arts trip I made my way up to the temple and hit the internet in the tourist office.

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Back on the bike to Pont du Gard I was pleased to find that bike parking was free so I was straight in for nowt! Had a good walk around and up and over but they were setting up a huge firework display on the bridge so some areas were out of bounds. Still very impressive though, even in the rather grey conditions.

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Back on the bike the wind was getting up so the first campsite was checked out and the very enthusiastic patron welcomed me with a free bottle of delicious cherry juice (Camping La Cerise!). I have realised that the rear tyre is totally worn out so I will need to source a replacement tomorrow!

[BurningGiraffe]

Day 39 - 10/06/10
End Location: Robion, France
Days Mileage: 79
Total Mileage: 5489

Decided to go back to Avignon to get some new tyres fitted. Easily sorted if I come back at 2pm so I spent the morning sightseeing and doing chores. I would have liked to spend more time here looking about but the tyres needed to be changed so I headed back and had the rear pads done too. No spares for these obvious wear items so the total bill was BIG!! €388!! Daylight robbery!! . Should have just bought the tyres and done them myself.

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Pulled up at some traffic lights coming out of Avignon and had a unbelievable noisy moped pull up alongside me, it's obviously tuned two stroke motor sounded like a swarm of angry hornets in a tin can. When the lights changed he went of the spot like a demented dragster. Unbelievably quick compared to my flogged old 650. Hats off!

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Decided to follow the suggestion of my patron from the campsite and check out the Luberon, first to Gordes and then onto the dry stone houses of Bories. This primitive and unusual building technique left little indication of age but apparently these were lived in until the 19thC. Nice but expensive for what there was.

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Had pizza at a lovely brasserie overlooking the valley in Bonnieux and then returned home to my tent.

[BurningGiraffe]

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[BurningGiraffe]

Day 40 - 11/06/10
End Location: Domain de Verdon, France
Days Mileage: 204
Total Mileage: 5693

Well, what a pivotal day as far as this trip goes! Nor sure where I go from here but. . .

Much nicer weather so I struck camp and headed off, stopping at Apt for breakfast supplies. A lovely steady run through Provence in decidedly mixed conditions - heavy cloud hanging over the hills but bright patches elsewhere. Overtook some dawdling motorists right through a static speed camera at exactly the wrong moment! Arse! Hopefully the interposed car and filthy number plate will see me alright. Very fragrant riding through the cliched fields of lavender before stopping at a closed fossil shop with huge plastic dinosaurs outside. Very surreal.

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The clutch had been feeling odd so I adjusted it up and headed into the gorge de Verdon. I stopped for one of my many photo breaks to capture the vivid turquoise of the river below, and as I pulled away the clutch lever went slack causing a sick feeling in my stomach. This was already my spare cable fitted in Cordoba!! I chugged back up to the village to the local garage. This place was a complete shithole but the mechanic found an emergency cable that he had fitted in ten minutes for just €10! It looked dodgy though so I elected to find a new one so I headed to the nearest town of Draguinan.

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Astonishingly it had a huge Kawasaki dealership but the asian guy behind the counter, despite speaking good English, clearly didn't really give a fuck. No cable, no interest. Clutching (ha ha!) at straws I went to the Honda dealer next door who rang round and found me a cable in Frejus, despite there being no money in it for them. Super service. Big shout out to the incredibly helpful folks from Univers Moto - Honda, Draguinan. .

The only downside was the extra 15 miles of travel. Unfortunately the satnav drew a blank on the address given but I stopped a biker who not only knew where it was but lead me all the way there. In and out with new cable in no time at all.

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Relaxing somewhat I rode back towards the Gorge de Verdon, only to realise that the speedo had now failed as well!! To compound my feelings of despondency the weather started to turn as well so when I reached the gorge again I had pretty much had enough. I found a campsite and set up. It feels like a cop out to go home at this point but how many breakdowns or mechanicals does it take?

[BurningGiraffe]

Day 41 - 12/06/10
End Location: Latour de Chevigny, Lyon, France
Days Mileage: 233
Total Mileage: 5926

Still undecided about what to do. Feeling surly and down on the trip I decided to set off north and see what happens. Stopped at a garage and borrowed a jack to lift the bike whilst I checked the situation with the speedo - bonus - just a broken cable.

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(Note: the reason a broken speedo caused me so much worry was because I was in my third front wheel on this bike as this had happened before and had fractured the end of the hub where the bearing retaining circlip located, allowing the wheel bearings to wander out of the hub on the axle!! Eventually I realised this was a fault with the drive locking up intermittently).

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Checked out the Citroen Museum which was like pristine examples of my motoring history and set off up the Route Napoleon and spectacular scenery, just following the satnav and racking up the miles. It got very cold as I hit the mountains prior to Grenoble. What a spectacularly sited town that is. I had set myself a target of 220 miles and this came just after Lyon so I stopped and after some very bold enquiries about campsites I ended up with no joy but next to an F1 hotel so I thought 'why not?' and booked in.

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Spent the evening mulling over my options; I am getting close to not having enough time to do the rest of the trip as planned. Clearly the bike will break down again. How much more time do I need to lose before the chance of getting to Turkey is lost? Besides, I am jaded with sightseeing and scenery and even great roads. Undoubtedly the real high points of the trip have been the people that I have met. I will see how I feel in the morning.

[BurningGiraffe]

Day 42 - 13/06/10
End Location: Villeneuve, Switzerland
Days Mileage: 219
Total Mileage: 6145

Had a terrible nights sleep and was feeling ill will towards the world so I just set off in some very cold weather. Without thinking too much about it I headed for Albertville which was very green and pleasant compared with my previous (winter) visits. After that I tagged on behind two french bikers but they were getting a tank on and I lost them in traffic. A detour up into the mountains and I picked up a larger group of bikers heading towards the Mont Blanc tunnel. Stayed with them for miles until the last off before the tunnel where I headed for Chamonix.

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Checked out an impressive glacier amongst dramatic scenery and then decided to set the satnav for the Chateau de Chillon at Montreux in Switzerland. Much more impressive scenery than coming through the Jura! Wow. Rolled down a crazy long incline and through a long tunnel. Sensibly avoided the motorway trap at the exit and easily found the Chateau.
Very impressive but busy. Spend a good while checking it out before I noticed the rain beating down outside.

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I finally couldn't delay any longer so I set off to find a campsite, ending up next to the lake in Villeneuve. They would only take Swiss francs cash so I had to go and hunt down a cashpoint before I could book in. A great meal in local restaurant, revisiting steak frites.

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As I walked out the sun peeped through the clouds finally so I grabbed my camera and headed out along the lakeside taking pics in the evening glow.

[BurningGiraffe]

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