First time in France on a bike

[bikenav]

will you need any covid related travel documentation? not been this year so have no personal experience. It appears you are on a whistle stop run so may not have time in any case, you probably know but nearby are The Thiepval Monument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiepval_Memorial that can be seen from the road but deserves a walk around and in Albert there is a pretty good Great War Somme museumhttp://www.musee-somme-1916.eu/. If you were tempted to stay I found Amiens a pleasant place to stay and wander around in the evening, some other high speed tourists visited there once before too

[NeilM]

Small polite words like bonjour and merci are very apriciated
To say nothing is taken as a bit rude.

I have a smattering of French as I used to travel there a few times a year on business... but that was 25 years ago. My wife and I have been speaking rusty O level French since I decided on this trip, any true French speaker would cringe at the linguistic mess we are making, but at least we are trying.

Bikenav. I will have a few hours to pass, although I do wish to spend some time with the boys, one of whom I don't think has ever been visited before. I will try and visit a little of the surrounding area.

[Brenhden]

Small polite words like bonjour and merci are very apriciated
To say nothing is taken as a bit rude.

I have a smattering of French as I used to travel there a few times a year on business... but that was 25 years ago. My wife and I have been speaking rusty O level French since I decided on this trip, any true French speaker would cringe at the linguistic mess we are making, but at least we are trying.

Bikenav. I will have a few hours to pass, although I do wish to spend some time with the boys, one of whom I don't think has ever been visited before. I will try and visit a little of the surrounding area.

French people are always highly amused at my terrible French

[ErikGustav2]

It is all about attitude.
If you try so say some polite words, that changes the atmosfere.
Better with pople lafing thqn beeing upsted deu to rude behaviur,


PS Loire VallYE is my favorite area.¨Castles, WIne farns, Green, the river....

https://www.wanderluststorytellers.com/ ... ey-france/

[92kk k100lt 193214]

I go a lot and just back after 3 weeks there.

Almost all fuel pumps card operated and no cash.
Be prepared for your cards being refused at fuel pumps. Issue of reading them!
Total have a big promotion on and a lot of their stations out of fuel.
Petrol stations have become scarce so dont let fuel run low. Many have recently disappeared.
Remember automated card pumps block off €119-150 on your cards each time you use them. You could have 5 or 6 of these stacked up so your card gets refused.

[Scott_rider]

Remember automated card pumps block off €119-150 on your cards each time you use them. You could have 5 or 6 of these stacked up so your card gets refused.

Very true. I got caught out by this a few years ago. I took a pre-payed visa debit card with me for a trip with only £500 on it. After the first 2 days I'd only filled up 3 times for about £50 in total...but nearly £150 for each transaction was 'pre-authorised'...so 48 hours into my trip I'd had £450 pre-authorised and only about £50 left to spend... .

The system is meant to return the pre-authorised amount (less the actual amount spent) within about 24 hours but of course it doesn't. I seem to remember it took nearly 7 days for it to come back.

[garyboy]

I go a lot and just back after 3 weeks there.

Almost all fuel pumps card operated and no cash.
Be prepared for your cards being refused at fuel pumps. Issue of reading them!
Total have a big promotion on and a lot of their stations out of fuel.
Petrol stations have become scarce so dont let fuel run low. Many have recently disappeared.
Remember automated card pumps block off €119-150 on your cards each time you use them. You could have 5 or 6 of these stacked up so your card gets refused.

do the local [small?] petrol stations do cash??

[Spike941]

Most large supermarkets with fuel stations, during opening hours have a kiosk open that’ll take cash. Not Sundays usually though. No problem with regular gas stations I’ve found.

[Magnon]

We’ve just returned from a short visit to the UK. We went on the Hook of Holland to Harwich route as we were visiting family in Suffolk but returned Newhaven to Dieppe overnight which was definitely the work experience of the trip.

We used the N - D route extensively when we lived in the UK in the eighties and it was great but a very poor service now it’s run by DFDS.

[Magnon]

We visited some of the WW1 cemeteries in 2015 as my great uncle and one of my wife’s uncles are there (another one is in the cemetery at El Alamein which we visited in 1991). Finding the places can be quite interesting but well worthwhile.