The big one ...
This is our first big trip covering over 1,500 miles in 6 days which took us from Bristol down to a biker B&B outside of Limoges. We met up with friends here who had traveled up from Toulouse and toured some sights in the area for a few days before making our way back home.
The route down/up:
The route down/up:
Ferry
Outbound: Overnight LD Lines from Portsmouth to Le Havre. (depart - 23:00, Arrive - 08:00)
Inbound: Evening LD Lines from Le Havre to Portsmouth. (depart - 17:00, Arrive - 21:30)
Accommodation
Riders Rest - Ran by a very friendly couple, Tony and Wendy this is a great place to stay. Tony will help you get the most out of your stay by suggesting the best routes while Wendy pretty much runs the B&B. We stayed in the new extension - double en-suite - which was very comfortable while Dave and Sam stayed in the other double in the older part of the building.
BB Hotel, Chartres - We stayed here to break up the return journey. The hotel was clean, quiet and offers a continental breakfast.
Our Rides
These were recomended by Tony and Wendy for our 2.5 days in the area.
Puy Mary - Cantalien volcano
Chataeux de Val - fairy-tale castle
Oradour-sur-Glane - World War II memorial village
Lac Vassiviere - one of France's largest lakes
Lessons Learnt
Automatic Route Recalculation - The is a feature on most SatNav's that recalculates the route should you take a wrong turn. The problem is that its not always going to then take you on the route you want planned or in our case had been advised to take. On the way down the added about 1hr travel time and about a 30min rest stop to our journey. I now have mine set to prompt rather than 'off' or 'automatic'.
Rest Stops - The route down is approx. 6:30hr drive time and given that we generally stop every 1h to 1h30 then this adds another 3hrs to the overall journey time. So assuming no wrong turns or bad traffic we were looking at 10hrs from Le Havre to Riders Rest which on reflection given that this was our first trip was too much. Im just glad that the weather was good and that it didn't rain! We would like to incorporate Riders Rest into a longer trip but next time I would look to break up the route down and not attempt it in one go. We stopped at Chartres on the return trip which allowed for a quick visit to a lake north of Riders Rest before hitting the road. It also allowed for a leisurely ride into Le Havre and some shopping at Les Docks.
Outbound: Overnight LD Lines from Portsmouth to Le Havre. (depart - 23:00, Arrive - 08:00)
Inbound: Evening LD Lines from Le Havre to Portsmouth. (depart - 17:00, Arrive - 21:30)
Accommodation
Riders Rest - Ran by a very friendly couple, Tony and Wendy this is a great place to stay. Tony will help you get the most out of your stay by suggesting the best routes while Wendy pretty much runs the B&B. We stayed in the new extension - double en-suite - which was very comfortable while Dave and Sam stayed in the other double in the older part of the building.
BB Hotel, Chartres - We stayed here to break up the return journey. The hotel was clean, quiet and offers a continental breakfast.
Our Rides
These were recomended by Tony and Wendy for our 2.5 days in the area.
Puy Mary - Cantalien volcano
Chataeux de Val - fairy-tale castle
Oradour-sur-Glane - World War II memorial village
Lac Vassiviere - one of France's largest lakes
Lessons Learnt
Automatic Route Recalculation - The is a feature on most SatNav's that recalculates the route should you take a wrong turn. The problem is that its not always going to then take you on the route you want planned or in our case had been advised to take. On the way down the added about 1hr travel time and about a 30min rest stop to our journey. I now have mine set to prompt rather than 'off' or 'automatic'.
Rest Stops - The route down is approx. 6:30hr drive time and given that we generally stop every 1h to 1h30 then this adds another 3hrs to the overall journey time. So assuming no wrong turns or bad traffic we were looking at 10hrs from Le Havre to Riders Rest which on reflection given that this was our first trip was too much. Im just glad that the weather was good and that it didn't rain! We would like to incorporate Riders Rest into a longer trip but next time I would look to break up the route down and not attempt it in one go. We stopped at Chartres on the return trip which allowed for a quick visit to a lake north of Riders Rest before hitting the road. It also allowed for a leisurely ride into Le Havre and some shopping at Les Docks.