InvictaMoto's Devall Boys!

We were up about the same time I get up for work and out of the house about 0820 and by 0840 I had secured my first coffee of the day. Before the off! As usual the shuttle was late leaving by about 10 minutes. First stop Auchun to fill the tank. Diesel is much cheaper in France at €1.348 a litre rather that £1.45. At the current exchange rate that makes it about £1.15!!! A considerable saving. An £80 tank was about £60 instead. The first problem was TomTom failed. No map of Germany. With no paper map we had to follow our noses. Having been this way before I knew the route and occasionally used the Skrobbler app on my phone to check when we were nearby. We had a coffee break about 1.30pm and arrived at about 4.15pm at the hotel. Arena Hotel The room is small but clean and cheap! Once checked in we set off for the Stadium to see where to go in daylight. The bratwurst and beer stands had barely opened and so we ended up in Burger King by

Monday Homeward bound. The plan was to visit a WW2 site and the museum, at the Falaise Gap. Instead several TomTom glitches ruined that plan. Instead we found Camembert. Where the cheese comes from. We ate chesse. Bought cheese. Then left. The rest of the journey went smoothly. Photos from the trip.

Saturday After breakfast we took the non-toll route to Le Mans. Woody leading as my TomTom was misbehaving. ( http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/tomtom.html ) At the hotel we of course donned waterproofs. The BMW hand guards are excellent water holders... Water collectors At the track they affix a sticker to the headlamp and give you the other half. On leaving both have to match. They also want to see the bike's log book. French ones are small, our are four pages of A4 and paper. As it is peezing down there is no way I am getting mine out of the topbox! We arrived in time for the Moto2 free session and all three classes qualifying. All the commentary in French. A summary in English at the end is spoken by a guy that learned English in a vacuum. It drizzled all day. Rained hard at times. Almost trench foot. Saturday evening and as a result of my schoolboy French in booking a table, we ate at the nearby Campanile. After eating we watched the Champion

On the way back to our hotel from the Campanile down the street. It looks quite good by night. When we decided to do Le Mans, the F1 here in Alencon was the only hotel at a decent price (budget!!) in the area for a 50 mile range of Le Mans itself.

Gros Horloge The day started well. Sunny. Met Woody at the Stop 24 services and fuelled up and the had 3 mile ride tithe Shuttle. The train was packed with bikes all heading one way or another the 250 miles to Le Mans or thereabouts. Our first stop was Rouen for lunch and a look around the old city. The cathedral was being renovated and we were unable to see the statue of Joan of Arc. The Gros Horloge, as the clock is called, is in an area where there are plenty of old buildings. You can see where post 1945 the town rebuilt the areas where it was heavily bombed in the days around D-Day 1944. But many still there in the area near the clock and the cathedral. These interesting ladies adorn the wall of an adjacent building now an optician's shop. Adjacent to the Gros Horloge is this pair of buildings and the narrow alley. We did see the old clock down a side street and went to have a look. The final hundred or so miles off toll roads took us in

Aaaaarrrgghhhh. Why did I buy a TomTom?  I have only had it three months and it's only it's third trip out and it has gone wrong. It was working on the bike all the way here to Alençon. But when I came to set the route for tomorrow for the run to Le Mans,  it was dead. I thought it may have been simply discharged.  But the problem seems to be when it is turned off it fires up again, so the battery flattens itself, unseen, in the case. I had already logged a call with them for a rattle, some screw loose or something. Now I am one day into the long GP weekend and it is not working.  Fantastic.

All packed and ready to go. Clothes, chargers for phone and TomTom.  Maps updated on the TomTom, updates applied. Just need to set the alarm and pack my sponge bag.  Then pop them in the panniers and set off for the 6 miles ride to the Shuttle via the fuel stop at Stop 24. Have to check over everything agai n before I got to bed.....

Just put a few extra pounds in the tyres front and rear to take it more towards the loaded fast tour pressures. I usually run 32psi at the front and 36psi at the back but gone to 34/40 for the run to Le Mans. Once back inside the house will switch to battery charge mode to get the camera and TomTom charged for the weekend. Next to sort out clothes. Will be in bike gear most of the time so will need jeans and a few tshirts. Plus caks and socks. Toying with netbook as well as the hotel allegedly has free wifi. Mr Baloo (pic) has been my mascot since 2004 and has brushed up well considering he has been in the beak area for about 8 years now. When they gave him away at a McDonald's they never expected him to last long as a kid's toy.

A day left before we are on the road to Le Mans, or rather the first stop, the overnight at the F1 hotel in Alençon. Bike checked over. A few more pounds in the tyres for the added load of the Touratech Zegas. Have another day to get things together. Fingers crossed for a bit drier weather!

I  was sorting out a few things like letting the insurance company know I was going to be in France for 4 days, and then looking for my EHIC Card. Couldn't find it so had to order another.  Estimated delivery is two weeks..  Then thought about travel insurance.   Moneysupermarket.com came out tops with a £6.18 single trip policy. Must look at annual cover for when we go away later in the year.

The shuttle is booked for the crossing to France, 0820 out gets us to France about 1000 local time and plenty of time to ride down and see something on the way. Maybe get off the motorway a bit if we can and save a couple of quid. The return is Monday @ 1720 but hoping to be back earlier than that.

The MotoGP season is due to start and this year we have our annual trip across the sea to Europe and we have chosen the French Grand Prix. Despite looking for hotels before the date of May 20th was confirmed and unless you are Richard Branson, hotels are out of site. In the end we have three nights in an F1 in Alencon about 50kms away.