InvictaMoto's Devall Boys!

After watching the MotoGP today on TV I thought about maybe another trip across next year to sit in the pissing rain trackside.... as we have done already in 2012 and 2019. The dates haven't been published yet but gambling on the same weekend as this year for 2022 I had a quick look through the accommodation on booking.com . This time I looked  nearer to the circuit than we found last two occasions. Then we had been in  Alençon,  either in the Formule 1 or the Resto Novo. Both around 35 miles north of the circuit. The GP  race day  was today 16th May 2021. Gamble 1 is that it it will be the weekend of 13th to 16th May.  Oddly, booking.com had a lot of places to choose from. With the filters set for free cancellation and no prepayment that was reduced quite  a bit but came up with a reasonably  priced  Appart'City Le Mans Centre. It's close to the station.  It's also only 6kms to the circuit. Gamble 2! Changing the dates to...

Way back in 2012 I created a blog for trips on this site. I forgot about it until I was googling and came across some familiar posts. It wasn't particularly for the Devall Boys but this trip is about the Le Mans trip from 2012, when it was current! So I am re-posting. https://lemans12.travellerspoint.com/

This trip was entered into my other blog - R3R .

Both of us booked the Eurotunnel tickets yesterday. Out at 0920 on a Friday and back at 1650 on the Monday. Next job was to buy track tickets. That was done today.  So we're set.

The hotel is booked and I have been looking to see if any nearer to Le Mans have come online. But so far nothing has popped up. Well, none at a reasonable price. There are loads on booking.com at over £500 a night. We have a slight pause just in case Arsenal reach the Cup Final. 

With the hotel booked on the usual free cancellation/no prepayment basis we are in a dead zone until we decide that we are definitely going. Today I had an email from the ticket office to say that tickets for the event are on sale.  Eagerly, I clicked to see what the prices are for 2019. General admission to the track are €80 for the weekend and Grandstands with a booked seat are from €135. There are also a range of other stands for "fans". There is always a Valentino Rossi fan stand. I guess to sit there you need to make sure you have at least a yellow 46 cap and maybe say "for sure" in most sentences in English. But as for price. Who knows? On the website all grandstands come up as "SOLD OUT". Already? https://www.gpfrancemoto.com/en/grandstand/3-day-ticket

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...

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.