52
AUGUST 2022
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY
One of the advantages of having very loose plans is the flexibility that provides. Using his old maxim certainly holds true in the case the hotel internet we deduced that staying in of this photo taken at a Bikers B&B in the Brest would require materials to start building small village of Lauzun in the Aquitaine Region of an Ark so an alternative was required. The southern France in 2012. weather front was moving across the country to the east; we had just come in from the north so that left south unless we wanted to start swimming. Sunny icons were to be had around Bordeaux about 800km to the south so a search of a biker friendly B&B site came up with this place in Lauzun. One phone call and our plans for the next day were set.
T
By Tony Gray, Member #3905
Let me set the scene: Jane and I were on Day 41 of a 121 day trip touring Britain and Europe on the Grey Ghost and were headed for the Loire Valley from our present location just outside of Brest on the French Coast. The beautiful sunny weather we had been enjoying had disappeared under a deluge of torrential rain coming in from the North Atlantic. We splashed our way in darkness into a key-coded unmanned chain hotel on the outskirts of Brest (we have never actually seen Brest). With everything hung out to dry and having raided the vending machines for dinner we set about replanning our next movements.
That day was quite an unforgettable trip. We normally avoid the AutoRoute System in France (and every other country) but this day was an exception. The pelting rain was unrelenting so with Jane tucked tightly in behind, the wick on the Grey Ghost was wound up and we hit the highway south stopping only to take on some more 95PULP. The rain was unrelenting for the first 400km, then as the rain started to ease the wind took its place blowing in with ferocity off the Atlantic – thank goodness it was summer! The Grey Ghost was canted over at a jaunty angle and I don’t think her needle dropped below the 130 mark – all entirely legal of course.
And so it was that we arrived in a small village we had never heard of, in an area we had never intended to visit and met our most friendly hosts Steve & Hazel who booked us into a delightful restaurant to wash away the days dramas with the local Pastis & wine. The last sunny day in Brittany: Mont St Michel
Steve was an old school British biker whose current steed was a very smart yellow
