Day 3 Wednesday 22nd June - mileage 742 - woods 10 miles east Nancy

Up at about 8am and just as I as about to set off it started raining. it didn't seem to be too strong so I de decided to continue. The weather just got worse and soon I was getting cold and wet in a cold wet miserable mood.

Stopped at a McDonalds for breakfast, and warmed myself up,and decided to wait and see if the rain abates!

Two hours in McDonalds and one Big Mac and two coffees later it had stopped raining (enough) to venture out. McDonalds is free wifi so caught up on all my emails etc.

Chosen route was towards Verdon and then towards Strasbourg. On the way I passed about five huge cemeteries from the first world war. They were for French soldiers, and the one in the picture I calculated had about 5000 graves! Very moving, each one with names of the soldier.






My Tomtom has refused to charge today and so I went into a large hypermarche to try and get some wire wool or something similar to clean up the contacts again. At the entrance there was one of those key cutting / cobbler type stalls and so I engaged the man in poor French,and then drawings to ask if he had anything that would scrub the contacts. In the end got quite a crowd around me trying to understand what I needed. eventually he produced a plastic scrubbing pad (the type that clean dishes) and he cut off a small piece for me. I thought this would work well so I then went and bought a couple of pads because I think that I may well have to keep cleaning these contacts. I should never have used the piece oh sandpaper that Emma gave me as I think this will have taken off the gold plating on the contacts and now they will keep oxidising.

Bought provisions for a camping meal from the hypermarche (onions, tinned tomatoes, pasta, Italian sauce, mushrooms, beer) in case I decided to camp and set off again towards Strasbourg.

Weather improved and so kept look out for a camping site. No luck and so when I passed a forest area I decided to take a logging track into the woods and camp rough.















So far all is ok, not heard any wild bears (although just as I typed that there was a crack of a broken stick from somewhere off to my left.

As I cooked the meal I could hear a cuckoo calling somewhere in the woods.

It is now 9:30 and dusk is just starting to creep over the woods.

As I went to get the camera to import today's pictures I noticed a deer on the roadway about 100 metres away. Tried to take a photo but it comes out too dark.

If I post again you will know that I survived through the night.

More later
TOR


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Day 2 Tuesday 21st June - mileage 523 - Avenses - Sur - Helpe, France

Nuz was up and away to work at 7am, but I got up with Jo and the boys at about 8am. Breakfast watching Tom and Jerry, then onto serious games of making bridges from Lego to drive trucks loaded with marbles under.

Left Reading at about 10am to head off to Dover. Arrived at Dover at about 12:45 and got onto the P&O ferry due to sail at 13:30.

The weather down to Dover had been very windy and I was expecting a rough crossing, but in fact the journey was not bad at all.





I studied the maps on the ferry and decided that I can take a route via Switzerland and Austria heading roughly for Slovinia and still make the decision later about which way to go to Turkey, so set Tomtom to take me on a non peage route going towards Strasbourg via Reims and had a very pleasant journey across northern France. I took a wrong exit off the main road at Lille, and Tomtom took me on a very interesting detour via half constructed bridge works and a major equestrian centre. I think it is fantastic when you make mistakes and the machine takes you to places you would never ever normally come across, and with these satnav's it is so stress free.
Tomtom then took me to Valenciennes and then Maubeuge and after nearly stopping a couple of times I came to a place called Avesnes - Sur - Helpe where at a crossroads there was a cafe and a band playing music. By sheer coincidence there was a Logis de France hotel just about 200 metres further along the road. The hotel was not nice and quite expensive (€50) but I was tired and so decided to stay.



After a shower and the obligatory washing of dirty clothes I went back along the road to check out the music. The band had stopped playing and were eating. I had a beer and the barman told me that they were going to continue playing after they had finished eating.



Had a walk around town and took a couple of photos of the church and some of the better buildings. Also saw an interesting face in the back of a parked car. It would be quite off-putting if you came up behind this when on the road.









Went back to listen to the band. Wow! They were fantastic. There were just three members, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums, but they played some fantastic music. Hey Joe by Jimmy Hendricks, and Johnny be Good and a load of fast rock and roll. The lead guitarist really played some fantastic riffs.



I love it when you just happen across something that really impresses you. It makes me wonder about how many great things there must be going on for you to just come across things almost by accident.

More later
TOR
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Monday 20th June - mileage 243 - Reading

Set off at last around 10:30 after ritual departing photo outside the house. Packing all done the night before so only had to fasten all the panniers and pac safe (tent, sleeping bag etc.) onto the bike and was ready to depart.






I could only find three of the quick dry tee shirts that I had bought for the trip last year so decided to stop off at Saltaire Mill where they have an outdoors type shop to buy two more. I parked up the bike and set off towards the mill, but then went back to attach and lock the helmet to the handlebars thinking better safe than sorry. So with bike all secure went up to the top floor of the mill and purchased the two tee shirts and also a waterproof cover for rug sacks which I needed to keep the tank bag dry when travelling in rain. Having spent maybe twenty minutes making these purchases I came to leave and checking that I had everything with me suddenly realised that I couldn't find my keys! I realised straight way that I had left my keys in the panniers lock when I had gone back to lock the helmet to the handlebars. Panicking I then ran down three flights of stairs rudely pushing people out of my way and arrived back downstairs out of breath and sweating profusely to find the bike and the keys sat there all still secure! So after travelling just 2.5 miles and for 30 mins. I was having my first near miss situation. I remember now last year when I had locked my keys in the side panniers I made a resolution to only have my keys in one of two possible places 1) in the ignition, and 2) on my belt. So I have resolved to stick to this plan for the rest of this trip.

No incidents when travelling down to Milton Keynes to see Emma and the grandchildren. They are growing up fast, Edith is at "big girls school", Bridget goes to nursery, and Raymond is gradually developing the build of a first class rugby player.

Emma showed me around the basement extension that Rob has dug out himself, and which has converted the previous low height basement into a fantastic area that is to include a bathroom, shower and utility room as well as a great sized living room.

Left Milton Keynes about 5:30 to travel down to Reading to see Jo, Nuz and the other grandchildren. The weather deteriorated and soon it was raining quite hard. I was glad that I had bought the waterproof for the tank bag.

Jo, Nuz, Taz and Zak all well and spent a nice time with the boys before they went off to bed.

Bought a single ferry ticket for Dover to Calais for tomorrow £20 (it is much cheaper if you buy it at least one day before departure). I remember last year when I just arrived at the port the cheapest ticket I could then get was £35, and P&O who I am with tomorrow were £70!

Still not decided on the route to take to go to Turkey. Option 1) France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and then Turkey, or Option 2) France, Switzerland, Italy, ferry to Greece, then overland to Turkey.
I will probably do one on the way there and the other on the way back.

But which first, this is the tricky decision?

More later,
TOR


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Tuesday 28th September mileage 11990 Arromanche Normandy

Up early and decided to try and update the blog as I have not found it easy to get internet access. Set tomtom for a library in town. Tomtom took me through steep narrow streets in a walled city. Got to library and it didn't open till 10:00 so abandoned that idea and set off again for Arromanche!

No incidents on the road and mostly dual-carriageway so I made good time. Decided to try and find library in Rennes. Tomtom took me to an address but after parking I read a notice on the building that said the services had been relocated to another address! Set this into tomtom and set off again via a tortuous route to the other side of Rennes. Got to this address and it seemed to be just municipal offices and law courts but no library!!

Gave up on the internet for the day and back on the road to Arromanche.

Decided to go and see Mont St Michel again as it is a beautiful sight as you approach it by road. Again tomtom tried to take me directly, but the route was "barre" and had to divert all the way back to Pontorson!! Still it was worth it to see it again!

Arrived at Arromanche (the place where my father came ashore on the day after D-Day) a very small coastal village on a beautiful evening with the sun setting over the remains of the Mullberry B harbour that the Allies built to be their harbour for supplying the advance into France.

Decided to stay in the hotel right on the sea front and after a shower went for an evening stroll on the beach and up on the cliff tops.

Lots of memorabilia of D-Day and tomorrow I will go to the museum of Disembarkment and also see a 360 degree cinema show about D-Day. Lots of time thinking about my dad participating in this huge logistical operation. They had been planning for D-day since 1942!!

Nice evening meal in local restaurant. Moulles is the local speciality delicious!!
More later
TOR

Monday September 27th mileage 11806 near Poitiers

Up early didn't bother with breakfast (another €7.50) and set off for Oradour-sur Glane. The village is a permanent memorial to those who perished and also tells the story of Nazi occupation in France, the Vichey Government, collaborators and the resistance.

What happened is that the area around Bordeaux became a re-grouping area for German troops as the Allies landed on D-Day and the Germans had to defend and plan their way back to Berlin. There were lots of Waffen SS troops in the area (18000+) so it also became a target for the militia in the resistance movement.
After various skirmishes in towns in the area and some SS commanders had been captured an order was given to be hard on the local population to make an example of what will happen if you do not cooperate with the Germans.
They sent about 200 SS troops to Oradour-sur Glane and encircled the whole village. They then gradually moved inwards herding all the people into the village square. There they separated the men from the women and children, they were using the excuse that they were going to search the whole village for weapons. The villagers knew there were no weapons and therefore were not too unduly alarmed. They put all the women and children (about 400 people) into the church, and split the men (200+) into about five groups and took them into separate points in the village. At a coordinated time all the men were shot and their bodies stacked in a pyre and burnt. They then went to the church and set it alight with wood and phosphorus; as it was burning they shot at low level to kill the children, so the women could see that their children were dead!!
Only one woman survived, on that day 10th June 1944 they murdered 624 people.

They came back the days after to remove the bodies and to hide their crime!!

The old village that was completely burnt down by the Germans is left as it was as a monument to the people who died. A new village (the current Oradour-sur Glane) has been built alongside the old one.

 There is a memorial information centre where the story is told with story boards and videos of the village before and after the massacre. You then can go and walk about in the old village. A very moving experience!!

After Oradour-sur Glane got the address from Savi for Cheryl and Gordon's property, so went back towards Perigeaux to see how they have been getting along with the restoration of their houses!

They have land and three properties:
1) A huge barn/shed.

2) A small house that Gordon has renovated to the extent he has the walls almost completed and the roof half done.

3) A large house where it looks like they have just tidied up all the land around it so far!

Set tomtom for Arromanche which is 650km ( a couple of days ride away)

More later
TOR