After a night sailing with LD lines from Portsmouth we set off from Le Harve on the 15th April and made our way directly to the southwest of France to the town of Albi in the Languedoc area , the distance was 854 kms and was quite an undertaking in one go as we usually bumble along on route national roads and D roads taking in the scenery but this time a large amount of A roads with a small amount of tolls being paid.
We usually do the just turning up routine and unpacking panniers/repacking the following day and heading in a general direction , easy 350 km days as a rule , but for a change we, Dave Bannister (pan european) and Nick Coventry ( BMW R1150rt) had only so much time to get our biking break in ( nick had to get back to work) and visit the Millau Bridge which is the highest type of suspension bridge in the world it bridges two mountains and takes the major auto route over the river Tarn, most of the traffic goes to and comes from southern Spain.
luckily the weather was fantastic on the day we visited the bridge and I took some good photos ( only one bike in the picture as we had lost one another at the time , found Nick in a service area next to the bridge ) the toll for a bike is 3 euros and it is quite something to ride across. as it dwarfs the Pont de Normandy bridge just outside Le Harve . the visit to the bridge was part of a "Gite"holiday and being as we where in one place for the week our time was spent visiting places of interest in the surrounding area.
We also went for a 2 day mini break within the break and rode down to a small fishing town on the Mediterranean, booked into a small hotel and chilled out with lots of seafood and local wine,Oh and the "motorcycling"..... out of this world, fast good roads , lots of bends and twistys, being able to ride the bike at speeds its supposed to be ridden at, all the time noting that I was improving my riding skills, all in all a great trip, PS came back slower via Chartres and Hornfler.