Quick trip

I'm back! After over two weeks on tour in the States and the excitement (if you can call it that) of a choir broadcast yesterday, I've planned a mini-trip to France on my other moto, a Yamaha FJR 1300.

I ended up with it accidentally shortly after passing my test in 2005: it was loaned to me as a courtesy bike while Rex Judd were looking over a dodgy Diversion 600 I'd bought from my instructor. Trying to do a slow turn in a supermarket car park in Putney I dropped it and as a result there were some slight marks on the gearbox casing. Fate, I thought, as I called the shop and asked how much it would be to buy it from them, trading in the Diversion, and so it all began. That summer I did 3,500 miles around France, in a big sweeping tour, down to the Pyrenees, across (via the Tarn gorge) to Provence and then back up through the Alps. It was a bit daring doing my first riding on such a big machine only 2 weeks after passing the test, but I haven't looked back. Anyway, since I bought the BMW I've been meaning to sell the FJR, but a combination of sentimentality and laziness have held me back.

It's been sitting unused since before my summer trip, when I used it for several return journeys to Oundle when I was teaching/playing there, so it needs a spin to get the blood moving again. I have tended to use the FJR for business and short UK trips and save the BMW for the big holidays.

So, the plan is - thanks to a special very cheap deal with Brittany Ferries - out tomorrow night (Friday) from Porstmouth to St Malo, arrive Sat morning, ride to Caen, then catch the afternoon ferry back to Portsmouth. So I'll get a 100 mile blast in northern France, that's all. But I do like the overnight crossing to St Malo and dining on the ferry. I'm not going to rough it this time: the crossings, including the motorbike and a cabin to myself both ways, cost only £80.

I'm sure it's going to piss with rain, but it'll force me to think about a replacement of my winter riding gear which is beginning to fall apart after 6 years of heavy use.

More tomorrow when I get going.

Me and the FJR in 2006 near Mont St Michel. That's Richard's old V-Strom in the background