French Foray

As usual I took the moto across the channel to see the family for New Year, but this time combined it with a few days of riding with Richard. Once in France the weather was unusually warm and sunny (up to 16C) with just a bit of drizzle on 1 Jan.

I set off early on Fri 28 Dec, down the A2 to Dover in heavy rain, and took the ferry to Calais. A good steak in the onboard Langan's helped the time pass and gave me a chance to dry out. Richard was waiting in a large shopping centre near the entrance to the chunnel, and we rode together down the A16, past Beauvais, stopping at an excellent but cheap hotel in Noailles.

On Saturday we rode into Paris, via the Port Maillot, around the Arc de Triomphe, along the Champs-Elysées and had coffee on the Ile St-Louis, behind Notre Dame. It's a great way to enter Paris. We then headed down the A6 and stopped for the night in Beaune where I enjoyed an excellent boeuf bourgignon. Being a tad bored of the motorways, on Sunday we started off with some fast twisty roads in Burgundy, via Autun towards Cluny, with a brief peek to see what Taizé is actually like. Deserted - presumably shut for Christmas?! - it was also rather ugly and unappealing. We continued south via Lyon to Valances in the Rhone valley. The weather was still good on Monday so, after taking a small detour for a sung gregorian Mass at the Abbey of Triors, we rode via Grenoble to the route Napoleon, going south for a while on one of the great biking roads before turning round and hurrying quite a distance to Moulins-sur-Alliers. We arrived after dark at the rather splendid Hotel de Paris and were lucky to find a small restaurant for a special 6 ( or was it 7?) course New Year's eve meal.


The roads were deserted on New Year's day as I left Richard behind and headed to Paris to see my family, staying the night, then it was back via Calais and Dover to London on 2 Jan. A very enjoyable short trip, and it was good to catch up with Richard, having played cat and mouse on a few occasions in the last couple of years.

Taizé

Abbey of Triors

Cathedral at Moulins

We chanced upon this superb restaurant for New Year's Eve

My nephew, Gabriel, with his Dad

Richard and his Parisian Campuccino

The complete route, courtesy of Garmin