Day one

When I woke up this morning at 6am and saw fog I wasn't pleased.
It was great that not only Mandy but also Robert and Andrew got out of bed to wave me off.
It remained foggy all the way to the euro tunnel train then for at least the first hour on the other side. The temperature was 7c. I was prepared for cold so I stayed warm with my heated gloves. I have a heated vest but I didn't need to switch it on.
There were only two motorcycles in the train. I didn't know the other rider but he lives in Bury st Edmunds which is close to home.
I was in time to catch an earlier train but there where only two people checking paperwork for everyone so I missed it and got on the one I had booked to be on.
I had pre-booked a hotel in Saint Dizier which is where I am now.
If I had realised I would be on the road so long I might have booked somewhere closer. Two things slowed me down. One is that the French have now limited the speed on all A roads to 80kph or 45mph. The second is that I had decided that as I'm not in a hurry I would stay off toll roads. This lasted two really boring hours on beautiful roads at what felt like walking speed. I reset the sat nav to go on toll roads when I realised I still had 3.5 hours riding. Using the toll reduced it by 50 minutes and was much more enjoyable.
I arrived at the hotel at 5.45pm after clocking just over 400 miles.
It would have been much easier if I stayed on tolls from the start.
I spent about 7 euros in tolls which is nothing really.
Tomorrow I'm going to start much later and try to get to Gap via Route Napoleon. Today's photos are not scenic let's hope tomorrow's are better.Leia mais