I knew today was going to be a long trip so I planned on doing it on a Sunday as most places are closed and the roads quieter. With this in mind I travelled on back roads and followed some 'Tourist Routes' in an attempt to see the best of the country.
I set off on a bright, sunny morning and the temperature kept going up. By about noon it had reached 32C, the highest I've seen so far this trip. I stopped at a supermarket (they usually only open in the mornings on a Sunday), to get some food and drink, and also to see if I could get some screws to fit my saddle (see yesterday's post). As luck would have it they had a packet of 7 M6 x 25mm screws, plus nuts, for only 2.80 Euros. That's enough to fit 3.5 Bonneville saddles and you've got the nuts left over. Think how much that would cost you in a Triumph dealer!
Back on the road and it continued hot and sunny as I rode on almost deserted roads. That was until about 15:00 when it started getting a bit cloudy and the temperature dropped from 32C to about 18C in about 15 minutes. Very dark rain clouds appeared over head, and it wasn't long before some of the heaviest rain I've ever ridden in started suddenly! I stopped at the side of the road to put on my waterproofs under some trees, and the rain got even heavier. You can't really see it in this photo but water was running like a river down the road!
I got back on and continued to ride slowly as I could barely see the road in front of me. Luckily, I came up behind a queue of slow moving cars so at least I could follow the line of the road by watching their rear lights. I was the only bike I saw on the road during the rain, but there were lots sheltering under bridges.
The very heavy rain lasted about half an hour and it started to clear up a bit but there was still a lot of spray from the road. It eventually dried up and although it was still cool and overcast, I could ride again at 'normal' speeds. Well, for about half and hour when the heavy rain came back, this time accompanied by very heavy (and painful) hail!
About this time I was starting to run low on petrol so looked for a service station. The majority of service stations in France are open 24 hours a day, when they are unstaffed you can pay with your bank card like in the UK. I like how if you use a British bank card the display changes to English! I pulled into a service station and for the first time in at least 20 years, my card was declined! I rode on to the next service station but it didn't have a card reader. Things were getting a bit desperate as I was now on reserve, and on my way to find another service station the bike cut out as if it had run the tank empty. This of course happened during one of the heaviest downpours of rain! Eventually it restarted but didn't run smoothly and cut out and restarted another time. Eventually I found a closed supermarket and its card reader accepted my card! Once refilled, the bike ran perfectly. Theory: I usually never run the bike on reserve, filling up before it gets there. The reserve pipe at the bottom of the tank might be slightly blocked with rust and dirt, as well as droplets of water, and these were making it run badly. I'll clean out the tank and fuel tap when I get home.
The rain eventually cleared and the sun came out again, drying my clothing. It got a bit overcast again for the last half hour or so, but didn't look like it would rain. You can tell when you're far through France when you start to see signs mentioning places in Spain!
All in all, I rode for about 8 hours today. No idea of mileage, but it was fairly high (I refuelled 3 times). this map gives you an idea of where the cities I rode from and to are, but not the route.
My stop for the night was the famous seaside resort of Biarritz. From the 19th century until WW2 this was one of the most fashionable holiday resorts for the rich and famous (on a par with Monte Carlo - it even had a casino!), After WW2, it never really regained its status, but is still a popular resort with a lot of hotels, some with quite stunning architecture.
When I got back to the hotel I replaced the screws in the bike's saddle, topped up my Scottoiler, and can report that my Superglue repair of my boot held up!
More tomorrow including a border crossing!
An eventful day with the weather and bike issues. Great you've got hoels to dry out in. Good luck with the border crossing. 👌
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ReplyDeleteIt’s been half a lifetime since I rode in France, in those days late 70’s early 80’s the Irish ferries made you dump fuel before boarding so when you arrived in France you had to search for fuel and in those days most petrol stations were closed on Sundays. I had passed through two towns and all the stations were closed. Eventually I ran out of fuel looking for a campsite and a guy stopped and offered to get some for me after he had his driving lesson. He gave me his watch and I gave him my two gallon AA can and a 100 franc note. He came back two hours later with the fuel.
I’ve only run out of fuel once. You’ve guessed. It was a Sunday morning in France. I’d been trying every fuel station for about 100 miles as the car fuel gauge was stuck showing 1/4 of a tank left, Luckily (?) we were near a small town (Sees) So my 5 litre water bottle was emptied and lashed to the carrier on my bicycle and off I set, looking for an open garage. I found a local garage that was open and, to the bafflement of the garagiste filled the big bottle with gasoil. I returned a bit later with car and caravan and refuelled properly.
ReplyDeleteThis was in the days of paper chits for credit cards and debit cards didn’t exist!
Weather is such an unpredictable factor on a motorcycling trip. Reminds me of a ride into the mountains on the Chambrey trip years ago we has similar weather & challenges riding in the spray of other vehicles. It’s always a balancing act once your low fuel light (evil eye) comes on…usually once you’ve just passed a petrol station 😂
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