A trip round the neighbours - Days 12 and 13, France Belgium and Britain

After I'd written my last post, I was getting ready for bed when I heard a noise from outside. I opened the curtain to see rain pouring down! Really heavy rain, bouncing off the pavement below. This was the first rain I had seen since Ireland so I went to bed expecting to have the put the waterproofs on in the morning.
Luckily, when I got up the rain had stopped and the roads were starting to dry. I loaded the bike and noticed that one of the British registered bikes that had been there the night before was missing. Two guys turned up who turned out to be the owners of the other bikes, and it transpired that their friend had packed up and left without telling them or leaving a note. They assumed he'd had a family emergency and left in the night, but were a bit annoyed that he hadn't told anyone or even texted them.
We spoke for a short while and mentioned that I was heading to the old Reims-Gueux race circuit, just outside the city. They were also heading there, but were going for breakfast first. We said out goodbyes and I headed to the circuit.
Without my sat nav, I'd bought a more detailed map and planned my route, however I missed a turning, ended up on the péage, riding 20 km to the next exit, paying 1.60 Euros, finding a route back, getting lost, checking my map at about every junction, and eventually got the circuit; a journey of over an hour and a half which should have taken 15 mins!
The circuit itself was a road track that had been used for car and motorbike riding up until 1972. The building were left to decay until an organisation started restoring them and I believe there are plans for a museum to be built behind the control building.

History of circuit: here

Friends of the Circuit website (in French): here

Whilst at the track, the two guys from the hotel turned up (they were surprised to find me still there - it had only taken them 15 mins following their sat navs!)

I made a video of the circuit buildings:

After that I headed up to Zeebrugge for my ferry home. Once a again I got lost and after an hour ended up back at the circuit! As I left I got caught behind a convoy of eight Ferraris - don't often see that many together. Got lost again, then as I'd lost so much time, headed onto the péage north.

Not much to say about this part of the trip other than it was very boring, traffic was very heavy (3 lane road with right 2 lanes full of trucks), and navigating round the motorways around Lille was a nightmare - you've got to be in exactly the correct lane or you're lost, try doing it without sat nav!

Got past Lille and realised that I didn't have a map of Belgium. I knew that Dunkerque was the last major town in France before the Belgian border, so headed there with the plan of following the coast to Zeebrugge. I was getting really sick of the péage by now, so spotted a road to a town called Bray-Dunes which is right on the border, so too the exit to that. Péage charge was over 16 Euros for the road from Reims!

After Bray-Dunes it was an easy ride through Belgium towards Zeebrugge. I'd made up enough time that I would be over an hour early for the ferry, and as I knew there's basically nothing to see in Zeebrugge, I detoured to the nearby resort of Blankenburge. I went for a wander about and took some photos before the short ride to the ferry terminal.

Strange faceless babies climbing up a building!

Lots of interesting sculpture:

There were quite a few bikes already at the ferry terminal, later lots of big sportsbikes (mostly German and Swiss) arrived. Spoke to the riders and they were heading to the Isle of man for the TT.

Day 13

After a fairly pleasant crossing we arrived in Hull to the usual slow and inefficient UK Border Control. Took about an hour to do what took two minutes arriving in France, but at last I was out of the docks and on the road home. Not really much to add other than I arrived home in the early afternoon without wearing my waterproofs for the whole holiday!

Total distance covered must have been at least 2,600 miles (4200 km), fuel consumption was around 60 - 65 mpg(UK) (4.2 - 4.7 l/100km), bike used no oil and nothing broke, wore out or fell off (other than the sat nav mount breaking and the clock falling off - both aftermarket parts).

A trip round the neighbours - Day 11, France

I was up early and on the road on what will be my last full day in France. I had a very pleasant ride on quiet roads due to what I think was a public holiday. This means no trucks, and few shops open. I stopped at a small supermarket and they had no fresh bread, something you never expect to find in France.
I'd been having a problem with my satnav since the bracket broke a few days ago. Sometimes it would flash up the 'low battery' warning, but if I wiggled it on its mount, it usually corrected itself. However, the warning came up more often and eventually the screen blanked. What I suspect has happened is that when the mount cracked, the pins that make the electrical connection moved slightly and didn't line up properly. When I was in the supermarket I bought a map of France and continued on stopping and consulting it as necessary.
On the way I saw this impressive memorial to the Free French Army who had liberated the town during WW2.

My stop for the night was Reims and I had intended visiting the old Reims-Gueux race circuit. However the map I had bought didn't have enough scale for me to find it so I headed into the city centre to find my hotel. I'd found that if the satnav wasn't used for a few hours, the battery would recover enough for it to work for bout 5 minutes, so one in the city centre I switched it on to find my hotel - I was 400 metres away from it! However I might not have found it as I had to ride through a no entry sign (except authorised vehicles), then between some bollards and up a pedestrian lane! This is regarded as normal in France!
I dropped off my luggage, changed, then went for a walk around the city centre. Once again a very interesting city with lots of good old buildings, and lie every French town I've stayed in, a tram network that makes finding your way around easier. Once again it was very hot and sunny - I could get used to this!
When I got back to my hotel, there were 3 British registered bikes parked next to mine - bikes that were at the hotel in Dijon the night before! I'll have to say hello the owners if I see them.
I bought a map with better scale and between that and Google Maps I've worked out my route to the old race circuit, 7.7 km from my hotel. It was an old road circuit and the grandstands, pits, and control buildings have been restored and you can just drive past them on the road. I'm going to ride over for some photos tomorrow morning before heading north.
This is probably my last post before I get home. Tomorrow I ride to Zeebrugge in Belgium for the over night ferry to Hull, and on Wednesday I ride home. I want to carry as little upstairs on the ferry, so won't take my netbook with me, and I'm not sure what the level of Wi-Fi (if any) will be. I've got hundreds more photos and lots of videos to post, but they'll have to wait until I can use my PC at home.
Some photos from Reims:

 The cathedral is a really impressive building that is undergoing extensive renovation. Some parts look as if they have been completely rebuilt. The quality of the workmanship is incredible. 

This unrestored wall had what looked like bullet strikes. The cathedral was badly damaged during WW1.

 Traffic island with flowers and harps - why not?

 Two views of the Carnegie Library with a sculpture of the man himself.

 Another view of the Cathedral, just look how much work went into building it!

 No, I can't explain that!

A trip round the neighbours - Day 10, France

After yesterday's marathon session I slept for over 10 hours! I decided to have a 'lazy day' round town rather than go for the second day of the Coupes Moto Legende. Basically just a wander round the city centre photographing things and making some videos. I'll get all of the photos I take on this trip and put them on my Flickr account and post links when I get home. My old netbook just isn't up to that level of work!
Likewise it can't really handle the videos, so I'll upload them to YouTube when I get back.
Tomorrow I start the journey homewards, but I've got something to detour to on the way - watch this space!

Some photos from today:

 Like how the bikes are chained up outside my hotel! 

 Lots of lovely (and expensive) things in this shop.

 There are signs all over the city centre leading to this carved owl. A lot of people rub it (probably for good luck), hence its worn appearance.

 A British telephone box outside the tram and bus office.

 Amazing sculptures in this small (this one room) museum

 Synagogue

A trip round the neighbours - Day 9, France

A short one today as I'm completely worn out!

Got up early and rode the 17km to the Dijon-Prenois Circuit for the Coupes Moto Legendes. Spent the day wandering about in what felt like the hottest weather of the trip. It's hard to get your head round just how big this event is, thousands and thousands of bikes on displays, being ridden round the track, or just randomly parked around the circuit. As I'd been to the Coupes five years ago, I decided I wouldn't photograph anything I'd done before, limiting myself to bikes I found unusual, interesting, etc. By the end of the day my feet were sore, I was completely worn out and had taken 151 photos and 9 videos!
Since I got back the hotel I've had something to eat and started going through the photos and videos, but I'm so worn out that I've just selected a few to give you an idea of what it's like:

The videos will have to wait until I get home as they are too big for my elderly netbook to handle. Yesterday, I shot a video of my ride into Dijon to test my new video camera and it took all night to upload to YouTube!

Not sure if I'll go back to the Coupes tomorrow. Will see how I feel in the morning, but I might decide to have a 'lazy day' around town.