european road trip

bumble blade · 06-24-2007, 2:56 PM

hi everyone,just got back from a great road trip that i thought i had to share with you all.sorry to all you guys that don't live in europe but bear with me.

It all started last friday on the 15th june. 3 of us on sports bikes jumped on the ferry over to france for a week of exploration (in other words we had no plan).once in calais we headed down the A26 then onto the N43 towards charlelville-meziere in the ARDENNE region.This takes about 3 to 4 hours relistic depending how you ride.
this is definately were the fun begins though, its all natural forest land with amazing twisting roads that you can't help but exploit the power of your sports bikes. If you decide to go stay in montherme. its a little town right on the river. we stayed in a little guest house right on the bridge as you enter.theres only 2 guest houses there so its easy to find.there really freindly and even provide you with secure parking for your bikes.

the next day we headed over the boarder into belguim in a town called bouilion. now this journey in itself takes in some absolutly fantastic twisting mounting roads theres never a chance to become board. beleive me its only on roads like this that you really can exploit the blades true potential.
cutting in between the gsxr 750 and yams r1 made me gasp in amazement at how well my bike handled. such mid range when called upon was instant and braking was shall we say eye popping.

when we left this region later that day (with fond memmories)we headed toward REIMS using only back roads no boaring motoways and more importantly avoiding tolls. once you get there head for a place called GUEUX
its off of the N21 then look for D26 here you'll find an old race circuit that the french have left everything standing just for the sake of it (thank you)
this is definatly worth a look, it used to have the longest straight in europe.
(I wish i new how to post pictures on this forum.) every things still there though stands and pit lanes included.

moving on we made our way south again only taking D&N roads we headed towards Gueret via a little stop off at the magny-cours race circuit what a place. the blade was itching for more action. this was the longest day as we had a plan today to get to gueret were one of the guys had a place.

After a good nights sleep we decided to head back up through france via Mont-dor. this was the highlight of the trip. we spent the next 6 or 7 hours without hitting a straight bit of tarmac. the roads just wound they way up through the massif central region forever up across mountains down through villiges with locals edging you on sometimes not seeing a car for nearly an hour.

after one more nights stop we headed back towards charleville-meziere again
all the time never once taking in motoways. all in all it took 6 days of blisteringly fast roads tight hairpins,fast sweeping bends and then to end it all 3 yes just 3 hours on the A26 back to calais for the trip back to blighty.
all in this was definatly the best trip yet. i've done overs but never on the blade. let me say that this is one mean beast that stayed right beside the r1 and gsxr all the way. can't wait for next year.

Atreyu · 06-24-2007, 3:27 PM

sounds like you had one hell of a week.....man I would love to do that

machinehead · 06-25-2007, 8:13 AM

Glafd you had a good time - having been round the Arrdenne regeion I'd agree it has some wicked roads, and so is the central massif, Le Puy, the Gorges du Tarn. The French tend to be Pro-bike, but don't get caught speeding - they don't like it and can confiscate your bike in the worst case!!

Massif Central

DarkStarCBR · 06-25-2007, 10:32 AM

Did a similar one last year for 1 week, you can read my exploits here

In about 4 weeks time were off again for 2 weeks this time, gonna do a huge lap of Europe, Starting in France, up to Amsterdam, over to the Ring, waaaaaay down south to Spain, then back up, through the Pyrenees seeing how the times going, through the Alps and then back home.

Cant fooking wait I tell ya, we had such a blast last year!

machinehead · 06-25-2007, 1:13 PM

WOW! that's a tour and a half!

bumble blade · 06-25-2007, 2:02 PM

hey darkstar good luck to you mate.
last year we went to bilboa from portsmoth on the ferry.took 2 days.then we rode all the way back to calaise. we headed up to andora and through the pyrenees.theres some fantastic roads there too I was riding a yamaha thundercat then.we got caught sppeeding coming back through france then.there was 6 of us at the time.they stopped the tolls and pulled us all over thought we were toast but check this they gave us a 90 euro fine between all of us.sweet.Have a good time.