- Joined
- Nov 6, 2007
- Messages
- 13,571
- Location
- North Oxfordshire
- Car
- His - Denim Blue A220 AMG Line Premium / Hers - Obsidian Black R172 SLK55
A little bit of history…
In September every year during the mid-1990’s up until the time when a certain B. Ecclestone spoiled the show by buying the track, I used to ride down through France with a bunch of friends on motorcycles to watch the Bol d’Or 24hr endurance race at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in the south of France. We’d leave Dover on a 6am ferry to Calais on a Thursday and ride for almost two days to get to our hotel in Bandol on the south coast late afternoon on Friday. We’d hit the circuit around lunchtime on Saturday in time for the start, watch a bit of racing then return to Bandol for a bit of relaxation before returning to the circuit again to watch the antics after nightfall. In general we didn’t bother to go to the circuit again, missing the finish on Sunday in favour of a ride in the Provence hills. The ride back north would start on Monday morning, and we’d catch our ferry home late Tuesday afternoon. Due to the distances covered the ride would always be frenetic and we’d return home pretty exhausted, but it was a great excuse to get some of the last of the summer sun without flying somewhere. Also, back in those days, once south of Lyon the French Police operated a laissez-faire attitude to all but the most extreme and/or dangerous riding which meant that you could really, err, “enjoy” the ride without risk of getting fined. Happy days.
Fast forward to 2009…
Returning from a motorcycle trip to Italy in late June, as we travelled back through the Vosges, the Alsace and then the Champagne region, I remarked to my wife Angie how I’d almost forgotten quite how good riding (and driving) in France could be and how we really ought to think about planning a trip to France rather than through France. At the beginning of August Angie became the proud owner of a nice new SLK350 and we decided very quickly that it would be a shame to miss out on a decent road trip this year while there was still a possibility of doing it in sunshine. We quickly agreed that a reprise of my old Bol d’Or trips, but in a slightly more relaxed fashion, would be just the ticket. Here’s a short account of what happened.
Friday 28th August
Took the 16:20 Le Scuttle from Folkestone and drove to Cambrai to stay at a comfortable hotel we’ve used many times, The Beatus. This hotel is owned and run by Philippe Gorcynski who is also an historian of the Battle of Cambrai and author of the book ‘Following the Tanks’. You can read more about his discovery, exhumation and preservation / storage of a WWI British Mark IV Tank here. Philippe is, as one may expect, an entertaining host and should anyone be interested in a group trip to Cambrai for a weekend perhaps next spring then let me know and I’ll see what can be arranged.
Saturday 29th August
I wanted to get as far south as practical, but without busting a gut, so that we could spend the maximum amount of time south of Lyon where experience told me the weather is always best. As enjoying the south of the country was the primary objective of this trip, there was no point in wasting time smelling the roses in northern France, so this was for the most part a day on the autoroutes as we headed south to Grenoble. The exception was to be a drive down the N71 from Troyes to Dijon. I first found this road in 1995 and have ridden it in both directions many times since. It follows the Seine for much of its length, passing through some gorgeous countryside and small towns & villages. It has some wonderful flowing, open, bends; it rises and falls; it has some challenging sections (there’s a tightening uphill right-hander on the exit of the tiny hamlet of Courceau as you head south that has caught out pretty much everyone I know the first time they rode it); and you get a final twisty descent into the outskirts of Dijon. Great stuff.
We left Cambrai at about 10:00am once our heads had cleared from the wine consumed the night before, with the roof of the SLK down in lovely sunshine. Our first fuel stop was just north of Bar-sur-Seine and the drive down the N71 was as enjoyable as it should be. This really is the sort of road the SLK is made for. We followed the ring road around the east of Dijon and then it was back on the autoroute for the final leg past Lyon and on to Grenoble, arriving around 6:30pm. Having never stayed in Grenoble before I’d taken the easy option and booked us into the Mercure Grand President on a special deal rate. The hotel was the usual standard you’d expect from the Mercure chain, with the usual mixture of facilities including a secure garage which I’d considered a priority for Angie’s new car. It turned out to be no more than a ten-minute walk to the old part of the town which provided a reasonable choice of eateries and bars, and if we hadn’t fancied walking we could have used the sparkly new tram system instead. Due to our relatively late arrival we didn’t get much of an opportunity to explore, but the vertigo-inducing cable-car ride across the river to the Bastille looked interesting and is on our list for another time.
More later, including some piccies...
In September every year during the mid-1990’s up until the time when a certain B. Ecclestone spoiled the show by buying the track, I used to ride down through France with a bunch of friends on motorcycles to watch the Bol d’Or 24hr endurance race at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in the south of France. We’d leave Dover on a 6am ferry to Calais on a Thursday and ride for almost two days to get to our hotel in Bandol on the south coast late afternoon on Friday. We’d hit the circuit around lunchtime on Saturday in time for the start, watch a bit of racing then return to Bandol for a bit of relaxation before returning to the circuit again to watch the antics after nightfall. In general we didn’t bother to go to the circuit again, missing the finish on Sunday in favour of a ride in the Provence hills. The ride back north would start on Monday morning, and we’d catch our ferry home late Tuesday afternoon. Due to the distances covered the ride would always be frenetic and we’d return home pretty exhausted, but it was a great excuse to get some of the last of the summer sun without flying somewhere. Also, back in those days, once south of Lyon the French Police operated a laissez-faire attitude to all but the most extreme and/or dangerous riding which meant that you could really, err, “enjoy” the ride without risk of getting fined. Happy days.
Fast forward to 2009…
Returning from a motorcycle trip to Italy in late June, as we travelled back through the Vosges, the Alsace and then the Champagne region, I remarked to my wife Angie how I’d almost forgotten quite how good riding (and driving) in France could be and how we really ought to think about planning a trip to France rather than through France. At the beginning of August Angie became the proud owner of a nice new SLK350 and we decided very quickly that it would be a shame to miss out on a decent road trip this year while there was still a possibility of doing it in sunshine. We quickly agreed that a reprise of my old Bol d’Or trips, but in a slightly more relaxed fashion, would be just the ticket. Here’s a short account of what happened.
Friday 28th August
Took the 16:20 Le Scuttle from Folkestone and drove to Cambrai to stay at a comfortable hotel we’ve used many times, The Beatus. This hotel is owned and run by Philippe Gorcynski who is also an historian of the Battle of Cambrai and author of the book ‘Following the Tanks’. You can read more about his discovery, exhumation and preservation / storage of a WWI British Mark IV Tank here. Philippe is, as one may expect, an entertaining host and should anyone be interested in a group trip to Cambrai for a weekend perhaps next spring then let me know and I’ll see what can be arranged.
Saturday 29th August
I wanted to get as far south as practical, but without busting a gut, so that we could spend the maximum amount of time south of Lyon where experience told me the weather is always best. As enjoying the south of the country was the primary objective of this trip, there was no point in wasting time smelling the roses in northern France, so this was for the most part a day on the autoroutes as we headed south to Grenoble. The exception was to be a drive down the N71 from Troyes to Dijon. I first found this road in 1995 and have ridden it in both directions many times since. It follows the Seine for much of its length, passing through some gorgeous countryside and small towns & villages. It has some wonderful flowing, open, bends; it rises and falls; it has some challenging sections (there’s a tightening uphill right-hander on the exit of the tiny hamlet of Courceau as you head south that has caught out pretty much everyone I know the first time they rode it); and you get a final twisty descent into the outskirts of Dijon. Great stuff.
We left Cambrai at about 10:00am once our heads had cleared from the wine consumed the night before, with the roof of the SLK down in lovely sunshine. Our first fuel stop was just north of Bar-sur-Seine and the drive down the N71 was as enjoyable as it should be. This really is the sort of road the SLK is made for. We followed the ring road around the east of Dijon and then it was back on the autoroute for the final leg past Lyon and on to Grenoble, arriving around 6:30pm. Having never stayed in Grenoble before I’d taken the easy option and booked us into the Mercure Grand President on a special deal rate. The hotel was the usual standard you’d expect from the Mercure chain, with the usual mixture of facilities including a secure garage which I’d considered a priority for Angie’s new car. It turned out to be no more than a ten-minute walk to the old part of the town which provided a reasonable choice of eateries and bars, and if we hadn’t fancied walking we could have used the sparkly new tram system instead. Due to our relatively late arrival we didn’t get much of an opportunity to explore, but the vertigo-inducing cable-car ride across the river to the Bastille looked interesting and is on our list for another time.
More later, including some piccies...
