Many of you will have read my original article about the trials and tribulations of getting our BMW K100 trike built and on the road, titled 'Dreams can become a Reality', also giving details of our first tour on the trike to Wales. This is the sequel; the cast have remained the same, 'Sylv' my wife, our trusty blue, BMW K100 trike known as "Blue Thunder" and myself.
Following our first tour of Wales during September 2000, we have had another trip to Wales, this time visiting Snowdonia during June 2001, plus a couple of visits to our family in Kent, and a number of shows here in the Southwest. During Easter this year we attended the BMW Owners Club National Rally at St Audries Bay near Minehead. Our trike with its electronic gear change generates a lot of interest where ever we go.
Shortly after Easter while sitting in a pub talking to members of the BMW club, an idea popped into my head, 'why not take the trike to France for our summer holiday'.
It was something I'd often thought of doing during the time when the trike was being built. The good old BBC further nurtured the idea about a week later, when their Holiday program featured an article about holidays in the Loire Valley. After much discussion the decision was made that we would take the trike and visit France. The initial objective was to visit and stay in the Loire Valley possibly near Tours. First we brought a road map, one of those produced by Michelin, which shows the cities, main towns and the roads that connect them. It was then into our employers to book a fortnights holiday for the last two weeks in June. Having sorted that, we started looking at the various routes across the channel. To save on some of the driving and because we knew where it was, we choose to go from Poole to Cherbourg. At this stage we had not even decided on the type of accommodation we wanted in France. A quick trip to the local travel agents furnished us with a Brittany Ferries brochure and information on 'gites'. I contacted Brittany Ferries to try and negotiate a better price for the trike but I couldn't get them to charge me less than a small car fee. With this paid the ferry was booked, sailing from Poole on the 12.30 pm sailing, Saturday 15th June, and returning on the 19.00 sailing from Cherbourg 28th June.
A couple of phone calls later lead to our postman not knowing what had hit him, as he delivered information on holiday homes, holiday villages, Chambre de Hotes and just about every other form of accommodation you can think of in France. Those of you who know us will know that I have a leg disability and Sylv suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis, so camping is not an option. We had learnt from our trips to Wales, that more than a couple of days living out of the pannier bags, and sitting on the pillion no matter how comfortable, gets a bit much. So we decided to aim for some kind of Bed & Breakfast, which we could use as a base and tour from there. One piece of advice we were given was, if you're not practiced in travelling 400 miles a day or more, don't aim to go to far south in France, because you will have to make the same journey coming home. So with this in mind further perusal was made of brochures. After a couple of phone calls to the booking services we found that many seemed more interested in dealing with the whole booking including the ferry crossing although they quoted accommodation only prices, they did not seem to have the availability after they found out we had made own arrangements for the ferry crossing. So with slightly heavy hearts we started trying to make compromises, planning to take 2 days here and a week there, followed by another 3 days somewhere else, etc, not what we really wanted.
Next morning we had a brochure from a company called "Ches Nous" drop through the letterbox. Inside we found a whole selection of properties, self-catering, B&B, also some that did evening meals on request. We looked at the map and the brochure and found a renovated 17th century farmhouse, run by an English couple, offering B&B, with the option of evening meals if we required them. The location was the village of Courlay about 50 miles south of Anger in the Deaux Sevre area, south of the Loire Valley.
It sounded ideal, a quick phone call and it was booked, with our cheque to confirm the booking being posted before lunch that day. We live at Tiverton in Devon, now this may sound spooky but after all that searching, the couple we would be staying with were a couple who had been living in Tiverton until 8 years ago, when they moved to Courlay! Our holiday was going to consist of a ride to Poole, the ferry crossing to Cherbourg, a ride into France on the Saturday evening, finding a hotel to stay the night and then ride on Sunday to Courlay, spend 12 nights in Courlay, then a day's ride back to Cherbourg for the ferry to Poole and the ride home from Poole. I arranged all our personal travel insurance, and a breakdown / recovery package for the trike with Europe Assist through Brittany Ferries in one payment. I know people will tell me that I could've got it cheaper if I'd gone to this firm or that, but I'm an inanely lazy sod when it comes to this and can't be bothered to spend 16 hours surfing the web for the best deals.
One last thing was to check the legal requirements of driving in France, this was done with a call to a very helpful young lady at the AA. Who confirmed we would need a warning triangle, spare fuses and bulbs, the use of daylight driving lights if fitted was recommended (funny I think I've read something else about this subject recently) and she also suggested taking a first aid kit. Then it was a call to Carole Nash's to advise them the dates we would be out the UK and Bobs' your uncle, we were ready to go on holiday in 5 weeks time. The AA also provides a booklet for disabled drivers travelling in Europe, which is quite useful.
With a week to go before we left for France sods law takes over, while getting the trike out for a run to visit some friends, we noticed brake fluid leaking onto one of the rear wheel rims. As usual this happens at 5.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon. The local motor factor didn't have a wheel cylinder. So Sunday morning a trip was made to a bigger firm in Exeter, they didn't have them either. Also while stripping out the faulty cylinder a brake pipe had broken. So it was back to Tiverton to speak to the local guy who promised he could get the parts and make the pipes up by 4.00 pm on Monday. Monday evening was spent fitting two new wheel cylinders, re-piping and bleeding the brakes, putting the wheels back on, followed by a couple of quick road tests and some adjustment of the brakes. Then a fuse decided it was going to blow. Any way with some small amount of swearing by about 10.00 pm we were back on the road.
During this last week I had used the PC to get some routes and maps that I'd laminated to make waterproof for the journey. As we would be travelling during the Le Mans weekend we decided to go to Courlay via Rennes, Nantes and Cholet, rather than the more direct route via St Lo, Fluers, Laval, Angers and Bressuire, which passes closer to Le Mans.
Thanks to all those who freely gave ideas and advice, one piece of which is worth passing on 'when driving in France if the place you are going to is not signposted at a road junction then keep going straight on, don't turn off.
So it came to pass that on a Friday night the pannier bags were bungeed on to the trike and everything was put ready passports, tickets, Euros, etc. Saturday dawned dry with broken cloud, the tank bag and rucksack were fitted and we were on our way on the first leg to Poole. Our waterproofs were put in the top of the rucksack with the hope that they would not be needed. We left home just on 8.00 am and made our way to Poole via Cullumpton, Honiton, Bridport and Dorchester, arriving at the ferry port about 10.15 am. As we arrived the Ferry staff noticed the blue disabled badge and directed us to the disabled parking row. About 11.00 am we were called forward, booked in and sent into the loading lanes. By 12.00 we were loaded on the car deck of the MV Barfluer, adjacent to the lifts to the upper decks. The ship appeared to be very disabled friendly with level access to all areas, disabled toilets and lifts serving all decks. Here's a tip to remember, if you've got a disability and a blue badge let the ferry company know when you book, your trike will be put on the car deck and not get stuffed down on the lorry deck with the other motor cycles.
The channel crossing was pleasant, while out on deck we even saw a shark swimming parallel to the ship about 30 metres away. We went to the restaurant at the bow of the ship (looking out over the pointed end) and there was the French coast, although it still took about an hour to get there. It was then down on to the car deck, mount the trike and wait for the off. Finally, the moment came and we were out on the roads of France. It was a little hairy negotiating that first roundabout outside the entrance to the ferry port, so I cheated and tucked the trike behind a lorry that was heading towards Rennes. We were soon out on the dual carriageway and headed south until we came to the junction for Rennes where we left the dual carriageway and started driving on the single carriageway roads. In general over this short trip we found the French drivers gave us a lot of room, it was only the cars with GB badges that tried to cut in as they overtook. We stopped for some petrol and chance to try out our phrase book French and then drifted on at about 85 - 90Kmh along the D900/D7 towards Rennes. It was 17:30 when drove off the ferry, by this time it was now getting on for 19:30, so we decided to try and find a hotel for the night. As we approached Brehal, a hotel came into view just off the roundabout so I turned the trike into their car park. Out came the phrase book again and a room was secured for the night. We also secured an evening meal and a breakfast next morning for the sum of 55 euros. It later transpired that the restaurant at this hotel was a respected local eatery, well it was until these two leather clad triking hooligans walked in, (obviously the owners of the trike causing the attraction in the car park).
I think that if one particular lady looks could have killed, we'd have been dead on the spot. Still by the end of breakfast next morning, people had started speaking to us.
We headed back out on to the road towards Avranches where we joined the A84 motorway to Rennes. On our
arrival at the Rennes ring road we headed south only stopping to pick up some petrol from a garage that appeared to be in the middle of an industrial estate just off the ring road. We soon found the N137/E03 dual carriageway towards Nantes and just cruised through the French countryside on a quite Sunday morning. Just before getting to Nantes I turned into a service area for a refreshment and toilet break etc also a chance to have another look at the maps. By this time the sun was shinning and the temperature was in the mid 30'sC.
There was a collection of British registered bikes in the motorcycle parking area at the front of the restaurant. Pleasantries were exchanged, our destinations and journeys thus far discussed. Most only had a couple of hundred miles or so to ride but one group were heading for the Spanish border to continue down to southern Spain to a destination not far from Gibraltar. They were then planning to head back along the Mediterranean coast to Italy, thence into Switzerland, Germany and Northern France back to the channel ports and the ferry home.
We said our goodbyes and continued on to Nantes were we went east and south around the ring road eventually picking up the road heading east towards Cholet. As we passed through Mauleon the large flickering green sign outside the pharmacy showed the temperature was 38C. The remainder of the journey along the D744, the D938t, the D150 to Courlay where we were staying was pleasant travelling through open farmland. With cereal crops, fruit trees or vines, stretching out either side of the road as far as the eye could see. We eventually pulled up outside our chosen converted farmhouse accommodation at about 15:30, where are hosts met us with cold beer, showed us to our room and helped carry our bags up the stairs. The first thing we did was to strip off our leathers, fall through the shower and dress in our NABD T shirts and shorts. I would be lying if I did not say that we were both tired after the journey, but we were in France, it was dry, sunny and hot. The thermometer on the sun terrace was reading 39C, the beer was cold, and at that moment everything in our world was great.

You can find out how our intrepid duo got on (with photos) in the next issue of Open House.