Got up early for a quick start homeward. I intended to get about halfway through France and camp or book in to B&B depending upon how I felt whilst fitting in a few more Cols and scenery.


16 Initially I set off North to Borg San Dalmazzo and the turned west and over Col de la Larche arriving there and back into France at 8:30am. I was still quite cold but warming up fast.



17 On the way down the French side of the mountain.




A short while later I entered a long tunnel but could see in the distance that it was blocked by something but could not see what.

18 I proceeded with caution and was presented with this cuddly chaos.


19 Then it was a take over bid but a cute one.


25 26 Col du Lautaret



31 North of Col du Galibier


32 Looking down on St Michel du Maurienne and the first motorway home.


It was now after 12:30 and the pretty stuff (relatively speaking) was now over and it was time to hit the trail, big style.
I hit the motorways with a vengeance. I kept the speed to about 76mph on the speedo which is really about 70 mph and kept it there.
The little devil on my shoulder said “do you really want to pay for another chap hotel”, “nah came the reply – bums holding up well, lets see if we can do it in one hit”, so I did. I paid about 37E in tolls for the motorways



At about 11pm I pulled into a service station to fill up and was about 150miles from Calais. A guy named Nick (I think) pulled in on a very dirty 1150 GS with, also with a sheep fleece on his seat. I laughed and we started to chat. He was on his way back to Nottingham from a 5 week trip to Morroco. We were both doing well with the mileage, he had set off that morning from the French Spanish border.

35 Nick and his 1150GS.


I eventually got to the port of Calais at 12:30am and having previously thrown my ferry ticket out with other rubbish had to sheepishly wait while the receptionist retrieved my details and confirmed that I had in fact prepaid for the ferry.

That sorted, the next ferry was due to leave at 3am. Lovely – not.
I queued up with the other cars/vans and there was a bunch of blokes that were taking their cars back from a custom car competition in Holland. There were some cool looking cars.


37 A Honda Civic



41 A Citroen Saxo (I think) This one is on the cover of "MAX POWER" mag this month.


44 A Mitsubishi Evo


46 A Honda S2000 (I think)


I then took my fleece off the seat and used it as a pillow and laid down next to the Ten and went to sleep on the tarmac. Old habits again. I was woken by the boy racers driving off and jumped on the bike loaded it on the ferry, went upstairs and promptly went to sleep on the floor again.
The boat was late getting in to Dover (even allowing for the time difference). 100 more miles to go and I arrived home at 6:30am (7:30 CET) having been travelling for 24 � hours and covered a road distance of 835miles (1243km). I walked into my house to be greeted by my eldest daughter and ended up ironing her trousers for work – back to reality.


To sum up the trip:
The bike performed fantastically and it has installed a lot of confidence in me. I was astounded by the way it coped with the ski slope when fully laden. It cruised very nicely at 76mph (speedo) at 4500 rpm where it has a sweet spot and the vibrations are very low. However, when needed the throttle will still get you out of sticky situations.
Prior to the trip I ordered a 14 tooth front sprocket and although it would have dropped the motorway speed a bit, it would have made the trails a lot easier as first gear is too high. It did not arrive – my good luck again!


The trip was absolutely stunning if not hard work. I have a very sore butt and only used the fleece for the trip down and back. It makes the seat too high for normal use but it seriously saved my butt. It was hurting before I set out for home and actually eased up during the trip.
I will do it again but this time SWAMBO will be on the back and the tent will be left at home.


I covered 2234 miles on 176.8 litres of fuel and that equates to over 57 mpg.
All that remains is to wash the bike but I have to say it looks better dirty.

(P.S. SWAMBO = She Who Always Must Be Obeyed.)

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We are now retired....so....... lots of this and this and no more of this or this