Only 217 miles today. We’d left the stunningly beautiful scenery behind now but there we still many lovely roads and views to be experienced. Several huge forests were passed through including one where the french resistance were holed up in WWII hiding from the germans. Forest roads were named after the resistance and Les Anglais and others.
The weather forecast was correct, the rain did start as predicted, not too heavy and we pushed on. Unfortunately, late morning we got separated again as Will’s bike had refused to keep running. When we re-united as a group we pulled in for fuel. The RT refused to start again and we gathered round it for inspiration. Clappo mentioned that some BMWs suffer a problem with the side stand cut-out and on investigation, it was indeed very loose and ‘waggly’. Out came the tools and a few minutes later, the RT fired up as normal and the problem was solved.
Soon after, I spotted a Intermarche supermarket, where we might be able to finally purchase some refreshments and doubling back at the next roundabout, Clappo said he had seen a restaurant just before the store so we pulled in there and parked up and removed our helmets. 2 bikers were sitting at an outside table and as we approached they called out that it was closed! They had bought food at the store and were just using the benches. We walked the 200m to the store only to discover that in those intervening 10 minutes, the store had CLOSED. Quoting Mickey Flannagan “FFF***ing French! Lazy Bastards!!” Even the 2 french bikers admitted that the lack of facilities is crazy and very annoying.
Crestfallen, we kitted-up and remounted, and amazingly back at the roundabout we first went right round, there was a huge banner announcing ‘Boulangerie, Patisserie and Snackery’ – How the hell did we ALL miss that?! Inside was a modern, super bakery with very friendly staff and a lovely selection of inviting sandwiches, cakes and decent coffees. What a contrast.
As we left, I noticed that Will was slow away again and tried to turn the bike round in the road to see what was wrong. Nothing, as it turned out, but with weight of the bike, luggage and a full 30l fuel tank, throw in some tiredness and I toppled over onto the road on my left side (Terry 3 – Will 2). It hurt. I had landed with my elbow tucked by my side and it dug into my rib cage as I hit the tarmac. I had damaged the other-side ribs in July and this was a very familiar pain. I lay there for a few seconds, I could see approaching cars coming to a halt for me. I radio’ed Clappo that I couldn’t help pick up the bike this time and Colin kindly rushed over to help lift the dead weight. It felt OK to sit on the bike holding the bars, so we set off again.
The route took us through increasing numbers of cemeteries as this had been an area where tens of thousands of troops perished in the 2 world wars.
We stayed on the outskirts of Verdun in the most budget place yet, but it was surprisingly good. The plan had been to walk 20 minutes into the old city for food, but it started to rain and we chose instead to eat a nearby restaurant. Once more we were delighted with the quality of food that was available and had a very happy evening. (we even dodged the boring English biker who had latched on to us at the hotel.)
