All Abroad!

In a tad over 12 hours I'll be walking out of the door. The packing is done, save for a few bits, that I will need tonight, toothbrush, etc and Ginny is waiting patiently in the garage. I've checked her tyre pressures today, stuck a few psi in and fitted Tomtom again.

Including the 35 miles from here to the tunnel, I shall be covering about 340 miles tomorrow, give or take. I was planning a stop at my usual Tesco fuel station off the M20 but I filled Ginny up when she came back from her 12k service and I've not ridden her since, so there's no need for that stop now. Ginny's range is such, that I will easily reach the next planned fuel stop without any danger of running out. That's at a place called Dreux, west of Paris.

My main concern, when I reach the hotel, will be where I'm going to have dinner. Looking on the map, I'll be spoilt for choice, with the usual suspects all within a mile of the hotel, McDs, BK, KFC, Buffalo Grill. In fact, that is the choice for most of my overnights in France, with maybe a noodle bar or pizza place thrown in the mix too. As Paul and I found out when we went to Le Mans, the Buffalo Grill do a reasonably priced 2/3 course set meal choice, including a beer, so I expect I'll be paying at least one visit on this trip. As most of my hotels are sans brekkie, I foresee the odd egg Mcmuffin being consumed too. These trips are never fueled by gourmet meals, that's for sure.

Check back tomorrow to see how I've got on during the day and what meal choice I made 😉

Free Wifi!

Nearly Time

Time, to start thinking about packing for my trip to Aragon.

I'll be leaving Blighty on Tuesday. I decided I'd take things a little easier this time, so I have two overnight stops on the way down and on the return journey. On Tuesday night, I'll be just south of Tours, at Chambray-les-Tours, then Wednesday in Moustey, about 38 miles/60km south of Bordeaux. From Thursday till Monday, I'll be in a town in Spain, called Calaceite. It's about 30 mins/26 miles from the Aragon circuit. A bit closer than I was to Spielberg with my hotel in Austria.

Some of the roads I'll be travelling on, are ones that Grizzly and I rode in July, when we left Zaragoza for Barcelona. I wonder if I'll recognise any of it? The weather forecast for my time in Spain is warm, low to mid 20s Celcius, with a small chance of rain on the Saturday. Hopefully though, the rain will stay away.

The temperature on the way down looks to be decent too, possibly as high as 29C in Moustey, with a tiny chance of precipitation and the way back also looks to be warm and dry. My stops on the return are Bordeaux and Chateaudun. The only clouds on the horizon, would appear to be on the last day, when rain is likely. Of course, it could all change over the next week or so anyway but it's nice to have some positive vibes before one sets off on another 2,000 mile trip.

I expect my language skills or lack of them, will be put to the test a bit this trip. I know my hosts in Moustey don't speak good/much English, as they already indicated that to me, so my schoolboy French will have to come into play once more. Spain, who knows? At least I know the international signage for requesting a bill! 😉 Where would I be without Grizzly, eh?

If I get chance, I'll give Ginny a clean tomorrow. She's not been cleaned since I got back from Austria and has only been out once since, when she went for her 12k service. With the nights drawing in and winter fast approaching, I doubt she'll get many more outings this year, certainly no big trips. If only we lived in a more temperate climate.

As regards my packing, I have made a start, mainly because things are still lying about from the Austria trip but it shouldn't take me long to get everything together and everything is clean, ready to go. I do seem to be missing a pair of my riding socks though. 😕

That's all for now.