Wapping's Wanders 2012 - Verdun, Vosges, Dijon etc. 25 August - 02 September

Wapping

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This is a re-post of an earlier invitation, for which I still have some spare places.

Train out: Saturday 25 August - Departs at 07:42 (this train time has changed since I booked in February, so take the next later one, please)

Train back: Sunday 02 September - Departs at 17:50 (this train time is still current)

The whole jaunt is an extended hybrid of several Wanders I have made before, which seemed to go down well with assorted Wanderers.

What's in store?

A decent ride down to Verdun, for three nights. Plenty of good roads in the area and / or all the WW1 stuff to see.

A longer but good ride down to near enough Colmar, for four nights. From our hotel we can ride out in assorted directions: The Vosges (which is France's equivalent of the Black Forest) or cross the Rhine into the Black Forest area of Germany and / or trundle down to Switzerland. There is also the Schlumpf motor museum http://citedelautomobile.com/en/home or the Rhine Falls http://rhinefalls.com/ for a day-out if anyone fancies either of those.

A decent two-day ride back up to Calais, staying overnight near Dijon.

Hotels will all be privately run Logis establishments, that I have used before.

http://www.villagegaulois.com/

http://www.aubergedubrand.com/

http://www.lebourguignon.com

Suitable for? Anyone who can ride a motorcycle, so new tourists are very welcome. I will create suitable Garmin route suggestions for each day, or participants are free to do their own thing. We can use the 'marker drop-off' system when we all ride together, so nobody need get lost. By-and-large punters on past Wanders have all been happy with the daily mileages and we have certainly seem 'tour virgins' riding come on during the jaunts. In short, it's not a 24 hour race, it's a holiday, with just a bit of 'push' to make sure we all get to where we need to be going in reasonable order.

For anyone who comes from further afield than the SE corner of England and has half an eye on the departure time, I am happy to make them a booking in France for the Friday evening and / or there are several B&B's or hotels in the Folkestone area.

I have 'sold' four bike slots (one with a pillion) plus me, so five bikes in all so far. I could probably accommodate say three (one with a pillion) or maybe four more, if anyone is interested, particularly if anyone wanted to share a room.

Richard
 
Right ho....

Updated list

DEFINITE

Wapping
Mr & Mrs Bryn
iand46
Mr & Mrs Taylor (via another site)
Paula (via another site)
Stuart Daniels (via another site)

MAYBE / PLACES RESERVED

Dakar
JohnnyBoxer

This will just about fill the Wander up :clap

Richard

PS Bryn is going over the evening before, staying in a B&B I have reserved at Cap gris nez. I am happy to see if they have any spare rooms if anyone is interested.
 
UPDATED

DEFINITE

Wapping
Mr & Mrs Bryn
iand46
Mr & Mrs Taylor (via another site)
Paula (via another site)
Stuart Daniels (via another site)

MAYBE / PLACES RESERVED

Dakar

Looks like I have a spare place, if someone wants to share.
 
Updated

I have received re-confirmation of our hotel bookings near Verdun and Colmar :thumb2

Just waiting to hear from the hotel near Dijon.

The overnight stop at Cap gris nez on the way out for Bryn and iand46 has been confirmed already

DEFINITE - Final

Wapping
Mr & Mrs Bryn
iand46
Mr & Mrs Taylor (via another site)
Paula (via another site)
Stuart Daniels (via another site)

Richard
 
Normal set of other tossers booked on a later train on the saturday Richard but may see you in the terminal for a coffee, bank holiday in the ardennes for us.

Have a good un :thumb
 
Just back from the 'Olympic Avoidance Tour ' with ChasMill of this parish, Mrs ChasMill and son, Rory.

Will get on the case of tidying this jaunt up ASAP. Not least, finding us a hotel for our last night's stay.

Richard
 
Really looking forward to the trip now, just counting the days. :D

Richard, can you remember where the Concentration Camp is? just north of some big hill?

Phil
 
Richard, can you remember where the Concentration Camp is? just north of some big hill?

Phil

I have got it marked on the GPS. I went past it a while ago and blipped it in at the time.

========================================


Routes etc. will be posted tonight, along with a suggestion as to where we can meet up with Bryn and Ian who are staying at Cap Gris Nez the night before.

Breakfast in Cap Gris Nez doesn't get going until about 08:30, which is fine as we lose an hour (plus at least 45 minutes travel time) just crossing on the train.

Now awaiting the return of my 1600 which overheated in the Dolomites......
 
HOTELS

For phil954 and Bryn only on the Friday night: Le Bistro, Hameau du Cap, Cap Gris Nez, 62179 - Tel: +33 3 213 29679. This is a simple B&B, run by nice bods with a decently priced simple restaurant. I have used it as an overnight stop-off lots of times. Not surprisingly, they do not have a website. Rooms are booked in my name.

Verdun. We are staying in a place called Marre, about 20 minutes outside of Le Mans. It's the Village Gaulois. Again, it's somewhere we have used several times before.

http://www.villagegaulois.com/

Turckheim, about 20 minutes from Colmar. Once more, it's somewhere we have used before.

http://www.aubergedubrand.com/

Semur-en-Auxois, about 20 minutes walk into the town. This is the hotel I had to swap to, in order to get us all in. I have used it before, several times.

http://www.hostellerie.fr/en/

============

ROUTES

I have created suggested routes for our outwards and return journeys.

With Bryn and Ian going over the night before and us others going over on Saturday, it's probably easiest to meet at the first large shell fuel / food stop on the A26 heading south.

For Ian and Bryn, I have made two separate routes (A) and (B) which will take you from the Chunnel to Cap Gris Nez and then on Saturday from the B&B to the Shell station, about 10 to 15 minutes after the payage barrier. I would guess it is about one hour from the B&B.

Breakfast in the B&B kicks-off at around 08:30. Our train should arrive at about 09:20 local time; I would estimate that we should be at the Shell station by about 10:00 o'clock. Rather than hang around the fuel pumps, I suggest we meet up in the cafe restaurant thing. I will PM you both my mobile number.

From the meet-up point, we have a choice. We can either leave the motorway before or at Cambrai. It's much of a muchness, either way. I have created two alternative routes (1 and 1.2) so we can decide on the day. Both routes will give an estimated mileage from Calais to the hotel of between 230 and 250 miles.

Verdun to Turckheim. This is route (2). I have lobbed in a stretch of motorway to miss out a grind between Pont-a-Mousson and Nancy. The whole route is about 212 miles.

Turckheim to Semur-en-Auxois, is route (3). There is a stretch of the N19 which is not great, but there is not a lot of alternative and the D13 makes up for it.

I have routed us roughly east to west across from Dijon to Semur-en-Auxois. Depending on the time and how bods feel, we could cut north via Is-sur-Thil, blatting up to Chatillon-sur-Seine and then cut back down to Semur-en-Auxois. It's easy enough to decide on the afternoon. It would add a fair chunk to our day's ride but it's fun........... The total distance without the Is-sur-Thil / Chatillon branch-off is 200 miles.

Semur-en-Auxois to the Chunnel. Our longest day at 320 miles but the last 100 miles or so is on the motorway, so timewise not too bad. Somewhat unimaginatively, this is route (4).

I can suggest an alternative route, which would take us up via Peronne, diagonally to roughly Boulogne and then a quick burst up the coast motorway to the Chunnel. It's doable, for sure, but we would need to get our skates on and probably keep them on..... I haven't created the route but it's easy enough to do.

========

Days off......

I have a load of suggested routes, ideas on what bods may (or may not) like to do, things to see or whatever.... Rather than list them all out, I thought it better if we sit back with a beer or vin and decide when we are there. I have no problem at all with bods doing their own thing all day or any day. I will bring assorted maps, my small laptop loaded with Mapsource and assorted waypoints. I am sure we can each dream up something.

=========

Anything else? Well, just the usual really:

If we can all have near enough a full tank when we rendezvous on day one that would be good, it will save us getting too many fuel 'stops and starts'. Not everyone will be riding mile-munchers, so there will be sensibly spaced fuel stops anyway.

I will bring a simple but comprehensive tool kit, bits'n'bobs bobs and a puncture repair kit / compressor.

Insurance.... well, it's up to you to decide how far you can push a motorbike with a fever of 110, a busted final drive and a broken leg. My bet is five feet on a good day. Seriously, having the cover helps others (us) to help (you) if the worst happens; I have seen it in action.... and what happens without it.

Passport, V5 and driving licence. The police WILL ask to see them if you / we are stopped, trust me. It can be a BIG fine if you cannot produce them, trust me again.

Mobile phone, preferably switched on for overseas use including text and voicemail.

Some cash / credit cards etc. I suggest we have a simple whip to buy coffees etc.

We can use the 'marker' drop-off system if it suits. If nothing else it would keep bods together. I am more tham happy to follow, lead or back-mark.

It's a holiday, not a race...... But I am not the law, nor French... so have no objection to 'making progress where appropriate'.... Take care, let's all try our best to come back in one piece and not too extra lightened in our wallets' tax department; I find it makes for a better holiday all round.

Richard

PS The Mapsource routes are hosted on Dropbox. Let me know if you have a problem downloading or opening it.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14126843/Verdun & Colmar.gdb
 
Thanks for the info Richard, I will do the usual, look at me map and scribble the route down on a scrap of paper :D

Is there Fuel near Marre?

Phil
 
Thanks for the info Richard, I will do the usual, look at me map and scribble the route down on a scrap of paper :D

Is there Fuel near Marre?

Phil

Can't go wrong with paper and maps :thumb2

Yes..... but last time I was there about three weeks ago the pumps had ceased to function, even for Frenchmen :D
 
Hi Richard, all routes transferred to Satnav with no problems. Thanks for all your hard word putting this trip together. See you in France.
 


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