Some of the group gathered at Droitwich and others joined at Cirencester and Chievely for the journet to the ferry at Portsmouth. Seven bikes, eight people. The journey down saw some heavy rain and spray, but the last leg was clear, if a little cool. After the overnight crossing, along with some others going to the grand prix at le Mans, we had a smooth crossing and an early start from Le Havre towards our first stop at Bourges, some 250 miles away. Breakfast was enjoyed in Honfleur, a beautiful town, and our route kept us to A roads enjoying the countryside and town after town that seemed to be asleep! That is except Chateauneuf, where we enjoyed yet another coffee. An overnight at a motor lodge was a welcome break after a fairly long day of riding. The next day brought heavy rain and gusty winds for the first 50 miles of our 300 mile second leg to Annecy. Our leader, Robert, called it quits after a while and we stopped at a tiny town where, fortunately, there was a coffee shop open, although we did feel rather embarrassed at the huge amount of water we left on the floor in exchange for our coffees! The skies did clear eventually and we got to enjoy some great scenery and increasingly interesting roads (twisty and hilly) for the last 50 miles or so. Obtaining petrol was a bit of a problem - one of the bikes, a Harley Sportster has only a range of around 120 miles and our route on A roads on a Sunday meant that very few garages were open for business so we had to take it where we could get it. We had crossed the Loire, the Seine and the Rhone rivers en route. The final approach to our village, just outside Annecy, saw huge black clouds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning strikes just off to our right for several miles. We thought we might escape it but it was not to be as we hit heavy rain again a few miles from out hotel. However, a warm welcome from our hosts Roger and Suzanne soon put that behind us.
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