Saturday 15 June 2013

Moto France (via Belgium) - Day 4.


View
Tigny - Le Treport in a larger map

Another beautiful day dawned. After breakfast we all gathered in the courtyard of Le Moulin for a pow-wow before setting off for Le Crotoy and then Le Tréport. See the map.

Manoeuvering a Honda on the gravel. BG, GW (tarmac specialist actually), and AM.

Motos in position and ready to roll.


Another day of sunshine. motorbiking, coffee, lunch, beer, dinner, wine and beer ahead. (Sigh!)

Le Crotoy will be the first port of call via Conchil-le-Temple. Le Crotoy is a pretty little seaside town on the Baie de Somme opposite St-Valery-sur-Somme.

Unknown to us it was market day in Le Crotoy and therefore packed. But that made the little town even more interesting and of course one can park a moto almost anywhere.

Nobody was inconvenienced very much by 14 motos parked near the MADO cafe.

 "Bonjour tout le monde!"

 L-R: AM, JA, MB, SA, BG and TE.

 Our MF paid the bill and helped to cement Anglo-French relations even more.

 After our refreshments in the sunshine of the MADO cafe we had a wander around the market. I bought some épingles de nourrice.

It was time to fire up les motos again and thread our way through the market out of the town and to pick up the road to Le Tréport.

Mr MF had organised a really nice restaurant in Le Tréport for our lunch.  There was loads of adequate moto parking opposite. A long table had been arranged on the pavement.




 Chat and chow, laughs and also some Leffes - low alcohol variety of course and only one each!

The French equivalent of Duff.

 Having a beer didn't seem to affect our behaviour....

........ too much!

 "'Scuse me. I think you'll find that's my order!"

Mmmmmm .........

Dr AM:  "Here comes that showoff kid again. I could do that!"

Yeah, right. Noisy but amusing buzz-bike entertainment. A 5. 9 from me!

 "I keep telling him that it is my turn to be in front!"

What are you two scheming?

Beautiful cafe in the sunshine. Ours was around the corner.

 Too soon it was time to think about returning to Le Moulin for our final night.

 Adieu Le Tréport.

'Allo Le Moulin ... but we're not happy about leaving this place tomorrow!

Here is a noisy video of our last night at the dining table:


Tonight was our last night at Le Moulin. Before Sabine served the cheese course Mr MF made everyone feel privileged to be part of this moto adventure group. He made complimentary speeches and also handed out certificates to all concerned.  I was hoping for a T-shirt and a new 'chube'.

Here M Raymond Wartel gets his certificate.

This is DR JK's certificate. He was obviously pie-eyed because his name is slurred. Same with MF.

Mr MS felt insipid inspired to make a speech himself. This was in the form of a poem. Mr TG and Mr MF seem to be amused. If I have to explain you won't understand.

Mr MB had inadvertently thrown his return ferry ticket into la poubelle. Fortunately for him it was retrieved by someone going through his rubbish (!!!). Mr MF returned it to him during the dining festivities. Shame. We could have had some fun at the ferry port.

Le billet.

Mr MB and ticket. I immediately dashed upstairs and retrieved mine from the waste-paper basket!!

Mr JA (IOM and IAM - "I  OM that I AM") made a speech on behalf of the whole group to thank Mr MF for organising this wonderful French trip. Mr JA must have been pie-eyed too because it was a brilliant speech delivered with passion and panache not to say aplomb. Personally I would have liked to have heard some jokes in there, but you can't have everything. (Somebody please send me a picture!)

"Say 'CHEESE'"
....... et voila!

Madame Sabine in charge of cheese rations. "D'ya 'ave Wensleydale Chuck?" 

After dinner we repaired to the bar for a drink or three. It was very important to foster our theme of Entente Cordiale. M Raymond insisted on standing us some Almanacs, Almonyaks, Almond snacks alcoholic pear brandy. It was delicious. Actually it might have been Calvados!!

TE: "Just don't kiss me."

"As I get older and more fragile,  .....
 ....... my bikes get bigger, ...........,
 .......... heavier and more powerful............
.......... Another beer please!"

Things got clearer as the evening wore on. The answers to life and the universe and all that important stuff started to make sense. Somebody asked me, "What do you believe JM?" I said, "I believe I'll have another beer!" (Attrib: WC Fields).

But soon it was definitely time for beddybyes. I wanted to be up bright and early because you can't drink all day unless you start in the morning.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Sirs,

I have found the content of this blog misleading, I recently conducted a search on Google for old relics in Northern France with a view to uncovering a few D-Day wrecks imagine my surprise when I found I was looking at the Derbyshire Advanced years Motorcycle group.

Please could you ensure that in future you include more pictures of BMW's?

Regards

Name and address witheld on medical advice

jetadventure said...

Dear Relic Hunter,
I am sorry that you stumbled on this blog and by so doing feel that you have been misled.
So that you are clear we of DAM (sometimes referred to as the DOGS - not bolix but Derbyshire Old Gits Society) are on a mission - not dissimilar to your own as it happens. Our research has led us to this part of France where we hope to unearth WWII Dorniers and Heinkels and to liberate engine parts for our boxer engines.
I would publish detailed photographs of the BMWs but this information is still classified.