Moto ADV: We Went To France ....... AGAIN!

Our standard French Trip Organiser went to a party in South Africa and left the rest of the MotoMates to their own devices. So Mr GW made some phone calls, sent some emails, got on line, pressed some keys, agreed some prices and bingo a formation 5 get geared up for Le Shuttle and Le Moulin.

This time we opted for:
a.) Not over the sea AND
b.) Not on the sea BUT
c.) Under the sea.

Except for the pain of 200 boring motorway miles M1, M25, M20 (relieved only temporarily by the Queen Elizabeth Bridge) the Eurotunnel is a brilliant option.

Here we are at Maidstone Services:

And here we are at Folkestone Eurotunnel Terminal:

Once we popped out of the hole on the French side we took the minor 'D' roads to Tigny. Basically D304, D305, D127, D215, D901.

View Eurotunnel - Tigny Noyelle in a larger map

Soon we were at Le Moulin at Tigny-Noyelle. It is a beautiful place, AND less than two hours from Calais.

Monday dawned and we set of for Gazaincourt Military Cemetery, Somme, France.

Andrew found where his great-grandfather is buried.

Visiting the graves of those who died in The Great War is a humbling and thought-provoking exercise. Later in the day we went to Thiepval, the memorial to the 72,194 officers and men missing on the Somme battlefields of France. Click HERE for the link to Thiepval Memorial.

We also went to Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Memorial. I have no pictures of this moving memorial but you may click HERE for a link.

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Once or twice the weather was slightly inclement, but we were on motorcycles and not in muddy hell hole trenches so no complaints.

Here we took shelter under some accommodating trees.

This is a pic of the motos parked in a line outside a military cemetery. Looks like: ENG 1 - 4 GER.

This pic has been arranged in order of height more or less.

One day we went to Le Crotoy and then pulled in to Rue for lunch. The weather was improving all the time.

We chose a wonderful restaurant in Rue. Click HERE for the link.
The food was excellent. Dr AM had a whole German helmet full of mussels.

We repaired back to Le Moulin for a lie down and some beers then some beers, and dinner and some wine and some beers. GW then decided to phone everyone he had ever known. There were some surprised responders, especially the taxi driver in the Caribbean and the missing official French Trip Organiser in South Africa.

But the next day everyone was up bright and early.

 Snack Stop near Hesdin

 Flower Stop?

 Poppies were kind of the theme of this trip.

BMW confiscated Dr AM's moto just before the trip. He protested and they gave him a 6 cylinder 1600cc sofa as a temporary replacement while they figure out a new design for his 1200 RT shocks.

 Too soon it was time to ride on the beautiful French roads to Calais Eurotunnel Terminal..........

........ and then the hell of England's motorways and Dartford Tunnel fiasco en route to our respective abodes.

Adieu.