Overnight in Besancon

Tonight we stay at the Hotel de Paris in Besancon. After being told off for making too much noise whilst parking the cars and finding out that the hotel had no bar we thought we`d pick a dud. As it turned out there was a bar next door.....where they just kept refilling the glass.......and then a great little restaurant by the river.
The beer was flowing so well that Tim wwas even talking about feeling the waioters leg.........which was a bit worrying.

Pitstop at Le Hohneck

After what can only be described as a damn good thrashing on the best road of the trip so far we pulled into a little hill top bar for some refreshments. This was one of the roads I got from the bikers websites and there were certainly plenty of bikers using it.

L`abbaye les promontres

The overnight halt was in an old abbey in Pont-a-mousson. We had arrived after dark so it was only this morning that we got to appreciate just where we had booked in. Luckily they weren`t too busy as I had booked for the previous night by mistake.
The abbey has been turned into a conference centre, gallery, hotel.

A less than desirable sausage

After Epernay we were haeading west to Pont-a-Mousson. We stopped off in Vitry-en-Francois for dinnerw which turned out to be less than satisfactory.........lets just say "andouilette" is not the same as the sausages we get in the UK. Added to that Dusty left some stuff behind and an incident with Jo`s dinner meant we wouldn`t be recommending La Grillardin as a stopping point in the future.

Relaxing after a glass of champagne

Some of the nise7ens tourers relaxing.....or is that sobering up after a complimentary glass of champagne.

Moet et Chandon

The first cultural activity of the tour was a visit to the champagne house of Moet et Chandon in Epernay at the heart of the Champagne region. The tour began with a brief introduction to the champagne house before taking us on a tour of the extensive underground cellars. The amount of labour and time that goes inot making a bottle of champagne is extraordinary.

Overnight in Arras

Last night we stayed in the Holiday Inn Express in Arras. Great hotel, if a little hard to find using GPS, and a beautiful French town. The two cobbled squares in the oldtown are well preserved and it seems to have more churches than your average Northern Ireland village

Thumbs up for toll road transponder

The automatic payment system for the toll roads has been fantastic, you pay a dpeosit and are sent a transponder. For any month you use the transponder you are charged 2 euro plus any tolls incurred. All these fees are charged directly to your credit card. What this means is you drive up to the toll booth, wave the transponder in the air and awway you go. For anyone who has used the toll roads in France in a right hand drive se7en, you will appreciate the convenience this little device offers.

Making good progress

After a reasonably good run down the M25 and M20 we managed to get transferred onto an earlier Ferry to France so we were now about an hour and a half ahead of schedule.

Pitstop at the Rose and Crown, Harpenden

If you`re in Harpenden then pop into the Rose and Crown. John`s brother made us all feel welcome and his chef Fred provided a fine selection of sandwiches which Pete tidied up. We arrived a little earlier than expected due to our early start so the lasses were still on their way from Luton airport. After some lunch and a little time spent getting the extra luggage strapped onto the car we were off.....destination Dover

Early start then!

We were reasonably impressed with the Larne to Fleetwood ferry, the stena line service is much better than the old P&O offering which really was a truckers only outfit. Food on board was good, as were the cabins. The wakeup call at 4am wasn`t quite so welcome but it did mean we were leaving a rather foggy Fleetwood at 5.30am.

Tim couldn`t resist a fettle

Here we are, half an hour into the tour and Tim`s fettling already. We let him off this time as the car has completed less than 100 miles. He was getting some "pinking" on the run down to the ferry so out with the laptop to knock the ignition advance back a few degrees. It looks like there is still some mapping work to be done on this car.

Lined up and ready to go

We`ve all made it to the ferry terminal on time. The weather is looking good so hopefully the crossing should be a smooth one.

Todays the Day

The car is prepared, the bags are packed and the Ipod is charged, time to set off for Chamonix. The first leg will be from Larne to Fleetwood on the overnight ferry with the truckers, needless to say the girls are flying direct to Luton where we will pick them up tomorrow morning en route to Calais.

Welcome to Chamonix 2006

This blog will record our se7ens touring trip to Chamonix in the French Alps. We set of on 27th June for a 2 week road trip along with 6 friends. Enjoy!