Total Mileage

The total mileage for the trip was approximately 2300 miles

7777

On the run up the M6 our odometer was approaching the 7777 mark. We pulled in for fuel and after a couple of laps of the carpark we were able to capture the moment on the camera.

The final leg

After a night in the holiday inn express we were now on the final leg of the journey home, the long trek up the M1 and M6 for the ferry from Stranraer. We had plenty of time so at least we weren`t under pressure.

The great gearbox hunt

We managed to get an earlier ferry and made tracks fro south London to pick up a T5 gearbox which John had bought off ebay. As we headed in the M3 we were trying to follow some dodgy directions.........when I hit some familiar territory in Wandsworth I knew we had come to far. We eventually found the gearbox and hten hit the M25 again for the final run up to the Holiday Inn at Junction 9 on the M1...........at this point there were a few pointy heads..........John`s brother had been tasked with finding us a taxi to get us back to the Rose and Crown where he had a chinese and some beers waiting for us.

Lunch near St Quentin

We made a decision to come off the autoroute at St Quentin for lunch. We were going to go into the town centre but we bumped into this restaurant just beside the toll plaza. It was full of french families out for their Sunday Lunch.......turned out to be incredibly good value.

Blatting on French Roads

What a great way to spend a Sunday morning, blatting through the French countryside. Lots of cyclists out and bout, they obviously got lost on their way to the Tour de France. Here we are waiting for Tim and John to catch up.......

Overnight in Troyes

Troyes was a great place to stop........good hotel, reasonable food, plenty to look at, the only downside being the price of the beer although Tim`s discussion with the waiter was rather entertaining.

Lunch by the Seine

Whatever you do in France make sure you stop for lunch at lunchtime. We had driven on and stopped at 3pm by which point everywhere had stopped serving food. We managed to find a bikers cafe for some croque monsieurs.........and they threw in some biting fleas for free........

A run in with the Gendarmes

So there we are minding our own business when I look in my mirror to see two Gendarmes on motorbikes...........next reaction check speed.......thankfully we were being sensible. The Gendarmes passed me and John and positioned themselves in front of Dusty and Tim...........and pulled them in. Turns out they were a little upset about overtaking across a solid white line......they fleeced Tim and Dusty 90 euros each and then we were on our way.......just as well they didn`t inspect my front tyres.

Another tour casualty

On a rather spirited drive up the N5 from Geneva through the Jura Mountains we came across a rock in the road. Dusty managed to straddle it, I drove around it but Tim caught it with his front wheel. The rock was spat out gouging the sideskin and cracking the rear arch.

Packed and ready to go

Time to start the return journey. First task is to get the girls to Geneva airport for their flight back to Belfast, then its a morning of un on the N5

Sunrise departure

After 3 days of inclement weather we were gld to see the sunshine for the start of the return journey. A beautiful sunrise made up for being out of bed at 5.30am

1000 miles from home...........

...........and what`s on in Chamonix........a celtic music festival

Nise7ens return to the bowling alley

In a follow up to the infamous 10 pin bowling session in Portsmouth a couple of years back we all decided to embarrass ourselves again. In an effort to keep it semi respectable we tried playing sober..........certainly didn`t help my game much.
Victory went to John Mckillop with the most impressive technique going to Jo. Fastest ball of the day went to Tim.

Tim spotted fielding hailstones

During the thunderstorm it started to chuck down some rather large hailstones. At one point Tim was witnessed holding an umbrella over his bonnet........

Caught in a thunder storm

We all decided to drive to Sixt for a walk today, halfway there the skies darkened and we saw the first fork of lightning. We decided to find some shelter to see if it would pass. We found a little delicatessan and vacated the cars as the heavens opened. After waiting for about an hour we decided it wasn`t going to clear, the storm was rotating above us and the lightning was getting closer. In the end we put the hoods on and had a fairly nervous drive back to Chamonix.......we even had 4 wheel aquaplaning at one point.

No beer but a cracking view

With clearer skies today we managed to get a much better view of Mont Blanc

Some mistake surely

It seems that someone forgot to tell the landlord we were coming.

Never trust women with snow

For some reason this snow found itself down Tim`s back......

Another mountain, another nutter

For the last couple of days we have sat on our balcony and watched people taking to the skies from the top of the mountain. Today we found one of the launch sites. At times there seem to be more than 20 people in the air at any one time.

A new day a new mountain

Today we`re climbing Brevent, well actually we`ve come up in a mini cable car which was a little bit hairy. Lets just say nobody was saying much in our car.