Day 1
Meet at Chievley Services at 7.30 and then a md dash in the dark to Portsmouth (hate riding in the dark, can't see a bloody thing usually).
Board ferry (Brittany) and very impressed especially the cabin which was much better than I remember from several years ago when I last got a ferry over to France (normally go via Eurotunnel now).
Day 2
Agreed to meet the other group at Lisieux.
Weather was great but the ride to Lisieux was difficult as mist caused visor and glasses to get covered in condensation. Made it. Couldn't find the other group. Caused by confusion over what was a big church and what was a cathedral.
Confusion over and we were off on a marvellous ride across France to Saumur. The marking system worked perfectly.
Stopped for a nice lunch (pizza) at Sees.
Hotel Kyriad ion Saumur was actually much better than I thought it was going to be. Excellent and secure motorcycle parking for 9euros per night. Under cover, and locked.
Day 3
Great ride along the Loire and the corniches towards Nantes. DIdn't actually make Nantes and had lunch at a roadside restaurant.
Return back along the other side of the river and have superb long flowing riverside roads (maybe a few too many 50kph limits) with some fantastic fast stretches.
Day 4
Very fast and rushed drive back for the ferry as we only had just enough time. This time I remembered to turn on the video camera (or evidence recorder as I think of it).
A heavily edited (from 3hrs worth of video) video of our trip back to Le Harvre. Slightly amusing, and slightly not accurate in time sequence for effect.
This is the full version of the video (beware this lasts for over 2hrs and is definitely for people with nothing better to do). (If you download this is it 750Mb)
You can import this file into Google Earth or Google Maps to see the route we took Many thanks to Alan).