Posted by Bob-CH on April 25, 2000 at 11:46:20:
In Reply to: Paris in 400 miles posted by Linnette on April 20, 2000 at 20:53:32:
I'm too lazy to recalculate, so all values are in kilometers:
Total distance for the round trip was 1'400 Km.
I ignored motorways (Highways, Autobahnen, Autoroute) completely.
I left home Friday at 07:30 and had a dry but cool ride.
I made a detour via Bern to visit someone.
I arrived at my sister's place (near Versailles, west of Paris) at about 22:30.
As you can see, I did not hurry. I took a lot of breaks to ease my bum.
The bike was great! the only problem I had was with the *new* saddlebag supports (from Fehling).
I let the Suzi mech fit them (still garantee, etc) and after about 150Km 2 of the bolts had come loose and fallen off!!!!
The local breakdown service arrived very quickly, like 5 minutes, gave me 2 new bolts and made sure everything was really tight.
The weekend was relaxed and over-fed!! Who can resist the french cuisine!!!!!
Because I didn't want to stress on the way back I left on sunday afternoon and rode into the part of France called Champagne.
I presume you've heard of it.
I had incredibly good luck and found a place to sleep for Ffr. 150.00
I had a three-course meal - the best salad I've had in years, Duck with a delicate pepper sauce and dream-cheeses to finish off.
This was accompanied by a small bottle of rose wine, and then a coffee and a cognac.
Costs Ffr. 180.00
Total for the night - Ffr 330.00 which is apprx $48 - Let's say $50.
It was absolutely perfect!!!!
I also had very pleasant local company. An amusing time.
Monday morning early my luck left me!
The weather was travelling across Europe in stipes from WSW to ENE and one of the dear stipes decided to accompany me all the way!
I was a little bit cold, because I wasn't in full winter clothing.
I survived, the Bike ran perfectly, and I improved my driving skills!
I have the feeling that the Bike pulls better now! It probably cleared out all the soot.
I also rediscovered meditation and the joys of singing to oneself.
French roads are fun: If you drive at 100 Km/h in a 90 Km/h limit you don't catch anybody, not even trucks, which are limited to 80!!
Instead you get tailgated and then overtaken with a *large* speed difference!!!
I wanted to arrive, so I didn't play their game!
All in all - I had fun. I'll certainly do it again.
¦¬}
Bob