(Click on Logo below to go to Home page)

A Bikers Guide to Europe

     We had two trips to France this year - back to the Dordogne in June and to Normandy in July. Iniatially four of us were going to the Dordogne and five to Normandy, all members of Yarm Motorcycle Club. Sadly, just before we were due to set off to the Dordogne, one of the guys, Eddie Arnott, died suddenly. Although Eddie was greatly missed we like to think that he was ‘with us all the way’ so the memories we have of both these trips will be tinged with a little sadness.

The Dordogne

     Both Glyn Jones and myself had been to the Dordogne last year as part of a mini ‘Tour de France’ and liked the area so much we decided to go back and stay a bit longer. With us was another member of Yarm Motorcycle Club, Trever Hutchinson. It was Trevor’s first ever trip abroad by motorcycle so we decided not to try to do the whole journey from Ijmudien (Amsterdam) to Camping-Moto Dordogne, where we planned to stay, in one go but to stop somewhere around halfway, (350mls) in a Formule 1 Hotel. The most direct route from Ijmudien was via Paris so a Formule 1 was booked at Rungis, near to Orly Airport. A big mistake - don’t ever go via Paris if there is even a half suitable alternative route. We had been warned beforehand but decided ‘hell it can’t be that bad’. Believe me it is. Although we were really only skirting around Paris, the traffic, combined with roadworks, was truly appalling, made much worse by the over 30 degrees heat. It took over 4hrs to get from one side of Paris to the other, an actual distance of only 20mls, and that was on bikes. If we had been in a car I think we all would have packed up and gone home. Following heavy traffic on the way down through Antwerp Trevor must have been wondering what he had let himself in for. The rest of the run down was not too bad, for the most part down the A20, which, after Paris, seemed deserted.

     Camping-Moto Dordogne is a Biker Only campsite which we stayed at last year and had a great time, (see France-2004 Page), and it was a great relief to get there and be welcomed with a free cold beer as the tempreture was around 33 deegrees and was to stay like that for the whole 10 days - even into Holland. It was great to just ‘kick-back’ for a couple of days before doing the usual sight seeing bit again.                                                                                  Went canooing again down the River Eyzies - a great way to waste a few hours on a sunny day. As long as it is downstream you can do a lot of sight seeing with minimal effort. As it was very hot we spent as much time swimming in the river as we did canooing. Again we were in France on June 21st, the summer solstice, when virtually every French town holds a free music festival, this year we went to the one in Gourdon, only around 6mls from the campsite. The festivals are brilliant, top quality music, completely free, and it’s great to see whole families out enjoying themselves without any hint of bother whatsoever. After the hard trip down we decided to take a few days and meander back to Ijmudien via the ‘N’ roads, or ‘Routes Nationale’ as they used to be known. As more and more Autoroutes tend to be built the ‘N’ roads tend to have much less traffic on them than years ago and can be an absolute joy on a bike, sweeping across countryside and often through small villages, they really give you a feel for France and we have resolved that next year we will use them a lot more. A point to remember though is that petol stations in rural France are mostly closed on Sundays and can also close early in the evening on weekdays. We were nearly caught out on a weekday evening on the way back via ‘N’ roads and were lucky to find one open at only 7:00pm. Ok when you have a Pan European with a 300ml tank range but Trevor on a 600 Bandit was getting a bit worried.

Before we left for home we had decided that, on the way back, we were going to stop off at the village of Oradour-sur-Glane near Limoges. The village was destroyed by the German SS on 10th June 1944 and the inhabitants were massacared. The French authorities left the village exactly as it was after the SS left, as a memorial to all those who had died, and a new village was built close by.  ( There are numerous web sites detailing the massacre but to visit one of the most comprehensive click the logo on the right).

 Entrance to the village is free of charge but there is a museum near to the entrance which is well worth visiting first as it details, not just the story of the village, but a history of a lot of the events that led up to the massacre. There is a small charge for the museum of around 6 Euros but it is well worth it as when you walk around the village you are aware of what went on in each part of the village. At the far end of the village there is a memorial and a cemetery. I was certainly moved by visiting Oradour, not by what I saw but by the visions it evokes.

     Spent a pleasnt couple of days meandering back to Ijmudien via the ‘N’ roads stopping overnight at a couple of Municipal campsites. The French Municipal campsites we have always found to be good value. They are always clean with good toilet/shower facilities though usually don’t have swimming pools/bars etc. but as they are located generally within small towns and villages it is often nice to walk out in the evening to the local bars/restaurants etc. and sample a bit of rural France.

For problems or questions regarding this web site contact: Webmaster@allan-wren.com