France and back in a weekend. Is it worthwhile?

[ReadySalted]

Hi all,

Just looking into the idea of a weekend trip to the continent with a mate. We're short on leave from work but considering a quick trip in late Sept/ Early Oct.

We'd be looking to leave Hereford and ride across to the channel tunnel after work on a Friday, hopefully getting to the crossing around 8pm. Staying in a B&B not far from Calais on the Friday night, and then riding around Saturday, before a few beers, another night in a B&B and then back home on Sunday by about 5pm.

It does seem a bit pointless to put in all those motorway miles when we live on the doorstep of Wales and within an hour of some of the best biking roads in the UK. I think it's the novelty factor of riding abroad, and it would serve as a bit of a test for a longer trip next year. Is it as daft as it sounds?

[TallPaul_S]

You can get to some proper roads within 2 hours of Calais, I'd be heading for Givet like so:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/50.9415034,1.8233426/50.1337615,4.8152773/@50.0407619,4.811872,9.79z/data=!4m10!4m9!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d4.0743748!2d50.346826!3s0x47c241252f758def:0xd53e4807f58c85ea!1m0!3e0!4e1?hl=en

then down to Revin and follow the river/twisty roads to Boullion and then Esch-sur-Sure in Luxembourg, then on day 2 head north via some more brilliant roads, via Spa and then a couple of hours of motorway back to Calais.

I had some torrential rain going through these roads but as you'll see (up to about 3 minutes in) they are smooth and completely empty. Also some Moselle Valley in there if you fancy venturing further east, that's not really doable in a couple of days though. 4 days, no problems.

https://youtu.be/HUeWnhPrpJI
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CBT 06/03/2014 | Mod 1 and Mod 2 passed 15/10/2014

[grr666]

Wales is abroad.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
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[myvision]

[TallPaul_S]

Should be working fine, unless you're in Germany - I used some music which means it's blocked there.
____________________
00 Honda VFR800 | 09 Aprilia Tuono Factory
CBT 06/03/2014 | Mod 1 and Mod 2 passed 15/10/2014

[Copycat73]

[weasley]

[Pigeon]

Crack on if you want to of course, but an extra day would be good.

As a stop gap, you could do a weekender around Norfolk. Quite similar roads / scenery to the rural parts of north France.

[Copycat73]

[chickenstrip]

[Vifferguy]