Touring in France

[Mister James]

I'm toying with the idea of riding down to Frejus in the south of France to meet up with my family in their place down there, this summer. However, it'd be something of a baptism of fire as I've never really been touring before.
Quite apart from all of the french weirdness, what kind of figure do you think would be a reasonable daily milage to get down there? I've got a friend whose flat I can stop off at in Paris, but from hers to my folks is over 500 miles!
I'm looking at buying a GPS, so hopefully getting lost wouldn't be a problem. If the weather was good, is 550 miles in one day a practical proposition? How would one go about planning petrol stops, is there some way of checking online for service stations on the autoroutes?

Help!
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[Zoffo]

If your on your own 500 miles a day is possible if you get an early start. Be careful with the GPS. We had 3 of them in France and only one actually worked. The other two were suggesting stupid routes all the time due to not being updated properly. Get the latest maps down loaded. The peages (French motorways) are mostly toll roads but the best bet if you want to cover lots of miles.
Fuel stops aren't a problem. They have as many service stations as we do on the motorways but be warned. Many of them close on a Sunday.
Lastly, French police are sneaky. They are allowed to hide withe speed cameras. They often post someone in a bush recording your speed and radio ahead to another to pull you if your speeding. But at least you don't get points, just an on the spot fine. Make sure you can pay it and they won't drag you off to the local nick.
BTW There speed limits are weird. They change all the time even on motorways and they have two separate speeds for if it is raining. E.g. 130 km/h for in the dry and 110km/h for if it's wet.

If you want to ride one of the best roads in Europe and have time to spare try and take in the 106. it runs North to South past Nimes. It will slow you down a bit but it's certainly worth it.
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[Adam_P]

500-550 miles in a day is doable, but I wouldn't advise it. I'd break it up.

We did just over 600 when we went to France, ending up slap bang in the middle of the country (its where our destination was) but it took us from 5am (setting off in the UK) to 5pm (French time) to get there, and it was a fookin long way to be sat on the bike.

I'd take the chunnel if you're going to go, if you book early and online its cheaper than normal, and less hassle than having your bike chained down on the ferry.

GPS, my Garmin system never missed a single turn for the entire journey, there and back. And that included a trip around the Paris ring road in Monday moring rush hour traffic, guiding three bikes and a Ford Galaxy through it. (Although, the sections through the tunnels made my arse twitch a but as I lost the signal and almost had to make a guess at a couple of junctions...
All my maps were up to date though and the software you get with it means that you can plot a route beforehand, including pointing you towards fuel stops (it has almot every fuel station location plotted ) and even into and out of towns if you want to do some sight-seeing on the way.

Tolls are the biggest hassle on a bike, as you have to stop, take your glove off, take the ticket, put it in your pocket, glove back on, carry on, then do the same, in reverse but pay too at the other end. And some of the motorway sections are the most boring you'll ever do on a bike. The only upside is that there are virtually no speed cameras in France and there's sod all traffic, so making progress is dead easy. The best roads are away from the motorway though, the sections we did away from them were simply stunning, with very little traffic still and ample overtaking opportunities. Make a few days of it and do it cross country, I'll be doing that next time. (There's definately going to be a next time!)

Police and fines/points - Yes, the do come down hard on you if you are speeding, they seem especially fond of coming out en masse, especially on a Sunday it seems. The roads outside Magny-Cours were swarming with police the day we went back to the hotel when we were there, looking out for bikers it seemed too.
As for not getting points and just a fine, DON'T get lulled into a false sense of security that your license is safe, it's not!
One of the other team mechanics got stopped on the way to the track at te start of the weekend, doing a sizable speed. Got pulled over, had his wallet lightened of 1350 Euros, yes, almost 750 quid.. AND had his license taken off him, banned from driving in France for the rest of his trip with it being posted back to him in the UK. So my advice is, don't speed too much, at least not away from motorways anyway.


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Colin McRae MBE 1968 - 2007 RIP
Orwell Rolls in his Grave
God is imaginary

[Zoffo]

That's why I said 'on your own'. We were only averaging 250 per day but that was due to people all wanting to stop at different times. Some for a piss, some to stretch their legs, some to refuel etc. I did 650 miles on the last day coz I was on my own.
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[tintin]

I would agree hitting big distances on your own is much easier. You could stop for a night in Paris, this would allow you to have one 'easy' day getting to Paris, but it would be slow getting in and out of the city. The remaining distance is possible but you would have to hit the motorways to achieve it. A great road runs down through the Massif Central, you could use this to get South of Clermont Ferrand (N102)and Le Puy en Velay (stop here for a night), (N88) then get over onto the Rhone Valley near Aubenas for the last bit of the trip.

I would highly recommend a trip back via the alps, with a stop over somewhere near the top of the Alps - there is a small village called La Grave (unfortunate name I know) which is very nice, good hotels and not far from Grenoble for the blast home. You can also ride the Col du Galbier (D333 Fantastic)

https://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?GridE=6.30646&GridN=45.04498&client=public&lon=6.30646&lat=45.04498&place=La+Grave,+La+Grave,+05320&db=FR&local=&type=&start=&limit=&overviewmap=&scale=50000&search_result=La%20Grave%2C%20La%20Grave%2C%2005320?=

Go for it!!!!
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The older I get the better I was

[Mister James]

Hmmm interesting stuff, cheers fellas.

Adam - you have the Fazer 600, n'est ce pas? You might find yourself pestered closer to the time regarding your GPS outfit, and the mount etc.

Whats the Fazer like for messing around abroad? Mine's at 5500miles and not had anything go wrong with it yet.
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>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[Zoffo]

Also be aware that you are legally required to carry some stuff in France. Spare bulb kit, Emergency triangle etc (check up on this coz I'm not sure what it all was)
And if you bike headlight has a right kick you also need beam deflectors.
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[Adam_P]

We didn't bother with the light deflectors and passed a load of police, never bothered us once. But a piece of tape used to work the same way, just to stop the lights in peoples eyes on the other side of the road. We weren't riding at night though, so its probably why we weren't bothered.

I took a first aid kit, which I believe is legally required. Not sure about a triangle though. I know cars are, but never bothered checking about bikes.

One of the other lads took a puncture repair/inflation kit too. And we all had spare bulbs (of sorts) on us for our bikes too.

Fazer was great for the trip, but after the fifth hour on the motorways, was a bit tiring. Some of the French ones just go straight for mile after mile and never seem to end, very boring. Like I said, be better to cut across country and enjoy it more. But the motorways do eat up the miles! But good A roads over there are also free of traffic, and just as enjoyable.

The tank range was great on the Fazer, I was only ever at two bars to go on the gauge when Simon pointed to his tank on his ZX10-R that he needed a fill up, same with Paul on his ZX6-R too. But then, mine cost more to fill from that point than theirs did to fill from empty, so it was using a little bit more. Standard gearing it revving at about 8000 for around 80-90mph, perhaps a bit more. Whereas theirs were doing about 6-7000, so getting more to the gallon out of a smaller tank.

No mechanical problems at all. Mine had done just under 3000 miles before I set off and had clocked just over 4000 by the time I pulled it back into the workshop.

Didn't do any other prep other than clean it, check chain, lube it, check tyre pressures. Was good to go.

I spent more time testing the GPS unit and how long it could go for on its own power than anything else. I took a map book with me as well, just in case, but it stayed in the bottom of my rucksack for the entire trip. I managed nine hours on the Garmin from turn on to when it finally shutdown. I left it turned off all the way from the workshop to Calais, it walked the trip down (which was about 6-7 hours) I left it on all the way back and it finally went dead as we approached Dartford Crossing on the way back up north. Just to see how far I could have got. That was with the brightness turned up full for some of the way and half for most of it. If I'd turned it right down I could have got all the way home I reckon. Just remember to take your charger with you, unless you get one and hard wire it in.

I'm definately going to do it again. Maybe a long weekend just going cross country, and avoiding tolls and motorways.

Edited to add...

I am a member of the AA and I paid for their European cover for the time that I was away on the trip. It cost me 35 quid, but I knew that I could either get the bike repaired there or get it home without any hassle, which was just something I didn't have to worry about. If your bike is still under the one year warranty, you might/should get Yamaha assistance free across Europe I think.
____________________
Colin McRae MBE 1968 - 2007 RIP
Orwell Rolls in his Grave
God is imaginary

[Keen]

[Jamie_ducati]

I would allow at least 2 full days with early starts to do the trip, having done it myself.
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Jamie
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Time for eDUCATIon

[natv4]

Don't forget that on Sundays everything shuts down. Don't expect many petrol stations to be open away from autoroutes.

Also english credit cards don't work in the unmanned stations.

If you want something cheaper than AA / RAC breakdown cover, try

https://www.ncionline.co.uk/

They do all-year euro cover for 80 odd quid including UK cover.

Last year I got carole nash to provide cover (in the event of an accident or breakdown they get you and your bike back to the UK. Its travel insurance especially for bikers), it was a lot cheaper than AA cover and also worked if you binned the bike couldn't get it repaired

Good luck, have fun.
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Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007