3. Where to then...?

If everything turns up in time then the plan is simple, book a ferry crossing between Newhaven and Dieppe, I like this route for two reasons one the Ferry leaves at 11:25 pm and docks in Dieppe at 5am local time so that gives me a whole day of daylight to get trough as much of France as I can and secondly it is away from Calais and it's associated problems with immigrants, police harassment and fake police trying to fine English tourists. If everything goes to plan then day 1 should look a little like this....

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I hope to get as far as Bordeaux or just outside so I will now look for for some sort of overnight stop, I have an Accor hotel loyalty card so will look for one of their establishments. F1. Ibis etc I have around 13 to 14 hours to do roughly 550 miles, I know that's pushing it a bit but I am trying to do the trip in 2 days not 3 as time is at a premium,  I may take 3 days for the trip back, we will see.

I have never been this route before so should be interesting, for those that don't know me I have driven and ridden down to Spain on a number of occasions but usually only as far as as the Costa Brava area, So hopefully after a good nights sleep I am left looking at the rest of the trip for the second day.

Day 2 sees me over the Pyrenees ( more on that later) and into Spain then down to the Valencian coast I will be in unknown territory all of the second day which adds a bit of spice to the trip, I am hoping to get to my home before 10 pm at night, the bike will go in my garage and I will undoubtedly sleep well. My house is in a village near the town of Gandia and is not too far from the coast but far enough not to get caught up in tourist traffic and crowds.

with all pictures click on them to see larger images

As you can see from the map the Med is not too far away in fact you can see it from my roof terrace, I am so looking forward to getting there for this trip even more excited about moving there permanently in the near future. So that will be half the journey completed I have to still come back to the UK of course I am not sure if I should just reverse the trip or go another route I will have a think on this over the next day or so.

Getting back to the trip over the Pyrenees for a while, A couple of years ago....4 in fact I found out that altitude has a very negative effect on fuel consumption, at around 3000 metres my old Harley with a carburettor was struggling for power and eating fuel like it was going out of fashion at one point when we ran out I put a gallon back in and it only lasted 9 miles.I am going to have similar problems with Doris as she is also carburetted I am hoping that I can fit a gallon can in the top box along with a few other bits and bobs. time will tell.