Rain Rain Rain

We are currently staying in a little village on the south coast of France, 28 kms north of La Rochelle. We managed to get our tents up before the rain started, but it is raining constantly now. The campground owner is very obliging & between my limited French & her limited English we have managed OK.
It has been over 50 years since I took French at college & believe it or not it is pretty rusty. Of course our NZ accent makes it difficult for the French to understand our English, let alone my poor French. The young French are OK because English is a compulsory language at school. Kids if you have the opportunity to learn French or Spanish & you travel later in life, you will appreciate the effort.
Hi to the pupils at Kirwee school I know some of you are following this blog & our trip. As you may know in Europe you drive on the right hand side of the road & the steering wheel is on the left hand side of the car. The confusing rule is at round abouts you give way to the left, but at uncontrolled intersections without stop or give way signs you give way to the right as we do in NZ.
The rest of our group of seven motorcycles crossed over from Dover to Calais in France today, on the Chunnel. It only takes 30 minutes to cross the English Channel & you are in France. We rode our bikes on to the train & sat beside them. There is no sense of speed, inside the carriage. Most of the country we have ridden through is gently undulating, with the predominant crops being, barley & canola. There have been virtually no fences or cattle, but a lot of piggeries. Easy to pick on a motorbike. Inland, around Paris a number of farmers were irrigating with hard hose guns. I have not seen any centre pivots at all.
Internet is not always available, so posts may be infrequent. When the rest of our group arrives & the rain stops we will ride on down to Spain

BIKERS IN PARIS

We made it to Versailles for our first night in France, the camping grounds here unlike NZ do not have any cooking facilities, so our first two nights in France have been pizza nights, washed down with a Heineken. We stayed for two nights in Versailles with showers & cold winds. Took the train to Paris to visit all the tourist sites. The French sure have a sense of style, from the Eiffel tower, to the numerous buildings of historic significance, nothing is done on a small scale. Most of the seeming extravagance was created to satisfy the ruler of the day,s ego. Napoleons stamp is everywhere you look. This morning we walked in to Versailles to view the Palace de Versailles, unfortunately it was closed today for the filming of a period costume drama. We were close enough to see the coutiers & courtesans going through their routines. It would have been good to have been able to visit the extensive gardens at the rear, but will have to leave that for another time. The V Stroms are going well & we are adapting quickly to riding on the right hand side of the road.
This afternoon we left Versailles & rode to Alencon, with a big improvement to the weather. Tomorrow we will ride to Le Mans & on to La Rochelle out on the coast.
Gordon & I are on our own at this stage & not expecting the otherbikes to catch up for some time. Cheers to all & thanks for following the blog.

LUNCH WITH THE QUEEN

I am sure HRH would have invited us in if Her Majesty had known it was Norm & Gordon outside from NZ. We had to take second choice and have an apple juice from a street vendor on the Mall. I have never been to London before, so you have notions of what Big Ben, the houses of parliament, 10 Downing St & Buckingham Palace will look like in the flesh. It does feel a little surreal to be there after 60 odd years of learning about the British parliamentary system at school & seeing these images on TV & newspapers, hundreds of times. It is a little emotional really to actually finally be there.
We did go to the Triumph dealers at Vauxhall & although sorely tempted, there will not be a brand new Triumph Tiger 800 arriving in Lyttelton in June in a box. We did purchase helmet reflectors & spare bulbs to keep The Constabulary happy in France though.
Tomorrow it is back into London, with a little more sightseeing & meeting up with the other 5 members of our party at Waterloo station before travelling to Felixstowe container port to pick up the bikes & across to France to start our motorcycle tour of Europe. Will keep you posted next time we have good internet coverage. Had to include a pic of yours truly in front of Big Ben & Buck House

KEW GARDENS

Too late in spring to see a host of golden daffodils, but the tulips were at their best in Kew Gardens yesterday. We spent all day at the gardens on a great spring cloudless day. Kew Palace was undergoing restoration, but we were able to walk through it. I have included a photo of the front garden taken from the third floor. The palace is really a large functional home, no doubt built to be practical for the times.
A noticeable thing about the trees in the gardens, is that even the huge very old trees still have a very symetrical shape, probably due to the abscence of strong winds that we experience in New Zealand. Well this is a motorbike trip, so today we are going to visit Londons largest Triumph motorcycle shop. Do not worry I "promise" not to buy one & ship it home.

Oh to be in England, now that April is there. Yes we are & what a great day it is. The cherry blossom trees are in bloom & spring has sprung. A good omen for the rest of our journey.Our short stop over for one night in Dubai was great, for those who have been there before, you will know what I mean when I say it is like being on the set of a science fiction movie.The multitude of enormous sky scrapers of shapes that seem to defy the laws of physics is amazing. Took the double decker open top bus tour for a trip around the city including the man made palm island. If you are ever going to Dubai I would recommend the tour.
Off to see the tourist sites of London today & tomorrow, before picking the bikes up on Friday & off to France

We are down to the sharp end & away tomorrow 18th April on our motorcycle tour of Europe. Gordon & I will spend three nights at an old English pub, near Kew Gardens, in London, prior to meeting up with the other members of our group. The bikes arrived on 15th April in Felixstowe England & we will pick them up on the 24th April. Gordon & I will cross over to France via the Eurotunnel on the same day. We hope to make Versailles that day with a couple of nights in a camping ground there. Paris is close, so for me who has never been to Europe, the tourist highlights are a must. Looking forward to our short stay in Dubai on the way