Post by tj63 on Jun 29, 2008 18:42:22 GMT
Trev & Sue’s second biking holiday in France – June 2008
Having taken the bike over to France for the first time in 2006 (to Normandy), we decided to go again this year, but to take in a different area. Plans began early in the year, and what looked like a suitable place was found using the Bike-Stay website. The place we found is La Janais, (www.la-janais.com) which is in the Loire Atlantique departement (county) of France not far from Nantes, France’s second largest city. La Janais is run by Pat and Rich Glanville, who are English and moved to France seven years ago. La Janais consists of B&B accommodation for up to 7 and two holiday gites which can hold up to 12. A booking was duly made for 6 nights at the end of June, and a deposit sent off.
Deciding on a way to get there was next, and we settled on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to St Malo on the outward leg (overnight with a cabin), then from Caen-Oiustreham to Portsmouth for the return, on the “Normandie Express” fast ferry. This only takes 3 ½ hours to make the crossing. Because both of these crossings were an unknown quantity to us, we thought we’d try out two different ones. The thinking being that if we spent the whole night feeling “under the weather” on the overnight crossing we wouldn’t be looking forward to doing it again on the way home.
Friday 20th June
We both decided to take the day off work, rather than work all day then ride to the south coast ferry port. So, with the bike loaded up with two panniers, top box and tank bag, we set off for Portsmouth and the overnight ferry to St Malo at about 1:15pm.
The Fazer loaded up and ready for the off
A single stop at the services at the end of the M40 saw us roll up in Portsmouth in plenty of time to pick up our Euros, grab something to eat and drink and board the MV Bretagne ferry. We had put everything we needed for overnight in the tank bag, so that we wouldn’t have to haul the heavy panniers or top box up to the cabin 3 decks above us. We sat in the terminal building expecting an announcement when boarding started. The announcement never came and we only knew the ferry was nearly loaded when I looked out the door, to see that ours was the only bike left in the car park! This was nearly an hour before the ferry was due to sail, so there was no panic. We found out later why people tend to board so early – the restaurant was packed by the time we got up there.
Anyway, we soon settled in the cabin, which was air conditioned and surprisingly comfortable. They are also very well insulated with no noise evident from the corridor or from adjoining cabins. So we settled in, had a quick shower and change then we were off to explore. We ended up in the piano bar which is next to the main restaurant, which as I said before was packed (and posh!). What a very civilised way to travel. We had already eaten in the Portsmouth ferry terminal, so a snack and a few beers later we were heading back to the cabin to find out whether we would be able to get any sleep during our first night on a ferry. We needn’t have worried – the bunks were very comfortable and we soon nodded off, looking forward to waking up near France the next morning.
Sue's inpecting the accommodations on board MV Bretagne
Saturday 21st
We woke up early to some quiet classical music wafting from the speaker in the cabin. This was not at all like the “bing-bong”, “Morning campers” we had feared, and was very welcome. So we climbed back into the bike gear and headed off to find breakfast. The self service restaurant managed quite nicely and we got into the continental breakfast routine quite early. Breakfast done, we headed back to gather up our belongings and make our way down to the car deck before docking at St Malo.
So we were off the ferry by about 8:30am, and off south towards our digs for the week. We had intended to have a look around St Malo before moving on, but those plans went out the window because of the weather and we decided to just go straight to La Janais. It’s getting on for two hours ride. We took it steady and just had a stop for petrol on the way. Be warned, don’t stop in little villages for fuel – the prices are ridiculous. Having arrived about 4 hours earlier than we said we would, we had to wait a short time for Pat to arrive back home from her shopping trip. We got a very warm welcome and were shown up to the “Pool room”, which as the name suggests overlooks the swimming pool. This is an ensuite room with double bed. There is also an ensuite family room on the same floor and a twin room, with a bathroom across the corridor.
Upon arrival at La Janais
First impressions were very good and included under cover parking in the barn for the bike, which would later also be accompanied by Rich’s 1150GS. We unloaded the luggage then got back on the bike to explore the area a little. The nearest village, Le Pin, is quite small but typically rural French with the church right in the middle. For people staying in the gites, there are supermarkets in both St-Mars-la-Jaille and Candé nearby, so plenty of places to fill up the kitchen for self-catering. The “Super-U” supermarkets also have petrol at decent prices.
When we got back, we had a good look around the place. We both agreed that we had made a good choice, as it’s a lovely place to stay with all the facilities you could want, including its own bar. Sue especially liked the “quiet garden” near the pond with its own three-seater swing. We were really looking forward to the rest of our week there. It’s a beautifully peaceful and quiet place to stay, so if you’re a night-clubbing party animal, you may want to find somewhere else.
Pat and Rich are very accommodating as regards to catering – they just need a day’s advance notice if you want to eat there and a delicious four-course meal (with aperitif and excellent local wine) will be laid on. We had already booked to have dinner on our first night, as we didn’t fancy trawling the area for somewhere to eat as soon as we got there. After that, we said we would play it by ear depending on where we were going during the day.
Another biker turned up later on, on his way back to Roscoff and the ferry home to Devon. So there were three of us for an excellent meal, with beouf bourguignon as the main course and the following drinks in the garden, then later the lounge. Our hosts joined us all for the evening and some excellent conversation. Colin, the biker from Devon, wanted to see the sunset and it was warm enough for us to stay outside until late. We even got to see some bats. Sue is teetotal so I had to drink a whole bottle of wine to myself – no hardship as it was an excellent red. The same local vineyard also supplies white and rosé wines to cater for all tastes.
Sunday 22nd
After a good night’s sleep, we went down to breakfast at 9:30. Colin seemed to be in a hurry to set off north on his MT-01 and was gone just after 10am. Bye, Colin! Angers was our destination for Sunday’s outing. We had already arranged to eat at base again Sunday evening, so no worries about food. Angers is about 50km from La Janais and Pat showed us a pretty route alongside the Loire to get there. We parked in a nice cool underground car park in Place de Ralliement, and we also had lunch in the same square. It was a lovely sunny day again, with the temperature reaching about 26C. Angers is a very picturesque city, with a castle and cathedrals. It’s also on a hill, so proved to be a little warm in the bike gear for walking around sightseeing. We had a very nice but quite expensive lunch at Les Caves, a lovely café in the middle of town. The waitress was very nice and spoke excellent English. The French seem to be able to spot English people within two or three words! Or perhaps my French is much worse than I thought…
Angers - Place du Ralliement
Angers - Fountain and cathedral
Angers - the cathedral
A shorter and straighter ride back to base thanks to our Garmin Zumo satnav had us back in plenty of time for another of Pat’s excellent dinners, in the company of four other bikers who were heading south after their overnight stay.
Monday 23rd
Today was Sue’s shopping day in Nantes, a city we have both visited before, having celebrated Sue’s birthday there last year. It’s also where the head office of the company I work for is located, so I have been there a couple of times on business trips. Again, Pat provided us with a route there and back (this time as routes on the satnav), taking in some more of the roads alongside the Loire. When we got there, we headed straight to our favourite restaurant for lunch, only to be greeted with a sign saying “Fermeture travaux”. Oh no – closed for refurbishment, until 14th July. So it was on to another nearby restaurant for a lunch which was vastly inferior to what we would have expected at our first choice. A successful trip to Zara and the Galeries Lafayette for some clothes shopping depleted the fund of Euros but cheered Sue up no end after the disappointment over lunch. It was still very hot, reaching something like 27C today.
This is the Place Royale. The display in the centre has just been completely restored.
The theatre in Place Graslin
The trip back was a bit more eventful, with me starting off by taking a wrong turn and going the wrong way up a one way street. We realised when two lanes of traffic including a bus were heading towards us. A quick detour up a path and over a crossing put us back on track. A combination of a wrong turn and outdated mapping on the satnav left us adding a few extra miles on while we tried to get out of Nantes. We eventually found our way out of the city and even managed to get back on Pat & Rich’s route through some excellent twisties back to base. We picked up some food on the way to have for a late snack, having not booked a meal with our hosts tonight.
Tuesday 24th
After doing fairly long runs to cities for the previous two days, we decided to just potter around locally and enjoy some of the French countryside today. Again, Pat and Rich came up trumps with an idea for a local run, the “Tour de Lavvoirs”. This is a short tour around some local villages, each with a “lavoir”, an old washing place by a river when in the old days, women would come to wash their clothes and presumably criticise each others’ smalls!
The actual riding around the small French roads is a real pleasure, with virtually no traffic and very well surfaced roads even when we were right out in the sticks. It’s surprising how quickly you get used to riding on the “wrong” side of the road. What really stood out is that you can ride up to a crossroads without being in a queue, and 9 times out of 10 not even need to stop. Try doing that back home!
The Chateau in Challain-la-Potherie
We didn’t look too hard for each lavoir, but really enjoyed the ride around some lovely roads and brilliant twisties, even going back to one of the villages to sit under a tree by the village pond for a picnic lunch which we found at yet another supermarket, this time in Pouancé. The lavoir in this village, Bourg D’iré, dates back to 1883 but was restored in the late 1990’s. We had already decided at this point to take the rest of our evening meals for the week at La Janais, as Pat is such an excellent cook, so it was back to base for a shower and a couple of hours doing next to nothing until the aperitifs at 7 o’clock.
The lavoir at Bourg D’iré
The view from the lavoir at Bourg D’iré
This really is a beautiful village.
To finish the day, a lovely sunset over La Janais
Wednesday 23rd
To the seaside! We were provided with satnav routes to and from Pornic, a beautiful coastal town about 140Km from base. It was without doubt the prettiest place we visited on the whole trip. We stopped off at one of the crèperies on the harbour for an excellent lunch of galettes, crèpes and ice cream. A leisurely walk around town led us back to the harbour via a beachside walkway. A quick stop in one of the shops which had a brilliant selection of Egyptian cotton garments (Sue likes her new dress) finished off a lovely day by the seaside. After all, you’ve not been on holiday unless you’ve been to the seaside, have you?
The harbour at Pornic
Another view of Pornic harbour
Back to base for another superb dinner, this time with a main course of quail accompanied by Dauphinoise potatoes and home-grown french beans – marvellous! We were also now getting a taste for the local cheeses, which are served as the third course of each meal. Coffee and Cognac finish of another great day.
Thursday 24th
For our last full day, we decided to visit the street market in Ancenis. We had ridden through Ancenis a couple of times during the week on our way elsewhere, but this time we decided to stay a while. We parked up near to the river Loire then made our way into town to take in the market. It was a much bigger market than we expected, taking over the whole town centre. A happy couple of hours were spent taking in the local atmosphere whilst walking around the market. You could buy everything from a fillet of fish to a rotavator, and everything in between.
The bridge over the Loire at Ancenis
A ride back through some of the villages found a couple of days previously provided a relaxing trip. We tried to find one of the places we had photographed earlier in the week but one of the fairly common “Route Barré” signs meant that we never found it, so we ended up back at La Janais for (late) lunch. A few very relaxing hours were followed by our last dinner of the trip, this time with a starter of warm mushrooms, a main course of chicken, the usual tasty cheese course and a dessert of a very nice fruit and ginger sponge with vanilla ice cream.
Friday 27th
The alarm at 6:30 was an unwelcome change from the usual routine, but we had already got a head start on the packing the night before. An early breakfast at 7am then we packed everything on the bike ready for the trip home. We were away by 7:45, to take the fairly long trip to the Caen-Ouistreham ferry port. We stopped at the Aire du Mont St Michel services on the A84 on the way back, to fill up with fuel and for a drink and a comfort stop. Another hour and a bit and we were at the ferry port, looking forward to the fast ferry home. Only 3 1/2hours and we will be back in England. Then only another 195 miles home!
The trip across the Channel on the fast ferry proved less than enjoyable, as the ship was pitching and tossing us everywhere. The bags marked “mal de mere” were quite popular! We’ve pretty much decided not to use the fast ferry again. There were a number of other bikers on the ferry, and as we all boarded early, we all ended up sitting together at the front, which gave us a good view throughout the crossing. Actually getting onto the ferry was a bit nerve wracking, with the combination of a very full bike and a slippery deck. We were following another bike up the starboard side of the deck, when we were waved over to the other side. Those 90 degree turns were a bit tricky with all the ironwork protruding from the deck plates, but all the bikers managed without any mishaps.
Approaching Portsmouth harbour
After getting off the ferry and out of Portsmouth, we decided to get a fair few miles towards home before stopping for food. We got off the A34 near to Wantage and eventually found a pub to grab a meal (just round the corner from Martin M40Man in groovy Grove). After all, it had been about 11 hours since breakfast, and we definitely did not feel like eating on the ferry. Plus, the delay gave time for the Friday traffic jams to clear. Fed and watered, we did the last 130 miles of the trip in one go, finally arriving home at 9pm. Boy, was that a long day!
All in all, the best week away on the bike that we have ever had. We covered a total of 1289 miles in the week. If you’re looking for a quiet holiday in rural France or just a stop-off on your way somewhere else, we can both thoroughly recommend a stop at La Janais - it really was that good, and the hosts Pat and Rich were so friendly and accommodating. It was a great week for us and a whole new experience which we wouldn’t have missed for the world. Roll on the next French holiday.
Trev (TJ63) & Sue
Having taken the bike over to France for the first time in 2006 (to Normandy), we decided to go again this year, but to take in a different area. Plans began early in the year, and what looked like a suitable place was found using the Bike-Stay website. The place we found is La Janais, (www.la-janais.com) which is in the Loire Atlantique departement (county) of France not far from Nantes, France’s second largest city. La Janais is run by Pat and Rich Glanville, who are English and moved to France seven years ago. La Janais consists of B&B accommodation for up to 7 and two holiday gites which can hold up to 12. A booking was duly made for 6 nights at the end of June, and a deposit sent off.
Deciding on a way to get there was next, and we settled on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to St Malo on the outward leg (overnight with a cabin), then from Caen-Oiustreham to Portsmouth for the return, on the “Normandie Express” fast ferry. This only takes 3 ½ hours to make the crossing. Because both of these crossings were an unknown quantity to us, we thought we’d try out two different ones. The thinking being that if we spent the whole night feeling “under the weather” on the overnight crossing we wouldn’t be looking forward to doing it again on the way home.
Friday 20th June
We both decided to take the day off work, rather than work all day then ride to the south coast ferry port. So, with the bike loaded up with two panniers, top box and tank bag, we set off for Portsmouth and the overnight ferry to St Malo at about 1:15pm.
The Fazer loaded up and ready for the off
A single stop at the services at the end of the M40 saw us roll up in Portsmouth in plenty of time to pick up our Euros, grab something to eat and drink and board the MV Bretagne ferry. We had put everything we needed for overnight in the tank bag, so that we wouldn’t have to haul the heavy panniers or top box up to the cabin 3 decks above us. We sat in the terminal building expecting an announcement when boarding started. The announcement never came and we only knew the ferry was nearly loaded when I looked out the door, to see that ours was the only bike left in the car park! This was nearly an hour before the ferry was due to sail, so there was no panic. We found out later why people tend to board so early – the restaurant was packed by the time we got up there.
Anyway, we soon settled in the cabin, which was air conditioned and surprisingly comfortable. They are also very well insulated with no noise evident from the corridor or from adjoining cabins. So we settled in, had a quick shower and change then we were off to explore. We ended up in the piano bar which is next to the main restaurant, which as I said before was packed (and posh!). What a very civilised way to travel. We had already eaten in the Portsmouth ferry terminal, so a snack and a few beers later we were heading back to the cabin to find out whether we would be able to get any sleep during our first night on a ferry. We needn’t have worried – the bunks were very comfortable and we soon nodded off, looking forward to waking up near France the next morning.
Sue's inpecting the accommodations on board MV Bretagne
Saturday 21st
We woke up early to some quiet classical music wafting from the speaker in the cabin. This was not at all like the “bing-bong”, “Morning campers” we had feared, and was very welcome. So we climbed back into the bike gear and headed off to find breakfast. The self service restaurant managed quite nicely and we got into the continental breakfast routine quite early. Breakfast done, we headed back to gather up our belongings and make our way down to the car deck before docking at St Malo.
So we were off the ferry by about 8:30am, and off south towards our digs for the week. We had intended to have a look around St Malo before moving on, but those plans went out the window because of the weather and we decided to just go straight to La Janais. It’s getting on for two hours ride. We took it steady and just had a stop for petrol on the way. Be warned, don’t stop in little villages for fuel – the prices are ridiculous. Having arrived about 4 hours earlier than we said we would, we had to wait a short time for Pat to arrive back home from her shopping trip. We got a very warm welcome and were shown up to the “Pool room”, which as the name suggests overlooks the swimming pool. This is an ensuite room with double bed. There is also an ensuite family room on the same floor and a twin room, with a bathroom across the corridor.
Upon arrival at La Janais
First impressions were very good and included under cover parking in the barn for the bike, which would later also be accompanied by Rich’s 1150GS. We unloaded the luggage then got back on the bike to explore the area a little. The nearest village, Le Pin, is quite small but typically rural French with the church right in the middle. For people staying in the gites, there are supermarkets in both St-Mars-la-Jaille and Candé nearby, so plenty of places to fill up the kitchen for self-catering. The “Super-U” supermarkets also have petrol at decent prices.
When we got back, we had a good look around the place. We both agreed that we had made a good choice, as it’s a lovely place to stay with all the facilities you could want, including its own bar. Sue especially liked the “quiet garden” near the pond with its own three-seater swing. We were really looking forward to the rest of our week there. It’s a beautifully peaceful and quiet place to stay, so if you’re a night-clubbing party animal, you may want to find somewhere else.
Pat and Rich are very accommodating as regards to catering – they just need a day’s advance notice if you want to eat there and a delicious four-course meal (with aperitif and excellent local wine) will be laid on. We had already booked to have dinner on our first night, as we didn’t fancy trawling the area for somewhere to eat as soon as we got there. After that, we said we would play it by ear depending on where we were going during the day.
Another biker turned up later on, on his way back to Roscoff and the ferry home to Devon. So there were three of us for an excellent meal, with beouf bourguignon as the main course and the following drinks in the garden, then later the lounge. Our hosts joined us all for the evening and some excellent conversation. Colin, the biker from Devon, wanted to see the sunset and it was warm enough for us to stay outside until late. We even got to see some bats. Sue is teetotal so I had to drink a whole bottle of wine to myself – no hardship as it was an excellent red. The same local vineyard also supplies white and rosé wines to cater for all tastes.
Sunday 22nd
After a good night’s sleep, we went down to breakfast at 9:30. Colin seemed to be in a hurry to set off north on his MT-01 and was gone just after 10am. Bye, Colin! Angers was our destination for Sunday’s outing. We had already arranged to eat at base again Sunday evening, so no worries about food. Angers is about 50km from La Janais and Pat showed us a pretty route alongside the Loire to get there. We parked in a nice cool underground car park in Place de Ralliement, and we also had lunch in the same square. It was a lovely sunny day again, with the temperature reaching about 26C. Angers is a very picturesque city, with a castle and cathedrals. It’s also on a hill, so proved to be a little warm in the bike gear for walking around sightseeing. We had a very nice but quite expensive lunch at Les Caves, a lovely café in the middle of town. The waitress was very nice and spoke excellent English. The French seem to be able to spot English people within two or three words! Or perhaps my French is much worse than I thought…
Angers - Place du Ralliement
Angers - Fountain and cathedral
Angers - the cathedral
A shorter and straighter ride back to base thanks to our Garmin Zumo satnav had us back in plenty of time for another of Pat’s excellent dinners, in the company of four other bikers who were heading south after their overnight stay.
Monday 23rd
Today was Sue’s shopping day in Nantes, a city we have both visited before, having celebrated Sue’s birthday there last year. It’s also where the head office of the company I work for is located, so I have been there a couple of times on business trips. Again, Pat provided us with a route there and back (this time as routes on the satnav), taking in some more of the roads alongside the Loire. When we got there, we headed straight to our favourite restaurant for lunch, only to be greeted with a sign saying “Fermeture travaux”. Oh no – closed for refurbishment, until 14th July. So it was on to another nearby restaurant for a lunch which was vastly inferior to what we would have expected at our first choice. A successful trip to Zara and the Galeries Lafayette for some clothes shopping depleted the fund of Euros but cheered Sue up no end after the disappointment over lunch. It was still very hot, reaching something like 27C today.
This is the Place Royale. The display in the centre has just been completely restored.
The theatre in Place Graslin
The trip back was a bit more eventful, with me starting off by taking a wrong turn and going the wrong way up a one way street. We realised when two lanes of traffic including a bus were heading towards us. A quick detour up a path and over a crossing put us back on track. A combination of a wrong turn and outdated mapping on the satnav left us adding a few extra miles on while we tried to get out of Nantes. We eventually found our way out of the city and even managed to get back on Pat & Rich’s route through some excellent twisties back to base. We picked up some food on the way to have for a late snack, having not booked a meal with our hosts tonight.
Tuesday 24th
After doing fairly long runs to cities for the previous two days, we decided to just potter around locally and enjoy some of the French countryside today. Again, Pat and Rich came up trumps with an idea for a local run, the “Tour de Lavvoirs”. This is a short tour around some local villages, each with a “lavoir”, an old washing place by a river when in the old days, women would come to wash their clothes and presumably criticise each others’ smalls!
The actual riding around the small French roads is a real pleasure, with virtually no traffic and very well surfaced roads even when we were right out in the sticks. It’s surprising how quickly you get used to riding on the “wrong” side of the road. What really stood out is that you can ride up to a crossroads without being in a queue, and 9 times out of 10 not even need to stop. Try doing that back home!
The Chateau in Challain-la-Potherie
We didn’t look too hard for each lavoir, but really enjoyed the ride around some lovely roads and brilliant twisties, even going back to one of the villages to sit under a tree by the village pond for a picnic lunch which we found at yet another supermarket, this time in Pouancé. The lavoir in this village, Bourg D’iré, dates back to 1883 but was restored in the late 1990’s. We had already decided at this point to take the rest of our evening meals for the week at La Janais, as Pat is such an excellent cook, so it was back to base for a shower and a couple of hours doing next to nothing until the aperitifs at 7 o’clock.
The lavoir at Bourg D’iré
The view from the lavoir at Bourg D’iré
This really is a beautiful village.
To finish the day, a lovely sunset over La Janais
Wednesday 23rd
To the seaside! We were provided with satnav routes to and from Pornic, a beautiful coastal town about 140Km from base. It was without doubt the prettiest place we visited on the whole trip. We stopped off at one of the crèperies on the harbour for an excellent lunch of galettes, crèpes and ice cream. A leisurely walk around town led us back to the harbour via a beachside walkway. A quick stop in one of the shops which had a brilliant selection of Egyptian cotton garments (Sue likes her new dress) finished off a lovely day by the seaside. After all, you’ve not been on holiday unless you’ve been to the seaside, have you?
The harbour at Pornic
Another view of Pornic harbour
Back to base for another superb dinner, this time with a main course of quail accompanied by Dauphinoise potatoes and home-grown french beans – marvellous! We were also now getting a taste for the local cheeses, which are served as the third course of each meal. Coffee and Cognac finish of another great day.
Thursday 24th
For our last full day, we decided to visit the street market in Ancenis. We had ridden through Ancenis a couple of times during the week on our way elsewhere, but this time we decided to stay a while. We parked up near to the river Loire then made our way into town to take in the market. It was a much bigger market than we expected, taking over the whole town centre. A happy couple of hours were spent taking in the local atmosphere whilst walking around the market. You could buy everything from a fillet of fish to a rotavator, and everything in between.
The bridge over the Loire at Ancenis
A ride back through some of the villages found a couple of days previously provided a relaxing trip. We tried to find one of the places we had photographed earlier in the week but one of the fairly common “Route Barré” signs meant that we never found it, so we ended up back at La Janais for (late) lunch. A few very relaxing hours were followed by our last dinner of the trip, this time with a starter of warm mushrooms, a main course of chicken, the usual tasty cheese course and a dessert of a very nice fruit and ginger sponge with vanilla ice cream.
Friday 27th
The alarm at 6:30 was an unwelcome change from the usual routine, but we had already got a head start on the packing the night before. An early breakfast at 7am then we packed everything on the bike ready for the trip home. We were away by 7:45, to take the fairly long trip to the Caen-Ouistreham ferry port. We stopped at the Aire du Mont St Michel services on the A84 on the way back, to fill up with fuel and for a drink and a comfort stop. Another hour and a bit and we were at the ferry port, looking forward to the fast ferry home. Only 3 1/2hours and we will be back in England. Then only another 195 miles home!
The trip across the Channel on the fast ferry proved less than enjoyable, as the ship was pitching and tossing us everywhere. The bags marked “mal de mere” were quite popular! We’ve pretty much decided not to use the fast ferry again. There were a number of other bikers on the ferry, and as we all boarded early, we all ended up sitting together at the front, which gave us a good view throughout the crossing. Actually getting onto the ferry was a bit nerve wracking, with the combination of a very full bike and a slippery deck. We were following another bike up the starboard side of the deck, when we were waved over to the other side. Those 90 degree turns were a bit tricky with all the ironwork protruding from the deck plates, but all the bikers managed without any mishaps.
Approaching Portsmouth harbour
After getting off the ferry and out of Portsmouth, we decided to get a fair few miles towards home before stopping for food. We got off the A34 near to Wantage and eventually found a pub to grab a meal (just round the corner from Martin M40Man in groovy Grove). After all, it had been about 11 hours since breakfast, and we definitely did not feel like eating on the ferry. Plus, the delay gave time for the Friday traffic jams to clear. Fed and watered, we did the last 130 miles of the trip in one go, finally arriving home at 9pm. Boy, was that a long day!
All in all, the best week away on the bike that we have ever had. We covered a total of 1289 miles in the week. If you’re looking for a quiet holiday in rural France or just a stop-off on your way somewhere else, we can both thoroughly recommend a stop at La Janais - it really was that good, and the hosts Pat and Rich were so friendly and accommodating. It was a great week for us and a whole new experience which we wouldn’t have missed for the world. Roll on the next French holiday.
Trev (TJ63) & Sue
. Not many pics of Grove, though 
.
