La Rochelle

Friday afternoon and we are finally ready to set off on our bike trip to France, ending at Barcelona, well, ending for me that is; others join the gang in Barcelona, but I can only do the first part of the trip, and Matthew the second, hence, I take his BMW GS 1200 to Barca, and he rides it back.

Well that was the idea. It almost came unstuck at 4am that morning and Matthew was knocking on my door,.

The BMW had been stolen off my driveway, under my nose, as I slept!

The neck of some people. Thankfully tho’ it has a tracker, and the police took us to its location and only 90 minutes after it had been stolen, it was back in my possession.

However, in the morning, I did fit some extra locks to protect my Triumph Thunderbird from suffering the same fate.

So to Portsmouth, and to France then, where never arrived more happier men.

We are on the overnight ferry; myself and fellow traveller Ken are sharing a cabin, please note, any maritime jokes about Roger the cabin boy will be deleted!

So after a rather marvellous evening meal aboard, we shared a nightcap in the cocktail bar, where the rather miserable pianist played.

Probably bitter as after years of classical training, he ends up playing old easy-listening classics to oiks like us.

Interesting, as last night, we did one of our new acoustic shows at the famous Troubadour in Earls Court, famous as in Bob Dylan Played there, as did Hendrix.

It is in fact the very venue in which Zeppelin had their after show parties after the Earls Court shows, exactly 46 years ago to the day.

Not only was the show sold out, but also the most presales the venue had ever had.

The manager there was a bit dubious at first, and wanted the full show, but the acoustic show is proving a huge success. We are all really enjoying it too.

We arrive at St Malo at 8m only to hear that France is in the midst of a full blown fuel strike. Oh the joy.

But doesn’t end up much of a problem, there are always those that take the opportunity to capitalise on things like this, just means longer queues and more waiting, but fuel is aplenty.

My first time riding this particular bike, and, whilst impressed with its gadgetry, and all the settings for different road surfaces, weather conditions, advanced luggage system you would think they could design a more comfortable seat.

I have to stop every hour to relieve my numb nether regions, as the Romans called it, Sorus Arsus Maximus.

And we have only just begun!

So, back to today and La Rochelle, a lovely old port, known for a medieval sea battle, in which firearms were used for the first time, through the Napoleonic, and up to WWII, where the Germans had a submarine base.

But tonight, we are more interested in the Moules Marinaire, and a bottle of Sancerre.
At the appropriately named Les Enfants du Rock.

We sit at the waterfront, under the shadow of the imposing medieval fortress, built to protect the port. Taking in the ambience.

And then the rain came.

So of course, we adjourn to the nearest bar for a bottle of their finest Bordeaux. As we watch people struggle through the wind and the rain.

A fantastic setting for a photo opportunity, and we tested our photographic skills and the people we observed, not a bad effort.

And so to bed.