We'd decided that we weren't going on a mad dash, but wanted to see some of the sights. We stopped off at Chartres on the way down and had a look at the Cathedral. If ever you're in that part of the world, I'd go and have a look. I'm not remotely religious, but it's a wonderful piece of work.
What we hadn't realised was that we were riding down into the hottest weather France has experienced since 2003. Not only that, but for the first few days of the heatwave, there was extremely high humidity mixed in as well. Full leathers may be required for protection, but they're no fun in that kind of heat. We 'lost' the first two days after we arrived due to both of us suffering heatstroke, or what felt very similar to it, but after a while we started to acclimatise and enjoy the holiday.
The heat didn't relent for the whole two weeks; there was one overnight shower (which merely served to raise the humidity) and that was that. As a result we decided to head to Andorra for some cool air and to buy some ventilated clothing at significantly-cheaper-than-France prices. We took the peage to Perpignan and then headed for the mountains. Riding into the interior was like riding into a furnace. Even the 100mph breeze gave no cooling at all; hardly surprising as temperatures in the shade were registering a ferocious 42 degrees C...
But once we got into the mountains the temps eased; in fact riding through one of the tunnels carved into the rock rather than taking the twisties over the top gave a deliciously cool, even cold, breeze to bring core body temperatures back in balance. After successfully engaging in some ventilated clothing retail therapy, things improved still further in the coolness department. And the evening was topped off by an overnight stay in the very pleasant village of Soldeu. An excellent and very reasonably priced meal, complete with a fine Rioja Reserva, was followed by a wonderfully cool night's sleep. Heaven.
Next morning we headed back to the French border, but in a moment of madness I elected to go over the mountain pass rather than the much shorter and cooler tunnel that connects Pas de la Casa to the rest of Andorra. I really don't do heights at all well, and a combination of vertiginous drops and off-camber hairpin bends with big trucks barrelling through them had me crapping myself... I was definitely in low-grade panic-attack mode by the time we made it into Pas de la Casa - not a good way to start the day.
But once we were into France and some of the splendid winding roads of the region, all that was forgotten and it was time to play. The ventilated jackets and kevlar-reinforced jeans really paid for themselves and we made it back to Pouzolles in the hottest part of the day still with some degree of sang-froid intact. Not much, but some...
Most of the time in France the Falco was left languishing in the garage, as we used the VFR instead (it lives in France all year round), but only because I have a Givi rack and top-box for it that takes two helmets with ease. This means we can dump the helmets and jackets and wander round our tourist destination unencumbered. The VFR is a grand old bus, but I gained a new respect for the Falco for the way it dealt with everything we threw at it. It munches miles with contemptuous ease, but when the going turns twisty it cranks up another couple of gears and devours the tarmac with panache. I really understand what the SL (Sports Light) on the bodywork stands for now.
Prior to leaving for France, John at Revs Racing had serviced the forks and shock and revalved and reprung the RSV Ohlins to suit the Falco linkage. I couldn't believe how the suspension could combine comfort and precision so well. The bike can glide and carve with equal ease; I'm seriously impressed. There are some superb roads near us, twisty as f*ck and superbly surfaced, but the most memorable ride was a blitz along the A75 autoroute on the way back. We covered the section from Pezenas to Clermont Ferrand in just under two and a half hours, and the whole way was sheer delight. This is one motorway where you can really crank the bike over, and revel in superbly-surfaced 100-120mph sweepers for large sections of the route. Oh, and stunning scenery (and the Viaduc du Millau) as the icing on the cake.
In the fortnight we were away we put nearly 2000 miles on the Falco and another 6 or 700 on the VFR. Had the weather been a bit cooler I'm sure we'd have easily topped 3000 miles combined. But still - at least it makes a change to complain about the heat instead of complaining about the cold and wet... Talking of which we had dry roads and no rain while riding right until the last ten miles of the journey; arriving home in drizzle that was turning to proper rain as I put the bike away for the night. You really can't say fairer than that.
Anyway - here's some pics...
- Falco_01.JPG (130.73 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Viaduc.JPG (55.61 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- FalcoVFR.JPG (116.11 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Margon.JPG (166.97 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Andorra.JPG (60.81 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Band_01.JPG (148.62 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Band_02.JPG (109.33 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Falco_02.JPG (198.92 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Dino_01.JPG (110.04 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- Dino_02.JPG (123.15 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
- FalcoBug.JPG (132.71 KiB) Viewed 1806 times
