Drag myself out of bed at 6 to get on the road as early as possible. It’s a pleasant morning so am hopeful for good weather again today.
Soon packed up and on the road. Am heading for Dijon, there is a harley dealer there. Troyes has one too, but it doesn’t open till 9am so am giving it a miss.
Stop for coffee and a croissant and decide to get on the motorway, even though I will have to pay the tolls I am a little anxious about the distance left to travel so need to make it a bit sharpish.
After another stop for petrol, I check out my maps and given the time etc. I am now dithering over whether to go to Grenoble or Lyon… Dijon HD closes for lunch from 12-2pm and I am not going to make it before 12 so that’s out of the frame. I really like the idea of Grenoble as it is up in the mountains and I do really like mountain roads, BUT I just don’t have the time realistically. OK so Lyon it is.
Back on the motorway and the weather is deteriorating rapidly… in fact it starts to rain a little so I pull over and put the romper suit on. The rain gets worse so I pull over again to cover all the bags.
Not long after this it is really pouring and very grey. I stop again to see if it is going to improve… it doesn’t.. in fact it gets worse!
Eventually I arrive at Lyon HD and take my time in the hope it will have slackened off. I have a mooch around, drink a couple of coffees, don’t buy anything (shock/horror) and try to dry out a bit. My boots are full of water and squelch when I walk.
I check out where I am going to go next for my overnight stop, I could stay in Lyon leaving about 260 miles to go, but I decide to carry on a little further to Valence so book a room at the IBIS Budget.
Back to the bike and the rain is just as bad if not worse. About 30 miles from Valence and it is dark grey with thunder and forked lightening. It seems a PogsHog tour would not be complete without at least one torrential downpour… sigh. The motorway is awash and the spray horrendous.. I am actually frightened I might aquaplane so am mentally kicking myself for not staying in Lyon, however the room is booked so I must carry on. Visibility is down to a few hundred yards and, as the slow lane is under water where the lorries have created troughs in the road, I am in the middle lane so cars are overtaking me and cutting in very close so I am just being deluged every time, (please note car drivers… don’t be an arse).
At last I arrive at the IBIS and am I relieved… whew! Everything is soaking wet so I have to unpack it all and try to dry it out, without a heater or even a hair dryer.
What a miserable day… it stops raining at about 8.30pm so am hoping it will be dry tomorrow for the last leg to Sainte-Maxime… autoroute or route national??? mmmm
No photos today…. are you kidding!!
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