21/9/26 Start mileage 35140, End 36132 = 992 miles
Charlie, Neil, Clive, Rob, and Kate
I met Neil at 05:30 round his place, then we rode down to Newhaven to meet Clive. When they opened the gates, me and Neil got stopped for inspection, and were asked the usual questions, were we carrying explosives, firearms etc then we were asked if we were carrying any fuel, to which Neil replied he had a flask of petrol, and I told them I did too, (there have been fuel shortages in France recently) they said it would be ok just this once, and they wanted to check one of my panniers, fortunately not the one with the fuel bladder in it! then it was off to customs then onto the boat.
We had a cooked breakfast (Truckers Salad) then sat around for the four and a half hour crossing. We eventually got to Dieppe, but hovered around about 2 miles offshore, one of the engines had broken down, and we had to wait for a tugboat for a couple of hours. Never saw the tugboat, but I think they got the engine fixed, and we were onshore over 2 hours late!
As we were running late, it was a fairly quick ride of about 180 miles to our first hotel, Ibis Budget Pontorson, we got there 20:15 French time, dumped all our gear in our rooms, and the lovely hotel receptionist booked us a table at the restaurant next door, and also met up with Rob, Kate was already pushing out ZZZeds. We had a nice meal, and some beers.
Next morning was a bit more laid back, as the museum didn't open until 13:30, Neil was getting short of fuel, so we did a diversion, He was leading, but rode past a fuel station he hadn't spotted. The rest of us fueled up, expecting Neil to notice we weren't behind him, but we eventually tracked him down, and then we stopped for coffee at a nice cafe Le Cafe des Amis, We got to the Lorient submarine base, it is massive, and even survived a Tall Boy bomb
The museum we wanted to visit didn't open, but we got to go on Sous-marin Flore S645submarine, a diesel electric one
Then, after a wander round, we found another restaurant near the pens, then it was off to our next hotel, Ibis Budget Vannes Ploeren. Later, in the evening, we went to Buffalo Grill 5 minutes down the road for some food and beer, I had a dissappointing chilli.
Next morning, we headed for St Nazaire to have a look at the u-boat pens there, and to have a look at the French submarine Sous-marin Espadon, another diesel electric, but quite a bit bigger than yesterday's sub.
This submarine is still floating, and the tour was interesting. we then went looking for a cafe, and we found one that did a strange crepe like thing in a cone, Creperie Barapom Saint Nazaire
Next we headed to the pens the other side of the harbour to have a look at the museum Escal Atlantic, it was all about the old ocean liners, on the way in, you went through a door, and came to what looked like the side of a massive ship, it looked a few hundred feet long, but it was done by carefully arranged mirrors. They had various projectors showing the view of the sea from a ships guard rail, and when you got to the end of the tour, a girl made you get into a lifeboat, and lowered you down to the exit!
Then, after a few more photo's, it was time to head back to the hotel, although Rob and Clive were nearly taken out by bicycles! Later in the evening, we went back to the Buffalo grill, for some beers.
Next morning, we said our goodbye's to Rob and Kate, as they were all submarined out, and we headed to Cite de la Mer to have a look at La Redoubtable, a French nuclear sub that was their first to cross under the North Pole.
The reactor has been removed, but when it was still onboard, the crew only had a small tunnel to get past it
Next, there is a museum about the Titanic, and also mini subs to look at
then into the gift shop, where Clive gave me the last submarine sticker they had left! I was very happy!
We then went to our hotel Shelder Equeurdreville. Next morning, it was time to head to Dieppe, so we took the coast road. I noticed the compass on my phone was showing due South, but eventually we were heading North. We stopped along the way at Chez Nounoute, Fecamp for something to eat. I noticed Rob and Kate were about 30 km east of us, but we didn't meet up until we got to the port at Dieppe. We had about an hour wait, and it was very hot, then it was off to Newhaven
Excellent trip, thanks to Neil for organizing hotels and everyone else for great company!
