Morvan: November 2009

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Oh and if you are wondering where the heck this place is then this should help.

Morvan Trefle, November 2009

After the last trip to Lozere, me and Chris managed to persuade Julian that we needed to sign up for the new Morvan Trefle trip with Chris Evans. So early one November evening, we loaded up the trusty tranny and headed for Portsmouth.

The ferry crossing and trip down were uneventful although our navigation around Orleans was lacking - we seemed to do two laps of the city centre before finding the right road to Nevers. We eventually arrived at the hotel in Chataeu-Chinon about 4pm, had a chat with Ian Golton (who has done a vid at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGLZGYPSmzA )as we had to wait until 5 before checking in, unpacked and went for a beer.

By this time Chris and John Hall had turned up so we joined them and Ian for an excellent meal in the hotel restaurant.

Day 1

After breakfast, the day started with the usual briefing and run through the roadbook. The assembled crowd appeared to be almost all repeat customers for Chris who was happy that he had weeded out any undesirables! After bikes were fettled and roadbooks were fitted, we were off, and were very quickly off the tarmac and into the surrounding woods. There followed a very pleasant day's trail riding through the quiet French countryside, through a mixture of woods and farmland, nothing extreme, just lots of it - very little tarmac. On returning to the hotel we did some more bike fettling, washed and changed and retired to the bar. Later, we all gathered to feast upon an excellent meal in the hotel restaurant. The company was convivial and the banter entertaining!

Double-click on the video to see the others Vess took.

Day 2

After the usual routine of briefing and fitting of roadbooks, we were off again. The forecast wasn't as good as day 1, but the riding certainly was. We started off well enough, no problems with the navigation, did the extra loop, but after the last check we got a bit lost in the woods. It was getting cold, it took half an hour to find our location on the map, and as the weather was starting to look decidedly dodgy we headed straight back towards Chateau-Chinon on the main road. Then it started raining. Then it rained a bit harder. Then it started to hammer down. At the hotel, bike maintenance was minimal before we headed for hot showers and warm dry clothes. After we had warmed up we just had to go to the bar over the road for a few more beers before another excellent meal in the hotel.

Day 3

Low cloud over the town - you couldn't see halfway down the street - was not a good sign. The water had got into the buttons on my trip overnight and Julian's ICO had become 'reprogrammed' and was unusable, so navigation was a little complicated until the buttons dried out after about an hour!

Chris promised that this was probably the most interesting day, and so it proved with plenty of stream crossings, descents and rocky climbs - enough to shake the connections apart on my video battery pack. As the day progressed, the weather brightened and the sun was out by lunchtime. Lunch was at a bar in a small village. The term 'bar' is a bit misleading - the sign outside was overgrown - as it appeared to be just someone's front room - complete with residents sat at their table having lunch. I swear I heard a fiddle being played in the background. Most of the participants left for home in the evening, just leaving us few to have yet another splendid meal at the hotel with Chris and John.

On Saturday we had breakfast, settled the bill and were on the road by 8am. The journey back to Le Havre was interrupted by a few showers and a particularly heavy hail storm as we entered the port. A wine trip to the nearby very busy 'Auchan' hypermarket was abandoned in favour of a smaller quieter supermarket (I was even going to leave my trolley with the Saturday shoppers but Jules insisted on recovering his 'Euro'). The ferry left on time and docked at Portsmouth at 9:30, so we were home by midnight.

Now we just wait for the credit card bills!

What a good 3 day's riding! Nothing terribly technical, but just plenty of it and very little tarmac.

Some vids can be found at www.youtube.com/user/iv525

Chris has a revamped website at www.sport-adventure.com.

I guess we'd better start thinking about the next trip........