At 4am on a cold and foggy Saturday in April 2010, I left my home in West Norfolk on my 1996 R1100RT and headed for the Chunnel. I was having dinner in Bordeaux at 7.30 that evening. I stick to motorways for long runs. I know many people take their bikes by ferry to Spain, but why would you not want to ride through la belle France? Even the motorway services have that Gallic flair.
Choose your route, but I went via Rouen and Le Mans to pick up the A10 at Tours. This is through mostly open, rolling country with few hills or twisties but you can make good progress. If you had time, a diversion west to Angers for an overnight would enable you to explore the Vendee.
I’d had visions of heading for the warm sunshine, but it remained very cold and I didn’t remove my winter linings until Salamanca. In Bordeaux I stayed in a Campanile near the motorway but there are plenty of hotels to choose from as the motorway rounds the south-eastern corner of Bordeaux.
Next day I headed for Salamanca. My route took me down the long, forested, straight N10 from Bordeaux towards Bayonne, then round the western end of the Pyrenees (hills and twisties aplenty here,
