Page 12 - Shining On Newsletter - Autumn 2022

chosen chariot. Andy, Caroline and Simon somehow (mis)used their GPS to avoid Banbury (and me)
and the sandwich platter awaiting them. Andy fessed up after being an hour overdue and too far south
to justify a turnaround. I was diligently watching the weather radar and realised if I waited another 90
minutes and ate their sandwiches, I could follow the rain that was chasing them and hopefully arrive at
Folkestone dry, albeit with a dirty bike thanks to non drying roads.

I set off in pursuit and immediately ran into an M40 south road closure due to an accident. Detour
required across country, and I used the northern M25 rather than southern leg to maintain momentum.
Despite a section of speed restricted roadworks on the M20 that reminded me that I had French roads to
look forward to for the next 10 days, I arrived in Folkestone dry and thirsty. The anticipation of those
empty French roads and nothing to do in Folkestone resulted in an early night.

Day 2 - Folkstone to Rheims
The rendezvous at Eurotunnel was easy. The UCGB group, Andy and Caroline, Barry, Robert, Terry and
Lu plus Simon were already there when I arrived and only Alan was missing but he too turned up still on
schedule. However, the Eurotunnel schedule was as usual in disarray and we were allocated train slots
over three different departures. Ignoring Eurotunnel’s best efforts to thwart our intentions to ride
together, we just sauntered through with documentation partially displayed to authenticate our rights of
passage. Mission accomplished, we all boarded the same train and arrived in France together as a
happy band of travellers anticipating a dry run to Reims. We used the autoroutes with tolls to expedite
this stage but Alan still managed to confound the toll card reader on exit with a screwed up wet ticket
thus providing amusement for the rest of us.
Reims was a good stop with plenty of bars and restaurants in the pedestrianised centre. However, our
choice of evening establishment in the town centre was frustrated by our lack of ordering discipline and
an impatient waitress who got annoyed with us very quickly. To be fair it was a heatwave and everyone
was tetchy! Food quality was absent, my order of a Welsh burger with cheese materialised as a lamb?
burger floating on a bed of melted cheese that quickly solidified securing the burger to the plate ensuring
nothing could be eaten. After requesting the bill half a dozen times, we did a runner and watched as
Simon (our responsible Treasurer) stayed to pay and avoid an international incident. We retired to a
local bar to have a nightcap, watch a video of the Mona Lisa drink Red Bull and chill.

Day 3 - Reims to Beaune
Day 3 was a delight staying off the main routes and enjoying the scenery change from wheat fields to
vineyards as we got deeper into France. Again satnav issues arose as Alan only had the destination,
not the route Andy had chosen,
so was frustrated that we
constantly avoided Alan’s GPS
instructions (known only to him)
and stayed on the scenic route.
Alan eventually expressed his
frustration by stopping to state we
were always going the wrong way
(that’s the clean version). Strange
how we got there still. (Never
follow Alan! Ba)

Beaune again was a good stop
with a decent town centre and
plenty of dining options. House
wine was the only sensibly priced
option probably as the local
vinyards were all notable and the
restaurants sought to make vast
profits from thirsty travellers.
House plonk was however very

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