Those were the days... when we had six weeks vacation. For the determined gourmet and rider France, as Germany's next door neighbour was the way to go, and this time it was two up on our R1100GS, called Duckbill.
In the years from 1995 to1997 the "Dispousal Unit" (copyright:
Nikos) and I visited France quite regularly. We drove across, around, from coast to coast and back many times. One of our sojourns was to explore the Atlantic coast.
We were impressed with
Mont St Michel in the Normandy, a town and monastery built on a tidal island, and at times surrounded by water. We had stormy weather at
Cap Frehel, and lots of rain like we had in England.
Compared to Southern England we found that despite being in a different country, with different culture and language, the ancient architecture was quite similar.
The major difference we noted however was the reservation towards two-wheeled travelers. While we felt welcome amongst the Brits we felt somewhat rejected by the people of the Bretagne, although we spoke French quite well. We were offered the shabbiest accommodations, and got no shelter for the bikes. Once we had a hard time getting a room because of the way we looked (?). OK, we were in gear, wet and a bit muddy from doing too much of this:
The weather didn't play along well, and so we said au revoir to Northern France and traveled down South to the Mediterranean See, and also visited the
French Riviera a.k.a. Côte d'Azur, where the weather was nice, and the people were even nicer.
I have found the same about the French. From the south, they are very friendly and welcoming, but those from the north, not so much. I haven't noticed much anti-biker feelings anywhere in France though, so maybe you were just unlucky.
ReplyDeleteSonja:
ReplyDeletethank you for these photos to places which I will probably never see with my own eyes. Countries seem closer together in Europe where you can experience different cultures more easily. I can't imagine driving for a day and go through several countries.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Sonja
ReplyDeleteIn my heart of hearts I knew that you were a proper GS girl!
Incidentally I find too that the French are initially not the most openly welcoming of people.
I've seen pictures of Mont St. Michel surrounded by water and have always wondered how it was constructed. I thought that it was always surrounded by water. More great pictures and more reasons to visit. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteRichard
Lovely photos Sonja - they bring back a few good memories. Interested in your comments about not being made to feel welcome. I wouldn't take it personally as it seems to be a national trait to be rude to any visitor from overseas if you're in a service industry! We've experienced it too. As individuals, they're the same as good people everywhere, irrespective of country.
ReplyDelete@Gary France: Who knows what was riding the people back then... maybe they had just lost a football match against Germany ;-)
ReplyDelete@bobskoot: Never say never, Bob. It is not too expensive to hop over the Atlantic and do ten European countries in one week... I used to live a few hours away from Paris, so we would get up early on a Saturday and drive there for breakfast ;-)
@Nikos: Usually French are quite nice especially when you try communicate in their native tongue, but in that specific corner people who conducted business in the tourism industry must have confused the words hospitable with hostile.
@RichardM: At low tide you can actually walk over, only at high tide it is an island only connected with a bridge to the mainland.
@Geoff James: No worries, wie didn't take that personal, but the difference from what we had experienced in other parts of Europe was quite prevalent in that specific corner of France. Maybe it was us, the bike or our origin or just the bad weather? It is like you say, the individual usually tends to be friendly and helpful (even in Germany...).
Jealous! I've always wanted to visit France, well most of Europe really. Would love to take six months or so and tour around on bike. Europe has such a history compared to this young country.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Someday, I'll ride a motorcycle or sidecar rig through Western and Eastern Europe.....
ReplyDeleteGreat pics Sonja
dom
Redleg's Rides
Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner
@Trobairitz and Charlie6: Wouldn't it be great if we could all go there for a pan European tour?
ReplyDeleteI'm catching up :-) lovely pictures, I would love to do a tour in Europe. My brother did it by train when he was in his 20's, I want to do it by motorcycle.
ReplyDelete