French France Part 1

It was a 14 hr drive down to Moulin du roc which started out at 3.30 am for me. It was nice of Jeff to be waiting at his house with coffee for Myself, Gordon and Liz. The trip was pretty uneventful and just comprised of cups of tea on the move interrupted by the GPS telling us which way to go.

We arrived at Moulin du Roc at about 1.30. Chris (the owner) had waited up for us with the rest of his guests how all seemed to be having a good time. Chris seemed to be pleased to see some more guests and was looking forward to getting to bed before sunrise!! The dogs were also very pleased to see us and were happy to let everyone know we had arrived.

I picked up the rest of the party from the airport on Friday morning at about 9.00am. Jeff won the race back to the van and claimed his prize of a front seat for the journey back to Quillian. Nobsey got his seat by a different tactic, it was the old I feel sick in the back chestnut.

After a superb breakfast we were out for our first days riding. Our new French friend and local off roader (who I will tell more of later) marked a map for us which looked very simple to follow. The local area is a minefield of small tracks and it was soon clear that the map could provide only a sample of what was available. Liz led us well for the first few hours. Doug did a good impression of a flying W and broke his back mudguard.

We stopped for a drink in a bar in Bugarach. It was strange to see how Nobesy's riding improved after 2 beers. Once I took charge of the Map things slowed a little and we seemed to get lost a little more. This was explained when Liz told me the track we were following was pink. I couldn't see a pink track on the map.

The day was completed with a great Dinner with Chris. French Geoff was invited but he declined the offer, saying he may turn up later in the weekend. Nobesy had single malt and told some fantastic stories. I think some of them were based on truth!!!

More soon and some Pics

Anthony