SW France trail riding/camping trip May 13th to 17th 2013

Great write up, Matt.
It was great to meet people and put faces to names.
The trails were brilliant. Monday was probably the best time I've had on a bike.
I'm delighted I did this....it was even better than I expected it to be.
Thanks, Charles, for a fantastic event.

The cam follower for the inlet valves failed
A slight tipping sound in the morning got gradually worse
Then cutout
Got a new cam follower in KTM Perigeuex( express ordered) and got back on the trails before the end

Fitting a new cam and both followers now that it's back in my workshop

Good afternoon everybody.
I,ve just had one of my best life experiences riding the trails in France.
Firstly with Phin in the Auvergne and then with a great bunch of people in the dordogne ( not sure about my spelling here)

I was a track day addict for 20 plus years and sold my Ducati 848 track bike last year.
I thought that my motorcycling days were over.
3 weeks later i bought a DRZ 400 e. Great bike. I contacted Phin via facebook as we hadnt met up for four or five years. Phin suggested we went on the ADV trip.

Basically when I got to the Auvergne I had almost zero trail riding experience.
Phin took me out for my first serious session,i only fell off 6 times and then fell off in the river Dulon.
Hard work but a great laugh.

I was nervous before the start of the tour but meeting everyone at Chevas Cubas put my mind at rest.

My group consisted of Charles (group leader ) Clive, phin, papa smurf,carl and myself.
The first 2 days riding had some excellent trails and I only fell off once.
My riding improved really well and I,d like to thank everyone in my group for all the riding tips i was given,brilliant.

I now have a new lease of life.
I am addicted to trail riding just like I was when track daying.

Thanks to charles for organising a brilliant if not slightly wet tour. Thankyou.

Thanks very much to Phin for all his riding tips but not riding up that F...ing hill after the river dulon fall. Get your GPS skills up to scratch mate.

I hope to go next year if its on again.

Great to meet every one.
keep safe and best wishes to you all.

VIN ROUGE

Wed 15th May

Constant rain as we packed our kit away did little to lift our spirits although the good craic the night before did somewhat compensate.

Charles was having trouble starting his bike I lent him a sent of jump leads but with many willing helpers including Chris B with his multimeter there was little anyone else could do.

We said our goodbyes to Rose who was heading home in the rain a journey of over 700km. Thanks for a lovely 2 days riding great company and a true Adventure Girl. Due to Charles's demise Finn joined our team as well as Timpo.

We headed for petrol in the pouring rain which was doing little to lift our spirits. After filling up we headed across town to find Charles who was hunting down a battery for his 690 which looked to be the source of his problems.

We went on some lovely trails in the woods made even more tricky by the rain but no less fun.

Fiona (or was it chappie) was now attention seeking throwing chappie on the floor in order to get some attention.

As ever though no complaints just a big grin.

We had some fast trails and great climbs no photos though due to the appalling weather.

Poopping out onto a road out of the forest we came upon a boulangerie in the middle of nowhere. We soon all piled in dripping wet to sample some really fine food. I opted for quiche and pizza. By this stage we were all pretty damp.

The Irish Boy came by and headed for a cafe whilst we opted to head on along the the trail. Stoic or Bernard had now become known as the shepherd due to the job of herding his flock along every day and keeping them together not as easy as it seems.

We completed babies heads lane without incident and met Gazz at the bottom with his group. Don't know why but I think Fiona christened me Matt the Methodist on this day not sure why but I bet Timpo wil lspit a mouthful of beer out when he reads this.

The excitement of babies heads lane was too much for Vasco de Garmin I suspect that the jolting has upset his navigation circuits. We were talking about the lane and he thought we were talking about his monkeys bum (no prizes fro guessing where it is).

A bit of confusion as to which was the correct campsite ensued but we arrived at a place with chalets to rent which most people took advantage of. Whilst I was in reception Fioan came up and asked about the price of a cabin to which I replied I had already booked camping. Being a hard core sort of lady Fiona opted for the camping as well and we unpacked and made a sort of refugee camp in an abandoned part of the toilet block hanging out our gear to dry dry and get changed.

After showering Fiona and I were allowed to warm up in Timpo and Sarah's cabin. They had took in Lenny and Gazz it was very warm and the girls were busy reading their pieces of electronic trickery. Me I stuck to pen and paper and updated the book of truth. Timpo went for a doze dreaming no doubt of what he would do to me and the Book of Truth if he ever got his hands on us.

Rick had gone ahead and annexed a chalet plus part of the campsite. He had installed his butler Vasco de Garmin in the West Wing to carry out all the menial tasks. Another theory was if he let Vasco wander around the campsite then he would never be able to find his way back.



Vasco had been saying to me how concerned he was about the distance we still had to travel. I had looked at his GPS and declared he was looking at it the wrong way round but in the evening he proudly told me I was wrong he was just looking at the nest days track as well. Pure class.

We had arranged to go for a meal in a local restaurant that didn't really turn out well due to problems with the food. Still we drank all of the red wine and Vasco and myself even had to suffer a picher of Rose.

Before I drifted off to sleep as it was persisting down with rain I had a guilty pang and hope Fiona was not suffering as it was a foul night.

Thursday 16th May

We awoke to a damp morning but no torrential rain. Thanks to an act of kindness by Fiona all of my kit had been put in the tumble dryer fo me which was an act of kindness beyond the call of duty. Normally I just put my wet stuff back on and head off making the best of it. Uncertain weather and team orders left Fiona and I in a team of 2. Before we headed off we noticed that Fiona chain now looked like a coiled cobra on chappies swinging arm. As usual without any fuss she told me she had the correct tools so I minded my own business. As she has shunned my offer of tools I was mildly surprised to see that the tool of choice in slackening chappies rear axle nut was a feckin pair of mole grips !!



The very spot where we had camped.



We headed off after refueling in uncertain weather. The first trail was an amazing climb through the woods but we then encountered quite a few blocked trails. which whilst can be frustrating only adds to the navigational challenge.

Despite me having the bigger bike by 400cc I was never able to lose Fiona and chappie through the bends quite often I would be shocked to see them on my rear tyre as I looked in my mirror after going round at what I thought was a respectable speed. It must be a case of training or something.

Whilst I remember it was today or yesterday when Fiona pulled a micro SD card from the back of precious (her sat nav) and fianlly realised that topo France provided far better mapping than the Portugal mapping she had been using.

Using the wonders of modern technology my montana was sharing its DNA with Fiona's as I blue toothed over the route every morning a really useful feature. Vasco de Garmin also had the routes but by the time he sobered up each day we were no far from the campsite.

We met up with other groups a couple of times before 3 groups stopping in the town of Beauliu sur Dordogne.

A lovely meal was enjoyed by all including a most energetic waitress. The owner was keen to accommodate us and his large boxer dog was responsible for guarding the toilets. I was concerned for Fiona as she appeared to be trapped inside. Luckily our resident scouser who doesn't fear guard dogs or locks soon had the door open.

With full tummies we headed off our group having swelled to 3 as Vasco de Garmin had now been integrated back into our team. I remember stopping at this view point for a wee a few years ago.



We came upon some really slippy lanes which were cobbled and proved a tad tricky after testing my handguards ability to protect my levers several times we missed them out and carried on our way. The lanes were ones linking villages and farms together and were great to ride.

The team of three carried on exploring and using other lanes to get back on route. Our spirits we kept high with plenty of banter.

As ever Fiona was smiling whatever the conditions.



A lovely section through a wood where we got briefly separated when Vasco de Garmin thought I had done the wrong way led us to find Timpo and we waited for the rest of his group to join us before heading to the campsite.

More smiles.




Having got used to luxury some chose to head to more sheltered accommodation whist the rest went to a previously used campsite at Brive la Gaillarde. Having pitched the tents at the campsite which was around 5 miles away we headed into the town to a supermarket for bread, cheese and meat plus a small amount of alcoholic beverages. We had to wait for Fiona for at least 2 hours as she wondered around the Hypermarket aisle by aisle but I guess that's a woman's prerogative.

Arriving back we all tucked into our meal. I got to have a good chat to the Irish contingent although after a red wine and Irish whiskey cocktail the lights just seemed to fade out.

I do remember Bernard walking around with his red wine box handbag but not much else.

Friday 17th May "The Tough One"

As seems to be usual before any tough day in the saddle my preparation had been faultless.

Awaking with a few people surprised to see me still I alive I took note of a broken tent pole and finally finding my shoes I got down to breaking camp. The good weather finding everyone keen to get off.

The best new was that Seamus had fixed his 690 after all he had been through over the last couple of week he remained cheerful as ever and after fixing his bike he was back in the game for the last day on the trail. I think Bernard the Shepherd was glad to pass over the mantle and let someone else lead.

As ever when men go shopping there was a massive pile of booze and food still left that we hadn't manage to consume although I did still have an emergency can of Heineken that I took all the way back to the UK.

The lure of trail riding has also been too much for Phil in France to ignore (or was it the weather) and he arrived in the morning and fitted straight back into our group.

If I felt a little detuned the first lane of the day soon had us on our toes and our senses awakened. Any truth in the rumour that Timpo and Rick had been spraying chain lube on the rocks would need to be backed up with pictures.

It looked like angry farmer had gone to market so no confrontation there but I was glad that the great big dog remained tied up.

We followed along some fast trails that led to a bridge that was being refurbished. Unable to cross we stopped for a rest and by a monument to people who had been murdered by the Nazi's. Seamus turned up leaking his flock and we all agreed a detour back would be required as we didn't want to miss any of the days trails.

Apologies fro the blurred photo but notice the glint in Fiona's eyes as she headed off for a play on my 690. Little did I know it must of made chappie jealous as he was to get his own back later in the day.



We passed a supermarket hading back on to the trail and met up with Peter who was heading north on his 690. Fond farewells and we got some picnic gear and headed onwards.

We were making good progress through the woods I managed to throw myself off my bike whilst going up a rooty climb but in the warm weather life felt good.

We did the excellent extra loop and sat down to enjoy the sunshine and a spot of lunch.

No photos from me I am afraid as my camera was playing up.

More great lanes in warm weather through the forest continued until we came to rock slab lane. A challenging little one with lots of off camber tree routes next a fast flowing river helped you concentrate until we got to the rock slab.

We opted for the assisted up approach for all the bikes although punishing her for having a go on my bike chappie threw Fiona onto a rock meaning she will have to wait to the bruising to subside before she will look her best in a bikini.

We head off on a single track lane across a steep hillside that I sort of recognised I had been here a couple of times before. After a quick recce Phil had a go at going downhill which was steep and slippy. The main issue was stopping the bike even with both wheels locked.



After a few falls we which ad gone down to assist with it was agreed we would carry on the trail and meet him where the track rejoined it.

Its amazing what wildlife in this case a leprechaun you can find watching you whilst in a forest.



We headed back up to the track and I did a quick walk of the route. I had ridden it with Timpo 18 months before but it looked alot trickier now and we were on fully laden bikes and not pogos.

As were in fully British stiff upper lip mode Vasco and I let Fiona and chappie go first.

We they made us suffer after getting across some roots chappie then threw himself and Fiona down the steep slope at one point on top of Vasco who had lay down in the mud to stop Fiona getting dirty (more of that later). The tree in the foreground saved us all as we wrestled chappie back onto the trail.




We could hear Phil above us riding around looking but we had omitted to take his number. (lesson learnt here for the future) sadly it cut short his trail ride as without the route he headed home. (sorry mate)

Still we still had another hours works getting chappie back across the obstacles. At one point I think I might have even shouted at Fiona "Throttle control" as we were getting chappie back across some roots. Her reply to me was he is used to it as my hand went round the wheel several times trying to keep it on the track. It was hard turning the 690's around and heading back to find another way round. It was hot and thirsty work and we all wilting somewhat. Peter as ever with his hot jacket on gave it his all and had resorted to using foul language. This led to Fiona christening him "The not so mild mannered archaeologist" it made me laugh as I only thought this happened when he went for a drink with LOZ.

More nice trails including rocky descents led us to a tricky stream bed lane which was quite exciting as we were feeling quite spent already and the day was marching on.





Small branch gave my handguard a whack as I went up.

It whacked chappie enough to send Fiona to the floor.



At the top of the lane thee weather was lovely and we took a while to have a team bonding moment.

The boys resting.



Goodness knows where the photos she is taking will go. "Hunk of the week perhaps ?"



We all had a lie down here and chatted away looking up at the fluffy clouds a fitting end to the holiday we thought.

After another session of craic (please note the spelling) Fiona was heard to exclaim "I will soon be back with my own kind"

Chappie had other ideas however.



Not far to the campsite said I as we dragged our weary bodies onto the bikes and headed on the track. A closed lane and a little detour saw us into a slippy forest trail not too bad but enough to make you concentrate. As we turned left the mud became red and I realised we were on red mud lane.

Although slippy we carried on along it and came to a mud hole. On previous trips I had gone round this and into the forest why I didn't this time I just don't know but I ploughed on through as the mud got deeper glad of the CO2 on my rear.

I stop and turned round to looked for the rest of the team.

Fiona was going great until the deepest sloppiest muddiest part. Chappie gave a few coughs and stopped. Oh Feck!



It looks nothing a quick pull and she will be free. Really

You couldn't stand up in the mud and when you were in it couldn't move as you got sucked in.




After getting straps on the bike the only way were could break the grip of the mud was to literally lay the bike on its side and drag it out.





Chappie would not play ball and start after frantic kicking with us all filthy and weary I attemped to tow him and Fiona to the end of the lane. Now I don't know how many of you have done it but towing a motorbike fully laden along a lane along a lane with a surface of greasy is not easy. My 690 wheelspan all the way a couple of times with Fiona and chappie on their side. I had about 20 kg of mud all over the bike and me but we had hit tarmac. As usual in these situations just as you think you are safe something else crops up and chappie got the webbing wrapped around his disc and spindle that needed cutting out. Vasco after kindly supporting Fiona and chappie had the long walk back to retrieve his bike and ride the muddy section back which he did without incident.

Another moment of comedy was when we got to the end of the lane and chappie had lost his number plate which was already the smallest in the world.

Chaapie was not well so we headed downhill and Vasco and I prepared to push. sadly after the rear wheel skidding along we had no joy. A more determined effort and an extra gear resulted in this.



After having mud and petrol forced into his exhaust chappie finally spat it all out. It didn't help that as soon as he fired Fiona went straight to the rev limiter. Still it could have been far worse, I could have been that side.

She had never struck me as that kind of lady but by now Fiona was looking really dirty.



Not wanting alarm Vasco I had quietly conferred with Fiona as to her wishes and she was grinning and wanted to carry on with the track. So we did, the lanes eased and we were zooming along good tracks. We came upon a smart car parked in the middle of a track a fair way from the road. I passed on the verge and glared into the car as to who had blocked my passage, imagine my surprise when I saw man with no clothes below the waist and a girl trying to cover her body with her trousers.

In a smart car oh to be young again !

We carried on as father time counted against us and I knew we would be having a meal back at the campsite. At I road I made the decision that at some point all leaders must to head back on the road. A swift 15mins later we were back at the campsite. I always enjoy coming into a campsite with your mates there all waiting to tell each other of the day you have had. Feeling pretty tired we got our tents up, showered and headed to the campsite bar for a meal.

It would be fair to say we were all a little jaded and tired but a lovely lasagne and a few beers had us heading for our sleep. Apart from I should say Fiona who was watching the rugby.

Sat 17th May

I awoke at 0700 fresh but weary after a week's trail riding.

Its never pleasant at the end of a holiday but we packed up loaded the van. Then had a brief breakfast before heading off on our journey North.

An uneventful journey North saw us meet up with Rick and Timpo at Le Havre for our crossing. On getting on the ferry we got some shut eye in our cabin before getting a bite to eat.

After saying our goodbyes on the ferry (As per Sarah its a short r) we headed off get to Gazz's after 0000 after unloading and reloading I carried on home weary but happy at the end of a successful holiday.

At the end of my ride report As Edmund Hillary said " We have knocked the barstard orf"

Too many thanks already given but a few star awards need to be identified.

Seamus for he cheerful suffering of all he had to suffer and sort out and then his back luck on the way home. That guy is oding on karma points.

My core team of Vasco de Garmin Flattley hard core archaeologist and a "Bloody nice bloke"

Not forgetting Fiona. 5 days of laughter, fun and frolics but not forgetting her true grit when the going got a little bit hard she always digs that little bit deeper with a smile.

Everyone else for either being there, putting up with me or adding to the occasion.

Until the next time.

muddymatt

Brilliant Matt--well done--lovely read.
CB

As usual - great report Matt!
there does seem to be distinct lack of alcohol induced shenanigans Is this an abridged version of the Book of Truth, or can we expect some extras with the DVD release?

Phil

Absolutely disgusted !!!!!







What are we going to do now it's over



The daily installments have been brilliant

Well done Matt

It funny Seamus since I packed in the old butlering game and handed the job back to you I seem to have a lot more time on my hands.

Although despite rain and pressure washing I can still see the red mud stains on my yard to remind me of the trip.

Great report Matt, am going to have to get on next years trip! Am trail riding through France this week, so hopefully the weather will be kinder!

Outstanding Matt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vw6stTXHr5s#t=0s

Great write up and photos Matt.

Thanks everyone for coming and making it a good trip. All things considered we did well with the weather with only one wet day. It's been raining and cold here for the past week and set to continue as such for next week.

I didn't even take a camera this year (I forgot it in the last minute panic to get the bike packed) and I don't think anyone in my group took many photos. we had a good trip despite a few detours and delays due to mechanical hiccups we still managed to get to the restaurant in time for a decent lunch - everyone knows where my priorities lie.

I would like to thank Clive for his special spannering on day 1 - I'd managed to bring a spare chain as I'd spotted a dodgy link on the one on the bike (on Sunday afternoon) but also managed to bring the wrong sized socket required to fit the new endless chain. Our tame Dakar mechanic took charge and sorted the problem quickly.

Thanks also to Chris B who, despite ridicule from certain quarters, still brought his multimeter with him, which helped determine that it was the battery on my bike that was knackered and the not the fuel injection system, as indicated by various dashboard lights. My rising stress levels at this point stem from the fact that, at heart, I'm a luddite. Whilst I love the 690 for what it does well I've always wished it had a carb and a kickstart. Thanks are due to Clive for contacting his friendly, helpful KTM dealer mate in the UK, Kustlo for earnestly cleaning out connectors etc., Matt for the loan of his jump leads and Seamus for the loan of his battery and getting me a new one when he collected his parts (and also to anyone who helped by pushing).

Once the bike was back on the road we regrouped and headed into St Cere for coffee. We decided to bypass the morning trails as it was already about 11.30 and head to Camps on the road. This for me was the worst part - at least on the trails you can usually generate some heat but by the time we arrived at Camps I was frozen to the core. We found that almost everyone else had congregated at the restaurant where we had a very good lunch. Talking to the owners afterwards; they told me that they'd only bought the place about 5 months before and after a fairly desperate winter season with virtually no customers and now the extended cold weather wasn't helping much, having 20 odd bikers turning up out of the blue was most welcome, even though we left large pools of muddy water all over their floors. I was impressed that they could provide such good meals with no notice at all when the Soleil d'Oc campsite made a complete balls up of the catering in the evening, even though they'd had several hours notice.

After lunch at Camps we split up with Clive, Chris and Jim going by road to Argentat to secure Mobile homes whilst Kustlo and I followed the trails having great fun on the wet, muddy lanes. Time was getting on and once we reached the most easterly point of the route, bearing in mind the campsite was back west of the lunchstop, we took to the road for a few kms hoping to cut the trace again and do the last few trails into Argentat but unfortunately water had got into my GPS making the display very dim and I missed the poit at which we rejoined the trace and we went all the way on the road.

Phinn and Jim headed off back to the Auvergne on Thursday morning as the weather was still looking threatening so we were just a group of 4.

I struggled on with the dim GPS display in the morning liaising with Chris who had the traces on his GPS 60 (ex Gazz) but some of the road detours around lanes with no entry signs were longer than necessary. We stopped for a good lunch in Beaulieu and after lunch I borrowed the GPS60 and managed to tyrap it onto my bracket which worked OK but made the zoom buttons hard to get at. The afternoons route was a pleasant ride with a couple of impassable lanes due to slippery rock. Karl managed to get up the second one of these where Gazz's group had turned around. Clive, Chris and I detoured and found a really tricky, but passable lane, that will definately feature on next years route. We eventually met up with Karl and continued to the campsite.

We fitted the new battery to my bike and Seamus got his bike back together on Thursday evening. A bit of a slow start on Friday morning partly due to the cold and partly due to acohol induced comas. Glenn and Roy joined our group (as the rest of their group had opted for a hotel in Brive) and were probably impressed with the way inb which I navigated smoothly to the first lane of the day (not!). I blame it on my lack of familiarity with the GPS as I do the rest of the days navigational mishaps - there were many and, in the end, the desperate need for fuel for the 450 meant a fairly long road ride back to the campsite.

Despite the occassional grumpy spat I did have a thouroughly good week, with the unpleasantness of the soggy road ride on Wednesday morning easily forgotten after the fun of sploshing about on the muddy trails in the afternoon.

Look forward to doing it all again next year.

Look forward to doing it all again next year.
__________________
Magnon

I think thats the bit we were hoping to read Charles. Here you are leading the posse into Rocmadour

Absolutely fantastic weeks trailriding, some of the technical stuff was amazing, the Big Rock followed by the tree roots on the last day were one of the highlights Thanks Charles, Famous, Stoic and Napster for a thrilling week.



The Mule and the Donkey





Stunning Scenery....





I wasn't the only one thinking about licking the plate, the "CUSTARD" was delicious.





Iphone photo isn't the best indoors, pity it's blurry.....




I got loads of Video of the event from Stoic which I'm trying to put onto a DVD, in the meantime here's a few clips onto YouTube to whet the appetite.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yk3_bkpSKuY" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="615" width="820"></iframe>

I had a terrific week, thanks to Charles and everyone else involved.

Most of the week was spent tail ending with Gazz doing a top job pathfinding.

After fearing the rain forecasted for thursday night / friday (that never appeared), a few of us opted for the soft option of a neaby motel. This meant fridays group was Gazz, Rick, Timpo and me.
Gazz was happy to pass pathfinder roll over to Timpo who declared whilst we were a small group we could up the pace and do the longer/harder route. :eek1 :eek1 :eek1

Things were going well until ater the rock slab by the river when we appeared to be off route, a descent of a 45 degree banking to find a passable route, this was accomplished by me and the 640 adventure sliding down on our side mostly.

On the way out of the valley Rick injured his foot against a rock but was able to reach the road and head for camp.

The three of us carried on without incident until Timpo fell victim to the Dreaded red mud lane, his bike stuck wheel deep in the dreaded mud. We pushed and pulled to no effect so the orange strap was pulled from my bag of tricks an looped round a fork leg, Gazz and me had an end each and on the count of three gave a superhuman heave on the strap, unfortunately the strap slipped from my grip which ended with the pair of us on our arses rolling about in said mud .

Timpo tried to hide his laughter for at least 2 seconds, While i saw the funny side of it . . . . Gazz was not amused, . . . . i tried to lay the blame squarely on Gazz but as he still had the orange strap in his hand, I was found guilty.

Gazz and me opted to bypass this hazzard and meet Timpo at the end of the lane.

Things went quickly downhill from here, Timpo said it was'nt far (yeah right :huh) so we might as well finish the route. although by this time i was completely knackered i was keen to finish the route.
An off camber rock slab with an awkward route took me three attempts with Gazz lifting the bike off me each time, Timpo appeared at the last rescue to see what we were fecking about at, the extra pair of hands got me on the way again.

The next hazzard was the damaged bridge, Gazz suggested we bypass this one, but Timpo went to check the depth of the ford ( fast and deep), while i came accross some suitable logs to effect a repair, Gazz shook his head in disbelief, but with 2 engineers on the team a falling down bridge was'nt going to stop us.

The rest was plain sailing after this and we were soon at the camp site.

I should have mentioned that Gazz the riding god cleared the rock slab by the river unaded.

By the end of the day Timpo and me became the F.X. twins. . . . . . I was Fecking X-hausted and Timpo was Fecking X-haspirated waiting for me.

Len.

Well done Len.
I can see that you found some bananas but what about sausage rolls.

Brilliant write ups and pictures really enjoyed these stories, must get a bigger bike one day and join one year for the craic

Whats up Pete ? goune all shy on us !!!

In true Vasco De Garmin styleee..........