My name is Dave Bruguier and I cover 30,000 miles plus each year. Most of my riding is training, track days or organising UK or Continental trips, so this year I decided, with a little persuasion from a friend, to go on his trip to Melle in France and experience Flash Tours where I could relax and let someone else do all the organising and route planning. The brief history of this trip is that a group of riders who had attended a Rapid Training trip to a track day at Folembray in France and then carried on to the Nurburgring decided that they enjoyed the experience so much that they organised the ‘Flash Tours’ as a fun get together for the following year and it has now become an annual event. 

There were twelve attending this year and we met at Portsmouth to catch the 2230 ferry to Le Havre. The idea was that we would have cabins and so get some rest before our 320 mile D road ride to Melle, which is just southwest of Poitier. However this was the MotoGP weekend at Le Mans so the boat was heaving with bikes and we had been too late to book cabins, however we did have luxury couchettes!!!! The ferry operator was LD Ferries who had only just taken over the line from P & O. There were over 150 bikes on a ferry that was apparently designed to carry 40 motorcycles max. and I am sure there were only enough tie downs for half that -worse still it was blowing a gale with Force 9 forecast for the crossing. The crew, who of course didn’t speak English, tried hard but then gave up and cleared off leaving us to sort it out ourselves. I had been lucky to get a place against the hull and managed to secure my ZX9 reasonably well.

The crossing was rough and inevitably on returning to the car-decks in the morning some 25 bikes had fallen over including 4 of our 12. Tempers were frayed, exacerbated by lack of sleep and the inability to communicate with the non-English speaking crew. There were a lot of dents and scratches but the worst our group suffered was a broken offside mirror (well it becomes a n/s mirror on the continent – so not too bad) on an R1. The form filling etc took nearly 2 hours, which put us a long way behind schedule and to add to that it was still blowing a gale accompanied with heavy rain. All this, and only a couple of hours’ sleep – not the start we were looking for! Setting off through Le Havre was uneventful though it was difficult to keep 12 bikes together, in pouring rain in rush hour traffic. However coming out of town I was suddenly confronted with the magnificent view of the Pont du Normandy in the distance.

 This is the bridge over the river Seine which from the distance looked awesome, even a little intimidating and all the tired, negative thoughts disappeared. It is a toll bridge but there is a free cycle and motorcycle lane to the nearside which saved the bother of getting money out in the monsoon conditions. Riding over was difficult with excessive surface water and a right to left cross gale however battling with the elements always gives a certain satisfaction and it was a great experience. I would say the sight is almost as impressive as the Millau bridge – a stunning design. Our journey to Melle was relatively uneventful, with improving weather and, mostly riding  on excellent D roads, with the occasional N road thrown in, we made up quite a lot of time. Also by reducing the stopping time for food and petrol and we were able to make good progress and eventually arrived almost on schedule with time for a beer and bath before dinner - heaven. I had been told that dinner was ‘an event’ and was certainly not disappointed.

Done in the French tradition we all sat down at a baronial size table in the farmhouse style kitchen and ate our way through five, or was it six, courses with as much wine or beer as you wanted (all included in the price). The main course was salmon but unlike any salmon dish I have had before, but more about the food later. Next morning we awoke to heavy rain that dampened spirits around the breakfast table, particularly as it looked like it was in for the day. Breakfast was French style with delicious croissant and French bread, a homemade selection of jams and as much fruit and cereal as you want. Luck was with us, as we were getting ready for a run around the Loire valley the rain stopped. Tony, our host, gave us a pre-ride briefing and clarified the ‘marker’ system (which had been fully explained in the booking documentation). A morning coffee stop, an excellent lunch venue followed by more stunning roads, afternoon tea and back to base where tea, beer and snacks were taken in the large garden and our days exploits, the roads, cockups etc were discussed with the usual micky taking. A distance of about 220 miles had been covered with Tony leading and controlling his placement of markers and although at times the group was spread out with not another rider insight nobody got lost – the beauty of this system is that it allows everyone to ride at their own pace. We took the morning to settle with no overtaking being carried out but Tony egged us on into riding our own ride and encouraging ‘progress’ which kept everyone happy and does prevent frustration creeping in if there is a slow rider or it allows you time to unwind and look at the scenery without the thought of slowing others down if that is your thing. Day 2 was to Cognac.

Pleasant weather, glorious quiet roads, lunch outside at a super café/restaurant near the town centre and return to base for usual beer, tea and snacks prior to evening dinner – beef bourguignon – wonderful. Day 3 (the road to doom).  We were given a choice of going to Oradour or La Rochelle. As the forecast was for heavy showers we opted for (democratically of course) Oradour, probably better known as the Martyr Village. Our host had been talking about ‘the road to doom’ over previous evenings ramblings on this route but no warnings or location was given. The story is that a previous group had two quick riders on R1’s (what else) misread an uphill bend which disappeared over a crest and both ended up in the middle of a field with some cattle where one rider speared his thigh on a cows horn killing the cow. We all successfully negotiated this bend. This was my first visit to Oradour and although not as emotive as Auschwitz it was a sobering spectacle – the village being left exactly as it was after the massacre by the SS in June 1944 – well worth a visit if you are in this area. This days run was fairly short but there is a section of road that previous visitors in our group had called ‘mini-Cadwell’ for obvious reasons, so 7 of the group stayed and played on this section with much swapping of bikes and having a good thrash before returning to base for usual relaxation on the lawn and duck as the main course for dinner.

The last evenings reminiscing over a super meal was a grand finish to a brilliant weekend.  The ride back to Le Havre was pleasant and uneventful with us arriving in good time for the 1630 ferry which got us back to Portsmouth around 11pm. No problems with bikes this time and surprise, surprise loads of new ratchet straps.  This is an excellent long weekend, with hosts Tony and his French wife, Violette providing gourmet evening meals, sparkling conversation and Tony leading the tours over some fantastic roads. He has delightful, sometimes wicked, sense of humour, make a mistake and it will comeback to haunt you.

I shall be going back again in 2007 and thoroughly recommend it.

Have a look at the website on www.flashtours.co.uk and give it a go, you won’t regret it.