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CADAM Weekend to Bourgogne – A Pillions Perspective
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After rising early we left home with the bike loaded to meet the rest of the group at services before the Euro Tunnel. As we hit the M25 the traffic became very heavy over the Dartford Bridge and we filtered our way into Kent. We arrived at the services a few minutes late to heads shaking and people getting ready to go, whoops, after a smile and wave from one of the other WAGs I felt better and we topped up with petrol and were on our way to the Euro Tunnel. We got on a train earlier and went straight round to the lanes to board and after a few minutes got on the train. We had to squeeze on and park bikes close together to get the roller door to shut. we were on our way!
The train journey went quickly with time for a quick chat and toilet break. We got off the train straight on to the bright autoroute south and kept going until the first petrol stopped. It was a welcome stop to stretch legs and get the feeling back into the lower half of my body! We had time to grab a coffee and a pastry and look over the onwards route.
Back on to the autoroute we continued south-east towards our lunch stop the weather getting sunnier the further we went. We reached Peronne for lunch and sat outside a cafe enjoying a break and good food. We looked over where we were in a road map and a projection of the rest of the journey. As we got back on the bikes anticipation of riding the local roads, no longer on the autoroute, and finding the hotel set the scene for a good afternoons ride.
The scenery was spectacular, beautiful villages, fields of sunflowers and then we travelled through the Champagne region and saw the lines of vines on the hillsides. At this point, tired from a long day on the bike, sleep took hold and I had a snooze. I awoke as the bike came to a halt and found out there had not been a marker for a quite a while – we had lost the rest of the group in front, just two bikes and four of us remained. We located where we were and how to get to the hotel, about an hour away, let the lead bike know, and set off for the hotel.
We arrived at Hotel Sylvie in Chatillion-sur seine about 7pm and were shown first to the garage and then to our rooms. The hotel was very pleasant with beautiful gardens and simple but comfortable rooms. After a quick shower and change we awaited the rest of the group in the garden with a glass of wine. We had a table booked at a close by restaurant and went as a group to get our dinner. This was a rustic looking building by the river self described as a grill house. Unfortunately they had no mixed grills left, nor did they do crepes, we were too late for these apparently! Regardless we enjoyed copious food and drink and returned to the hotel to meet again at 8am for breakfast.
Breakfast was a continental feast of fruit, yoghurt, breads, jams, teas and coffee, held upstairs in a now closed in veranda. Discussing the days plan ahead and where rides were going to, I had no plans to whizz around France – but instead had looked up the local markets and intended to a bit of shopping and reading, see how the day took me! After breakfast I saw off the bikes, had my handbag ready and walked into town with another WAG. Walking into town the weather was warm but cloudy, we made our way into town having a look in shops on our way, buying things as they took our fancy. We found the market and got a couple of bits. As were we looking around a clothes stall laughing at the lurid clothes an English women came over and agreed, but saying they were all a bit Essex?! Outraged we did not disclose where we had travelled from but rather laughed and walked on by.
Tiring of walking around we went and got a coffee in the main square and chatted as the day brightened up. Starting to feel hungry we went back towards the hotel and popped into the local supermarket on the way to get lunch. We returned to the bright sunny gardens of the hotel and ate lunch before ordering several bottles of the local sparkling wine, Cremant de Bourgogne and enjoying the sun.
We heard the roar as the bikes returned back, their riders looking rather warm and ready for a drink. We caught up with where they had been and what they had all seen before getting ready to go out for dinner, to a restaurant in the town square. We made our way in smaller groups to the restaurant this time meeting there and enjoyed another good meal together.
The following morning we got up for another 8am breakfast on the veranda and enjoyed the same feast of food and drink to help us all wake up. Several smaller groups planned to go out for varying ride distances, but a few did not go out at all, preferring to explore the local area and enjoy a day of rest. Visiting a picturesque local river and walking through the towns narrow streets we stopped again for lunch at the main square before heading back to the hotel for a lazy afternoon.
That evening we waited for the group to congregate in the beautiful gardens enjoying a drink together before once again returning to the town for dinner. Enjoying another good meal we chatted about the journey home the following morning. We made our way back to the hotel agreeing to meet earlier for breakfast the next day to head off in good time.
We woke to another good breakfast before packing up the bikes. Noticing some bikes not quite ready a couple of us dashed over to the nearby supermarket for supplies (of Cremant de Bourgogne) to take home. We set off through the beautiful roads back through Champagne and we stopped in Troyes for lunch, but it had already shut so we ended up at a funny little Turkish cafe serving shish kebabs and paninis. Continuing our way we headed north to stop at Vimy Ridge the Canadian war memorial before heading for the train. The day was very hot, sunny and clear. We walked up to the giant structure and looked over the view ahead, feeling the anguish of souls lost far from home. Returning to the bikes we got on to the autoroute to take us back to Calais all with hopefully enough petrol to get us there.
As we got close by to Calais all the roads were blocked off, luckily for us the lead of our group knew an alternative route to the Euro Tunnel. Another alarming issue was lack of petrol and we spent a few miles hunting for a petrol station. Finally finding one our bike rolled in and we all filled up. Continuing our way to the train it seemed our bike had had enough and kept cutting out, stalling if the revs got too low. Revving our way through Calais town we eventually made it to the tunnel entrance and gratefully booked on to the next train. Though this was in an hour we knew we would head for the next train regardless. We passed through passport control rolling and revving our way. We then rode on to the next train check in and the lady in the box waved us through, not noticing we were not booked for another hour. Almost at the train we waited in line pleased with a good days riding. The green light came on so we made our way down to the train, sat in the hot sunshine for sometime until we boarded last. This time there was no chance of squeezing us on to the train until the roller door shut, we travelled with the roller door up and a train man came round with water for us. Half an hour later we agreed this was an excellent trip, said our goodbyes, and rode our separate ways home.
Disaster trip to France with CADAM
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This trip was planned by the CADAM group to visit St Omer in France for a taster weekend, the plan was to visit a few nice towns, cemeteries, first world war trenches and monuments.
Our trip ended early as we got just over the Belgium border, we had only travelled about 50 miles and got to a small town named Poperinge on the N308. When coming out of a corner, at no more then 20mph, the bike just cut out, it rolled to a
stop just outside the local bus/train station car park. I tried to restart the bike but as I hit the starter buttonnothing was happening, no starter motor, no clicking, nothing. All the lights on the display seemed normal, but it just wouldn’t start. As I was trying everything I could think of Gary and Mick pulled over to see what was up. We tried a few things checking the stand switch and gears, even tried bump starting it, all with no joy, so I told the guys to carry on and that I would phone for help and hopefully catch them up later on. I have BMW Assist on the bike, which is lucky, as this was the 3rd time I’ve had to use them - this wasn’t the first time the bike wouldn’t start.
Last August the bike had the starter switch replaced due to the same sort of issue, but it seemed to be more due to heat, if the bike was moved into the shade it would start after a while. Though this wasn’t the case on this occasion, but I did move the bike into the shade just in case! After a phone call to the BMW helpline, and trying to explain where we were, they advised that as it was a Saturday, and just after 12pm, that all the BWM dealers were shut and would not open again until monday. They told me the bike couldn’t be repaired, and as we had told them we was returning on sunday, the only option was to be recovered back home. I wasn’t pleased, but then I also didn’t want to be stuck in Belgium, they did offer to find a hotel for the night or to take us to St Omer but I figured we still wouldn’t be able to get back to the Euro Tunnel, that it would be best to get back, we were lucky we didn’t get stuck somewhere a lot more remote.
After a few phone calls from BMW to find out what the best way of returning us back was, it was decided that we needed to get to Dunkirk and pay for a ferry back to Dover. Due to good old health and safety we weren’t allowed to push the bike onto, or off of the ferry, so the only way was for the recovery vehicle to take the bike onto the ferry, unload it and drive off, then at Dover the recovery vehicle to meet us on the ferry, load the bike up, and get us home, simple, yes…? Aahhhhh, noooo…
After 1&1/2 hours or so a Belgium recovery vehicle arrived to take us to Dunkirk. This was a small van with two seats and two recovery people. They immediately began to check the battery over before noticing there were two of us and then having loud shouting conversation in French between themselves and saying they were not told there two of us to recover.
They had a trailer with them and said they would take us to the Port. I had to push and steer the bike on to the trailer up a steep narrow ramp. The recover guy yelled at me not to step on the trailer, then yelled at me to get on the trailer whilst he and Alexa pushed it. The other recovery person watched. Then they opened the back of the van and I had to sit on a wooden box surrounded by jump leads and tools, whilst Alexa had to sit on her knees to fit in.
In the back of the van we could not see a lot, after half an hour on the road we were thinking we must soon be at Dunkirk. We turned into a car park, the van stopped and the recovery people got out. They opened the back door of the van, said to go into the office and jumped into another vehicle and drove away. We had no idea where we were, or what was going on. We went into the office where a demand for €120 was made. After calling my contact William at BMW Assist he said not to be concerned this would be arranged and we would get to the port. The office person, after more phone calls, said their recovery service would take us to the port and to wait for the recovery people to return. We asked where we were and found we were in Ypres.
After another half an hour the recovery people came back and said the guys father was on route to take us. While we were waiting, sat next to the trailer on the ground, we saw what condition it was in, covered in moss, cracks in the tyres, broken bits. The motorcycle was strapped firmly on but the condition of the trailer was concerning. Finally the recovery man’s father arrived and they moved the trailer across to another vehicle, an old 4×4, with 2 seats. The wooden box was moved into the back for Alexa to sit on (I did offer the front seat but she didn’t want to sit next the nasty old man hehe!) The old guy asked how to get to Dunkirk.
Having never been to Dunkirk we had no idea! We agreed to go down the autoroute and look out for signs to Dunkirk and the Ferry Terminal. The old guy went very quickly down the autoroute and so missed several turnings and took a long time to get there. Finally we did arrive.
Having missed the 4pm ferry, though we would have probably made it if we had gone direct from Poperinge, the next crossing was not until 8pm. We bought our tickets and went successfully through check in and passport control. Advised again by the ferry company they could recover my bike but we needed to board by recovery vehicle unload the bike, secure it and have another recovery vehicle to get off, we were all set.
Having not had a toilet break or anything to eat or drink (except sharing our emergency jam sandwiches!) we went into the terminal for a comfort break. Whilst in there I was phoned by the office of the recovery people (the lady who had demanded the €120) she said the old guy could not wait, we were fit and able to push the bike on ourselves and he could go home. Explaining he had to drive us on as per the Ferry’s regulations she did not agree and I advised her to ring BMW Assist as they were arranging this transfer. We went back out the trailer again and the old guy was on his phone. He said he was not told he would have to wait this long and would not be paid. After more phone calls he did stay, but not after stressing us out at getting this close to the ferry that we would be stuck, especially as the temperature had really dropped outside now.
Finally the ferry came in and we were loaded on first. The old guy rushed off as soon as it was off the trailer. The Ferry staff were great and strapped the bike down and we went off relieved to have got on! We were met easily at Dover by the UK recovery van (SOS Motorcycles) thanks to BMW Assist for arranging this for us. We arrived back home at midnight. The motorcycle was collected the following Wednesday morning and taken to Cannon’s in Braintree.Although this was a stressful day we were grateful to the support and attention from BMW Assist, the ferry staff and the SOS recovery guy in the UK.
The really anoying thing was I went out to look at the bike on Sunday, the day after we got back, and hit the starter switch with the palm of my hand, and guess what? It bloody started! I wasn’t impressed. So now every time I tried it, it started, no problem, so Cannon’s would have a real job now finding the fault.
After 2 days at Cannon’s, and them not being able to reproduce the fault with no errors on the diags, they replaced the complete starter button cluster. They told me then, that last time, they had only replaced the actual starter micro switch, inside the starter/kill switch, last August. So I’m hoping that now it is fixed, but I can only ride it and see, and hope!
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Visit to Boreham to look round the Essex air ambulance
0Went to look round the essex air albam at it Borham base with CADAM Went to look round the essex air albam at it Borham base with CADAM
