Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Riding from Lagny Sur Marne to Montcombroux (part 2)
While I was riding South, the blue sky disappeared and dark clouds were rolling
through the sky behind me. I did have my rain overall with me but I hoped I
would not need it.
Clouds building up behind me
It is really beautiful in Bourgogne, as this part of France is called. Nice
little famhouses, some castles, nice villages and roads made for motorcycles.
A nice farmhouse
Finally, at three PM, I arrived in Montcombroux at my friends house. It was just
in time because minutes after I arrived, it started to rain. We had a coffee and
a piece of baguette (French bread) and then Robert got on his little Yamaha scooter
to escort me to the hotel in a village nearby.
Arrived in Montcombroux-Les_Mines (Picture by Robert)
We found a "Gites" which is a community supported hotel in a little village
called "Bert", only six kilometers from Montcombroux. Gite ST Laurent.
I had a room with a toilet and shower for only € 24 a night! The hotel used
to be the townhall but was now converted to a gite. I could park the BMW
in the managers private garage nearby and got my own key for the garage. Really
very friendly people.
I put the panniers of the BMW in my room and then we went back to Montcombroux to
get Roberts GoldWing.
We had a few hours before dinner so Robert showed me the surrounding area. First
we went to a village called "Chatel Montagne". Like many rural villages in France,
people were leaving to go to the bigger cities but then the local authorities
offered cheap housing for artist and now it is a very nice and "living" artist town.
We had a cold drink on a sidewalk café. Fortunately the weather was very nice again.
An artists house in Chatel Montagne
It is a very pretty little village
We got on the bikes again and first left Chatel Montagne to take a
picture to show how nice it is build on the hills and then we left
in the direction of Lapalisse.
Chatel Montagne on the hills
Near St. Prix, we found a very high realroad viaduct. If you look at
the picture below, you can see how high it is compared to Robert on his
GoldWing riding on the road under the viaduct.
Viaduct near St. Prix
The we arrived in Lapalisse. We parked our bikes and walked to the big castle
in the center of town. There is really someone living in the castle but sometimes
visitors are allowed in a part of the castle but we did not have that oppertunity.
The castle of Lapalisse
The castle in beautiful but unfortunately the very old houses and shops in
front of the castle are bought by a real estate developer from Great Brittain and
are left empty for years now. What a waste !
Very nice but empty houses and shops
The day was getting to an end and it was almost dinner time so we left Lapalisse
to get back to Montcombroux to have dinner.
A sunset on the road from Lapalisse to Montcombroux
On the way back to Montcombroux we had to ride a narrow gravel road through
the forrest. It was hard for Robert on his big GoldWing but for me on the
BMW GS it was playtime ;-)
We had a wonderfull dinner that Roberts wife Janny cooked. After dinner I went
back to the hotel. It was very dark now so I was happy that I stored the location
of the hotel as a "favourite" in my Tomtom GPS.
After a few minutes riding in the dark on very narrow roads, I arrived in Bert
and parked the bike in the garage (after getting there on a steep slope with
gravel I was happy I was here on my BMW GS and not on the GoldWing).
The BMW in the garage
The door of the hotel was open so I did not need the code to open it and could
walk to my room upstairs and go to bed.
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