Two frisky fella's frolicking fru France - part deux

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

The original trip was a great success;
http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/ride-repor ... rance.html
Time for a re-run
(apologies in advance for the patchy report, pics are on the phone so will add them later)

The plan; depart from home early Thursday 3rd July, meet Kev at Donnington services 9.30-9.45, get the chunnel mid afternoon, scoot to Arras for the main Square Festival ( http://mainsquarefestival.fr/ ), pitch tent, drink beer, watch bands with a little bit of sight seeing inbetween. Monday 7th pack up head to the Vosges for a few days before heading home.

Well that was the plan!

Kev's alarm never went off, slept in, so was 'fashionably' late, in the rush forgetting the all important phone charger....
Still, we met, coffee was drunk, bacon bap consumed off we went!

The weather was positively toasty as we reached Folkestone, as we were early they let us on the earlier train which was nice.

My opinion from the first trip on the chunnel??? Moderate at best, the time saving is nice but being stood in a muggy fume ridden carriage for over 1/2 hr aint nice.

Brisk progress was made to Arras, which we hit just on rush hour!
Still, we made the campsite, bikes unloaded - bike gear & camping gear lugged through the crowds in stifling heat, through check in - AHHH, the BEER tent
After liquid refreshment (7 Euros ) tents were pitched, some more slowly than others. Not mentioning any names, Kev while sipping some cheapy Cab Sav as I had the foresight to take a bag.

Time for some beer and music

Here are some before and after pics of the Citadel.
Can you spot the difference?

Phil

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

As usual, a long day, tiredness, dehydration, a late night and alcohol is a great recipe for getting pi$$ed.
Well there is a surprise.....

Friday was a bit of a slow start.... we headed to La Boisselle to visit the Lochnagar crater http://www.lochnagarcrater.org/ stopping off at a couple of cemeteries that adorn the area then a trip into Albert for a coffee and cake (a recurring theme over the course of the trip!)

Sorry it's a bit crap, you can't really get the scale on a 'phone....!

Albert;

We needed to return to Arras for the evening but pencilled in a return visit to Albert for the ww1 museum.


Friday night was more music, kicked off by these;
Twenty One Pilots, utterly stunning performance and a new 'favourite band' [emoji3]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92XVwY54h5k

Franz Ferdinand;

Phil

 

[Barftone]

Nice one Phil. Lochnagar crater is a hell of of a hole! Could be heard from London when it went off!

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

'tis a big hole Tone.


Phil

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Owing to the monumental lack of interest in this thread, I'll not waste any more time & effort continuing!

Phil

 

[Ian Porter]

Owing to the monumental lack of interest in this thread, I'll not waste any more time & effort continuing!

Phil

You've had 70ish people read it Phil,

Just because we haven't posted doesn't mean we're not interested.

I for one would like to hear more.

 

[austin]

What Ian said +1. I like reading travel threads, especially from people I know. I seldom comment but still like the thread so keep it comin'.

If you want find real despair in your efforts try organising weekend-long meets..


Sent from my iPhone with a smile

 

[Alba]

I would like to know how the trip panned out

 

[Elle]

Owing to the monumental lack of interest in this thread, I'll not waste any more time & effort continuing!

Phil

You've had 70ish people read it Phil,

Just because we haven't posted doesn't mean we're not interested.

I for one would like to hear more.

+1

 

[Paul-S]

Looking good so far Phil

 

[Chewbadger]

Me too, please continue.

Rob

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Ok, ok, I may have been a teeny bit hasty.
Writing ride reports can feel a bit of a chore, the only reason I do so is because I enjoy reading other's reports.
If only a few peeps enjoy or gain ideas for future trips it makez the effort worthwhile

To be continued when I get a spare 1/2 hr or 3 [emoji6]

Phil

 

[austin]

Hurrah, keep it coming Phil. [thumbs]


Sent from my iPhone with a smile

 

[Mikey]

Ok, ok, I may have been a teeny bit hasty.
Writing ride reports can feel a bit of a chore, the only reason I do so is because I enjoy reading other's reports.
If only a few peeps enjoy or gain ideas for future trips it makez the effort worthwhile

To be continued when I get a spare 1/2 hr or 3 [emoji6]

Phil

Owing to the monumental lack of interest in this thread, I'll not waste any more time & effort continuing!

Phil

Quite right too you bloody prima Donna

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

So, after some great bands on Friday, the evening ended with some horrendous dancy transient stuff best described as sheer NOISE rather than actual music - gawd knows what the local residents thought as the ground shuddering bass pierced the early morning air..... eil-laser:

here is a link (if you really must (not taken by me btw))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBR5Yo8YIhM

that crap continued, exactly the same for nearly TWO HOURS!!!


Great light show though (you wouldn't know it from my pic however)

Saturday was a leisurely start with a coffee, croissant & scrambled egg.

Kev 'chillin' in an Arras square, with a coffee;

We took a trip into the Wellington caves (technically an old quarry) that were extended in WW1 to allow troops easy/safe passage to the front line. A great visit with a knowledgeable guide - well worth a visit.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/french-flande ... quarry.htm

The weather has become a bit changeable and MSF has become a bit boggy in places, still Saturday provided a great selection of bands.


Sunday; another slow start and the run 25 miles or so to Albert for the ww1 museum based in more tunnels, another great visit marred slightly by a rather unhelpful checkout assistant (why are people like this employed when dealing with customers??? ), still worth a visit if you are in the area.

http://www.visit-somme.com/somme_touris ... 6_a_albert

Some horrendous figures

Upon surfacing from the tunnels, the rain was coming down - I mean properly peeing it down, the type of rain that gets you wet. Very wet (made worse as I had left my jacket attached to the bike doh...), a quick dart to the bikes & frantically shuffling under a canopy to get kitted up & head back to Arras, hoping to find somewhere for lunch.
What, lunch? Lunch, mid Sunday afternoon in France - having a laugh aren't you everywhere S.H.U.T!!

Except...

Approaching Arras, the "golden arches" came into view - that'll have to do :idea-013:
Maccy D's was full of bedraggled 'sweet young things' from the festival ( plus me and Kev ), drip drip dripping all over the floor, all with the same idea, food, warmth and FREE WIFI lol

Two and a half hours, four "mac somethingpretendingtobemeat" meals later, lots of free electric & wifi and a now soggy map of france our second half of the trip had changed from the Vosges to the Loire in the hope of some better weather....

Festival campsite, it actually got out nice!

Blow dry.

Onto the last night of MSF, now resembling a pic you'd normally associate with Glastonbury & nothing like the dustbowl of 2011

The weekends lineup:

Highlights for me were:
Twenty one pilots
The Foals (utterly superb)
Anna Calvi
London Grammar
Franz Ferdinand
David Guetta (bit dancey but brill set & lightshow)
And....






Skrillex -for the 2 hours of dreadful noise it still makes me laugh at the utter, utter din created that evening!


Phil

 

[Lowflyer]

Excellent stuff Phil, you big girl's blouse

Never mind the Hissy fits, keep them photos a comin you rascal

I am also shortly going away to a fun filled weekend of sun,sex and beer ( well maybe the last one ) here ---


http://www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk/

Been going for years now, only this year demand was high due to Tom Jones being there.

Still got tickets, usually go to the seedlings stage, see all the youg un's do their thing.
As an aside, my claim to fame was walking out on Ed Sheerin and Emile Sande on two different occasions when they were at the seedlings

Oh well , so much for me being a talent scout.
This time next year Phil, come on up with the bikes, make a weekend of it

 

[Lulu]

Great stuff, Phil. Only just caught up with this thread but keep them coming.

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

oops duplicate

Phil

 

[Paul-S]

Great report and pics Phil

See you soon

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Duplicate!

Phil