Quick splash and dash for both Harley and I at Aire de Romorantin, in the Cher region and on the A85 Autoroute.
Fair morning, traffic OK bar a few crazy Parisiens on weekend getaways!
Usual motorway rip off price for fuel, that’s international as well….
Catch you all later.
Ride like the wind, runnin’ from the rainbows.
Dookes
OK, time to be serious.
During the build up to D Day, 6th June 1944, the Royal Air Force was called upon to provide tactical photographs of Northern France. These photos were to monitor German troop movements, defences and strategic targets vital to the success of the mission to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation and tyranny.
Only aircrews of the highest calibre and skill flew these incredibly dangerous missions, which demanded the highest precision. The aircraft were totally unarmed and often had all armour protection removed as well, speed and experience being the only protection. Additionally, most missions were also flow during daylight hours as night photographs did not contain sufficient detail.
Various types of aircraft were utilised at different times, principle were super fast versions of the famous Supermarine Spitfire, but by 1944 the fastest plane in the sky was the De Havilland Mosquito. Affectionately known as “The Wooden Wonder” or just “Mossie”. This incredible aircraft was built using composite layers of lightweight types of wood and powered by two supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin engines, giving a top speed of just over 400mph.
This is wartime photograph of a Photo Reconnaissance Mossie.
On the 5th June 1944, MM243, a PR Mossie Mk IX of 140 Squadron RAF, set out in daylight to photograph German defences in the Le Mans area.
It never returned.
Near the target it was shot down by accurate anti-aircraft artillery and crashed near the town of Bauge. Both crewmen died.
They were Flying Officer Jesse Bertram Reynolds (Pilot), Flight Sergeant Franck Earnest Brown (Navigator).
Jesse was 26, Franck 21.
Jesse had flown 16 previous photo recon missions, Franck 28.
They are buried in adjacent graves in Bauge Cemetery.
At the location where their aircraft crashed there is a simple memorial and plaque to their memory, maintained by the local community.
Today, I detoured to visit the site, pay my respects and leave a poppy cross.
The memorial lies on the edge of a small wood and it is difficult to imagine what the scene must have been like when the Mosquito crashed.
The place is strangely tranquil, birds were joyfully singing and the whole area had an almost ethereal feel. I’m not very religious these days, but there was definitely a presence to be felt, a warm peaceful presence.
I think that the simple inscription sums it up well, translated it says;
“They have given their lives for our freedom”.
The rest of this road trip and the freedom it encapsulates, is dedicated to Jesse and Franck.
We will remember them.
Well, chalk off the first full day of this trip, we are rolling!
I’m pleased to report that the weather was largely kind to Harley and I, after a really dodgy looking start. Roscoff to Rennes was mixed, a bit damp now and then, but OK. I opted to take the Autoroute towards Nantes, by Bain de Bretagne we needed fuel and food and also that’s when it decided to rain like a firehose; for thirty minutes whilst I had lunch.
I turned to cut cross country via Chateaubriant, cos I’d never been there and that was a good enough reason. It’s an interesting place, a bit rundown but has a great Chateau, fascinating old Post Office and really cool Glass Theatre, et voila pictures:
The Chateau.
Post Office, which is undergoing renovation and will be a tourist info office when finished.
Theatre.
From Chateaubriant we followed the D163 to Cande, where I had to grab a pic of this old windmill.
My mate Alan thinks that wind turbines should be disguised to look like old windmills, was this what you had in mind Al?
We continued to Bauge where I had a special job to do; more details in another post. After that we headed south and picked up the Loire which we followed and eventually crossed near Bourgueil. The river is more swollen than I have ever seen at this time of year. Grabbed a quick pic to show you!
The sun really came out a couple of times, this is Mouliherne.
Very quincentennial eh?
Total miles today: 344.
You up for some more tomorrow and get on the tail of Bond and Goldfinger?
I got an open road and a restless soul.
Dookes
Good morning everyone. Well the trans-Manche crossing was nice and smooth, the sea is very calm with hardly any swell or waves, so had a good, if short nights sleep.
Thirty minutes out of Roscoff now. Weather is almost exactly the same as in Plymouth, grey, dull and wet. Ho hum, gonna be a grim start to the day on the road.
Catch you all later.
I hear that highway a callin’ .
Dookes
Sorry about the uninspired title of this report, but it sort of sums it up; I’m on board MV Pont Aven, the ferry to France and hopefully adventure!
Regular blog followers will know that I really like this ship, even if tonight it’s almost overrun with French school children.
The ride to Plymouth was, predictably, wet; with the added joy of three miles…yes three bladdy miles of spilt diesel oil on the already slippery road! Was there any signs to warn of it, no of course not, this is the UK! When I got into my cabin I found that my leathers stink of diesel oil as well! I’m not happy….!
Well actually I am, cos Harley and I have got going and as I write this the ship’s engines are revving and it looks like we are about to sail, so enough of the moaning Dookes and let’s get sorted for dinner!
I don’t think you need a picture of a grey sky and even more dreary sea, so how about this beauty that I caught the other week at the Royal Cornwall Show?
She’s a Foster Showmans locomotive called “The Leader”, nice eh?
Catch ya tomorrow, all down the line.
Dookes
Well, here we are at the start of another adventure and guess what? It’s raining! Actually not really rain, nor really mist; round these parts they call it ‘mizzle’. What it means is that you get a double helping, first you get soaked, then you get to feel really miserable…..especially if you then have to get on a motorbike and ride to the port to catch a ferry! My fault though, I washed Harley yesterday.
This is what it looks like from the window of Dookes H.Q., excuse the quality but you will get the idea….
So am I feeling excited, well no. Actually I hate this time just before setting out. Harley is all ready and packed, everything has been checked, double checked and checked again. I just need to get changed into my riding gear and go, but not yet… Once the engine is running and I shut down the visor on my helmet, pull in the clutch and then let it out in first gear I’ll be OK, in my own space in the zone and OK; but now, I’m crawling up the wall.
I know that I have a wandering gene, that pulls me out onto the road and as the song says, “looking for adventure and whatever comes my way,” but it’s also a wrench just to get started sometimes and leave behind that that I hold most dear…but if I don’t go and chill, I can be a real life pain in the ass.
So it’s better to ride, let off steam, explore and hopefully come back better than when I left, if you get my drift….
V power, you know it makes sense; catch you all later!
Dookes
OK, so James Bond 007 is a secret agent, but this mission isn’t, so it’s time to share the first part of the route briefing, pay attention all you ’00’ agents.
The film is initially true to Ian Fleming’s book, with Bond following super-villain Auric Goldfinger across France to Switzerland. Both Bond and Goldfinger’s cars are transported to France via air ferry from Kent, but as these days the air-link is long gone and as I live in Cornwall, we are going to have to bend the rules a bit, anyway I end up driving more miles than Bond as a result! So first up, it’s the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff in Brittany.
Bond, in his Aston Martin DB4, follows Goldfinger across northern France to an overnight stop in Orléans;
“Bond had never cared for Orléans. I was a priest and myth ridden town without charm or gaiety.” Good enough advice! Harley and I will stay in my regular billet near Chinon and pick up the trail near Nevers.
From there the antagonists head south on the N7, before picking up the N79 to Macon. In the book, it is here that Bond runs into Tilly Masterson, literally! In the film we will see it is a fair bit different.
Bond traversed Bourg en Bresse and passed through Pont-d’Ain then picked up the N84, which is now the D1084; we will cut the corner on the D979 and link into the old ’84 near Nantua. I’m going to take a check then how I feel about things. In the book, Bond goes into Geneva and finds Goldfinger’s lair at Coppet on Lake Geneva; the film is different…so ride along and find out!
Catch you down the road…
Under your feet the grass is growin’!
Dookes
Getting near the next trip now and rushing round sorting all kinds of loose ends, more details of route to follow in the next couple of days, stand by.
Brilliant night out in Tavistock yesterday, went to see T.Rex tribute band T.Rextasy.
I know that tribute bands are not to everybody’s taste, but these guys are good, very, very good!
Not only does the lead singer, Danielz, look and sound spookily like the late and lamented Marc Bolan, but the band are a really tight outfit and every bit as good as the original T.Rex outfit…! In addition, these days the place is not filled with screaming teenage girls, like it was in the ’70’s, so you can actually hear the music! They played a full set of all the classic hits, plus some album tracks and b sides, pure glam rock, magic!
There are quite a few YouTube vids of them, go check the band out Click Here cos you’ll like them. Better still if you see ’em playing near you, go along to a gig, you’ll love it! 
…and remember; Keep a little Marc in your heart!
Dookes
This morning, getting ready for the Goldfinger mission I popped into Plymouth Harley Davidson, on two wheels of course, for some service bits. When I came out I found this lovely old BSA single cylinder job parked outside.
It looks very like one that my old Dad used to own, long before i came on the scene! It’s maybe a C10 or C11, but I’m not an expert on old BSA bikes, so if anyone knows better/exactly I’d love to know, cos I couldn’t find the owner to ask.
Time wasted enjoying yourself is not wasted time.
Dookes
OK, as regular blog followers will know, for various reasons I have had to swap this year’s ride schedule around a bit, but the urge to get out there is as strong as ever, so where?
Well, the last big one was ‘The Italian Job’, so lets keep on with a movie theme, but go back another five years to 1964 and what a year that was; it saw …
James Bond: “Auric Goldfinger? Sounds like a French nail varnish.”So what do you say we ride on out to follow part of Bond’s route to Switzerland and find some of the locations?
Good, thought you’d like it…ferry is booked for 20th June!!!
Into the great wide open; get yer leathers on!
Dookes
Hogrider Dookes 