It's all in the preperation

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It feels like we have done no preparation for this trip. Much of the kit is still packed and ready to throw back onto the bike. We aren't doing a big tour this time so no routes to plan. We just needed to agree and book a destination and set the dates. Oh and this time, we are going with friends, Ken and Briony.

One significant piece of prep was to change the springs on the bike. Last trip was done with a leaking front fork. Although this didn't seriously affect the handling, the loss of oil meant the bike tended to wallow and dive under breaking. I decided I'd have a crack and fixing this myself... ok with a lot of help from Ken. As the forks were coming off I also thought it a good idea to upgrade the springs, and then, what the heck, change the spring on the rear shock as well. We did this over a couple of weekends and so far I'm impressed. Nothing has fallen off and the handling is much sharper, especially when laden with luggage and a pillion.

We had originally thought of the Alsace Mountains, some great roads and no too technical. The challenge was the distance to get there. Not an issue for us normally but we were only going for a week so travel time was an issue. We couldn't afford 4 days traveling there and back and the route isn't particularly entertaining. We settled on the Ardenne on the France Belgium border. Just 160 miles from Calais so an easy days ride. Lot's of history and some nice hills to ride around. I had hoped to find somewhere in the hills but we decided on a holiday home called Le Château near Etalle. Research on the web looks promising so fingers crossed.

The plan is to set off on Friday night and stay over near the tunnel so we can set off early on Saturday morning for a relaxing ride down. That gives us time to settle in, get the lay of the land and get some shopping in for the week. As this isn't a tour we can unpack and enjoy the facilities of the house. We have picked a few places to visit in the area and programmed a couple of routes into the SatNav for some rides but we shall take each day as it comes. If the weather is good, we go on a long ride. If the weather is OK we visit the local towns, villages and parks. If it's poor we can stay local. Looking at the long range forecast for next week, we'll be doing all these things.

So, all that remains is to get through the last few days of work and load the luggage, can't wait



Have a good 'un

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