France

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The best thing about France is undoubtedly the TV show Falco.  He's a tough, motorbike-riding police inspector who get things DONE, but not by tedious conventional detective work - he does it by staring moodily into the distance, wearing a leather jacket, and having a great beard.  And he's sometimes visited by the ghost of Elvis (who speaks fluent French).  Naturally, he has a complex personal life. It's a very aspirational show for style-blind British chumps.
Here are some lovely pictures from the France trip - it was hard work (1400+ miles), but very good fun and we packed a lot in (including riding through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany in 1 day... I had a stinking cold and was at the very limit of my endurance on that day)
 Self preservation society outing.
 The citadel at Bitche.  This was an accidental find - we were in the area for the fantastic winding roads (and pure Hansel and Gretel scenery)
 Cite de l'Automobile museum in Mulhouse, probably the most valuable collection in the world
 Apart from great roads, this was the highlight of the trip for me.  It was built up by the Schlumpf brothers, and is housed in the mill building that made their fortune. It has the largest collection of Bugattis in the world.

Bugatti's own Type 41 Royale.
 Tiny Bugattis.  There's also a pickup Bugatti!
 Pop-up headlamps in 1937
 Little Citroens
 I'm probably the 1st person to take a photo of this.  Renault 25 LIMO - ultimate autoshite!
The Schlump's eventually went bankrupt and fled to Switzerland, spending their final days living in a hotel






 Bugattis
 More Bugattis

 We met some journalists from a French motorbike magazine at a service station, they had a brand-new VFR.  It's got a real quality finish - I'd be scared of damaging it.
 One of several hotels we stayed in.  We also visited Germany for dinner one evening - but it was only 24 miles away.
 Reims cathedral
On the ferry going home

Nobody had any breakdowns or near misses, the French drive as badly as the British, it didn't rain, we found some excellent little cafes, I briefly rode along the autoroute at 130mph after forgetting I'd changed my speedo from KPH to MPH, Copilot for Android is SHITE, and going on bike tours with a really stinking cold is not recommended.

But I'd definitely do it again, but this time not underestimate the vast lengths of boring autoroute that need to be negotiated.

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