Day 2: Mon 25th June 2007
Ride: Caen to Millau - 678 miles
At 6.00am this morning soft music was piped through to the cabin and Pete, Kyle and Cat were gently woken from their slumber. The tune was called "It Can't Be That Time Already", and for those that had hardly slept, they were glad it was that time already - there may need to be some cabin changes on the return journey from Santander. After a good breakfast it was back to the cabin to put on damp leathers and waterproofs and pick up the luggage. Unfortunately the weather this morning didn't look promising but despite this Kyle still refused to put his waterproofs on. The luggage was loaded onto the bikes and they waited for the ferry to dock. Everything was going like clockwork.
Last night everyone had fuelled up before getting on the ferry and as soon as it docked they were on the road and rolling. It wasn't long after this that the confusion started. Last year the only person that knew where they were going was Phil because nobody else had a GPS. This year Kyle had a brand new TomTom Rider and he had the route to Millau planned. The GPS predicted that it was 498 miles to Millau and they would arrive at 4.00pm. It directed them to take the A88 and continue for 30 miles before joining the A28 signposted Le Mans. From there continue for another 15 miles and join the A11 signposted Paris. From there it was A28, A10, D976, N76, A71 and then a couple of long stretches on the A75 and D911.
However, it didn't seem to make any sense to ride towards Paris to then go south so the GPS was overruled and instead they took the A84 signposted Rennes and would face the consequences.
Meanwhile the rain had started lashing it down to the point where Pete and Cat forced Kyle to put his waterproofs on. The theory went that it wouldn't stop raining until he did. So he did, and it duly did. The rain stopped and the sun finally made an appearance at midday by which time leathers and luggage had started to dry out. They were making good time employing a splash 'n dash technique at fuel stations, stopping every 100 miles for fuel with 10 minute breaks. Apart from the rain the ride was fairly uneventful although the closer you get to the Pyrenees the more dramatic and stunning the scenery becomes.
This pretty much reflects how the day was spent - and they loved every minute of it
As the rain clouds cleared so did everyone's heads because it dawned on them that they really should have listened to the GPS. By time they arrived in Millau they had covered 678 miles in a little under 12 hours and the consequence of not listening to the GPS had been an additional 180 miles and 3 hours of riding. They finally rolled into Millau shortly before 7.30pm and checked into Hotel du Commerce in the centre of Millau.
The hotel was clean, comfortable and located in the centre of Millau, but parking wasn't secure and the bikes were left on the street in front of the hotel.
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