MooN

Crap weather today, 16 c only and huge cold front moving north and west across the country. It cleared a little in the afternoon so I went for a ride, thermal liner in my jacket and winter gloves on. By the time I got home (around 18:30) i could have done with the liner inmy trousers too and had had the heated grips on for half an hour. Soon as the sun goes, th temps drop fastnow and autumn is apon us. Whilst driving to a job yesterday I passed this place and decided to come back and have a look, today was perfect timing. About an hour south east from home, on the N151 between varzy and La Charité sur Loire there is a cllection of metal sculptures on the roadside and a small workshop called " L'atelier des Afranchies" ( the workshop of free men, or Free man's forge) Julian who's place it is is young, not 30 I'd guess and full of zeal and slightly naive ideas and ideals about anticapitalism ( he probably hugs trees and knits his own wholemeal yoghurt in his spare time...) but is open and freindly and clearly gifted. He collects scrap metal, drift wood from the Loire, bits of knackered bikes from the areas scrap yards and turns them into : He even has similar ideas as me about what Suzukis are good for Predator made from a motocross bike and 2 scooters I came home on the back roads, skirting round behind the trailing edge of a strom cell that must have gone through about 15 minutes before me. 190 odd km and an interesting interlude discussing stuff with Julian from the Free man's Forge.

Oi! I resemble that remark! I can actually remember failing the Eleven Plus... just like my sister before me. ( we both went on to A -Levels or more though) and I definately read Lord of the flies, though possibly not in school. What the UK need to help them out of this "crisis" is to join a club or group of other likeminded countries where they could share manpower or costs and benefits as well as losses and problems, this would smooth out the short term ups and downs of the economy by allowing free movement of labour within the group or Union giving a huge and mobile, Labour Pool. We could call it a Union of European or maybe the European Unio... Oh, wait a minute...

I voted Sofia cos Ilike the pic...and its a trumpet...

Hello, make youself at home, put your feet up. Don't feed the inmates after midnight...

and who cares?

4! i'm onviously far too young to know about any of the others

what do you get if you throw a hand grenade into a 1970's french kitchen? Linoleum blownapart

If a vegetarian only eats vegetables, What does a humanitarian eat?

If a werewolf is a bloke that turns into a wolf at the full moon, What's a warehouse?

in '93 I move to a different country. in '99 get married. in 2015 (ish)my wife's 20yr old cousin Mael decides he wants to learn how to make guitars and signs up for a School in the UK. His main tutor there is... my cousin James. WTF!?

Cool pics and write up Pedro. thanks.

I think his area IS an unusual place Pete... I seem to remember various stories from around there about secret nuclear bunkers and warehouses full 0f cardboard coffins for use in the event of nuclear war... ok I was very young at the time, but much of Lincolnshire has abandoned 2nd WW air bases which are fun to find and look around though many of them have been ploughed up now I expect

some great pics there!

you're not going to keep it then?

Hey Tango, mostly good advice above I think. Age is certainly a factor but it's likely a combination of all the above, the time off, age, the bike etc. I would suggest doing a one or 2 day refresher riding course. If you can afford it cos the good ones aren't cheap and you need to find one adapted to your needs ( ie not a GSXR competition rider training day) but a " stage de reprise de guidon" done by a professional.

Illegal to ride without certified motorcycle gloves in France now. Even when it wasn't I still always wear gloves, jacket boots and lid. I will admit to still riding in jeans when it's hot.

This much he told me; retired from the army in 2015 after 31 years service having entered at 19 ( mostly active service in the gulf, Kosovo, serbia and afganistan). Mortgage paid off, wife but no kids. Wife died in 2016, he fucked off on his bike, originally to france for a few days to sort himself out but then just kept on going. He says he was lucky to have a full military pension and his sister in the uk organised renting his house out, so that while he lived frugally, camping mostly and eating from supermarkets he was ok financially, on a budget sure, but ok.

it was part of the deal... some "Me" time away from everybody else where I can just "Be". He didn't say much about the GS but judging from what I saw, I imagine it had a high level of preventive maintenance and routine work done by pukka mechanics rather than el cheapo back street moped mechanics.

Thanks Tango, I've been looking at the normandy beaches too and have started route planing for a trip at some point. No family there for me though as my grandfather was a concientous objector and his brother ( my great uncle) was a hurricane pilote who was "Lost somewhere over France" during the battle of Britain.

He spent the first lockdown in Dubai I think, and the second in the US where he got vaccinated but there were no real restrictions within the country.

I will admit to having the "me-phone" with me with numerous navigation aids that I often use but I have recently found it refreshing to not use it a navigate the old way.

helloo.

hello and welcome.

Thanks Pete, I do quite a bit of research before I go on these sorts of visits, cos I like to understand what I'm looking at and I like to know what I'm going for though the "Eparges" episode was fortuitous. Lack of research at fault there. it's also easy to fill in the gaps in ones knowlege once you get back home, internet is a wonderful tool for that.