Ep .5 – Exploring Southern France on my BMW 1250GS Adventure bike – France and Spain Tour

Today I ride from Castres in Southern France to Vichy in the middle of France taking in Fortress views, beautiful rivers and amazing roads.

Join me on my 10 day 4000 klm motorcycle adventure which will see me ride my BMW 1250GS from Santander across Northern Spain into the Pyrenees all the way to the east coast, then up across the border into France where I travel north through the French mountains and much much more…..

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Good morning. Okay, last night I stayed in the Mercure Hotel um in Oh, cool. Oh, where am I? Can’t remember where I am. I’ll put it on the screen now where I am. Uh setting off this morning. Um just plotted a bit of a basic route through uh through the center of France. So, let’s get on the road and see what we can see today. See you on the road. So, this is where I walked down to last night. Let’s go and get some food. Lovely little square. There’s the water fountains. And I went into where are we? Pizza family there for a uh for a pizza. It wasn’t bad. Wasn’t hungry though. So, probably only had about a third of it. Yeah, I should have explored it a bit more, but I was again I was tired last night. Hopefully today’s not as long a ride. It’s only 190 mi today. So, if I get to where I’m going uh earlier, I’ll go for a bit of a walk around. Bit of a chill out. It was a bit rushed at the end of yesterday. But still great fun. I mean, I was up till probably half 11, 12:00 last night just transferring files onto the computer. Um, I think I’m only just going to have enough storage for all the uh all the content I’ve recorded. I mean, I’ve got a two terbte hard drive and it’s already half full. Anyway, I’ll get out of this town and I uh I’ll turn you guys back on. See you shortly. Oh dear. That’s going to be a sudden stop, isn’t it? In that tree. It’s quite an overcast morning. 23° still feels quite cool. um when you’re riding, which is nice cuz it’s been stiflingly hot. Back on the road again. Let’s see uh see where these roads take us today. Yeeha. Well, that looks like another fort on the on the hill. Let’s see if we can get up there. Try and uh look for a sign. All right, let’s go up to the chatau. Right, Calmont Dalt un Shadow Fort. I think what I might do is be a bit naughty and just send the drone up and have a look. Yeah, let’s do that. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Right. So, I’ve tried to uh get up to the chatau uh but it looks like it’s actually closed today. So, I uh sneakily took the drone up and got you a nice nice view of it. Um shame that I’d have liked to gone up there. It’s uh it looks pretty impressive up on the hill. Okay, let’s get back down off the hill and see where it takes me next. Mr. Calimoto, I’ve finally done it. I found the best burger in France. It’s not where you’d expect it to be. I’ve been searching and searching. They’ll add burgers in Spain, burgers in France, and uh this has got to top them all. And it’s at McDonald’s. I’ve just had a quarter pound of burger and fries. And you know what? You can’t beat them. You really can’t beat them. And I love the fact they use uh disposable, not sorry, non-disposable um cups and chip holders. They’re like plastic and you put them back in, they get reused. Really good idea. But anyway, definitely the best burger so far. Still got uh 6 days to go, so I’ll see if I can beat it. I think I was just hungry. I needed some food. Yeah. So McDonald’s best burgers in France. Yeah, I think we’re getting up into the uh the mountain roads now cuz uh we’re getting a bit twistier and the views are getting better. So, let’s enjoy some roads driving down the open road. My heart’s in a heavy lo in my hair as it falls destination. Nobody knows. Oh, wow. Look, another amazing little village. Oh, I don’t think there’s any bad ones, is there? Holy moly. Attention. Danger. You know when you see something out the corner of your eye, you think, “What is that?” That’s what happened with this. I was riding on one of the roads the top up here just in my peripheral vision I could just see a lake uh and I was supposed to be riding away from it going that way I thought nope nope no I need to go have a look at this found this little dirt track coming down to it and look at this it is Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Obviously a couple of private boats on there. People use, but it is just there’s nobody around. Nobody. It’s so peaceful. Yeah. I think this is a a nice secret little gem. I mean, I know it’s a Monday morning, but still, I would have expected somebody to be down here. Anyway, I’ve just stopped for a quick drink, catch a breath, stretch the legs, and then back on the road. Got about another 90 mile to go, I think. Um, and I think most of it is uh roads through the the mountains. Um, so yeah. So we’ll get you back on board with the bike and take you down some of them roads. But just take this in. It’s beautiful. There you go. Look down a little track off the side of the road. Finding little wonders like that. Absolutely beautiful. Right on the road again. Let’s follow Cali Moto again. Come on. Cuz if you look, as you’re riding through now, you can’t see it. It’s just down there. You can’t see it. So, it would have been a shame to not go and have a look cuz I think it was uh it was definitely worth it. Right back on track to where we were supposed to be going, which is through them their hills. It is a thing of beauty. Really is. Again, water. Why is it with water? The fascination with water. It’s uh it’s just beautiful and calming. You know, I’ve just spent the last hour videoing and uh catching photos of the of the water. What is it that Oh, just look. What is it that makes it so special? or is it cuz we don’t live near it. So to us or to me it’s uh it’s special cuz we don’t have it very close to us. Whereas if you lived here and this was on your doorstep every day. Maybe not. I don’t know. But for me it’s uh it’s beautiful. Look at the map, ladies and gentlemen. Twisties. Know what this white stuff is. But I like these. I just realized I don’t think I’ve seen a car at all since I’ve been up here. Where is everyone? Again, I’m not complaining, but why are people not out enjoying this? This is just epic. People are sticking to main roads and riding through villages or driving through villages. You got these roads up here. Oh, wait. More for me. Oh, first car. Talk of the devil. Literally, as soon as I say it, one car. I’ve been here an hour out a bit. This is exactly the same as yesterday just before. Well, what am I? 50 mi away from the hotel. Roads get epic. Just twisty twisty through the mountains. I think it’s all about on a tour. It’s all about patience. This morning, you know, I had to sit on the N88 for 30, 40 miles. Bit boring. I thought, “Oh, is this what France is going to be?” You know, maybe I should have stayed in the Pyrenees longer. And then you get places like this. And I’m so glad I’ve come through France. this. It’s the same but different. It’s just Yeah. Awesome. Hey, hey, hey.