To the Alps & Beyond – Day 2

Second day of travelling from Reims in France in August 2023 with my son. Heading to near the border with Switzerland. On the way, searching for a petrol station to fill up and came across lush green sceneries and hospitable locals who went out of their way to help.
#bmwmotorrad
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#france
#joanofarc

The plan was to get from Rees in France to Mont Bellard which was the next hotel on the borders with Switzerland all in a day well that was the plan this was the view that greeted us early in the morning on Saturday it had been raining all night and woke up late

Missed most of the breakfast that was available still plenty to eat but we had to get on our way it’s nearly 12:00 so we’re leaving quite late we’re on our way to Mont pelo which is near the border with Switzerland it’s 217 Mi away I’m taking the hopefully the

Scenic route here let me start this bike up it’s been raining all night it’s still quite warm so it’s crazy my battery on the on my phone is gone down I didn’t charge it up last night I’ve got the charger on here and right let’s get this going

Yeah it’s 21° but it feels much warmer than that say no entry that way but here I come which way from here it’s up that way yeah running alongside may be a river I’m not sure very quiet it’s a bit wet lot of traffic lights don’t see any speed C

Cameras look at this it’s quite nice imagine what it would be like if the sun was out as well that’s quite nice so recap we’re doing a 5our long non Motorway route so we had to uh pull over because the navigation on the phone kept playing up it kept redirecting us

On to the mot way when we were trying to keep to the uh uh Scenic routeway this is the beauty that of going through these uh smaller roads rather than the motorway you see a bit of town a bit of farm I mean look at that

Beautiful I love it I love these old buildings so we’re going through some town now and we’re in r CT barrier so there a train line that goes through here oh reminds me of the Jesse James days there’s a car behind me if he wants to overtake go ahead

Mate it’s saying on here it’s 163 mil of petal left where we are going it’s well it’s gone up to 200 now I think Arsenal have scored got my friend uh saying what a goal it’s uh Saturday isn’t it Premier League Time way into the town through the m

In is there any is there any petrol stations around here looks like a nice place let’s have a look how much mileage do I have 148 and our our destination is 174 we’re looking for a petrol station where to let’s have a look petrol stations here we go there one into March

30 that’s 2.6 mil go right which way and I hope it’s open as well it’s say G but that way isn’t it but that might be the closest one if that’s the one we’ll do that one p your legs though because we need a bit of a

Wow wow I got some messages as well so um Bob was sending me messages so let me have a look one oh oh it’s a it’s a Australia against okay that’s why it’s so quiet out here Bob so who’s winning I don’t know where we are and we’re running out of fuel so

Um yeah so here we are and and look there’s my young hero young padwan and uh but yeah look we’re in the middle of Norway yeah no wonder it’s quiet because um maybe the French are losing or something anyway turning back slightly it says it’s only 10 minutes away for this uh petrol

Station and it started bucketing around as well so it’s we’re going back the way we came I haven’t see any F station obviously we we were we came this way so all this we oh it’s down there it’s saying losing my bearings here get let me turn it around this is

Gravel let me just remember which way am I supposed to be going right on the right hand side isn’t it yeah so Avenue Del this is um under normal circumstances I quite enjoy all this but I just want to find station sounds hungry as well this is oh here comes a car see he’s he’s doing me favors thank you that was quite nice with it where is this petrol station come

On the only thing is I’m a bit worried because everything seems closed it comes roundabout do a left here there’s a salon that’s open Barber is this is this Andre magino so that’s that’s the guy who was um is that the magino line that was drawn where it was stop the Germans

Coming over or something during the first Great War it’s turning me turn left here where is this petrol station come on man I’ll have BMW to FK for this if it’s correct and it it does look like it is oh it’s a 24hour self service station in

There so there’s no there’s nothing here for you to eat oh yes yeah go on so we found it right put some um card details in first so let’s do that first can you read French Onre um this uh let me ask these people um hello uh you you put um sorry

Hi all right just wondering you you put the card in here there and then and then petrol yeah okay um okay yeah that’s right it’s going to be that one but H okay uh this one this yeah yeah oh yeah that’s okay okay please wait and

Then oh okay my card that’s my problem I I fix it yeah it’s okay I use another carard but that’s how you do it yeah and then and then then and finish yeah if you want a tiet oh you say yes or no okay I I’ll re see

Yeah yeah okay oh no no no yeah it’s this one yeah F yeah okay P okay oh maybe problem with my card okay no you can’t put the Petrol in first they won’t let you to put s oh yeah Boutique wa down there yes okay yeah I don’t understand

Um if uh if you don’t come pay with your c yeah uh you can probably uh ask to the boutique okay it’s the same oh okay which one is this one oh okay okay okay okay so how I how I go there this go like this yeah it’s okay I’m

Going to first I’m going to see if I can fix this if not I go there okay thank you very much thank you see and hopefully this tank will be full don’t have to worry about fuel for next until probably tomorrow let’s have a look let’s have a look ah that

One see how much fuel I’ve got in here 3 and right we’ve got 364 uh 365 miles we can travel now right I I am going to hurry up now cuz I I’m getting tired riding the bike and I think you need food as wellah just found

Little if you want to get some fruit or some bananas or whatever or any food or do they all sandwiches in there hello you yeah I’m good yeah so we’ went into Littles which is down there and then guess what we come back with yeah that yeah

So what do you want to eat you want to have something there yes I’m sorry yeah you’re not for friends you’re not from here no okay I apologize no worries doesn’t matter we have got a problem with our car and we’re looking for a garage oh okay on

Saturday yeah it’s very quiet I know I it’s a problem yeah it’s a problem because it’s Sunday they send us over here to that garage it says holiday yes yes unfortunately now we’re going to ask inside where you from Holland Holland okay okay so you’re on a

Trip as well yeah yeah and we we stayed in Paris and we now go to stasb oh our car is um G oh okay littleit so it’s a problem you don’t have like um um insurance or mechanical thing I don’t know break down no yeah the uh no we are not uh short

They short but we can call them but we try we first wanted to try that’s fair enough yeah yeah yeah because it’s a lot of money you have to pay but I know if it’s so it’s so but yeah yeah try yeah I mean yeah I’m afraid yeah I don’t know

You can’t see everything from above and if you find a garage that’s open at this time it’s still possible get it done yeah I understand but no wor the next option yeah yeah absolutely I ask one of the drivers maybe they know ask thank you yeah good luck yeah and

Have a good Halloween thank you very much it is a bit of pain neck isn’t it putting on the helmet see even though we’ve got enough time yeah yeah all right so we’re going the same direction we’re going uphill this is a bit I don’t like cuz I’d hate to stop

Here oh I like this this is preparing us for the St pass as we were passing these Villages a plaque caught my attention it bore the name of Joan of Arc and we decided to investigate is this where she’s is she a fictional character or is she

Real it shows how much we know let’s have a look we’re too tired to get off and have a look at that statue so let’s just go around and have a look there there is her Jihan di it’s got something about 1853 or something wow just a couple of minutes here

1855 e Paul he the guy who built this Monument Patron sa of France oh what you okay it’s nice and peaceful here and it’s 24° it’s lovely right and look there there is a hotel there yeah John dark all right so monuments histories and sites oh okay that’s like

A oh wow there’s something going on here so maybe it’s got something to do with Jon definitely has okay we’re going to get back on our way should we just have a quick look something else caught my attention and some a little building on top of this hill thought I’d investigate this one as well oh that’s my excuse to get a stretch of my legs

Man just a couple of seconds yeah I just saw this I just thought what’s this stained glass windows broken drainage wow we just came up there um I don’t know if we are allowed through there because there’s a sign I’m not sure what it’s saying it’s got a no entry thing

But yeah I’m not sure what’s that is saying oh no it’s saying 3 and 1/2 I think it’s trying to say 3 and 1/2 tons we’re not 3 and 1/2 tons not yet anyway it’s actually quite a nice scenery here there’s more archaic things here thank you thank you amazing scenery here

Vine hope the FR S A Punch all right let’s go old with a new think a lot of people use firewood here a lot of stack of them we’re 71 miles away oh wow the bells are totally okay this is an amazing Place Little Village beautiful that’s a nice little shop what’s all

This I don’t know what they’re celebrating nearly arrived at Mont pelo and it’s uh less than half a mile away 2 minutes and the temperature here is 28° I just can’t believe it we’re near the border with the uh with Switzerland so I would have thought it’ be this is probably high up

In in the mountains looks like nice it’s got buses which are resemble the Bendy buses of the old bendy buses Forest SP out wow got petrol station here so I know where to come tomorrow okay so there’s the bus station so oh here it is I’m not sure where we’re supposed to park

It Wow Let’s go inside find out what the score is I don’t like it when this place is like this I suppose it might be in here we might have to park in here I’ve got an issue with that but did you leave this open it was open anything you you fly

Out no oh we still got these yeah nice for this the IIs is oh that might be the underground parking I think that’s the parking underneath which is pretty cool yeah it is cuz most of the hotels have it Wicked thanks sorry one of your lens are fogy so oh no

Oh it’s been a long journey hello hi um I have a booking for for today yeah uh d d yes Mr D here yeah yes thank you very much one night yeah that’s right I got a bike out there is it down Park in underground oh brilliant so it’s you

Don’t forget to ring and me I open the door okay before to go in underground the price it’s 950 okay that’s for you yeah right so um we need to get some boxes off there shall bring the boxes in first then take it down or is there entrance underneath

To for the you uh you can uh you can uh entrance in the park park your bike and after you have a direct access okay pleas okay it’s the same okay no problem thank you yeah just check this out man this is uh you know what the temperature is here what’s the

Temperature sure you 22 22 right now and there’s going to be a thunderstorm uhoh there’s going to be a thunderstorm but I can tell you now that’s a day off I we haven’t had any proper food why is the focus so hot it’s so bom

Me hey I have a look at this we just went into a shop and uh the guy I was asking him where can we get some food and his name was aiz I didn’t know he was a he was from Afghanistan he gave us Rua rava he gave it on the house and

Ibraim is happy with it I’m happy with it um but he said try some other places there’s hardly any place you can find around here man so Ras out to everybody R come to a restaurant it’s somewhere in here Mont b or whatever what’s this place called Bella pasta

And um we uh we’ve been looking around for some uh food to eat in this evening the hotel doesn’t have anything so we’ve come here better pasture L the guys U the owners the ones who work here they said it’s Halal so we’ve ordered some burgers and um H

It what do you want tomorrow something normal like a sandwich yeah well you seen how it is