The Mrs and myself were booked to go on a wine week in the Loire Valley, France in 2020. Due to the dreaded C19 causing havoc this got put back to 2021 and then finally it's going ahead this September. In the meantime Easy Jet have pulled out of Newcastle Airport meaning there is no easy way to get there for the wine group (we were going to fly to Geneva and then get a bus over the border as it's not far). The latest plan is to get the train to Lyon (Newcastle to London, London to Paris & Paris to Lyon) and then the bus back up to Malfretaz. That didn't seem like a lot of fun so I'm going on the bike ! i'm booked up on the North Shields - Ijmuden ferry which is about 12 miles from my door. I'm planning to have a gentle trundle through 'olland, Luxembourg & Belgium, stopping off at Waterloo to have a mooch about there. A very steady two days there and two back to the ferry means I can keep off the motorways and explore the smaller, more interesting roads. As a bonus I've just realised that the French round of the World Superbikes is on the Sunday I'm due to start heading home and it's only 120 miles away from where I'm staying so I may just loop by there and catch up with some racing. Just need the weather now, fingers crossed.
