Well that was an interesting night. The storm that huffed and puffed at our little tent for an hour last night abated and apart from a wet tent, exterior only I am pleased to say, we are dry and planning to take the back roads for the next few days. I am very glad we deployed all the tent’s guide ropes to make it more secure. We were staying in a small campsite in the country at Eaux-Puiseaux, no villages or towns for kilometres. It was mostly occupied by Dutch caravans and motorhomes as the location is a pleasant day’s drive from the Netherlands for those travelling further South. The plots are massive compared with the Municipal campsites and shielded from each other by high thick hedges.

Our earlier time constraints saw us mainly riding autoroutes which, while having quick transit times, do not allow us full enjoyment of the French countryside and the small towns and villages dotted along the route. The slower routes have so much to offer, scenery, town centres, good food and coffee. Today the “Organic Map” App has tolls switched off and our journey will take twice as long. Taking the D965 will take us most of the way to Vierzon and the next campsite Anne has identified.

Having lunched at Service Stations on the Autoroutes since we started riding in France, we are looking forward to just finding a small village restaurant to lunch at. How to decide, just the ‘feel’ is how we do it. We are passing through Saint-Fargeau and it just seems right. A quaint place with five restaurants to choose from. Lunch at Le Bistrot du Chateau saw Anne’s tuna cooked to perfection. The Chef was from the south and seafood his speciality. This is a great reason to take the backroads.

As we navigate through Vailly-sur-Sauldre on the D926 heading west, Anne informs me that the warning triangle has appeared and then “Tyre pressure dropping, 2.0 bar, 1.8 bar”. We pull over and Anne learns from a local that there is a garage around the corner. Yes there is but it is closed. Must be Monday. We check Anne’s tyres with a handheld pressure gauge but both are fine. Must be a faulty sensor.

Looking at the weather in the direction of the next campsite, it is an ominous dark grey. The weather map shows a line of thunderstorms in that direction and an “Orange” warning for thunderstorms has been issued. Discretion is called for and we quickly book a hotel to the south in Bourges to avoid the inclement weather. As we prepare to leave Anne notices my rear tyre is deflated. I have the problem on my bike but Anne is picking it up on hers. Inspection reveals a large screw in the centre of my tyre all the way in.

As we hunt for the tyre repair kit, I do lament leaving the compressor behind for that extra packet of tasty biscuits, and we ponder how the problem of one motorbike’s low tyre pressure is showing up on another. The only explanation we can come up with is that somehow the wireless tyre pressure monitors got swapped over when we had new tyres fitted. That has been in the UK, USA, Costa Rica and Dubai all the way back to 2014! Since we check the pressures regularly and we have the same tyres, without this puncture we would never have known. Who would have thought it.

This is my first puncture ever on my motorcycle, that I can remember. I have fixed Anne’s in Kazakstan 2014 and Ian’s, who we met at the side of the road in Peru, in 2015. That’s it. Turns out both the repair kit and I are a little rusty. Some faded instructions explain the gist of what I need to do and I can confirm that “Ream until easy to move the reamer” is accurate. Without this first step other steps do NOT work. Anyway just as I am finishing up, successfully I think but I still needing to test the tyre pressure after emptying five small compressed air cylinders into Storm’s rear type, a car pulls up and we meet Patrick, who has pulled over to see if he can help. Patrick turns out to be a local fireman, well not quite, he has some 1,600 firemen reporting to him! A lovely guy who wants us to let him know that we have reached our destination safely, Merci Patrick, this is one of the reasons we travel to meet people. Tyre pressure is spot on we are off again. Will it last is the question.

Our window to avoid the storm has passed and only a tantalising 30km short of our destination the storm hits. Our KLIM riding gear, which has seen snow to 46 degrees celsius starts to show its age. Slowly we feel the water seeping through both the pants and jacket in a couple of places. One can only put off replacing old equipment for so long. Oh well, we live and learn.

We have found the drivers on the whole in France treat motorcyclists well. Many have slowed on the Autoroutes to allow both of us to overtake as well as let us pass in traffic. After the storm we even had the Gendarme clearing the road of fallen branches for us. Now that is what I call service.

After a drying night we decide that the daily it seems bands of rain and thunderstorms we will see us stay in one location for the next couple of nights. We are heading for Chinon where we will base ourselves for a few of days and get to enjoy riding without the kitchen sink.

– Anthony