Day-record...

After spending 6 nights on the camping of Jeannot in the french Jura-mountains, it is time for our return on friday. We did drive there in 2 days and had plans to drive back in 3 days. But that turned out differently...

Packing in...
We are awake early and after the morning-ritual we slip into our biker-gear. Then we start rolling the sleepingbags and put them into their sleeves. Then the sleepingmats need to loose some air and are tucked into the waterproff bags. Then there is space to fold some clothes in order to put them in bags to get them fitted into the panniers. Most stuff is already packed on the bikes before we go inside for our breakfast. For a gentle price we can have breakfast on the camping and that saves me a lot of time shopping every day. This is my vacation you know.

Goodbyes...
After we've had our breakfast we pack the rest of the stuff on the bikes. Then I realise that my glasses are still in one of the pockets of the tent. So we have to unpack the stuff again. The glasses have a strange shape, but are not broken. That leaves me to take the plastic into the garbage and then we can leave. We've said our goodbyes to Jeannot at breakfast. Now that we leave the camping he is there in the doorway for a final goodbye. We turn right and after a few hundred yeards we go up the mountain. Nice twisty roads on our way to St. Claude. There we take the A-roads into the direction of Besançon.

Detour...
When we want to drive into the direction of Nancy, the road seems to be closed and we need to take a detour. Guess what, these roads are just renewed and they all have a layer of fine gravel on them. Driving with 50 km/h is fast enough and there also are a few haarpins in that are not announced by signs. But all goes well. Near Quenoche we stop to get some fuel and some sandwiches. Every time we take fuel we also eat and drink something. After that we drive for about 200 kms and stop for a while to walk around and have a cigarette. This way we nicely stay on scedule.

Busy traffic...
Eventually we end up in Luxemburg. In Berchem we go again to a service-station and again we eat and drink. There is no more space on the parking, but there are a few small cars where we park the bikes behind. If anyone wants to leave, we can move the bikes, but we are within the lines. Here we make the decision. Do we try to find a camping or are we going straight home. Then we drive into Germany.

Fastest way...
Traveling by Luxemburg and Germany seems to be the fastest way to travel, according to the GPS. But with all the roadworks in Germany it is very time-consuming. But once on the Autobahn we can move on with 150 km/h and we can catch up a little time. After nearly 250 kms, I drive up to be side by side with Roel and point my finger towards my mouth. I am beginning to feel hungry. In Ville Ost we stop at the service-station, fill the bikes and park them. Then we go inside the restaurant for a good meal. That makes us feel much better and it certainly helps us to concentrate on the traffic.

Monstertour...
Then we cross the border with the Netherlands. About 12 kms before Zwolle we need to get some fuel again, just to make sure we can get home. A last cigarette before we go all the way home in one go. Just after ten pm we are home. We did travel for 13 hours and looking at the counter on my bike, I learn that these were 1032 kms, that we had underneath our wheels this day. Then we walk into the house and into the kitchen. It looks like a bomb went off. The boys certainly didn't expect us home yet. I don't feel tired at all, I really feel fit and relaxed. It surprises me really. I really enjoyed this ride.

Betty Smit, Motormeisje.nl

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