We have had the routes sorted out for quite a while and the outward journey will be taking the westerly "N10" route nearly as far as Bayonne before cutting inland.
The first stop will be at the Kyriad Hotel in Chambray-les-Tours to the south of the main city of Tours. Claire and I stayed nearby many years ago at a Campanile Hotel. I don't remember ever staying in a Kyriad before but they are part of a larger chain.
According to the route planning software it should take us the best part of seven hours to complete a non-toll journey of over 310 miles.
Neill has planned the outward journey and we will follow a route he took a few years back when he did the trip solo.
There is a fuel stop around halfway where we can have lunch at a McDonalds. I don't tend to use them when away, and rarely at home, but they are good for free wifi and of course a McPee.
Day two is also a long day in the saddle. The planner shows it as 316 miles and another 7 hours in the saddle. The second overnight is still in France at another Kyriad in Orthez.
I am hoping there ae some good cheap restaurants on both nights. As I have said I am not a great fan of dinner at McD! But we need to try and keep costs down.
But before all that I need to make sure that Vera is up to the trip. She needs a good clean and the chain adjusted and cleaned. Careful maintenance in the year since I bought the bike means that I have not had to adjust the chain myself. It was done when the new tyres were fitted.
On that front there should be plenty of life left in them and they may need replacing after I get back. The same goes for a service. I have done a little over 4000 miles in the last year and the interval is 7500. The trip to Spain will be about 2000 miles return.
This time I will take less with me as well. On the Czech trip many of the t-shirts and a pair of jeans had a round trip of 2000 miles without being worn or even removed from the bag!
