France Germany
Got off the ferry at 6am ish. It was weird driving on the other side of the road again. I have a bit of tape shaped in an arrow on the screen in front of me to remind me what side to be on but it is still awkward at times and I have made a couple of minor blews on my first day.
Nothing too serious. Our first stop was St Michel.
From Europe

I had only seen pictures of it before but they would never show how impressive it is in real life. As you approach the area it stands up from the landscape as an magnificent man made, monument to commitment. We explored the abbey and surrounding village for a few hours and for me it was the most impressive of the building so far. It was not as ornate as the other cathedral we went into but it had a solidness a quite that would be fantastic to experience when it was actually quite, rather than with the hoard of tourists that were there. It would be amazing there if they did something like they do at sovereign hill and make it even more experiential.

The ride from there was along the coast then down into the French countryside to Vitre. It is interesting riding along noting the differences in the countryside between England and France. Although they are so close there are some differences that are a major contrast. The lack of fences, the different building styles, the town layouts different to how it has been in England and how things are in Aus. It is interesting how things evolve diffently even though they are so close together. The campgrounds in France are far more numerous which is very much welcomed.

From Europe

The introduction to language difficulty has started. On leaving England I have changed my Sim card in the phone and now have to setup the phone with new settings but this was difficult enough with english speakers, but with french it adds a bit of complexity.

Didn't get far today. Had a few hold ups that made It difficult to get many kms under our belt.
The riding was good as we decided to take one of the tourist routes that took us along the Loire river and through the Loire valley. Scenery was breathtaking once again with beautiful scenes at every turn. We stayed and free camped along the river at a nice little spot. Some music coming from somewhere until late but lovely spot.
The next day we continued along the tourist route and as it faded out the french countryside took the rivers place.
We went into Tours where I got the orange man (that is Orange phone France) to sort out my internet access on the phone. It was good fun (for him and I) to try and understand each other. It was really nice to interact with a French person on a level more than merci or bonjour. The need for me to go to the toilet in Tours was great so first I tried to sneak into a cafe and use theirs but got caught so had to go to the payed loo on the footpath. So I paid my money got in pulled my pants down facing the door, then thought I better lock the door and of course the handle I chose was the handle that opened the door and here I am in all my glory pants down facing the passing footpath traffic, trying to figure out how to shut and lock the door. Anyway finished up achieving what I had to do and continued on my way.
From Tours we went to Orleans then we chose to head onto the motorway to get some distance towards Germany. It was fantastic to have Bron riding again, So nice not to have to do the long haul by myself. Bron did an hour or so then I took over for the ride to finish the day. We aimed for a lake so we could free camp again but couldn't find a camp on it but found a better spot just up the road from Lusigny Sur Barse. We both had a nice solar shower although I got sprung in the nuddy by a french couple out riding their bikes. How lucky are they seeing a Big Bronzed Aussie in the nud.
Must have thought all their Christmases had come at once.

From Europe

Lovely sunset.

Tonight we are in Munster. A small town in mid eastern France. A ski/spa village that has similar architecture to the house on the us TV show the Munsters. Lovely little town with a great ride here on a good twisty road and literally hundreds if not thousands of other bikes. The ride from Vendeuve su barse was mostly rolling hills, there were a few towns on the way with most of them coming up when Bron decided that she would have a ride. It seemed that it was quite and easy when and where I road but as soon as she took over riding it became busy. She handled it pretty well but she had a few scares.

Again the scenery was beautiful. Bron brought my attention to the color of the sky over here. It is a lighter blue compared to Australia. Not quite as deep as the Australian sky. It is lovely to notice these sorts of changes in the environment. It was exciting to get away from the rolling hill country to the start of the alps. The mountain country not only brings out the boy racer in me but also the part of me that enjoys everything that comes with the mountains. The smell of the air changes, the scenery changes to more abrupt angles with harsher contrasts and the valleys are so deep.
The bike is going along well and Bron and I are becoming more in tune with traveling and each other. We are becoming accustomed to our setup and packup jobs.
We have eaten some french food but because we are cooking most of our own food the opportunities to trial the food has been minimal. The Kebab's taste the same and the McDonalds is similar ( we got there for free WIFI ) except there is no breakfast.

The contrast with what I have seen throughout this trip (so far) and what I saw last time I was here could not be greater. It is like last time my eyes were closed. I think some of this is down to age but tools such as the GPS has made a big difference. We are travelling slower but it is so good to be able to look at the map and put a town into the gps and it guide you there. So much easier than trying to navigate with paper maps and signs. So this allows us to go down roads that would be to difficult and frustrating to navigate any other way.

Our gear is going pretty well. We are looking forward to a couple of days at some friends in Germany which will allow us to do some more sorting of our gear. I am hoping to be able to send home another couple of kg and make packing really easy. A the moment we fit everything in but it sometimes takes a bit of effort.
The bike gets lots of looks as people pass it when it is parked in the street. Comparing it to the local bikes it is packed for 6 months of travel and has bags hanging of everywhere, I should put a sticker on it identifying that it comes from Australia, see how we go.