MooN

104 metres ( 341 ft for the cave trolls among you)

Nope, couldn't be arsed to remove the topbox either.

There was a French comedian (Coluche) who asked the question " If a Frenchman is driving a mercedes, that's classy. If a German is deiving a citroen what's that, nostalgia?..." german tourist in a mercedes stopped by the police in paris for some minor traffic misdemeanor, Policeman says " you've not been to Paris before have you sir?" German tourist replies " Ja, Ja, Ja, bot ze last time I vos here, I vos driving tracked vehicle..." I'll get my coat...

I had a school friend who's grandfather was, or had been, "regional coordinator " fo the local administration in case of nuclear attack. if ever you asked him what would happen his reply was invariably " you're all going to die" Jolly bloke he was...

ooh not me, always been the same. At sea too when I was younger. I don't mind riding, driving or sailing in wind or snow or whatever but I hate fog.

Down at the southern end nearerethe dam it's much deeper, I could see about 20 or 25 meters of dqm wall clear of the water as I rode past but theres's still enough water in the deeps for there to be half a dozen fishermen out in boats.

yep. they drop the level every winter so they can absorb the winter rain and snowmelt. This year is exceptonall cos they have to inspect the Dam every 10 years I think and they need to empty the reservoir to do that.

The forcast was for cold but clear this afternoon so I planned to ride. around 11 it still wasn't clear but I went out anyway. it was about 6deg c and misty but with all liners in place in jacket and trousers, 2 pairs of socks and heated grips I reckoned It wouldn't be a problem. 220km, riding clockwise. By the time I got to Joux la ville, the sun had burnt through, but that didn't last long. I stopped for fuel in Avallon (1,76€/L !) and then lost all visibilité as I gained what little altitude the Morvan has. Stunning views If you look carefully at the triangular warning sign it says "Chasse en cours" which is what the hunters are obliged to put up roadside if they're beating anywhere near a road. What it really means is that for the next few kilometers, on top of the fog, gravel patches, cold and other road users, you also need to look out for panicking wildlife fleeing the hunt, the hunters dogs chasing the fleeing wildlife and a more or less numerous party of pissed up trigger happy hunters in 4 wheel drives, with loaded guns... if you get run over, or stampeded upon or shot, on the public highway, ... well the signs were up so it's your own fault! the hunters crack me up, they all spend vast amounts of money on specialist camouflage clothing so they can't be seen. Then they all have to wear orange hi vis vests in the field cos otherwise they shoot each other...... and their dogs, This is the northern end of the "Lac de panneciére" one of the canal feeder reservoirs, emptied for the winter this year Tiger in the mist On the way home I rode through Mhére, which is where they filmed "Les Vétos" ( which probably never made it out of Burgundy, let alone out of france). The fog / mist was thicker in places and around 4 pm the temperatur went into freefall and by the time I got home around 5 it was down to about 2C and starting to get dark, but the fog had cleared.

Dry reservoir in the Morvan this afternoon

erm...

much as the idea is tempting, the reality is that a 2400km round trip on the autoroute is not my idea of fun. it would be beyond my physical capabilities to do the trip in less than a week or 8 days and I don't have the finances for that ( or the time...)

I thing "badger" must have very different connotations here...

I, like Pedro, was dead set against comms for years. I got so pissed off at people phoning me from work all the time and having to stop, remove gloves, remove lid, remove earplugs ( or at least one) get the phone out of it's case, ring them back, leave a message and wait for them to ring me again (or wosre put all the clobber back on only to have them ring back 30 seconds after I've got going...I succombed and found a cheap one on an online sale room for 50€. I can now simply pull over and talk to whichever technicien has fucked up without having to spend ages de-gearing and gearing up again. The sound quality is shit but it allows communication, a conversation if I stop and gps vocal instructions more or less. It is not indispensable, but I will invest in a vetter quality one whe this one dies. Never wanted heated grips before, but do enjoy them now. never wanted satnav before, but to use it a lot now. none of the gadgets I have, especially the electronics are so vital that their absence would pose a problem though.

Not to mention belonging to a quality bloke...

A little dryer, and NOT on a weekend during hunting season I would too. You really don't want to be in the woods here on a hunting weekend, doubly so in the afternoon when they've all consumed copious amounts of wine at lunch. I just saw on the news this evening that another one got shot today. Not dead but in ICU at the moment.

great pics Pedro. As ever.

it's got to be an improvement on my previous steed, right?

I know they will, but I've never been one to get overly concerned about what other people think, at least insofar as it concerns me.

I managed to grab a week of work right at the tail end of the season, went to try and statrt sorting through stuff at Mother in law's house but just spent a couple of days eating and drinking with friends... The weather has been shitty all week but cleared a little on saturday so I quickly planned an afternoons loop on Kurviger, transferred it to the phone, posted a message to some mates to see who else was up for 3hrs of dodging "Les Chasseurs" on the backroads of northern Burgundy and, as I expected, they all had some dodgy excuse for not joining me... The loop I had planned was towards the north north west with it's farthest point somewhere south west of sens. The cloud cover was patchy and temps were around 8 or 9c (46 -48 f for those still living in the third world...) but there was a clearly difined South West / North east weather front moving south across the region during the afternoon. I got my thermal pants out of the cupboard and got properly togged up before leaving, but added the top box at the last minutes cos I didn't think I'd be able to stand the thermal liner in my jacket for vey long. I hit the weather front between Joigny and Courtenay, It was a clearly defined line of cloud, at ground level, like a wall and boy was I glad of my thermals then! I even had the heated grips on full for a while and it was clear that in some of the dells and dips the verges still had last nights frost on them which hadn't thawed from the previous night. Added to the carpet of fallen leaves of varying thickness,the frosty patches made for some "interesting" moments in a number of places... I managed to find a couple of clear patches where I could stop in the sun. even managed to find a hunters cabin, but they were out all over the place so I wasn't about to break in for a look. ( there've already managed to kill at least 3 people so far, one of whom was driving a car along a nearby road...along with numerous cats, dogs etc) Was out for about 3 hrs in all, Stopped at the BMW dealers on the way home cos my 12 v socket plug crapped out and I knew BMW uses the same sockets. Nice place, but they won't work on anything but a BMW, even just to fit tyres for example. They were happy to take my money for a 12vplug though. Got home in tame to shower and change befor going out to eat at a friends house. A free feed is always a good end to the day

Hope you got over the desire to stay inside. good pics too.

loking at that chopped wood and is that a wee table out front where you parked, I'd suggest the place is less abandoned than you think., good pics though.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but take a lok around you mate! Have you seen the folk in here?! No one normally constituted would put up with it... .

Siri just ignores me. I've tried but it doesn't react to my voice. probably just as well cos I struggle managing myself, let alone a virtuel assistant

Yeah but to be fair, you're unstable, Pete's just bizarre. around 8 to 10 c here this afternoon so I'm going riding.

I can only really speak for the part of France I live in. France is a big place and the locals, along with their Brit immigrants, differ vastly from one area to another. This part of france has it's fair share of Brit immigrants, but most of them work, rather than retiring here. Very locally the brits work on the hotel boats on the canals or in the tourist industry. on a wider scale the brits in Burgundy tend to work in the wine industry or tourism. as I understand it the Brits on the south coast are more in line with those who emigrate to the costas, wanting to retire to guaranteed sunshine though maybe not as dodgy as Pete describes in Spain, @Tango ? The Lot and Dordogne regions are allegedly heaving with brit expats ( the Dordogne has been since the middle ages and the last crusades) but I believe mostly retirees again. You then have the mountains and the ski resorts which are full of your younger brit seasonal workers during the ski season, but as dopeheaded and mindless as most of them are, they don't have the scammer reputation. I think the spanish costas attract a certain type of Brit. A hangover from the days of el cheapo package holidays, freddie laker flights and an allegedly easily corruptible police force. All of which will attract a certain type of person. The now ageing brtit expat population will again attract a certain type of brit scammer, or bring out the scammer in a certain type of person... vicious circle. As the ageing Brit expats status and income is fragelised by Brexit or whatever, they will become more suscetble to the scammers, which in turn will attract more scammers... etc...ect