This is the post of our first day that took us from our hometown (Knesselare) up to Contrexéville in France.

We left this morning at 7h30. Look at these shiny horses and some of their riders. Ready to take up the big task, as you can see:

We left at 7h30, took the E40 in the direction of Namur and afterwards left the highway to pass Dinant, Givet, Sedan, Verdun, Neufchateau to drive up to Contrexéville (close to Vittel). Yes both towns are linked to those famous water brands. Although I must admit that we decided not to have any water during diner, but went for some Rosé wine instead. Hé, we are in France. What did you expect ? Sounds a bit like that commercial of (what's her name again ... ?). So we arrived at 18h30. So that's a trip of about 11h. Nice for a first day.

By the way, we found the Golem creature (of the Lord of the Rings, remember) in Neufchateau. Gave quite a chock. I was fast enough to take a picture :

Now after a second look, I saw that it was my buddy:

Ouf...

Right, that's it for now. We will kill some extra Rosé wine now and probably leave somewhere between 9h and 10h tomorrow morning. 380 kms to go. Looking forward to it ...

My buddy has decided to clean up his bike a bit as well. A splendid VFR it is, fully equipped with tank bag, top case, etc. Have a look at this nice picture just below... Aaahhh we definitely start to feel the thrill and look forward to our trip ...

Inner bag

Just bought an inner bag that nicely fits the top case. Next step is to take all the baggage needed and store it into all the luggage compartments that I have available now. Something to do for the days to come...

As the start date of our journey is approaching, it is time to prepare the motorbike. And that's exactly what I did today. I removed the seat cap and mounted the top case. This is the first time that I did that and I am surprised about the additional weight that is generated on the bike when I take of its main stand. I'll definitely will need to take it for a spin in the days to come, to make sure that it indeed doesn't impact too much the riding experience. If needed, I'll switch to the alternative - being a bag that can be fixed on the rear part of the bike' seat. I'll post a new message once the test ride is done :). By the way, here you can find a picture of the Honda VFR, nice and clean, with the top case.

Now - this is it. The place where you should be able to find all info on our preparations, pictures, experiences, emotions, you name it ... all related to our motorcycle trip that will guide us thru the French Alpes. 

If all goes according to plan we will leave our home town Knesselare, which is a very small village in the East of Flanders, on the 2nd of August 2012. We will travel using National Roads up to the lake of Geneva, where we will start a tour of 3 days to cross the French Alpes, based on the existing "Route des Grandes Alpes" or the "Great Alpione Road (in English)". Check this link if you want to learn more: http://www.losapos.com/great_alpine_road. After 3 days we should arrive in Menton, which is a city located in the South of France, close to the Italian border. Nice city, "du beau monde", a bit of sun, beach.  That's what I call a good excuse to stay there for a while. 

We calculated that it will take us about 9 to 10 days to do the whole trip. Hmmm ... that will be a lot of miles in a short timeframe ...