Vive la France
Well, after the floods comes the sun. At least, it shone on us in France, anyway!
I took Mark on a two day training course over to France last week with an overnight stop in Beaurainville. The route I’ve marked out for this training involves a mixture of hilly roads that rival and even surpass Zig-Zag Hill in Dorset for twistiness – the route contains around 20 hairpin bends in total – and some windy valley bottom roads that follow trickling streams. Once away from the environs of Calais (about 10 minutes riding), the biggest town we actually pass through IS Beaurainville, and the roads are empty and almost all better surfaced than the UK’s potholed highways.
The scenery is varied and beautiful, the villages unspoiled (they were far enough away from the ravages of the WW1 Somme battlefields and escaped serious damage from bombing in WW2) and the ride back along the coast road past Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Griz Nez never fails to offer stunning views over the channel.
The overnight stop is at the “Chambre de Hote Mont Blanc”. This is run by Jeannie and Orrazio Cerrato, an anglo/italian couple who ran a restaurant in Brussels for years, so they will cook you an evening meal if you wish too. It’s excellent quality accommodation, very reasonably priced too.
If she’s booked, try the Long House just up the road – I’ve used that too, and it’s also a good place to stay though the local pizza is a bit of a long walk.
Beaurainville itself is just inland from Le Touquet and the Calais – Abbeville autoroute, so no great distance from Calais if you are looking for a halt just over the channel before pressing on further south.
One day courses to France are available on any day I’m free in Kent, and I’ll be available for further two day courses in France in September when the french schoolkids have gone back to school. Prices will be:
£150 for a one day course (excludes Eurotunnel fare)
£350 for a two day course (includes one night’s accommodation in France with evening meal, excludes Eurotunnel fare)
£390 for a two day course (includes one night’s accomodation in Kent, one night’s accommodation in France, two evening meals, excludes Eurotunnel fare)
£430 for a two day course (includes TWO nights accomodation in Kent, one night’s accommodation in France, three evening meals, excludes Eurotunnel fare)
If you book a course with a friend, there are discounts available on the training:
£210 for a one day course (excludes Eurotunnel fare)
£510 for a two day course (includes accomodation and evening meal, excludes Eurotunnel fare)
£590 for a two day course (includes one night’s accomodation in Kent, one night’s accommodation in France, two evening meals, excludes Eurotunnel fare)
£670 for a two day course (includes TWO nights accomodation in Kent, one night’s accommodation in France, three evening meals, excludes Eurotunnel fare)
There are also other, flexible options available including doing one day training in Kent and one in France as well as a training break, which includes one day’s training focussing on learning to ride on the wrong side of the road, and a mini-tour on the second day.