Anyone wanting to visit the Dordogne area in 2013 is welcome to call on me for local advice, use of tools etc. This is a very popular area for British bikers touring France, I should know as I came on a bike and moved here within a year! We will be happy to take people around, me on the K100 and my wife on her F800ST.
We have a great little local hotel at €25 single and €32 double per night, if that is too expensive then you can put a tent up in my garden or on my airfield for free, I will even lend you a tent if needed! You can eat out locally for around €11 per head for 3 or 4 courses with wine.
If you are interested then PM me a land line number and email address as all of my phone calls are free.
Some video of the local area is on youtube, my username for youtube is "BMWbikerinFrance" and "TheBioniXman".

Too good to pass up this offer........I love France. Have all my own camping equipment.

92kk

I have been planning to do a trip (about 2 weeks as I have plenty of time) to see the Millau bridge and then back up through the Italian lakes. I was going to do it Sept 12 but it was raining all the time, so hope this year will be better.

I have tried camping but found the bother of putting a small tent up and down each day (especially in the rain) too much so adopted the policy of B&B out of season (hence September) for convenience - I did a trip that way to the Vosges (Alsace) mountains a few years ago. Or can anyone recommend an easy tent suitable for a K100LT as I would like to cut the cost (and extend the travel) as I live on a small pension. Alternatively I am considering the website couchsurfing - anyone tried it?

For planning I use a set of the German motorcycle maps (ADAC motorradtouren) that send you on the scenic twisty roads
You can buy the complete set from http://www.mapsman.com/store/category.php?id=41 or download them for FREE from www.uem-moto.eu/index.php/touring/uem-maps

Any one interested in coming?

I know what you mean about camping, we prefer small French hotels too. As long as you avoid August there is plenty of cheap hotel accommodation around, our local hotel charges €32 per night for a double room.

I will be landing in Frankfurt(Germany) at the end of June and then travel to east of France.
I will then be in Bedarieux and Bordeaux in middle of July.
Bordeaux-Perigueux is only 130kms....
Do you have a place to park a camping car for a day or two? (Sorry no bike).

Anybody wants to plan a 'European meeting' ?
CF

I am planning a little visit at the end of the year. Would prefer to go sooner, but with children and school and holidays it is a bit limited.

rossco

I am thinking of a quick blat mid year for a couple of weeks around the Alps. It is 20 years since I collected my K75S in Munich and I have been getting an itch which is now unbearable. I was just in Dymocks (books) this morning and picked up three of the Michelin 5XX series maps of southern France. During work time of course.



I have toyed with the idea of keeping a bike over there but don’t know whether it is best to keep the Rego in EU, UK or Aussie. The plan would be to FIFO when I can. I am getting old and want to do this stuff while I still can.



CMeelboom, that link to the maps is appreciated very much. Guess I’ll just have to cut and paste them – scissors and glue that is.



Cheers, Dave.

@ Crazy Frog, you are welcome to park a camping car on the airfield, which is 1 km from my house, but the house is on the side of a hill in the woods and although we have plenty of land around the house, even delivery drivers have problems getting to it. Just down the road is a place called "Roque st Christophe" (look it up on google) and they have a free area for camping cars, it is near enough to share some wine!

@ Tackler, To keep a bike here legally it would need French plates and you would need a French address. UK plated bikes need a annual tax disc and an annual inspection (MOT) which would cause loads of hassle. We had some Aussie mates who had a little house here and did 6 months on each side of the world, they kept a French registered car here. They sold up when they split up.

Thanx Bikerboy.



I thought that might be the case. I believe MOT costs about 30 quid and then there is the hassle of getting it done every year. Lots to think about with a couple of garaging possibilities in the UK and one in Germany. From what I see here the Deutsche TUV is very stringent with regards to rego and the UK is easier. Will probably go with Carole Nash insurance if UK registered. Very much a work in progress at the moment.



Cheers, Dave.

Tackler, the trouble would also be that UK insurance companies also have a clause which states that you must be a UK resident to take out insurance. If you were to try and keep a bike in France with UK plates you could legally only keep it here for less than 6 months, but that is not rigidly enforced, you would however have to take the bike back to the UK every year for the annual MOT test and to buy a tax disc.
Having lived in the UK, Germany and France, I would say that France would be the easiest option for you, but there would still be a few hoops to jump through.
France would also be the cheapest place with no road tax, not MOT and cheaper insurance than the UK.

For the Aussie members... I live in Poole, the south of the UK. Just 10 miles from the main harbour with regular ferries to France + Spain & 40 mins from Southampton, again regular ferries to France+Spain. I have a large garage plus a timber workshop with room for 1-2 more bikes (i am currently working on a 1976 Suzuki gp100, but it can be shifted)!!
I would happily store a UK registered bike for you (no charge of course) .

I'd make sure it was charged/ ready for a visit.
The offer is there...

I'm hoping to visist an old friend in Normandy this year as a short French trip (my first)!!

Hi Bikerboy.

That is very nice of you to post the joy of biking in the Dordogne. I couple of years ago I came through going down by the East of France to Millau Bridge and then on to Montpellier while on my 1985 K100RT with 98K Miles on it. It was a wonderful experience and I have wanted to come back which means with an offer like yours I will like to take you on your offer. I do not mind staying in a hotel or camping but that depend on what the weather is like.

It will have been nice to time it for when Crazy Frog is planning on coming in June as he helped me a number of years ago when I was rebuilding my K100 with advice I get from his website at the time and we even planned to meet up in France that year but did not work out. I am on another trip in June to Portugal and Spain.

I will PM you with my details and hope to see you sometime this year. I currently ride an R1150 GS Adventure but my pride and joy is my K100 RT and K75S.

Cheers

Sojelade

Sojelade,

What a surprise!

Earlier, when replying to this post I was thinking about you. Where have you been?
You were one of the early members of this forum. You registered in 2008

Hi Crazy Frog,

I have been very busy with the kids growing up and also getting heavily involved in Advance Riding and Iron butt Rallies. I will try and put some of my exploits on this Forum. The weather in UK has not been too bad over recent years so had not need to spend much time in the Garage over the winter period.

I am in the process of tatting up my K75S as I had a leak in the transmition and thought I might as well change the clutch at the same time. But guess what I might be doing a whole rebuild which is why I have not wanted to do much on it before now.

How are you and how is the family. Hope to keep in touch now but depending how long you will be spending in France this year let me know as I might be able to pop across the channel for a weekend for us to meet up.

Cheers

Sojelade