Those of you who read Classic Bike Guide may have noticed an article some months ago about a chap called Steve Eade who is running classic bike tours on his collection of 1950's Vellocettes in South West France. I thought it sounded like it would be an enjoyable few days and as my wife Rita had just decided to go on a "girls only" trip to Italy I decided that the same week in early May would be an ideal opportunity to find out what Velocettes and the South of France were really like.
Arranging the trip was easy. A quick call to Steve to agree on a date, booked a flight to Perpignan with RyanAir on line and reserved myself a room via email at the Hotel St Jacques in the Village of Sorede, recommended on Steve's Velo-Tours Web site. Everything was arranged and confirmed the same morning. I arrived at Perpignan airport early on the Friday afternoon, the sun was shining and Steve was waiting to meet me and took me straight to the hotel. We quickly dropped the bags off and went straight down to a bar in the village square for a cold beer or three. After a while the other Velo Tourists joined us: Derek and Christine from Essex, and Richard and Diana from Berkshire. Both couples were touring the area by car and had decided to do a few days with Steve on the Velocettes while they were in the area. We were then introduced to our tail man for tomorrow only, Norman, a 78 year old Sunbeam Alpine-driving, Suzuki Bandit-riding ex-pat now living in the area. His girlfriend June would also be joining us on the back of Steve's BMW which he leads the tours on.
A good few more beers, then it was back to the hotel for a quick wash and change before going out for a meal together at a local restaurant Steve had booked for our first night. This was to be the first of what turned out to be some superb meals that were invariably great value for money. After the meal the majority of the party went back to their hotel or home. However I was just getting my second wind so Steve took me down to the Shamrock- the local British bar frequented by the large number of ex-pats now living in the area. Friday was darts night and this place turned out to be extremely friendly and a little home from home for the rest of the trip.
We were picked up at the hotel by Steve bright and early the next morning. The bikes are kept nearby at the farm house, which he is currently restoring. I was apparently going to be riding "The Famous MAC" - a 350cc Velocette MAC featured in Classic Bike Guide in May 2000. Derek and Christine were on another 350 MAC known as "Old Smokey" the reasons for this name are obvious to all once it's kicked over and Richard and Diana's mount was another of the 350cc MAC's. Velocettes are apparently difficult to start and on this occasion the Famous Mac simply refused to go. Steve therefore handed me his beloved 500cc Velocette Venom instead. Ah well I suppose I'll be able to live with that!
The first day out was a round trip of about 80 miles starting along beautiful country lanes and then climbing the foothills of the Pyrennees. For lunch we stopped at the Auberge Inn at St Marsal. The place was owned by a biker from Finland, who made everyone most welcome. The lunch was as usual fabulous and the views tremendous. After a two hour lunch break- that's quite normal on this tour - we headed back down the mountain towards base.
Steve has spent a long time researching the best ride outs and the best restaurants and bars in the area. He admits that this is a hard job but someone has to do it. During our stay we all reaped the benefit of this arduous and painstaking research!
The next day we took the coast road and crossed the Spanish border to the delightful coastal resort of Pou-Bou. The road wound its way up and down mountains and offered some superb views all the way. It was sometimes hard to concentrate on the road and take in the views but a mistake here would probably have been your last. That tends to concentrate the mind. Again another 2 hour lunch break. These should be called Gastro-Tours not Velo-Tours. Throughout the tour we swapped bikes. Each bike seemed to have its own personality and idiosyncrasies. Old Smokey handled and steered very well but felt a bit loose. The other MAC was much tighter with better brakes but did not steer quite so well. The Venom was a real delight - noticeably more powerful and with higher gearing than the two MAC's. The riding position on all the bikes was surprisingly comfortable - I only got saddlesore once on the whole trip and surprisingly the clutches were as light as a feather on all 3 bikes. The Velocettes all sounded great as we thumped our way through the countryside and villages.
Throughout the trip they attracted a lot of attention from both tourists and locals alike. You could normally tell where we had been from the little oil patches the bikes invariably left outside some of the poshest gaffs in South West France! French Bikers are a friendly lot, yes, even the Harley riders wave as they come towards you and raise a foot as they overtake, which they invariably did. Only tractors, lawnmowers and cyclists were fair game to us (providing the cyclists were not training for The Tour De France). Day three took us on a 130 mile round trip over mountains to the Spanish border. Once over the border there was the best road for motorcycling through the Spanish Mountains I've ever seen. Built with EEC money it was like a racing track, smooth, wide and with some great bends. And there was no one on it except us. This would have been a sportsbike rider's paradise. We even enjoyed it on 50 year old Velocettes. We stopped at the end of the road where there was - yes you've guessed it - another great restaurant and another two hour lunch awaiting. The food and wine were superb on the whole trip but especially good value once over the border into Spain.
Suitably sustained Steve asked us if we fancied trying a new route home that he had yet to try out. We wound our way up steep windy mountain roads. After about a 20 minute ride the road just ran out and in front of us was a rough track. Oh no, the EEC appear to have run out of money! Wait here, Steve said, I'll go on a bit further and see what's over there. After about 20 minutes there was still no sign of him. Then we saw him come belting towards us on his BMW. "Quickly", he said, "just get on the bikes, don't bother to kick them, just put them in second and bump them down the hill." We did as we were told and eventually ended up back at the restaurant. "What happened?" we asked him. "I got pulled by customs, they searched me and the bike and then I realised I'd forgotten the documents for the Velocettes so I told them I was on my own. They must be looking for drug smugglers or something all the way up there. Probably best not to try that route again. We could have been there for hours". By the time we got back to the hotel we were all knackered. "How about a flat route tomorrow?" we asked.
He duly obliged and our last day was spent winding our way through country lanes and visiting seaside towns. All very pleasant and a nice relaxing end to the trip.
Throughout the trip Steve was a great host and everyone on the tour ended up being good friends. If you are looking for either a short break with a difference or to combine the Velocette experience with a longer trip I can thoroughly recommend this. If there are 3 or more riders you'll all get a discount. Alternatively if anyone fancies taking their own bikes down to South West France Steve may be willing to hire himself out as a guide to a party or even arrange a package for you. Starting from the end of May you can even arrange to put yourself and your bike on an overnight sleeper train in Calais that will take you all the way to Narbonne. Steve doesn't do tours in July or August as it's too hot and there is too much traffic. The Velo-Tours web site can be visited at http://www.velo-tours.com. If anyone wants any more information or fancies doing the trip next year let me know.