Day 3: Switzerland

A Day on the Road from Flavigny to Switzerland. We had to cross the border and we stopped to eat right there (a small restaurant). The servers could speak English but wouldn't so Isaac decided that he would speak to them in Spanish - which seemed to work. Definitely lots of laughs. The hotel we stayed in had a spectacular waterfall just down the street and we ate cheese fondue as an appetizer. My main meal was caeser salad (of course because I'm on a diet). I also decided to show a picture of my room just to show that I have been trying to blog (REAALLY)!!! I'm not just out having a good time and not taking you with me (as promised).

A Look At Our Outdoor Dining (aka picnic lunches)

This was Day 2: A picnic lunch on our way from Rouen to Flavigny. It was pretty decadent. We

had a varied assortment of dips (humus, cream cheese, cheese). The sandwiches were on French bread and it was an assortment of meats. Strawberries for dessert and juice. Mick and Jason were not only great guides they know how to put together a mean feast with all utensils supplied.

Can't Get Enough of Flavigny

There's is just not enough one can post about this beautiful little town. Joe and his wife Carmen just happened to meet people they knew who were from England (how coincidental is that???). The dinner was also fabulous (real creme brulee).

I have to add a picture of that (eat your heart out). All three were served per person (see what I mean about weight loss - it'll have to wait til the Stans. Some of their wine as well from Flavigny to our entire group (shot of us sitting at a table with the guests from England that Joe and Carmen knew. Also, a shot of our host who was amazing. She put me up with her daughter and son-in-law for the night (such nice people) and a shot of a local lady

Flavigny France - A blog of it's own

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Shots from Flavigny France. The stone work on the buildings is absolutely stunning. The building with the sign is where we had dinner (2 nights ago now) and these pictures are just surrounding homes and businesses. I'll be including more pictures of this spectacular town and some of the hillside on the next pages.

Day 2: Rouen to Flavigny France

The countryside from Rouen France to Flavignzy France is breathaking. The houses have tile roofs and many are made of extremely old stone. Most houses are close together with tons of flowers outside making them magnificently beautiful. We had crossed a couple viaduct bridges where the views of the hillside were spectacular. As I've already said, France is gorgeous and all the farmlands are extremely well kept. So, a few shots of the scenery or small towns along the way and then Flavigny. The picture that I'm in is a town before we get to Flavigny. The next blog I'LL SHOW YOU FLAVIGNY - MAGNIFICENT & SPECTACULAR

Our Training Day with Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plains

From Rouen, France we headed toward Flavigny, France (a very old, quaint and small town in the north eastern side of France. I can't say enough about the countryside in France. We were driving by such plush green fauna with hillsides of magnificent trees along the way. One thing I noticed, as I had on our off road training day in London, was the fields of poppies. No wonder poppies commemorate our war heros as there really are "fields of poppies" that sweep across the hills as we are flying by on our bikes. After this brief blog, I'm going to go back to our training day in London and include a few pictures that unfortunately I missed due to our connection problem. It was also a magnificent day. I dropped the bike 3 times during this off road training (all from ruts so not at any significent speed) and was glad that we had this training as it did give us a small (and I am sure compared to the off road riding that we will hit it will be small) taste of what we will be experiencing in some of the Stans (Krzygstan, Kayakhstan, Uzbekistan) and Mongolia. So here's a few pics of that day in London that I missed sharing earlier. P.S. Please send me your feedback as feedback is something I'm looking forward to.

JACK P.S.S. I think I did mention that we went by Stonehenge but if I didn't, here is a picture (so you believe me of course)

Rouen France and on the Road

A little taste of Rouen, France. A picture of our support vehicle that houses our gear, supplies for the bike as well as everything needed for picnic lunches of which (while I'm writing this I'm actually in Salzburg, Austria playing catchup with my blog). In the top right picture, I'm talking with Mick from Australia who is also using one of Compass Expeditions bikes as all the rest of the group shipped their own bikes from Australia and the U.S. Mick (our Tour Leader - as their are 2 Micks on the trip) is sporting his BMW 1200 GS as he's getting gas talking with Jason (driving support vehicle) before taking off.