France Mini-Meet, Sep 5-7, 2014 at 'Camping Les Tours', St Amans-des-Cots, Aveyron
 

We're very pleased to advise that John Whyman (Pongo) is organising this 2nd event with Mark and Gemma in the same location. Last year had folks from all over Europe and as far away as Australia. Mark your calendars, details to come soon!

I'll be there with some cheese as last year, Gabacho should be as well

France mini meet
 

Hi

I missed it last year but will definitely try to be there for 2014.
Hope it will be a HU meet soon and no more a mini !!

Carole & Laurent

we loved that cheese!!!
 

The greatest cheese we ever hadbier

I will try to make it up from Avignon area . work permitting ........ er sod the work it always gets in the way of a good life , i will be there .
Martin

Good to meet up with you at the TTT event in Orange, and hope you make it to this one.


John

Hi Susan
I want to register for the France mini meeting but cannot find the link for that.
Greetings
Jacques

Hi John and Gemma,

We'll be there.

Charles & Audrey.

It's already booked !!
Let me know if there is room for a presentation (to be defined)
Great to meet you too and look foward the next time

Carole & Laurent

Should be up very soon. I know Grant is working on it, just waiting for some info to be included. Don't worry, your post is good enough!

Hi Pongo, John and Gemma... we would like be there, it will be our first meeting in France, before we were in Gois, Portugal and was very good. We hope you want met two spaniards :-)
How we book?
Teresa&Angel

Registration is OPEN at France Mini-Meeting

French translation to come soon.

Enjoy! (email also sent to Interfoliolibro)

Mini this year, and a full meeting next year is in the planning! :)

Volunteers to help are needed, so everyone, please contact Pongo to let him know if you can help or want to present!

thanks, Grant

Francophones?
 

Regsitering
 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for posting up on this thread.

1. It would seem we have quite a few interested in coming this year, and at the moment, we only have one or two who have actually ''registered''. As we can inform those organising the event both off an on the forum through the registration process without having to constantly post up, would those coming please register through the announcement page.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/events/france-2014

2. Anyone interested in giving a presentation, especially in French, please give details on the registration form.

3. There are some minor details to be changed in the English version of the announcement, but nothing drastic. This will be done as soon as possible by Grant & Susan, who have a huge workload on their hands,and are at present at HUBB U.K. which is where I spotted this on friday:-

Those of you who came last year will recognise Olivier and Zachary's Ural rig.
They are on the last leg now of a 1 year European tour which has taken them as far south on mainland europe as possible and all the way up to NordCap. Unfortunately they won't be able to come to St Amans this year, but have expressed keen interest in putting a presentation together for next year. Distance covered so far about 28000 kilometers, with no problems.

Hello,

Good to hear from you, and hope your motard friends are adventurers also. We are very much promoting a french speaking aspect to this meeting, and there are certainly some bi-lingual HUBBers coming along. We will also be having presentations in both French and English. If you have a tale to tell and a presentation you would like to give, please let us know, otherwise just come along and enjoy.

Hi Douglas,
I was approached at HUBB UK to come to the MiniHUBB in France to promote my company. I speak French and I will have native French staff available at my trade stand.

So yes, bring your friends please:clap:

Not long to go now!
 

Things are moving along, and not long to go now.

Firstly a request for all those who have not registered, to please do it NOW. We need this information as soon as possible. The registration links are at the bottom of the meeting announcement page.

Our pleasure to confirm also we have some interesting talks lined up for the Saturday afternoon/evening, which include:-

1. Travelling on a limited budget. ( Far East). In English.

2. Crossing Borders. ( Do's Dont's and paperwork!). In French and/or English.

3. The Faristan Project. A very interesting initiative starting in May 2015, linking UNESCO associated educational establishements across the globe and travelling by motorcycle. In French and/or English.

Perhaps the most delicious thought for the event so far is tasting a good slice of the wonderful Neufchatel cheese that OTRA might be bringing with him like he did last year, it was one of the event highlights!

We're getting organised, so get yourselves together and sign up as soon as possible. If anyone else would like to give a talk/ demonstration, please use the appropriate registration link on the announcement page. :thumbup1:

Hi Pongo !

We are some people from Catalonia (Spain) and we will come to the meeting in France.
Three of us are rgistered some days ago (Panotxa, Siso and Ramon) but it will be some more people, sure.
Last month we spend two days at HUBBUK and we liked, so we want to assist to this mini event that is close to home (about 500 kms.)
We have a forum (rodem.cat) focused on motorcycle trips and we would like to come and meet and speak with others travellers.
Our knowledge of English and French are not very good but we hope we can understand :)

Greetings !

Hi ra-mon,

Received all your registrations so far, ( 6 ) no problem- we look forward to seeing you. If you are travelling as couples ( ie with a passenger) Please get your passenger to register also.

Looking forward to seeing you all- and ''bonne route''

Salut Pongo,
Je crois que nous nous sommes croisés au Travel Event Touratech cette année,tu fesais le traducteur de Grant je crois.
Je viens de m'inscrire mais je crois que j'ai fais une erreur et je me suis inscris 2 fois,désolé.
Je viens en famille et en side car BMW R1150GS,Claire ma compagne,Lucie notre fille de 3 ans et moi meme,faut il que j'inscrive aussi ma fille?

Merci

Le hug

Une photo pour nous presenter:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1407182746

Salut Vincent, je vous rappelle et bienvenue au HUBB. Enregistrement bien reçu, merci. A bientôt:

Seulement 4 semaines au mini meet. Un rappel pour tous qui n'avaient pas encore enregistrer, aux claviers SVQP. Merci.

Only 4 weeks to go for the mini meet. A reminder for all who have not yet registered,- --- to your keyboards please as soon a possible. Thanks!

:thumbup1:

Hi Pongo!

Yesterday I registered for the France mini meeting. The thing is I'm about 75% certain that I will make it.

Best regards

Hi emi,

Hope you make it!! Haven't seen your registration yet, but have put you on the list anyway. Thanks for letting me know, and hope to see you in a few weeks.

Hello Pongo
 

Have you got some better weather forecasting for this year ? :thumbup1: Any special request from Normand(except cheese of course).Maybe i'll have a quick movie to show on Scandinavia (Norkapp) from late year trip . Glad to see you all soon again

Salut Roger,

Only request is for you to arrive safely ( can't take any chances with the cheese
:rofl:) Is Gabacho coming too?? if he is can you ask him to register,-- thanks.

Have no idea what to do about the weather, but have made a special request for :Beach: for the first 2 weeks of September.

Your movie sound interesting. Will send you an e.mail about that.

amitié

Salut Pongo
 

I've just spoke to Gabacho who did start a new job in Geneve this month and he is really sorry but he won't make it this year , hope you get my answer correctly by mail concerning the Norkapp movie . I am still working on it and should be completed by next week, will be on a DVD and i will try to prepare a quick presentation or answer questions in french or english , the movie itself have more music than talking and have been made with a small helmet camera i'll have more news by next wednesday.
regards everybody
Roger

Delighted to confirm that we now have an excellent programme for the Saturday afternoon, including the above:-

Not necessarily in this order:- but including:-

1. Travelling on a limited budget( far east)- In English. Mark & Gemma

2. How to Cross Borders in South America- Do's & Dont's. -In French/English. Laurent Dozias.

3. The Faristan Educational Project 2015. - In French/English. Jacques Albohair.

4. The Pamir Highway/Silk route. In French- Thierry Floreck. ( Video)

(5. Hopefully a video of a trip to Nordkapp last year. In French/English- Roger Primout.)

Whatever, looks like this event is going to be informative and inspirational.

:thumbup1::thumbup1:

If you're coming to the meet, don't forget to register ( see the meet announcement page) if you haven't yet done it.!

Aloha Berndt
 

Aloha Berndt,

Wow! - what great news that you are coming back to see us this year, we will try our hardest to order some better weather! Whatever, hope your trip up through Italy is enjoyable, and we'll all be really pleased to see you!

Thanks John, looking forward to it. Just arrived in Germany a couple hours ago, not even sure what day it is now, but the sun's up so it must be daytime :). Another adventure begins!

Hi Pongo and all.

Do you still have places available for the mini-meet, as work permitting I hope to be able to make it, but won't really know until the week before if I can.

If so, it would be good to meet up with everyone.

Cheers

Potski bier

Hi Potski,

Yes, still got some room, about 33 known to be coming so far. Doesn't cost anything to register, so might be a good idea, and if you can't make it then it doesn't matter.

Good to hear from you.

Hi Pongo,


Ok, thanks for that. We have registered and are looking forward to coming along. If it goes pear shaped I'll let you know so you know where you are with places.


Thanks again.


Cheers
Potski

Not long to go….
 

Just 2 weeks until the second HU mini meet at Camping Les Tours.

We're looking forward to seeing you all, hearing your tales and enjoying a beer or 2.

See you all soon:D

Last minute call
 

Last minute call! :)
We are coming next weekend to the mini HUBB meet in France.
We are then on our way to a trip to Portugal, so we might as well pay a visit!
Looking forward to it!
;)

O.K. everyone, please note that registration for this meeting is now closed. Looking forward to seeing everyone, looks like we've got a pretty full house for this meet. Even the weather forecast is reasonable!

Hi Pongo
 

Nordkapp movie won't be completed in time for next weekend ,sorry about that but i didn't know it was so long to do .Could you give me an idea of the number of persons expected next weekend ,regarding the number of cheeses i need to bring ,i should arrive by 5 or 6 PM on friday depending:rain::stormy: and if possible i will stay sunday evening and leave monday morning to south.
See you all soon then:thumbup1:

Full house, Good weather???
 

Well done Pongo, damn shame I cant make it but for all those who do..... You will enjoy amazing company, tall stories, maybe a Ricard or two and SUNSHINE, well lets see :-)

Cheers Dave

Salut Roger,
If everyone turns up we will be about 40 altogether. It's rather a lot to bring cheese for that many people! so will leave it up to you to decide what to do. Sorry to hear the video won't be ready, but never mind.........something to look forward to next year!

If you're coming from the south to St Amans
 

Be aware - there is a road closure at Estaing (the D97). This means you'll have to make a short diversion to Entragues then on to St Amans from there.

:scooter:

Just getting ready to head for St Amans and the sun :Beach: Looking forward to seeing old friends and new faces, and to sharing an " apero" or two bier

Salut a tous

Un tres bon WE ce prapare;belle région,de nouvelles rencontres et une bonne météo.................ça va etre un super séjour!!!!!!

Bonne route a tous et a Vendredi soir.

Lucie,Claire et Hug

Ok gemmasun, thanks for the advice :)

See you tomorrow bier

The best laid schemes of mice and men...
 

At the moment I find this phrase rather annoying. I was looking forward to the weekend, seeing the returnees from last year's meet, as well as Laurent et Carole who I met 2 years ago, and of course all the newcomers.
I was also looking forward to a nice leisurely ride over three days from Lac de Bourget over some awesome roads to St. Amans. I got to a nice campground near Bourdeax (not a misspelling of Bordeaux), and the following day got about 3 km further when my moto est tombé en panne.
With the help and incredible hospitality of some locals I met since then, the machine is in a garage in Dieulefit where I tore into it to find a stripped clutch disk. Things looked promising when a BMW parts supplier in Valréas said he had the part in house, but that proved not to be that case when I got there to pick it up. So, I am now waiting for the parts to show up in Valence on Saturday and hopefully reassemble everything on Monday.
So, sadly I will miss the get-together this weekend and will have to make different plans for what's left of my trip as the original plans is impractical after losing a week. Cést la vie!
Aloha,
Berndt

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps39249a2d.jpg

Thats bad news. Hope you get it sorted soon so you enjoy the rest of your time over here. Sorry we won't be seeing you, perhaps another time or place.:(:(

Gemma & Mark

Another successful France Mini Meet …..
 

A BIG thank you to all you great people who came along to Camping Les Tours for the second France mini meet. It was a fantastic weekend.

:clap::clap::clap::clap:

Interesting, informative presentations…..

Good food, great company, good times


:mchappy::D

And here we all are…..
 

Un grand merci a Gemma,Mark et John pour leurs accueil,l'organisation qui nous ont permis de passer de tres bons moments.Merci aussi a tous les participants et leurs bonnes humeurs,pleins de bonnes rencontres.

Bien rentrés a la maison avec le soleil comme compagnon de route.

Lucie,Claire et Hug

Une photo souvenir:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13773&stc=1&d=14101155 82

Hi everyone; and thanks for making this a great weekend. Some special thanks from me to all the presenters; Mark & Gemma: Laurent & Carole; Thierry Floreck and especially Jacques Albohair who also came to the rescue to help sort out a tricky sound problem for the final presentation video. The presentations were all excellent and were a mix of past adventures and a new project starting next year. Further thanks to Thierry Floreck for persuading some of his friends from the GS France forum for coming in strength to support our meeting.

Our friends from Catelunya obviously enjoyed themselves, and I hope we see you all again sometime.

Once again an International mix of languages, making the best of it and making new friends. It was also very good to see last years ''veterans'' of the apalling weather enjoying the hot sunshine. I was sorry to hear about Berndt's clutch problem, but If you get fixed up soon Berndt and are heading in a westerly direction, send me a message and drop in.

We had two family's with side car outfits, Vincent ( le Hug) Claire and little Lucy,( BMW 1150GS) and Yvon Bodelot( Touratech France) brought the whole family, himself two youngsters and the new baby on the GS 1200 side car oufit and his wife Dominique on her G 650GS.

The BBQ was a fun affair with may be six stoves going at once, lots of things cooking, and ( unsurprisingly ) some good humour sparked off after a few drinks.bier

Good luck to Lilian and Guido from Holland on their trip to Portugal, and to Angel and Theresa ( Interfolio Libro) with their new publications.

I do hope everyone had a good trip home, and my apologies to anyone I didn't say good bye to this morning, but I needed to make good time today for the return journey.

More photos. Bikes in every direction, lakeside evening BBQ, and those who made it the next morning for the family photo.

Hi everyone,

It was called a "mini meet" but it was a maxi success. What a great group of people to spend time with. We all may not have been able to communicate 100% in language but maybe it was even better for it.

Thanks to John, Gemma & Mark for all their hard work in making it such a good bash.:clap::clap::clap:

Hope to see you all again next year.

Cheers
Potski bier & Mrs P

Hi,

The Catalan group has become very happy for assisiting this meeting travelers and hoping to paticipate next year.

We had some comunication problems for our low level of English and French languages but thanks to the good will of the participants we understood more or less all.

Thanks to everyone and especially to John, Gemma & Mark for organizing the event.

Cheers!

bier

L'embrayage marche encore et le voyage continueé a l'ouest demain. Un message est dejá envoyeé a Mark et Gemma hier, mais je n'ai recú un reponse pas encore.
Funny how an "adventure" can expand your vocabulary!
Berndt

Hi everyone,

Arrived home in UK yesterday (Monday) afternoon.

Just wanted to say what a great time I had, what lovely people you all are and what a beautiful spot to hold an event.

Thanks to Gemma, Mark and John for getting it all together and to all the contributors for their presentations on Saturday.

I recommend to anyone who has not been to check this out and I will surely return next year unless I am off in distant lands.

Saint Amans
 

Thanks you All and especially to John for the good time spent together in such a beautiful and quiet place. :clap::clap:
Yes I will be back next year, along with my duo I hope.
for your viewing pleasure below some pictures.
my favorite is the one ... the first opening of my tent early morning view of the lake ...
beautiful roads to all, and drive carefully !

Hi Everyone,

Here are a few snaps from us.

Cheers
Potski bier & Mrs P

Voici quelques clichés de ce superbe WE.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1410293898

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1410293898


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1410293898


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1410293898

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...1&d=1410293898

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know that Jessica ( who was at the meet), who had an accident at the EDF barrage just outside St Amans on Sunday, is out of Hospital and doing fine. She had a fracture in her leg and some knee injury. She will be resting in France until the plaster cast comes off, and will then be continuing on to South Africa with her husband Jesse.

I'm sure we all wish her a speedy recovery.

Hi Pongo,


Bad news on the accident but good news she is relatively ok and on the mend. If it's where I think it is, it's quite the scenic spot with a couple of bad bends though.


Wishing her a speedy recovery from us both.


Cheers
Potski & Mrs P

+1
Jessica, wishes you prompt recovery too

On the road to Rome
 

Hi Pongo et al,
Just a thank you to you all for a great weekend. Hope to see some of you at the HU meeting in Germany. If not will see you next year.

Better late than never:)
 

Berndt (Thermal) joined us on Wednesday at St Amans on evening for dinner and bike/travel talk. Great to see him. We gave him a HU sticker and some cheese (thanks Rodger) - to see him on his way Thursday morning:thumbup1:

Sounds like it was another great event.

The weather certainly looked better than it was last year..!

Nik and I were so disappointed we couldn't make it, but as it looks like a regular event now I'm sure we'll be back a some point.

Worth it for the cheese alone...:drool:

All the best,

Gus & Nik.

P.S. Hi to Bernt, glad you got the GS back on the road quickly, enjoy your trip.

Thanks for a great weekend
 

Hi everybody
Thanks to Pongo and Mark&Gema for all their work, all was very exciting and funny. We met interesting people :-)
We'll try to organize a HU meeting in Spain if the popular request is enough :taz:
Sorry for our English... we'll try to put some pics

Very good idea
 

If you organize a mini our a maxi meeting (i don't think there's a difference brotherhood is the same) next year in Spain i'll be there and hopefully with a presentation and maybe some cheese (if they can travelso far),
Regards to all
Roger

Some pictures
 

Thanks Otra. Here some pictures of the weekend.

Hi Gypsy
 

Goop idea , if i find few euros before then ,i ll try to join you at the german HU
my tourance tyres need a rest and a change after 20000 km , let you posted
hope to see you soon / Roger
if you need shelter before joining UK you can contact me in Normandy:welcome
this invitation is valid for all

Hi to all;
Just arrived back from a very good trip in Portugal and Spain though the weather in St Amans was the best :)

John, Gemma and Mark ; thanks a lot for this inspiring and succesfull meeting!! You did a wonderfull job.

It was wonderfull to meet all you guys and to talk, listen, hear stories and to look over the beautiful lake.

And to Jessica; get well very soon.....I remember asking you if you were alright must have been seconds before your accident :( All the best....

Cheers
L&G:smiliex:

Hi Lilian and Guido
Your travel round Spain was good? at the end you were in some places we recommended you?
we hope you enjoy the food in Galicia and Asturias :-)

See you soon :-)

Teresa&Angel

Are you going to Germany
 

Hi Roger

Are you heading to the Germany HU. We have just registered…

Hello Gemma
 

Well , except a miracle , i don't think i'll be there (money problems) and on top of that our car broke down last weekend . Anyway there will be better times for sure (i have much less problems on the road and it's where i want to be).
Don't forget, Brigitte and i will be more than happy to see you both someday in Dieppe ; see you soon and carry on to be in touch.

Roger:thumbup1:

Need address
 

Hi Pongo, In need LON & LAT for this years meeting. can't find it online.
I don't get the bike back till Tuesday 1st but I will be their even if I have to walk. LOL
Gypsy
keepcalm

Lon & Lat needed
 

Hi Pongo, Me signed up chop chop.
Need a Lon. & Lat. as I will be low flying as per usual.
See you there.
Best regards to all
Wayne (AKA Gypsy)
keepcalm

Hi Wayne, you're on last years page! so I only just got you.

GPS co ords for this year are:- 44.834638, 1.460596

Lat and Long:- + 44. 55'.70" + 1.27'38.15"

See you soon.