Motorbikes and the Dordogne

Cars and bikes stuff

Here is a picture of our car packed up ready for our little trip to Spain. We will be off in the morning so there will be no posts here for a week or so.
You may notice that the car number plate has a 46 on it. That refers to the department of France which the car is registered in. It now wears a 24 plate which is correct for the Dordogne. The reason for the 46 plate is that I bought the car new from a dealer in Cahors. I bought it there because the dealer, Drigouts Autos, had the car priced at 5000 euros under the list price.
Cars and bikes here in France pay no road tax. The equivelant of the MOT (known as a CT) only applies to cars over four years old and then every two years. There is no CT for motorcycles.
There should be one or two stickers inside the windscreen, a green one shows the insurance details and a white one shows the CT date for cars older than 4 years.
A registration number does not stay with a car for life as in the UK, it will change if the cars registered address moves from one department to another, as in the case above.
French car drivers are very aware of bikes and will almost drive in the ditch to let a bike past. On the other hand French motorcyclists are very highly trained, the bike licence is quite an intensive course here. Bikers normally stick their leg out to thank car drivers for letting them pass. When biking here watch where you park. There are a few pay car parks, but a bike would not normally park in a car bay and so would not pay for parking. I have had attendants telling me to park on the pavement for free rather than take up a car bay. There is little chance of anyone interfering with your bike in the Dordogne and I often leave the helmet on the mirror when I wander round a town.
Should you be visiting France it is worth noting that fuel is quite expensive on motorways and it is worth finding the nearest supermarket to fill up, it can be as much as 20% cheaper. At the time of writing, 95 octane unleaded is 1.16 euro per litre at the supermarkets and diesel is 1.06 euro. It stands to reason that if you are intending to visit do it in a diesel car.

posted by madman @ 7:11 pm