Moving to France on Thursday… What have I forgotten?!

I’m Alp bound for Morzine and won’t be back in the UK for at least 3 months – Can anyone think of anything helpful that I should take with which is high on the list of forgotten items!? (not gloating) feel free to give me a buzz if anyone want’s a riding buddy on the more downhill orientated stuff.

Beret, onions ?

got english mustard packed! thats a start

a longbow ought to gain you respect from the locals.

Got a Berlingo – I’m practically one of them 🙂

Plenty of decent English cheese and tea bags, leave the Marmite, the Danes have the right idea about that stuff!

Got marmite packed and I don’t even like the stuff – got the bags in – going to get more tomorrow 😀 cheese wont last too well will it? I’m thinking of taking a leg of lamb with me! wonder how it’d fair 24 hours en route

HP Sauce, bisto and a bottle of Mount Gay.

A proper birth certificate with the full details of both parents on. If you decide not to go back it will get you through most formalities.

European health insurance card?

Flapjack recipe

All excellent suggestions and being done or doing!

Heinz beans are expensive there

I’d be taking Basmati and wild rice

Ability so shrug and say, “Bof?” as if it’s totally natural?

+10,000 for baked beans. Use all your luggage/car boot space for this. Anything else you need you can buy there.

take plenty of lube and degreaser – morzine stuff is ridiculously expensive. and say hi to ali when you get there (from tom)…

Anything else you need you can buy there.

Beans are often available in the “rayon exotique” alongside such essentials as proper ketchup

😀 will do guys! cheers tom, have you moved yet? wheres the closest place that bike part prices get reasonable again?

yeah, near bourg st maurice now…

i reckon thonon les bains (40 mins away) might be ok in intersport. having said that crc and merlin have free (and quick delivery)

cool thanks for the heads up on merlin and local shops 🙂 whats where your at?

PASSPORT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉

nodders…..i wouldn’t trust any from a country that sells them in rusty vending machines on the walls in public places which are more numerous than ATM’s

Bacon, proper bacon, and sausage shame it wouldn’t last the trip

That France is shit

White spirit and engine oil are cheaper in France than the UK. Luxembourg is the cheapest for bike bits IME. Have a look at RCZ bikes. Free delivery to relay points.

That there is more to the alps than the PDS. It would be a real shame to spend 3 months in the alps,with transport, and only ride there.

Blow up doll or rubber glove

I hear women are at a premium. If that’s your thing.

Else theres plenty o sheep I guess.

A world radio so you can take comfort in the Today Program and the shipping forecast.
Oh and definitely take some HP sauce – brown and fruity – just how I like my women

How’s your French? This is all you need to know… 🙂

YouTube – Speak French with one word

Hehehe.. fantastic, what a nutjob.. I think I like her 🙂

Learn from my experience:
In 1998 I went to a wine shop in Paris to buy some 60 bottles of red (typical student trip to visit Paris,, right?). The guy didn’t understand English until I said 60 bottles of nice red wine please. He gave me something French, I tasted it and told him to give me something decent, Spanish or Italian and not that plonk. I got thrown out of the shop.
Lesson learnt – go to Tesco!

ian you moany git 😛 I’ve been all over thank you very much! love it how people preach to get out of the PDS! beats my office in the Lake District anyhow 🙂

Time to buy some wine then squirt brown sauce in their faces and leg it

Cheese you wont need, when you get to Borg go and buy a lump of Beaufort………..mmmmmBeaufort..

I’d take a few pot noodles even if they are just to look at.. Frankly food is pretty covered in France. Worcestershire Sauce?

My brother lives over there, and he misses: bacon, ketchup, marmite and cadburys chocolate everything else food wise is pretty sorted

…bike?

my mate always requests pork scratchings and bottles of ale.

Bulb kit and hi vis jackets

I wasnt being moany or preachy, honest just trying to be helpful. Have fun.

Me, I am spending end july and august between deux alpes, montgenevre and orchier. September in Andorra and the Pyranees and possibly October around Finale and Molini 😆

Tea!

Hi viz vest and a warning triangle. Never travel without them.

Or teabags. PG Tips of preference.

Take brake pads, rear mechs, tyres, tubes, spare goggles ….. all the usual consumables. You’ll not be able to get what you want, and even the I-didn’t-really-want-this replacement will cost a great deal more.

Paradoxically, getting suspension serviced or having a wheel rebuilt isn’t that expensive and you can usually get it done that day. Be prepared to pay the (usually English) guys in cash for this though.