To Malta 15th September

The alarm sounded at 5:15am. I had already packed the bike case in the car the previous night and only had to dress and take my packs down.

Annoyingly the car GPS wouldn’t acknowledge Lyon St Exupery airport as a destination, so I just went with Lyon and hoped the turnoff to the airport would be clearly signed.

At such an early hour there were thankfully no cars on the first stretch down the mountain, as the road was mostly a single lane and with many blind corners! A short distance later I was thankfully on the Autobahn. After having driven on very twisty back roads the last couple of weeks, the speed limit of 130 km/hr on the freeway was positively flying!

I made the toll gates and got in the correct lane so was able to pay a cashier. The airport turnoff was impossible to miss and I arrived at the entrance after just under 1 ½ hours driving. Unfortunately I still hadn’t seen a petrol station and needed to return the Peugeot with a full tank! I took a turn off to the nearest suburb of Lyon in the hope of finding one but found nothing. But just after I made the turn away from the airport, I thought I saw over the top of the corn fields what could be the roof of a petrol station. It took a while to find somewhere to turn around and find a gap in the now heavy traffic to head back.

To access the petrol station I had to drive through the whole airport but at least it was there and open. Fifty euros later and one more lap of the airport I was able to drop off the car which had served me well. I had travelled just over 1000km on mostly very narrow roads without any incidents.

 The airline had changed the itinerary. It wasn’t a direct flight as originally listed, instead it stopped in Marseille. Those of us travelling through had to stay on the plane for over an hour before continuing on to Malta. And due to a ground crew strike in Marseille meant it took a little longer to get the plane serviced, refuelled and finally away.

It had been far too long since I was last in Malta and so it was good to finally land. This leg of the trip is primarily to catch up with my wife’s relatives and family friends; many of whom were at the airport to greet me. But I do plan on building the bike and getting in some rides for training, but also as a great way to see the islands.