I think my Cunning Plan is to buy a house somewhere within a day’s drive of the northern ferry ports.
That was our plan (duly implemented!) - gets you to the Loire Valley or just a bit south 
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VG - yes I’ve done the run from Dieppe down to Charente and to Northern Vienne on a few occasions - perfectly doable if you don’t mind an overnight ferry!
I’m at the southern tip of Vienne and it’s an easy trip. A maximum of 6 hours to Dieppe on will maintained and uncrowded roads, a 4 (or if overnight, 5) hour crossing then arrive in Newhaven. For me, there’s then a further 3 hour drive.
Do you take the A10 / A28 or do you wiggle round the back, as the actress said to the bishop?
Thus far I’ve used the autoroutes and always been on a motorbike, which requires more frequent rest and fuel stops, and also have been heading for a gite where I can’t check in before 4-5pm anyway usually.
Next time I come over I will probably bring the car to see how it compares. My bike doesn’t have a lot in the way of wind protection so it’s quite tiring doing 80-120 kph for long periods on the A28!
Mid-Charente to Dieppe or Caen I found a bit too much to do comfortably in one go on the motorbike, especially if it’s raining.
I usually follow the A10 and A28. On the bike (Triumph Sprint GT), I plan one fuel stop in an Auchan in Le Mans (4km off the autoroute). The car has plenty of capacity to not need a refuel.
I think I know the one - Saint Saturnin! 
Your bike has a much bigger tank than mine - my Honda NC750S only holds 11 litres.
And you’ve got a proper fairing while my NC just has a small flyscreen.
We were there in 2019, and it’s one of only 2 cities I’ve felt unsafe in (the other was Jerusalem). We never want to go back.
I’m happy to pay the Autoroute tolls, but you can save 25%-40% by split ticketing - leaving and rejoining at specific junctions. On my route (Poitiers - Rouen) I usually make 5 breaks which adds about 15 minutes to the journey but saves 35%.
Autoroute Eco lets you plan the route then suggests suitable breaks.
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Yes the tolls for a bike are half what you pay for a car… interesting about the “split ticketing” thing - I must check that out.
I’ve tended to stay on the autoroute and just fill up at an aire de service - pricey fuel but again, when you’re only buying 11 litres it’s not too bad!
Just had a play on the website (which was last redesigned in about 1996!) and it does seem as if hopping off the A28, going round a roundabout and then hopping back on, knocks a fair few Euros off the total bill.
Must remember to try it next time!
In order to take the right breaks, I make up a table showing the junction number, junction name and kilometrage. With junctions being so far apart, I find knowing how far until the next detour is helpful.
Yes that is a Cunning Plan - I do that anyway in planning my stops so as not to end up on the hard shoulder with no fuel!
(I do usually carry a 1 litre fuel bottle as a backup).
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I’m taking my bike down to Blanzay at the weekend and I’ve decided that I’m getting old as I’ve added wind deflectors on the handlebars and bought a heated vest.
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We were there in 2015, give or take a year. Enjoyed it, hired a car for a day trip. Can’t say we felt unsafe, although the driving was a bit hair-raising.
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It was the gangs working the streets offering to guide tourists, then demanding money to let them go. We had them try it on with us, but didn’t play along for long enough, but another couple in our group were held in a house for a while until they paid to be released. One can be careful and savvy, but in the end you’re a foreigner who is seen as fair game and out of your depth. We’d also seen a fight between a shop keeper and a tourist in another town, and we’re aware of how vulnerable one could be there.
I suspect the best time to be a tourist in many places was about 30 years ago, when they were rarer and more precious individually to local economies. There it felt like we were a crop to be harvested by the locals.
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That was our experience as well, in 2016, lots of hustling to be your guide, very persistent. It’s as though they don’t understand NO. However we enjoyed our daily morning petit café at the Café de France in Jamaa El Fna. But we would never go back.
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In the summer of '76 my girlfriend and I were sat by the fountain in the central courtyard of our Marrakech riad when a very tall Black American walked in. He was dressed as though he’d just come off a basketball court and had a very large suitcase. We welcomed him and asked about his trip. Apparently he’d seen a TV show about Morocco and had taken off on the spur of the moment. He hadn’t done a great deal of research beforehand, in fact he’d never even heard of Crosby Stills and Nash, so had taken the bus down to Marrakech rather than the famous train.
He was also ignorant of it being Ramadan, let alone its proscriptions. He told us that he’d gotten on the bus and lit up a cigarette, “Then some guy knocked it out of my hand! - So I punched him on the nose!” Apparently the rest of his journey was less dramatic, but when he left us to go to his room, the large lady who ran the place came over to us and said, “You will have to look after him.”
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Apart from JDAMs I suspect.
And the F15s (at $100 million each)
Amazingly, that was a McDonnell Douglas product that worked 
Another one !
As for the rest