Ah, Charles Trenet! I'm taking audiocassetes with so we can listen to Trenet chant gently as we drive along. :

I suggest, like BP Jean, to avoid proximity of Paris: the circuit Calais > Arras > St-Quentin > Reims > Chalons/Champagne > Troyes (Your choice: Highways or National roads). Then, by N.77, join Auxerre. Here switch to N.6 towards Lyon. Cross over Lyon (easy by A6, free) and thread the Nationale 7 (sung by Charles Trenet) until the South...
Good voyage, from a very old motorbiker, till riding occasionally

Sorry to natter on about this route thing, but never having set foot in France before, it's hard to set out a decent route. I've tried to avoid the Autoroute wherever I can, because I'm told it's especially dull on a motorbike, and it would be nice to sample the small towns on the national routes. If anyone can suggest where I'm going wrong with the following route, or suggest another route for Calais to Paris (or a route around Paris) that they have tried, then please feel free to chop-up, add to, or throw out my directions below - Thanks for reading this post, members of this forum have been most helpfull so far - Thanks again ! -- Paul J.


HEADING EAST, FIND SIGNS FOR 43 HEADING SOUTH-EAST, SIGNED BETHUNE
POSS AT J5 TAKE 916SOUTH, (BEFORE LILLERS)
916 SEEMS TO MEET 25 AT DOULLENS, FOLLOW SIGNS TOWARDS AMIENS
LEAVING AMIENS, FIND SIGNS FOR NATIONAL ROUTE 1, BECOMES 916, MEET E46 AT ‘T’
GO LEFT, SHORTLY RIGHT ONTO 16 TOWARDS PARIS
ENTERING PARIS 16 SEEMS TO MEET NATIONAL ROUTE 1 HEADING SOUTH INTO PARIS
AT RINGROAD GO LEFT (EAST) AND PICK UP SIGNS FOR 6 SOUTH
AT WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE FIRST JUNCTION ON THE 6 GO RIGHT, DIRECTLY WEST TO MEET THE 7 AT JUNC
HEAD SOUTH ON THE 7 (VERY LONG ROAD), FOLLOW SIGNS FOR LYON OR NIMES