well the 5 of us left, on different trains, Friday morning as planned to follow the Headmaster aka Pete1950 over to Cochem. Incredibly, weather was mostly dry with only a short sharpe shower on one stint, although fag breaks and clothing changes meant it took longer than planned. Having been to Germany on similar trips several times, I was looking forward to going with the flow and not worrying about where we are going and what we are doing. Headmaster's route over was good, mostly, and made the most of a mega boring journey. I recognised where we are towards the end and may have taken the lead into Cochem thru 'the bends'... Friday night and a few beers...late food...few more beers,the HM headed off to his chambers and the other 4 of us headed into town looking for some Friday night fun. Which we found in a bikers bar, full of middle aged couples and music ranging from 80's diner rock to 90's Frankie. Great beer, great music, great banter bearing in mind we had never met before. Having been up since 0400, it now being 0200, time for bed... Sat started dry and bright, and as Wayne and Paul weren't in our hotel we agreed to meet out the front, so after a leisurely 0900 typical German breakfast we headed out. And what a route. Mega well done to HM for taking the lead on some really diverse roads, from twist and go hairpins to the usual fast and flowing roads Germany does so well. Not sure how Dave was feeling about the hairpins mind We stopped at Nassau, lovely typical Eifel town in a bowl surrounded by tree covered mountains and complete with fairytale towers and medieval homes. Dragon boat racing at a festival so bratwurst, drink and some spectating and chatting to the locals...and I got a free lunch :Angelic: After a drenching all the way back, it was shower, beer and food time. Lots more banter, a new beer cellar and an early night ahem followed as the law dictates when in Germany Sunday dry and Nurburgring day. I know the route so lead over, its a lively very fast road from Cochem to there and we make the most of it, most of the time. Although fairly busy, it was closed, so we hung about for a bit then headed off again. Pete knew of a bikers cafe a few clicks on from Adenau, the halfway point where most go so we headed there. Fairly busy with a few odd and old stuff to excite the HM and a coffee and a sausage, we sheltered from a shower and headed out on another route back towards the ring, as Dave, Wayne and Paul were umming and arring about doing a lap. We left the three of them to head back to the circuit and headed back to hotel separately. Sure the others will describe their lap... Late dinner, few beers, debate of time to leave and it was over. Another decent route back, not been thru Luxemberg before and will be noting that route for sure, much better than normal. so I learned: you have to watch the panniers when filtering (nice scrape along new pannier and french car..) fully loaded you can do cochem bends at almost full pace the Headmaster has a capacity to remember things only Sheldon could match you can go away as 5 very different people, with a single common interest, and get along Havent pulled all my pics yet but here are a couple of the important ones
ha no, and was within 10 miles of leaving Calais!! On way back, I could hear this loud laughter as were were cutting traffic. Thought it was kids on cars, but happened a few times. Turns out it was Dave pissing himself as I squeezed myself thru improbable gaps...I was wet, cold and wanted to get home. You know how grouchy that makes me Clint
Glad you all enjoyed it, pity I couldn't make it in the end but there's always next time. The weather has really turned for the worse this last week, hope to god it isn't the end of summer already
Cpild be up for that next year Vince, want t do a bot of racing but more Euro trips too. What are bank holiday weekends for?!
...ditto, having Friday's/Monday's making a long weekends are not a problem, whole week term times are! I was contemplating the IOM not been since 1999 but seems ferries are all booked! Done N West 200, Assen WSB etc....Would consider Le Mans 24hr or the 'ring'! Cheers
How about this for a Bank Holiday weekend trip in 2015: Day 1 - Tunnel - Calais - Strasbourg (about 40 miles further than Calais - Cochem, but faster road). Three nights in Strasbourg. Day 2 - Cross the Rhine - tour the Black Forest including the 500. Day 3 - Tour the Ballons des Vosges. Day 4 - Strasbourg - Luxembourg city - Calais - tunnel home.
What I have in mind for Day 2 is heading NE out of Strasbourg, cross the Rhine by ferry, ride to Baden-Baden, then head south on the route 500. The 500 runs the full length of the Black Forest, pretty twisty all the way. We could go down as far as Titisee, then head west to Freiburg and north on the A5 autobahn back to Strasbourg. Roughly 200 miles in the day, leaving time for several stop-offs in picturesque towns (e.g. Hornberg). Weather permitting, of course. How does this sound?
