Bimbling through the Ardenne, Eifel and Sauerland

Orinoco

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I'm off today on another jaunt to meet with Europrez friends at Hallenberg in Germany. This time going posh and staying in hotels/B&B rather than camping and a slow ride through Belgium, the Ardenne, Eifel and onto North Rhine Westphalia region

Just along the south coast from Dorset today, stopping off with a friend who handily lives in Dover and tunnel tomorrow morning :)

Hopefully more to follow

PS I've been awake since 4am as I always get excited about a trip :)
 
I'm off today on another jaunt to meet with Europrez friends at Hallenberg in Germany. This time going posh and staying in hotels/B&B rather than camping and a slow ride through Belgium, the Ardenne, Eifel and onto North Rhine Westphalia region

Just along the south coast from Dorset today, stopping off with a friend who handily lives in Dover and tunnel tomorrow morning :)

Hopefully more to follow

PS I've been awake since 4am as I always get excited about a trip :)
Have a good one!

Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk
 
Have a good trip. Look forward to the pics.
 
Enjoy yourself. Look forward to hearing about it when you get back. My covid (yes, it was covid, not a chest infection) should have cleared up by then!
 
I’m off :)

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Ha ha, could have been, actually they were both OK, not quite 1%ers, but some side patch club, don't think that counts :p

So...a cut and paste from notes yesterday...

Hurray, off again, proper. Stopped with friends in Dover on Sunday night and off to the Chunnel bright and early on Monday, arrived early and managed to book onto an earlier crossing - only because they didn’t have my API (Advanced Passenger Information), positive I did that, but their computer said ’No’, but the nice chap sorted the earlier crossing, so all good. It was baking waiting for the train at 9am, 25 degrees, then 27 degrees in the carriage! Fortunately a little cooler in France.

I’d forgotten how flat northern France is, flatter than a flat thing, so let the Himalayan sit at 60/65mph on the motorway, it could have gone faster, but I wasn’t in a rush, so there, also helped me negotiate my way around Lille going slower, confusing even with Mrs Garmin helping out. I managed to pull into the direst of hire’s, it was a giant truck stop, though there wasn’t much stopping as lots of coming and going. Turned off the corrugated track which passes for motorway just past Mons and took a lovely road towards Beaumont and Phillipville, then turned off down some wonderful bends towards the Meuse and Waulsort where I’d booked in.

Waulsort on the Meuse is an odd place, it’s clearly seen better times, there are or were at least four big hotels in the village and lots of supporting services at the turn of the 20th century, but things seem to have gone down hill since the 1980’s. One of the buildings is falling apart, whilst the others have become very grand houses on the river. There’s a history trail through the village, worth a walk if you stay here. Though I cannot recommend the hotel Rio Panama, well that’s unfair, their chef is on holiday, so just three dinner choices, and Aldi do a better frozen lasagne. Unfortunately there’s nothing else (the other restaurant) open on a Monday.

I’ve tried their three ‘Au Aut’ on keg beers, Syella, Jupiler and Triple something, which was the nicest. It’s clearly a popular local, well the only one, as lots of people in, all greeting each other with kisses, odd the French. Anyway, nice sitting on the porch watching the fiver traffic, some huge barges and the bikes passing by.

Also... a couple turned up on Enfields, a new Meteor and a classic bullet, she's brought back from Nepal, what are the chances, so a nice chat over a beer

Off for to Mayen and Koblenz on Tuesday


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I must have ridden through Waulsort last month, riding from Givet back to Dinant. I have no memory of the village but the road and river scenery were good. I remember the nearby locks and the size of the craft on the river. The village is pretty close to both Givet and Dinant and suffers as they are much more lively places and few people bother to stop in Waulsort.
 
I must have ridden through Waulsort last month, riding from Givet back to Dinant. I have no memory of the village but the road and river scenery were good. I remember the nearby locks and the size of the craft on the river. The village is pretty close to both Givet and Dinant and suffers as they are much more lively places and few people bother to stop in Waulsort.

Those roads along the river are nice to ride. I would definitely go back to that area.
 
To be honest, I'd not go back, there's nothing to recommend the bar/hotel, both Givet and Dinant are far nicer!

Tuesday...

Didn't start off well, I was awake by 5:30, thought I'd make a coffee using the machine in the room, nope, there was cold floating around in it, at 7:00 I was desperate so cleaned out their coffee machine, but then decided, it might need a proper descaling and clean. By 8, packed up and ready for off, no one around still for breakfast, decided at 8:45 I may as well just go and find something on the way, I left just past 9 as the owner pulled up in his car. I wasn't on any timescale, but just narked, so no thanks and carried on.

The river was a picture this morning before the sun got up, with mist rolling down off the hills onto the water surface and moving along at a pace, quite eerie.

After getting lost, trying and failing to follow someone else's route, decided to head for La Roche en Ardenne where I stopped for coffee and a late breakfast. Following my nose was far more fun, La Roche en Ardenne followed by Houffalize, Clervaux, then across country to Prum and through the Eifel towards the Nurburgring. The roads were interesting, the Belgium roads are dreadful, unbelievably fun of pot holes or patches and overbanding, Luxembourg and German roads, beautifully smooth and well signposted.

Stopped briefly in Dinat to take a photo of the 'Sax Bridge'

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I missed cake stop this morning as I was in a strop and not had breakfast, so made up for it at lunch at a wayside stop in Daieden, a great and unexpected road between Clearvaux and Prum. Wienerschnitzel with frites and salad/sauerkraut...

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The followed later in the afternoon by a stop for cake and coffee, lots of choice, but not sure the Germans do fancy cakes as well as the French.

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As I'm staying in Mayen, thought I'd take the route a bit north to the Nurburgring, couldn't find the way in, it's so confusing, so carried on up the road. Bumbling along a BMW rider coming the other direction does a swift U turn and tails me for a couple of Kms, so I pull over. It's my chum Georg, ridden out from Koblenz to meet me. The road from the Ring to Mayen is one worth seeking out, lots of amazing bends and a fair few hairpins which came as a surprise, I need to get the centre stand on the Himalayan raised.

Georg who'd gone home, returned with his car and we set off for a beer and burger at the Vulkan Brauhaus at Mendig well worth a visit, I forgot to take a photo, but can recommend the BBQ Pulled Pork Burger, go during the week as it's heaving at weekend apparently. We then took a tour on the way back to Mayen, passed the Laacher See, a big blue lake in the centre of an extinct volcano and back to Mayen for a trip around the town and castle followed by ice cream in the town square. Mayen is worth a visit, not spectacular but lively of an evening.

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View across town from the castle and the church with it's crooked, twisted spire

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Just to the left of one of the town gates is a pub called the tube (in German!) as it's long and very thin, lots of others Georg was able to point out and give me their history

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I'm staying at the Hotel-Restaurant "Zum Alten Fritz", Koblenzerstr. 56 Mayen, which I can recommend, so much nicer that last night's. Georg's family used to have family events here, good enough recommendation for me, plus there's a bike shop just along the road!

Tomorrow will be interesting, we're going on a jaunt towards Luxembourg on roads Georg knows well, I'll report back :)
 
Today was fun, Georg took me on a 200 mile 12 hour jaunt around the Eifel region, partly following the Our river, through countryside which was very like the Exe Valley road, but miles and miles of it, steeply wooded hillsides with winding roads, often single track and some gravel, ideal on the Himalayan, Georg was riding his number 3 R1100RT (he has 3). Some interesting stops. First was coffee and rice pudding cake, a local delicacy apparently at a cafe in Loshiem, which is where the Belgium and German borders meet.

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Then followed the Route Our, tracing the river Our from near it's source down to Vianden, a lovely ride, very scenic with a stop at a giant basalt rock and memorial to mark the founding of the EU, again where the three borders of Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium meet, they've not removed the UK from their blurb yet :D

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From here we road the now much wider road, which even WC 1200's would manage :)P) down to Vianden for the obligatory photo of the castle, plus a photo of two grumpy old men

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Then a stop at the Predigtstuhl near Beaufort, just beyond Vianden, where we squeezed between the limestone rocks to walk up to the Pulpit Rock.

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The way in, but it's a maze with some dead ends and if you get stuck you're in trouble, this passage was marked as 30cm wide, so maybe not appropriate for most Tossers :D

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Georg not getting stuck...

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We did the rock maze before a late lunch, the extra girth following might have been a problem, Frikendel Special mot frites at a cafe further up the road at the adventure park

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But, we weren't finished yet, we stopped off at a restaurant/hotel at Papplehof on the way back, I cannot remember the name of the dish, it's spit roast pork which is then slow cooked with bacon and stock, we did have salad, vitamins are important :)

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After that I was stuffed, so passed on the ice cream, going to need some bigger leathers soon
 
Enjoying the report and photographs .... keep it coming :thumby:

A favourite area of mine :)

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Nothing of note to report on from yesterday, it rained rather a lot on my journey from Mayen to Hallenberg. No make things interesting in the rain we took a ferry across the Rhine at Bad Honningen, which took just minutes. We decided that we would only stop for coffee if it was really heavy rain and we were passing through a town, otherwise keep riding. Inevitably ht train stopped as we passed through towns and pelted down when there was nothing around! The weather cleared up as I arrived at the hotel, Sauerlander Hof, in Hallenberg, a nice place to stay, if you can get a room at the back of the hotel, nice views, but more importantly away from the road which has a lot of heavy traffic.

I was first to arrive and throughout the afternoon other Europrez friends from all over Europe and beyond arrived, always good to catch up, and I forgot to take photos of dinner, but it was very good, some beef shoulder joint slow roasted with gravy :)

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Today, Friday there was nothing planned, and the weather much improved, so a few of us took a tour to the Edersee, home of one of the dams, made famous by 633 Squadron and the Dambusters Film. It's a spectacular location and to stand on the dam and see what the pilots had to overcome to achieve success, the bend in the river before the dam is really not very far and to be flying at 50' above the water must have taken skill. Nothing so skilled today, just ice cream, waffles, cherries and coffee, we also were asked for a photo opportunity as some local bikers were getting married and having photos taken.

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On the way there we stopped off at a 'Wild West Town' come coffee/lunch stop at Edertal, except they were not open for coffee until 12 noon, but an interesting place none the less. Lots and lots of Harley riders about, I think there must be a rally on nearby.

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Waffle with hot cherries and ice cream
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I forgot to post this, a friend leading us managed to ignore 4 road closed signs, including the last with a Dead End sign, we ended up here. I road another 100 metres to see if we could get onto the road, but loose earth and a 5 metre drop onto a railway line - the road was beyond this, I though maybe we should turn back, the Guzzi Stelvio and Multistrada were not up to it :D

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Brass bands seem to be a bit of a thing here in this part of Germany, I came across the first brass band when in Winterberg, quite lovely, along with a small street market, where I had bratwurst :) The place was full of Harleys, I think there must have been some event happening near by as there were lots on the roads, usually riding in big groups of 20 plus. A Belgium friend asked me if I asked any of them about their dog :D (Belgium biker joke... every new Harley comes with a free dog, so the owner won't be alone when their bike breaks down).

German Brass Band in Winterberg...

The bratwurst was just a sausage, but here's a lovely German cake and coffee :)

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The other brass band I was less sure about, though my German friends said it was quite normal in Germany, the local rifle hunting association holding an annual march through Hallenberg. I had seen a lot of shooting hides when riding, so maybe a major sport here.

Hallenberg Rifle Hunting Association March and Band...

Dinner this evening was very nice, well all the others had been too, but I'd forgotten to take photos. This was the last day (Saturday) of meeting up with Europrez friends, Sunday saw us all depart to different parts of Europe and beyond.

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Sunday, a bit of a cooler, grey and light drizzly start to the day on my way west again via Koln, Aachen and Brussels to an overnight stop before the tunnel on Monday. The roads at the start were brilliant, more of the same, winding, rising and falling with countryside much like the Exe Valley, but going on for 90 miles or so. I wasn't sure where I was going to stop for the night and wanted to make some progress in the early part of the day, having 'tunnel anxiety!' So, stupidly I stayed on the motorways from Koln, though to Aachen, then came off in the Netherlands as I wanted to visit Heerlen, Geleen and Stein where I lived with parents many years ago.

The weather was getting warmer the further west I rode and by the time of nearing Brussels it was in the high 20's and getting too sweaty and hot to rode much further. I found somewhere using Booking.com, a bar/cafe/B&B in Brakel in the Flemish Ardenne in Belgium. This did make me laugh, the Flemish Ardenne is lovely, but really think slightly undulating hills rather than the eastern Belgium Ardenne, still very nice to ride through.

When I arrived at the B&B, it was a bit concerning, everything was shut up and looked like the bar had't been open in a while, but a phone call so sorted that, the key was around the back under a wooden beer crate and I was soon in and showered. I had a suite, two bedrooms, lounge and shower, but no coffee, but a nice place for a stop over. As it was Sunday evening I thought I might be on chocolate bars and peanuts for dinner, but a short ride (jeans, t-shirt and trainers :)) into Brakel and all was good, there was a small festival happening in the town square and the whole place seemed to be there, I guess this is where the B&B owners were.

Vlaandereen Festival

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My last day in Europe was hot, hot, hot. After breakfast, seemingly a lot of chocolate buns, well this is Belgium, plus yoghurt and ham and cheese I was off via Ypres, Poperinge, Cassel and finally Calais/Eurotunnel via small roads which were fun. This area, between Brussels and Calsi is often overlooked, but is much like the Flemish Ardenne, nice gently rolling countryside, apart from Cassel, which is definitely worth a detour, though it's directly on route, so not much of a detour needed. Hairpin cobbled streets to the top of the village though shady wooded roads, always unexpected, even though I've been here before, the views across northern France are far reaching.

Cassel

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Views

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I third stopping in Ypres for a coffee and needed a wee! However a combination of roadworks, one way streets and busyness in town prevented that, I bailed out and headed for Poperinge and was treated to a mini dessert with my coffee, so worth while.

Not the Menin Gate :)

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I love the exhibitions/constructions/whatevers on many of the roundabouts here, here's one which made me stop in Ypres...

Coffee and dessert

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Onwards to the tunnel, where I had a 3+ hours wait in heat, despite arriving early and being offered an earlier crossing there were delays, fortunately at the final wait after passport checks some horse transporters pulled in which enabled some shade, fortunate for the sweaty biker mates assembled there, almost all old bits like myself. However I did have to smile at one young couple who arrived on their fully camping loaded G650GS, dresses in knox body armour knee and elbow pads along with their safety shorts and t shirts :blast but at least they were both cool and kewl, oh to be young and invincible again :D

Arriving in Folkestone I had a meander across the coast to Newhaven to stay with daughter, a lovely run and a reminder of how nice riding in this country is, even if I could't find a fish and chip shop open which took cards, welcome back to Blighty :)
 
Nice one. Good trip and nice weather. What more do you need.
 


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