Some pictures here.
Following previous excursions to the Nürburgring there was another surge of interest during the early part of the year. Up for it this time were Ian and Julie, Andy and Lee, Tom, Chris B., Mac, Dave C. and myself. A date was fixed and to break up the long ride from Calais to Germany, it was decided that on the way out we would stop off for the night at Liège and move on to Adenau the next day.
Chris B had ended up with an earlier ferry booking so the plan was to meet him at the first E40 services in Belgium. The rest of us gathered at the Blue Star garage in Dartford bright and - for the most part - early on the Thursday morning. We set for Dover in fine weather at about ten o'clock and were in good time for the ferry, which departed more or less on schedule. Once on the other side of the channel, it was simply a matter of getting on to the E40 and letting the miles roll by.
Having stopped at the first services, it became apparent that Chris, who should already have been there, wasn't. Out came the now ubiquitous mobile phones and having made contact it was established that he'd overlooked the presence of the substantial facility that we were parked in and was at the "next" services along the road. Now pay attention, there may be questions at the end: the next chance to buy fuel (at what you might thereby characterise as a service station) is near Jabokke, but requires you to take an exit off the E40. Hence it could be construed by whoever was leading the group of bikes as not being a proper service area on the actual E40. And construed it was.
Therefore we pulled in at the services after that to find… no Chris. Another call and soon he had covered the distance from Jabokke and caught up with us at last. Rejoining the E40, we later turned off at Liège and located our resting place for the night, a Formule 1 motel nestling in the cosy heart of… an industrial estate.
This was my first experience of such a place and it had an unapologetically utilitarian air to it. Dave C and I were afforded the luxury of a whole room to ourselves, whereas some of the chaps had to get three adults plus bike gear into a space that would present something of a challenge to the accomplished cat-swinger. Toilets and showers were behind separate doors down the corridor and were also on the compact side; the colour scheme was straight from the Lego catalogue. However it was fairly cheap and we were able to park the bikes in a line near the front entrance.
The industrial estate was predictably silent by eight o'clock at night but fortunately it boasted a decent pizza restaurant, so we headed in that direction on foot. Much scoffing and quaffing later we were back at the Formule 1 to dig out some of the drink rations that had been brought with us and sit under the covered entrance chatting until late.
Next morning the TV in reception was showing reports of a fire in the channel tunnel, the captions and commentary conveying nothing by virtue of the language barrier. The view out of the window was showing steady rain, which evoked a different sort of language. With little option we had breakfast and loaded the bikes up. The ride to Adenau, which I've yet to complete in really good weather, was damp but straightforward. We checked in to the Hotel an der Nordschliefe with the couples taking two of the new apartments in a recently-built block to the left of the hotel, and the other five having the hotel's basement suite of three rooms and a bathroom.
The wet gear was draped wherever possible and a walk to the nearby supermarket seemed advisable. Having stocked up on drinks and snacks, and with the upkeep of tradition in mind, the suggestion was made that we should take the opportunity to dine at the Zum Wilden Schwein (wild boar) restaurant that evening. To avoid disappointment a telephone booking was made, Dave having researched their number off t'Internet beforehand. Some schoolboy German coupled with the right page from Tom's phrasebook got us a table for nine… at nine.
This year we did not have a convenient van to cart everyone down to town, but nor did we have to travel miles from the guesthouse up the hill, so we walked. The distance didn't feel as great as when I've walked it in the past and I was surprised to find a sign by the roadside dedicated to showing the distance to the restaurant itself! We got there and settled in for the evening - the wild boar was up to expectations for me although not a universal hit with the first-timers; at least they can say they tried it. Sadly the restaurant was entirely out of souvenir badges - I suspect there may not be much demand other than from our yearly visit.
Although Friday night's walk back from town was dry, Saturday morning was mostly wet again. There was a saloon car race on the Nordschliefe all day so no public session. Andy and Lee fancied going to Cochem, a town on the Moselle where they had stopped many years before. The route looked appealing and the Moselle is picturesque so we headed that way. Once there it was surprisingly busy with other tourists and still damp. We found somewhere to eat which at least took care of lunch, then watched the boats chugging up and down for a while.
Returning to Adenau, we learned that the racing had been stopped prematurely and great efforts were being made to clear up a big diesel spill on the section of the track right in front of our hotel. There was a cleaning truck going up and down the hill for much of the rest of the afternoon but at that stage we weren't too concerned. Of more immediate worry for Dave C was his bike boot, the sole and uppers of which had separated for much of their length. Repairs were attempted after a rudimentary fashion. Later we decamped to the Italian restaurant a few yards down the other side of the main road for another calorie overload.
On the Sunday, the weather had taken a turn for the better. The track was supposed to be open for a public session all day but we soon learned that due to the diesel spill the day before the opening was going to be delayed until one o'clock. More worrying was a rumour that bikes might not be allowed on at all - and this was the one day we'd scheduled to have a ride round!
We rode up to the circuit entrance to find out what was happening and the rumours turned out to be true. There were an awful lot of car drivers waiting to get on track and a lesser but more frustrated number of bike riders like ourselves mulling over the realisation that they weren't going to be able to. Andy and Lee decided to go back to Cochem and see more of it in the fine weather. The rest of us rode up to the track museum but were amazed to discover that the whole area was being massively redeveloped and the museum and go-kart arena had gone. Even the souvenir shop was a tiny relic of its former self. That left us looking at the map to find somewhere that looked sufficiently interesting.
We headed off in the direction of Mayen without really knowing what was there. At least the roads were good, although an excess of pace by the front-runners resulted in us losing Mac part-way, just before a tricky - and in hindsight unproductive - sequence of turns. He didn't miss much as the area was in reality mostly industrial; there was a lake shown on my map that could have been worth seeing but despite some concerted map reading by several of us, we failed to locate it.
Losing heart somewhat, we headed back to Adenau for some late lunch. Along the way we passed one of the pedestrian entrances to the track which was busy with spectators, so we pulled over for a look. The track was clearly in use by cars - a lot of them. As we watched, dozens came by, some at speed and others taking it more leisurely, some grouped in bunches and others in splendid - if brief - isolation. Overall it was much busier than I'd seen it before, due no doubt to the reduced opening times. After some more observation, Ian concluded that even given the opportunity, he'd have thought twice about taking his bike on when it was that busy.
Following a leisurely lunch, and wIth the situation vis-à-vis bikes clearly unchanged, some of us decided to follow Andy and Lee's lead and head back to the Moselle, allowing us to enjoy the good roads in the dry for once. From Cochem we carried on along the west bank of the river for some way, enjoying the scenery and rare sunshine. Crossing over at a bridge we returned to Cochem along the other bank, stopping part way for some refreshment.
Back at Adenau once more, we heard from one of his friends that a chap who'd been staying with them in another apartment had got his race-equipped TVR Cerbera onto the track earlier in the afternoon and managed a lap and a half before binning it in a major way. We didn't see the wreckage but the reported cost of paying for repairs to the track barriers and then getting it recovered in the various stages from track to home were in the thousands of Euros. At least no injuries were mentioned and the owner apparently had a Lamborghini back home in the garage as well so he'd not be short of transport.
With some time to spare before dinner, Dave C went down to the bike shop in town and bought a new pair of boots for the ride home. For dinner it was back to the Italian restaurant, where TVR man was being consoled (at least I think that's what it was) by his friends and we were facing up to having come all that way and not getting a ride round the famous circuit. Still at least all the bikes and riders were going home in one piece and there's always next year.
On the Monday we left in good time, taking a very scenic route, not all of it meticulously planned. Once in Belgium we appeared to skirt a firing range and someway down the road realised we were riding through a film shoot involving vintage American vehicles and the usual film paraphernalia. We didn't see any famous actors however.
Coming back up the E40 we turned off to Bruge for lunch, and then with minimal time to get the ferry we hit some road works on the way to Calais. This caused us to be a bit late for check-in but we still had to wait a while before boarding, probably due to the increased freight traffic as the channel tunnel was completely closed after Thursday's fire. Anyway we were back at Dover by about eight-thirty local time and home safely some time later.
Footnote: Following each previous visit I have resolved to do something about my inadequate command of German. This time I got as far as ordering from Amazon a German-English dictionary. The picture did not give much idea how big it was but when it arrived in the post it was almost the size of two house bricks. In hindsight, getting my own copy of Tom's pocket phrase book would have been a better start.