Thirteen members and friends joined the tour to Bernkastel-Klues on the Mosel River in Germany.
They were:
Paul Stevens-Gruppenfuehrer Honda VFR800
Mike Mason-Monty VFR750
Bob Farrow-Steady Ninja 900
Dave Dann- SPAD Ninja 900
Mark Lewis-Belch Yam XJR1300 Steve Ottley-Bomber Triumph 900
Vernon Nash Honda Blackbird
Andy Fairhurst Fazer 600 and Paul Culling RI-the Pet Shop Boys
Jack Smith and Brenda-Pudding and Toes Kawasaki ZZR12
Gordon Campbell-the Destroyer Kawasaki ZZR11
and myself on my Fazer 600. (Excuse my nicknames but they will understand)
We met up at the Channel Tunnel for the 8.30 am train and apart from my bike being toppled over without any real damage and all of us being selected for a vehicle search for explosives-yes I am not joking and swabs were taken from our bikes, luggage etc.- we arrived in France for about 10.00am French time.
A quick stop to top up tanks and we were off with Paul taking the lead and setting a good but steady pace. A short length of “payage” saw us to Cambrai and then onto the N43 towards Charleville and Luxembourg. We stopped for some lunch at a wayside Bar-Tabac. Madame was a bit taken aback when we arrived all wanting plat de jour etc. but she came up with baguettes and coffee and even Jack got his first pudding. Refreshed we got on our way again with Madame coming out to wave us off.
We were fortunate to have stopped were we did as only two hundred metres further on was the only radar trap we saw all holiday-had we not stopped I expect we would have been in trouble!
By the time we were near Trier-Germany –you hardly notice the borders and we had been in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, I for one needed to stop so speeding to the front I led the group to a riverside park under a flyover for you can guess what.
Getting going again we had a super run alongside the river all the way to Bernkastel. We booked into the Hotel for about 7.00 p.m.
The hotel was top class-certainly Mark and I had a large room with en suite bath. The shower was most welcome. We were in the bar for about 8.00 p.m. and enjoyed a good meal and the first of many “pitchers”.
Friday saw us going to our first trip to Nurburgring. The ride was about 50 miles distance on some superb roads ranging from really tight, 1st gear, get off and walk hairpins to fast sweeping bends with great visibility were you just had to feed it some beans! The airport road was one of the favourites.
However, to our disappointment the ring was closed that afternoon due to a double fatality. Two guys had totalled a Ferrari and themselves and this highlighted to me the real danger of doing the ring.
Saturday was spent each doing our own things – some went swimming and I did the airport road again and some of the best hairpins sections-just could not get enough!
On Sunday Paul took us on the tourist trail to a fairy tale castle ah! It was really quite spectacular set deep in a valley. You only realised how deep when you walked back up to the car park in 35C heat. It was noted that some of the younger members of the group had to get the minibus up the hill.
Monday saw us back to Nurburgring. It was open for business. It seems unbelievable that with no more formality than buying a ticket from the machine, driving up to the barrier, inserting you ticket and you were off on to the longest and most difficult and dangerous race circuits in Europe.
David Dyke
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