2012 EDSBK Road Trip. Part 1 (Moffat)

  We set out on Sunday 8th July headed for Moffat in Scotland, about 50 miles from the border with England. Col arrived first followed by Rich who was already wearing his water proofs and Jon arrived a few minutes later. The sun was trying to make an appearance as we set off and the odd patch of blue sky appeared on the horizon. We stopped for a cuppa and fuel and Rich said he was too hot, so took off his waterproof suit and we headed off. As we approached the climb up Shap in the lakes district the heavens opened and gave us a few minutes of rain, we decided to wear the water proofs until we arrived in Moffat.

The Buccleuch Arms Hotel

The garages

  Moffat is just off the A74 (M) at junction 15.
The Buccleuch Arms Hotel was our destination in Moffat. We were met by the owner David, who showed each of us to our own garage for the bikes, then to our rooms in the hotel. (EDSBK Recommended)
 The following morning we decided over breakfast to follow a route that was recommended by a website called
  Motorcycle Scotland, through Dumfries to Galloway Forest following along the coast roads. After a while we needed a coffee so pulled in at Carsluith Castle over looking the bay towards Wigtown where we stopped and had a look around. We could see the clouds were once again getting dark and heavy so water proofed up in preparation for the next part of the ride.

Along the A712

Carsluith Castle

 We mostly avoided the rain only seeing a few seconds worth just before we reached a town called Newton Stewart, we headed through Galloway Forest along the twisty A712 until we came across Clatteringshaws Loch where we stopped for a few minutes to admire the views. Then we headed towards the village of  New Galloway where we found the A702 and followed it as it again twisted and dipped and climbed its way through the landscape. The route made it into our list of ultimate roads.
 We arrived at Thornhill not seeing any rain from the again threatening skies. Drumlanrig Castle was only a few miles away so we went off route to go and have a look.

Drumlanrig Castle

Clatteringshaws Loch

Once getting back on route (A702) we followed the road up through the valley which was Cols favourite section of road and then the heavens opened and it absolutely threw it down for the last 20 minutes of the ride, we headed back to the Hotel and parked the bikes back under cover and left the water proofs to dry out. Luckily the radiators were on in our rooms so all the wet clothing got dried overnight.

 The next Morning we awoke to more rain, that got heavier as we ate breakfast. We were heading to Kendal after dinner for the 2nd part of our trip, to the Lake District.
  David from the Buccleuch Arms had talked to us about a short route he used that went around an area known locally as The 3 Locks and The Devils Beef Tub, we thought it sounded an interesting route and long enough to give us something to do before heading off to Kendal. We put our now dry clothes on, packed our bags to collect later and set off along the A708 towards St. Mary's Loch and as it rained all the way we stopped at Glen Cafe for a drink.

Glen cafe looking towards Loch of the Lowes

 The rain carried on as we set off along the A708 and took the first road on the left heading towards Meggets Reservoir and Talla Reservoir linking the A708 to the A701. The road was steep, windy,  slippery from the covering of a mixture of sheep dung and slime, had loose gravel, puddles and was flooded in places, not really a sports bike type of road at all, but the scenery was beautiful.
 At the end of the road we turned left onto the A701 and rode through the forest, a winding fast section of tarmac, it felt good to be back on an A class road again, even if it was soaking wet.

The water proofs brigade!

 We had been told that the Devils Beef Tub is so called as it was a place that Scottish cattle rustlers used to bring the cattle from England too. The English used to chase after the cattle to get them back and the Scotts then attacked, killing the English and keeping the cattle. We stopped in a layby and looked down the valley at the Beef Tub and could see how the natural shape of the land played a part working in the favour of the Scotts.

The Devils Beef Tub

 We went back to the Hotel and collected our luggage then set off to Kendal.

2012 EDSBK Road Trip. Part 2 (Kendal)

 We were already soaked from the ride in the morning around Moffat.
As I got on to the motorway my feet, collar and gloves felt damp, and I thought if this rain would stop then they may dry out enough to stop me thinking about how soaked I was and wondered if the others felt like  I did? As soon as we entered England the sky was lighter and the rain stopped, thank goodness for that I thought. Forty minutes later the rain was back, but harder than the mornings effort. My drying boots, collar and gloves gave up any water proofing they had left and left me with soaked feet and hands and I could feel the water occasionally dripping down the insides of my Jacket on the inside of the water proof over suit.
 We arrived at the services ten minutes after the rain had stopped for a rest, Jon and me took our boots off and rang out our soaking socks, while Col and Rich talked up their boots that hadn't leaked at all.
I didn't bother to put my socks back on, it wasn't worth it.
 We left the motorway at the next junction after the services and followed the A684 into Kendal which turned out to be an unexpected bit of road offering some fun for the last 12 miles of the journey.

Just after a soaking on the services at Shap

Sundial Guest House

 We had stayed at the Sundial Guest House before and were made most welcome by Sue and Andy the owners so stayed there again this year. (Everyday Superbike Recommended) We arrived at the Sundial dried off then found The Miles Thompson for some food. Rich has relations in the area so went for a visit, leaving the rest of us to drink too much beer and talk about who has done the best in the Eco challenge, the best of the roads we had ridden so far, leading into the 5 pints later who of us is the biggest biking hero conversation which normally arises, with tales of who's seen the biggest speeds, who's had the most air, who's got the best cornering lines, endo's, wheelies, other shenanigans and who had had the closest of close shaves, all story's to be taken with a pinch of salt and have a laugh over!

 The following morning we awoke to some hope of dry weather and blue patches of sky. Unfortunately the heating in the Sundial was off so our damp boots, gloves and leathers had stayed damp so hoped the wind as we rode along would dry them out for us. We set off with water proofs bungied to the rear seats in case we needed them.
 The route was made from a list of recommended roads that we had strung together, being mindful of the few dark clouds towards the north we did the route backwards and headed south. Rich knew the area reasonably well so led for a while until we came across the A5804 which became a most entertaining bit of road that twisted a lot and eventually went along the side of lake Coniston.
 We turned left following the A593 and A595 both roads were fun to ride, until I gave my bike a big handful of throttle and the exhaust came apart. We stopped in a layby and assessed the problem, nothing major just a screw clip had come loose, so I did a roadside repair and we carried on eventually reaching Penrith as the A686 and the Hartside Cafe was not far from there. We arrived at Melmerby the start of the climb up the Hartside Pass and the clouds were dark and meaningful, looming above the hills. I think we had all guessed that the road was going to be damp. Luckily the rain didn't start while we were there, however there was a lot of water running off the hills and across the road, more than enough to spoil our fun, limiting us to a more careful accent. The menu in the cafe was the same as last year so we had Mars Bar cake and a coffee, Mmm yum!

We set off back down and the roads were still covered in water but Col and I exchanged the lead on a few occasions as we dropped back into Melmerby. Then finding the A6 towards Kendal we hit our next problem. Col pulled over and thought his chain was slapping as it went over the swing arm, he adjusted the chain, but it made little difference, we stopped again and re adjusted the chain but again it made little difference but Col said it seemed better than the first time we had stopped, also his Fireblade felt strange when braking and a warped front disk was suspected. The A6 turned out to be a nice route offering some good fast sections and some good corners. I passed Jon who seemed to be messing with something on the side of his bike and about a mile later pulled in to wait for the others in another layby. Col turned up shortly after still with a problem from the chain, then a few minute went by and Jon and Rich turned up. Jon informed me that his Mini DV camera had come off at 70 mph and he had had to go back to fetch it, luckily it still worked but looks battered!

We returned to the hotel and messed with the bikes, and I discovered my exhaust end can had rotted through around the area that meets the pipe, it was wobbling around but was not going to drop off.
The following morning we headed home and 2 of us were contemplating some unexpected repairs.

  Once at home I changed my exhaust can and now my R1 has the standard can refitted until I can afford to replace it. Cols Fireblade had crushed bearings in the rear wheel and a warped front disk, both problems have been repaired and our bikes are back on the road.

Summary

Date:- 8th - 12th July 2012
Weather:- 1 dry days, 4 raining
Hotels:- The Buccleuch Arms (Moffat) / Sundial Guest house (Kendal)
Miles:- 860.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.36p to 1.39p a ltr (8 petrol stations)

EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon & Rich
Aim:- Ride the best roads around Galloway, visit a Scottish Castle, have another go along the A686 Hartside pass and explore the area in search of more ultimate roads.

We decided as we had enjoyed the lake district in 2011 to return and explore the area to the south as we had not tested any roads down there, also Galloway has featured in articles I've read in the past so I thought why not combine the two areas into 1 trip.

The 2011 Superbike Adventure.

We decided for our 2011 adventure to go on some recommended roads and to revisit Olivers Mount.
As this ride was a day shorter than the other trips we have been on and no passports, documents or cheese and pickle sandwiches were required. Col andI decided to take just the one bag of luggage. Packing the night before Col rang to tell me that he had a problem fitting everything in. The solution was to put his shoes in a plastic bag and bungie them to the top of his luggage. I managed to fit everything inside my luggage holder but it was fit to burst. Jon decided to use both his bags as his pants take up so much space!
The journey to Scarborogh went smoothly and we avoided any rain that had been forecast. On arriving at the hotel, Sandra the owner told us it had been chucking it down all afternoon until about half an hour before we arrived and we expected to get a soaking the following day.



The train at Pickering

We set off to a town called Pickering recommended by Col and stopped by an old railway station. The train was leaving so we stayed and watched the old steam loco disappear down the tracks before heading to a village called Goathland where they filmed Heartbeat. As non of us had watched Heartbeat since Nick Berry was in it about 20 years ago we didn't recognise what we were looking at, so had an ice cream and left for Whitby with the tune of TV show ringing in our heads. Da da.de.da,da etc.
We arrived in Whitby just as the heavens opened so found a Pub to wait for the weather go by. Later we went back to Scarborogh via Robinhoods bay. We found the race circuit on Olivers Mount and filmed some laps to put on our youtube channel.
The followong day we left Scarborogh heading for Kendal and the Lake district.



Robin hood was ere!

On the way is a road that a magazine called Ride had recommended, so we thought it would be a shame not to have a look on the way through. The B1257 runs from Stokesley to Helmsley, it started off fairly average but after 10 minutes or so we could see why it is thought of so highly as it twists one way then the other for miles, making it on to our ultimate roads list, Most enjoyable.
 Next we followed the A684 to a village called Aysgarth to look at the 3 tier waterfall famous for being a scene in the film, Robin Hood. Free parking for bikes, most welcome.



Buttertubs pass

 Our next destination was Buttertubs Pass, a favourite road of Top Gears. Having not seen the Butter Tubs we thought we could stop for a viewing while along the road.



The deep Buttertub

The road was not one that makes it onto our ultimate roads list as there was lots of sheep wondering around on the road, most of the surrounding hill had slid down onto the road so lots of gravel was on the steepest bit, and there was a bloomin great drop just the otherside of a wire fence for a mile or so.


We stopped at the Buttertubs, so called because local farmers who got fed up of carting their butter from the village to market used to store it in the cool cave like holes. I am sure health and safety now adays would have something to say about that!We re joined the A684 heading for Kendal, what a road. It twists and turns for miles, infact by now we were begining to want a straight bit of tarmac for a rest.




We arrived at Kendal and found the Sundial Guest House, another lucky find as it was a lovelly place and ideal for what we wanted.
The next day we went looking for the Hartside cafe near Penrith. I had been told it was a bikers cafe on top of the mountains along the A686, but that was all. 


We found biking heaven! Infact we all agreed that the road should go straight in at number 1 in our ultimate roads list.

Hartside Cafe




The Cafe is the highest in England  at 1904 feet. It was July when we were there and when we went inside the fires were on as it was so cold up there. The ride down was even better than the ride up, so we did it again!

You can see our film of the A686 here.





Right at the top of the road.

 Afterwards we headed West around the coast road and eventually found our way to the Hardknott Pass. This is one of the steepest roads in England with a gradient of 30%. In places the corners were so tight that my bike didnt have enough steering lock to navigate around them with out stopping and reversing a few feet first. Col was the only one to stall on the steep part, but he was stuck behind a Volvo at the time.
You can watch our short film of that here. 
On the way back to the Sundial we descided to cross lake Windermere on the ferry.




On the ferry across Windermere

The next day we returned home and for a change it didnt rain.
 Our Eco Challenge resulted in Col in 1st averaging 52MPG Fireblade
                                                 Phill 2nd Averaging 49MPG R1
                                                  Jon 3rd Averaging 47MPG GSXR


Summary
Date:- 9th - 13th July 2011
Weather:- 4 dry days, 1 raining
Hotels:- Rosedene (Scarborogh) / Sundial Guest house (Kendal)
Miles:- 770.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.34p to 1.39p a ltr (7 petrol stations)
EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon
Aim:- Lap the Olivers Mount road racing circuit in Scarborogh,
 ride along the B1257, see the Buttertubs,
ride along the A686 to Hartside cafe,
 and ride one of the steepest roads in England over the Hardknott pass.

The 2010 Superbike Adventure.

After the laps of the Nordschleife



We decided for our 2010 adventure to head back to Germany and visit the Nordschleife. Learning from the 2 previous times weve been this way we decided to break the journey into 2 days, stopping at the Ashford Travelodge on the way. We set a few challenges along the way to relieve the bordom, which was mostly to do with economy, so we recorded the amount of litres of fuel we added on each petrol stop.
Also when we tried to book the hotel on the nordschleife in Adenau, we call Eddies it was full so after a quick search on the internet we came across Sliders Guest House who had a room for us.
On the way to Ashford it chucked it down so were glad of the overnight stop for a chance to dry off. We parked our bikes along side 4 others and turned in for the night.
The following morning we were about to set off to the channel tunnel when I heard a crash. Cols bike was lying on its side pinning Col underneath it.
''What happened I asked?'', Col said
''I forgot the disk lock was still on!''.
We picked him up and checked his bike over but a 2 inch piece of fairing had broken off.
We arrived at the tunnel 5 minutes late and had to wait nearly 2hours for the train as there was a problem with the track, some seaweed on the line or something.
We arrived in Calais to find the weather was sunny so decided against waterproofs. Next stop Belgium. Brussels has always been a problem to navigate around,( read about it in the last 2 trips) but this time I got it right. To be fair its sounds simple its right fork then left fork but the signs around there dont exactly say Germany this way.
It chucked it down, then dried up, and then chucked it down again and we arrived at Dollendorf.
Dollendorf is a nice quiet village. Just in the middle of the main street is Sliders Guest House which we recognised from the picture on the internet.



Sliders Guest House

We were met by Andy, Brendan, Ross and Daisy a Great Dane. Brendan showed us around and we were all impressed with the accomodation.
Sliders is ran by Brendan who is from the UK. We thought this was great as there isnt a language barrier, and the TV is also in English. Andy does repairs to bikes and is based at Sliders. Both Brendan and Andy can be found lapping the Nordschliefe when the weather is dry and can lap in around 7 mins 30 sec, which is very fast.
(clickhere to visit Sliders website you can see some laps from an on bike camera.)
We put our leathers in the drying room and helped ourselves to a coffee, then we heard more motorbikes arrive. Looking out I could see 4 motorbikes, the same 4 that were at Ashford the previous night. So we met Phil, Dave, Mike and Michelle a nice bunch of riders from Cornwall. None of us had eaten so Brendan took us for a meal at a restraunt a few miles away, the mode of transport was a Citroen Burlingo, with a leaky roof, I ve not been in one before and didnt expect that a Burlingo could go that fast, especially with 9 people crammed into it !
The following morning Brendon cooked us breakfast and said he knew a good route to go to Cochem, so we followed his directions and were suprised at how good the B258 was, it was that good we did it twice.



Cochem Cas


Cochem castle stands on top of a hill above the town and the Mosel river. It took ages to find the carpark, but eventually we got there and took the guided tour which was done in German. As I understand the most German of the 3 of us, so I thought I would translate for the others. I know about 2 words a sentance so what I was saying wasnt exactly accurate!
Jon who is about 6' 4'' found a suit of armour that was bigger than him, apparently made for a farmer who was 7' tall !



Jon with 7 foot suit of armour


We then went to the Nordschleife and met the others from the guest house who went out on their 1st lap of the track. There was more traffic than I like it to be, but a good time was had by all. Jon filmed the lap on his hidden helmet cam, but it didnt turn out quite as we expected. Click here to see Jon at over 250kmh



Ready for a lap


The next morning at breakfast, Brendan said he had another route for us to try, this time to Rurberg dam in the national park. The best way to describe it is like a little Switzerland. There is a biker cafe on the edge of the dams and the traffic free, twisty roads are some of the best we have ever ridden on.
Thanks Brendon for pointing us up there!



Rurberg Dam Cafe is behind me

On the way back to Nurburg we had a look at the Südschleife, which is a fairly inknown extension to the Nurburgring. Originally, there was the Nordschleife (North Loop), the Südschleife (South Loop) and the middle called Zielschleife (Finish Loop) which along with most of the Sudschleife was demolished to build the new Nurburgring GP circuit.
The Sudschleife is now a road past the campsites that goes to Mullenbach which is nice and twisty, then you turn off the nicely tarmaced main road and join a derelect bit of tarmac and up a steep hill with some nice banking and covered by trees, before going under the bridges by the new GP circuit and back to the carpark.



Remains of Sudschleife

We had a look at the new buildings and nurburgring experience, which was most impressive before heading to the entrance to the Nordschliefe to have another lap of the Ring which I personally enjoyed better than the previous days effort, Jon, Col, Phil, Mike and Michelle also had another go and Brendon past all of us.
The ride to Sliders was as good as going round the track, there is a bit of everything, open corners, hairpins, hills up and down and very few cars, so we had lots to talk about when we got back.
Once back at the guest house Brendon put some videos from youtube on the TV and some new guest had arrived from Australia. They write for the Australian MCN and were doing a European tour starting from the UK and going to as many places as possible by the sounds of it.. The Cornwall riders joined us so we swapped stories over some beers and then packed for the ride home in the morning.The Cornwall riders were also leaving at the same time, we quickly thought up a new challenge, to beat them back to Ashford and get the best parking spots, which we did!



Theres some tinkering going on here

The Eco Challenge
We filled up with petrol at the garage up the road, and rode to oxford 81 miles away. We took that as our avg mpg.
The challenge was then to get as close to your average everytime we filled up.
in summary Col won 57mpg , Ed 2nd 52mpg, Phill 3rd 51mpg, Jon 4th 49mpg.

Summary
Date:- 7th - 12th Aug 2010
Weather:- 2 wet days, 2 dull days, 2 sunny.
Hotels:- Travelodge Ashford / Sliders Guest House
Miles:- 1300.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.18p to 1.24p a ltr (14 petrol stations)
EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon
Aim:- Lap the Nordschliefe and Südschleife, visit Cochem Castle, ride some new roads.

The 2009 Superbike Adventure.

We left for Scarborough on 9th August, with lapping the Olivers Mount circuit as a prime goal. It rained most of the way there as usual. 
After finding the Rosedene hotel we set off to find Olivers Mount and as I had seen the sign on the way in, found it quite easily. We rode all the way around the circuit before noticing the signs and deciding what to do about the 30mph speed limit.
So the Limit Lap Challenge was born.
Simply do a timed lap around the course at as close to 30mph as you can. The time was 5 minutes and 6 seconds, then each of us would do a lap and try to get as close to the time as possible. Sounds easy enough, but when you consider Olivers Mount is a steep hill and the race track starts at the bottom then goes over the top and back down, through 3 hairpins and 2 long straights, each of which poses its own challenge at 30mph. Up hills require a carefull throttle hand, downhills the brake and the straights are begging for a load of power to be thrown at them. Jon went first and quickly got to 30mph and what seamed to be ages later arrived back at the line. Then Col went on his lap, gently pulling away upto 30mph and I am sure it went from day to night then back to day again before he completed his lap. Unfortunately for me the weather turned from a glorius grey cloud coverd day to a miserable soaking wet one and it was my turn. My tactic was get to 30mph quick and brake late. I rode half the course problem free but my visor started to steam up and I was being pressured by a Nissan Micra, I started my decent through the trees and couldnt see how fast i was going, the Micra was trying to get past, oh the shame! I wiped the visor and checked my speed, Noooo! 37mph I didnt know how long I had been over 30 and as I was now just starting to go around the last hairpin I though I better take it slow. 20mph is painful to ride at on an R1 down a nice straight road, after 10 seconds I thought thats got to be long enough now so got back up to speed, all 30mph of it and crossed the line.
The results were quite entertaining especially the excuses for why we ended up at that time.



Just before the start of the EDSBK TT

Eds Cup From Olivers Mount :- Control time 5:06.0
1st Jon      Suzuki GSXR        5:07.1 difference of 1.1 second
2nd Phill    Yamaha R1          5:01.4 difference of 4.6 seconds
3rd Col      Honda Fireblade    5:16.1 Difference of 10.1 seconds
My excuse, the rain causing the visor to steam up I thought was an excuse worth its weight in gold as it had cost me -4.6 seconds, Col came up with his analogue speedo cant be reading right as he took an extra 10 seconds, and Jon said he would have been perfect if his bike hadn't of misfired on one corner costing him 1.1 seconds. Later over a drink or 2 in the Albert drinking establishment we discussed other theories on how we could better the times for next time.
Unfortunately after the challenge we decided to go for a coffee in the cafe by the Monument, and we all suffered a problem relating to the immobilisers. My R1 had flashing brake lights and the indicators stuck on, Jons wouldnt start, and Cols was doing all kinds of things and wouldnt start, but once away from the radio masts by the monument Jons and mine were fine but Cols was still playng up and by messing with it, it blew alot of fuses and the RAC was called to sort it out, which they did!
The following day we left in the sunshine heading North up to Scotland, using mostly the A1 up past the Angel of the North and along the east coast. It rained again. We found the Livingston Travelodge, where we had based our stay.
There was a few things I wanted to do while in Scotland, eat some Haggis was one of them so we found a nice restaurant just down the road and sampled Haggis, bashed neeps and tatties.



Knockhill



Loch Taye


The next day we went to Ingliston hall, which is where the Touring Cars used to race back in the 80s and 90s, I decided I was going in, but Jon and Col sat outside the gate. I made it onto the hairpin which was now a caravan site, I was stopped by a man from one of the caravans who asked what I was looking for, I told him the track, and he told me all about his racing career as a support race car driver back in the 90s actually on Ingliston track, he told me to go and see the security guard around the other side of the estate as he used to be a Marshall for the races, so I did and it was a pleasure to talk to him and hear about what he did.
From there we rode over the Forth Bridge up to Knockhill and had a look around at the circuit, before heading off to Loch Taye.
When we left Knockhill we asked the sat nav to take us to a petrol station, it took us to 2 that were now closed down so eventually came across one by asking a postman, 60 miles later and in the village of Alderfery I suggested getting more fuel as it was getting quite remote out there and saw 2 motorbikers outside a police station in the town so asked if they knew where a petrol station was? Yes about a mile down there a girl on the one bike said, the sat nav said it was about 500 metres the otherway so Jon said follow me, its down here and we all followed him, we went over a famous little bridge and started leaving the village when Jon stopped and said its here. Nothing like a petrol station was anywhere to be seen. The girl said to me wheres he taking us, I said probably back to Edinburgh. We turned back to the town and I decided to look on the main road to find the petrol station and there it was. It rained very hard for about 40 minutes so we had something to eat and chatted to the other riders under the garage forecourt for a while.
We said goodbye to our new mates as they had already seen the Loch.
Loch Taye is about 12 miles long and a very nice place to see, unfortunately Jon was going very quickly past all of it and when we caught him up he told us his bike was running on 3 cylinders so he wanted to get back to the hotel to fix it. So we left all the nice scenery and rode some great biking roads with long sweeping bends up and down mountains before joining the motorway back to Livingston. It reminded me of the roads through and around the Blackforest area of Germany.

The following day was a bike free day to be spent in Edinburgh, to see the British Touring Cars do a demonstration, go around the castle and see the city. We had a great day in the city and the Sun was out and I even appeared on TV talking to James Thompson one of the racing car drivers.
We were all pleased to give the bikes a miss for 24 hours, before the 330 mile journey back to the midlands. It rained!
Summary
Date:- 10th - 14th Aug 2009
Weather:- 3 dull days, 2 sunny.
Hotels:- Rosedene Hotel Scarborough / Travelodge Livingston
Miles:- 1000.
Fuel cost per litre:- 102p
Aim:- Lap the Olivers Mount Course and Visit Edinburgh.
Phill.

The 2008 Road Trip

The best bits



Ready to go on the track

We left just after dinner on a rainy Saturday afternoon heading for the travel lodge in Ashford as we had a 7.30am crossing on the Eurostar. The Hotel was one we had used before and has rooms that sleep up to 4 people. The following morning we were up at 5.30 and on the way by 6.30 to get to the train. The weather had changed to a sunny day. We arrived in Calais and filled up with petrol as its cheaper than in England and went on away to Belgium stopping every 100 miles for fuel. This time Jon had his sat nav with him so he was leading, I reminded the others how last time we went I took a wrong turn after these services and it had cost us about 30 minutes in Brussels, we pulled off the services and Jon and the Sat nav took the same road as I had 2 years earlier, I thought this is the way I went, its wrong, Luckily the sat nav found a route back to the E40 that only cost us a few minutes. We seemed to have been riding for hours when I noticed a sign that said Malmedy and Spa to my thinking it was only about 50 miles to Adenau so thought oh dear Malmedy is not as close to France as we had hoped. We stopped at the services just by the German border to have 15 minutes for something to eat and then to refuel, Col pointed out a woman who worked on the garage forecourt she was smoking a cigarette right by the petrol pumps, we got out of there as quick as we could. Eventually we got off the Autobahn and rode through the Black forest and a few villages until we arrived at Eddies at around 3pm.
The weather as usual rained for an hour or two on all the days we were away but never stopped us doing what we wanted too. I learned a new word in German" Brotchen" which is bread roll, something the local cafe woman said with a big smile each time I ordered my meal from her "mit brotchen?" My phrase book didnt have the word for glue in it, try explaining, I want something to stick rubber to leather, to someone when they dont know what your talking about, I was offered tooth paste, electicians tape and corn flakes before someone else said try the DIY shop in the village. Luckily UHU glue in German is still called UHU so my boots that had come apart were re glued every night.


Marks Burg



Infront of the fire in the great hall

Laacher sea
   Marksburg castle is by the city of Koblenz, we visited the castle and had a guided tour. I didnt pick up my ticket from the lady behind the counter and nearly missed it, luckily a German man told the guide he saw me pay and I was let in.
    Its great at nurburgring talking to europeans in the hotel especially the night Col was asleep and two 19 year old lads from Austria who like Top Gear had a chat, they can easliy be convinced that as we are from the UK we know the Stig... Some say he get tired when he rides a motorbike and some say he comes riding with us....
We went to see Laacher sea which is a lake in the crater of a volcanoe, apparently the only one of this type in Europe, It was nice ride to get there and the scenery was beautiful. We stopped at the cafe and stared at the water. Gas bubbles can still be seen escaping from under the lake, which means it could erupt again one day!
We returned to the Nordschliefe to get some lap time, I did 3 laps and Jon and Col both did 6, laps ( They took loads of money). As the track was quite busy, and the weather made the track damp in places, care was needed on the corners and under the trees on most of the laps.




The track was very damp

On day 5 we went to Malmedy, Jon had the Sat nav already to get us there. It took us along some amazing roads and through some great scenery and nice villages that looked like they hadnt changed in years. Germany is very clean. We crossed the boarder into Belgium and through a village called Udenbreth which looked like Uderbreath on the name post, which made me laugh. We arrived at Malmedy which is a nice town in Belgium right by the motor racing circuit of Spa, and they speak French there, we raised a bit of interest from some old locals as the 3 bikes came to town with UK plates, while Jon and Col were away looking for the hotel and I was left on bike watch, an old man decided to try a conversation. It was a bit like 'Give us a Clue' with both of us gesturing and pointing at things as his English was worse than my French, but between us we talked for 4 or 5 minutes. I remember it started with him saying "le grande velo" which from my school boy French I understood as big bike, he went on to ask by pointing and saying things like vitese (speed) persumably how fast it went and then pointed to the after market clock stuck on the handle bar, I told him in a mixture of English and my best French "it can do over trois hundred kph, and thats a clock, it says douze heure et vingt-trois" 12:23 as it was the time, he raised his eyebrows waved both hands and he walked off then walked back and mutterd something about velos and douze heure and went on his way. We stayed at a very nice appartment attached to a cafe and a blacksmiths shop where we stored the bikes. After dinner we went for a look at the Spa-Francorchamp circuit which to our suprise had a practice session for the motorbike race that was being held the following weekend and then for a ride along the old roads that were the longer 1960s /70s circuit, which was very straight. That evening we had a walk around town looking at the cathederal and local bars and pizza shop. The pizza shop man had the air of sophistication and the smell of onions, but the pizza was good.



Me at Spa



We got up to start the long journey home, about 425 miles worth, to a flat tyre on the Suzuki, our hearts sank as Jon made the call and was told they couldnt help until 9.30am. I suggested we find a garage and get an aerosol puncture repair kit which we did and it fixed the tyre and got us home without a problem. It was a nice sunny day all through Belgium and France, as soon as we got off the train back in England it rained and rained for the next few hours. Col signalled he needed to stop so at Warwick we pulled into the services as his bike was crippling him.
I enjoyed this trip as we didnt go just to the same places as the first time we went to Germany. I would like to visit the Nurburgring again, but tag it onto another place like we did this time.


Practice day for 8hrs du Spa
Summary
Date:- 9th Aug 2008
Weather:- Mostly sunny spells and some rain
Hotel:- Ashford Travelodge/Hotel an der Nordschleife/The Blacksmiths Malmedy.
Miles:- 1350 approx.
Fuel cost per litre:- 97p
Aim:- Lap the Nordsleife, Lap Spa 1960s GP Circuit, Marksburg Castle.

The 2007 Road Trip

We set off early on the Friday morning, the bikes were loaded with the most stuff we have ever taken, as we needed to take our tents and sleeping bags on top of the usual stuff we take. My clutch seemed to be playing up as we pulled away, We made it to the ferry at Haversham and there was hundreds of bikes all loaded up like ours.
The crossing was good, and we arrived as the track was closed for testing by the racers which ment we had to wait an hour before we could get to the Rugby club to set up the tents. We all had 2 man tents which cost about a tenner each, these will be good enough and if there rubbish we can throw them away when weve finished with them Col said.
We pitched our tents which took a while as we tried to work out what went where and then put our stuff inside. We had had enough of the bikes for the day so went to explore our surroundings. The Rugby club had got a porta loo with 4 cubicals and the Club house toilets had got 4 cubicals, there was about 400 blokes staying on the site, so you can imagine, there was always a cue for the toilet and when you eventually got in the smell was horrible. Luckily Mac Donalds was opposite and closer to where we had pitched our tents. Oh and the showers were communal! The club house had layed on a big screen TV which showed TT highlites and Rock videos so we liked it in there. Suprisingly we saw a real life pair of breasts in there as this woman decided to do a flash!
Day 2 we decided to do a lap of the course so we could find best place to watch the race from, unfortunately we all got split up and ended up watching from different parts, well we would have if the weather wasnt raining so after an hour they called it off. We went to Castletown Castle and had a look around and a beer in the castle pub next door and later walked into Douglas to watch the seafront entertainment and have a few more beers. It rained most of the night and our tents leaked. So in the morning made a few adjustments.
Day 3. Mad Sunday.. It rained we did a full lap but the mountain section was covered in clouds so visability was about 20 feet in places. Still it was quite mad though!
There was lots of things going on around the pit area so we went and looked around there. It chucked it down all day and the tents leaked, we were soaked from the rain all day our stuff was soaked, with nowhere to dry anything we stayed in the club house ate a pizza and waited for the rain to stop. It didnt and it all was becoming a let down. It drizzled all night and when we got up in the morning the Sun was out. We had socks drying and the atmosphere on the site was better.
My clutch had got worse as the days past and was now in a bad way, I had bought some clutch fluid so decided to top it up, I found the problem was caused by the mechanic I had used a few weeks earlier. Id asked him to change the fluid while he was putting a new chain and sprocket on the Thunderace. He had put the rubber seal back on but not lined it up properly and the clutch fluid had slowly seeped into the bit where the air was supposed to be. I re fitted it and it worked a treat.
We decided to watch the race from Creg ne Ba, the sun beat down and the races took place, John Macguiness won and broke the 130 mph lap record.
Another night in Douglas had to be cut short as we had to be up at 5am the following morning to catch the ferry back home.

Summary
Date:- May / June 2007
Weather:- 3 dull day, 2 sunny.
Hotel:- Our own tents pitched on Douglas Rugby Club
Miles:- 500 approx.
Fuel cost per litre:- 96p
Aim:- Lap the TT curcuit, watch the TT races.