A little trip to the Black Forest...

[adm1]

I am off again. Tomorrow. Just beginning to do my packing now, then tomorrow I'll scuttle over to Ashford to meet the rest of the group for dinner and drinks followed by an early doors train under the Channel first thing on Monday morning.

I am leading a group of 12 bikes (all Harleys, so it will be orange vest time again) and we will go and enjoy some of the best roads the area has to offer. There will be hairpins, twisties, small mountains, lakes, trees, views, beer and food. And weather of some sort.

Day one will be a mainly motorway blat down to Verdun. Day two a more scenic run to Villingen-Schwenningen where we will stay three nights in the lovely Central Hotel (I stayed there last year and really enjoyed it).

We'll do a Westerly Black Forest loop one day, doing some of the highest points of the area such as Kandel mountain and having lunch at the Schauinisland cable car top station (i.e. hunting hairpins), then take in the lakes at Schlussee and Titisee.

The next day will be a trip down to Constance, partially around the lake, partially across it on the ferry and lunch at the famous Konzil restaurant. Probably a stop at the HD dealership in Tutlingen.

Then, back northwards via the B500. Actually avoiding the B500 wherever possible, but rather following it's general direction and looping off east and west of it on some much better roads before ending up in Sankt-Ingbert at the Fawlty-Towers-esque Alfa Hotel.

Then over to Mons, stopping in Dinant for lunch. A meet up with the local Mons Chapter folk for dinner and lots of Belgian beer.

Finally, back to the tunnel via Westvleteren where hopefully the Monks will sell us beer, cheese and pate (and lunch) before getting back on the train home.

That's the plan. Hopefully no unscheduled dismounts on this trip. Let's see what happens...

 

[Wapping]

Sounds good.

 

[Wapping]

If you are on an ‘early doors’ train, might I suggest going over the evening before?

I‘d also suggest a way to get to Verdun, rather than motorway all the way, might be:



This route ends a smidge short of Verdun but no big deal.

 

[adm1]

If you are on an ‘early doors’ train, might I suggest going over the evening before?

I‘d also suggest a way to get to Verdun, rather than motorway all the way, might be:



This route ends a smidge short of Verdun but no big deal.

It's too late to change things now....early doors train it is.

But sometimes I do the crossing the night before - and your route there is pretty much the one I use if I stay at Chateau Tilques - it more or less goes past it.

Can I ask what via points 10 and 11 are for? Is it a lunch stop at Les Jardins de Bohain? (Which looks a little too posh for my lot).

 

[Doc]

Is that what you do for a living ? Organize trips or just for fun.

 

[adm1]

Is that what you do for a living ? Organize trips or just for fun.

Just for fun Doc, just for fun. Maybe one day I could make a living out of it, but I'd need to be retired and have enough money put away to support me for the rest of my life first!

 

[Doc]

Just for fun Doc, just for fun. Maybe one day I could make a living out of it, but I'd need to be retired and have enough money put away to support me for the rest of my life first!

Ok. Sounds good.

 

[Wapping]

Can I ask what via points 10 and 11 are for? Is it a lunch stop at Les Jardins de Bohain? (Which looks a little too posh for my lot).

10 is a waypoint for the excellent chip shop in Bohain-en-V with a pretty good cafe next door. It is perfectly suitable for bikermates, trust me. I have used both for years; lots of parking outside, too.

11 is just the ‘Leave’ waypoint, for anyone with the route loaded onto a Garmin device.

 

[adm1]

Very good. I guessed it was a lunch stop, but wasn't sure which establishment! Thank you.

 

[Wapping]

It’s often a convenient place to stop, as the town has two small petrol stations. Similarly, with a large group, the parking is pretty good.

 

[adm1]

This morning, I cleaned the last 3,000 miles worth of dust and bugs off the bike.

Now packed and ready to go, but not leaving for a few hours…

 

[Doc]

Nice place to visit the Black Forest. Enjoy

 

[adm1]

I got my group together. A gourmet first night dinner at a Beefeater in Ashford.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Fine body of men (and women). Happy days

 

[Wapping]

Fine body of men (and women). Happy days

Cue the Monty P “Are there any women here?”

 

[adm1]

All the bikes got on the same train this morning. Just for a change.

Off to France we go….

 

[adm1]

And this time, we didn’t even have to stop just after the tunnel. We actually made it the 82 miles to Tournai for the first coffee stop

 

[adm1]

Having now got to Verdun, after a stop at the Ossuary on the way, we find ourselves at the cheap but clean Hotel du Tigre.

In an absolute disaster, the hotel bar is closed. Apparently a large group drank all the beer last night and management didn’t think to restock.

So it’s a short walk into town to Sherlock’s Pub instead.

 

[sutty]

 

[adm1]

Well, time got away from me. Too much riding and drinking, but let's carry on....



Dinner at Sherlock's is always pretty decent, and a stroll along the river with a stop for a beer or two finished the evening off nicely. All in all, the Hotel du Tigre is pretty good. €52 a night, clean bed, breakfast included and off street parking. I'd use it again.

The next day was shorter run of 220 miles to Villingen-Schwenningen. All went well until we stopped for coffee at about the 100 mile mark. I checked my email to find a mail from the Hotel du Tigre to say that one couple from group had left their passports in their room. Which meant that I got to do the "Everyone who has a passport, take one step forward....Chris and Vicky what are you doing?" joke. This was potentially a serious problem, but I called the hotel and in my broken French we concluded they would keep them in the hotel safe, and Chris and Vicky would reroute slightly on the way home to pick them up. Crisis averted.

Anyway, this day was motorway up to lunchtime, and then some much, much nicer roads into Villingen-Schwenningen to the lovely Central Hotel. I have recommended this place before, but I am going to do so again anyway. It's owned and run by a German/Irish couple Jutta and Ronan who are both lovely. It's a well situated hotel, with secure parking, excellent rooms and great breakfast. Highly, highly recommended.



When we got there, they had reserved parking for us. At the very right of the picture, you can see the door into the hotel. It's literally about 20 steps from the bike to the hotel bar. Absolutely perfect.

With all the passport shenanigans, we hadn't really had a decent lunch. So we all checked in and then made a pilgrimage to Schilling's Imbiss about 200 metres away for Currywurst, chips and beer....



This was the part where Barry (the vegetarian) ordered veggie nuggets with curry sauce, but accidentally picked up someone else's dish. "Wow, these nuggets are great. They look and taste just like a real bratwurst"....

Then it was back to the hotel, where they threw a sparkling wine reception for us which was nice. Showered and unpacked, we went to Furstenburg's Irish Pub (lots of German restaurants are closed on Tuesdays, but this was open.



Decent food, good beer and of course some rebel songs to make it a proper Irish pub night.