Belgium to the Black Forest, returning through France. (salad days and room 303)

Dean

Dean

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Never having been to Belgium or Germany before, with some gleaned information from here and there me and my brother in-law based a trip of mixed city and rural. Two bikes Dave on his Triumph tiger 800 triple and me on my F650 twin.

For a 5 Day trip, last weekend :D


Day 1. Deepest Essex to Formule 1, Herstal 4040, Belgium. (332 Miles)


The route.





After catching a morning train to Calais we was on our way, the sun was rising for a glorious day.

Our carriage awaits










Trotting into Bruges






The sweet smells of Belgium certain to trigger the appetite. :drool








Blending in with the tourist for some pictures and we was on our way again…















The next stop was Gent arriving at the castle










Not sure about the escargot :nenau




Lots of push bikes in town ring ring and a Solex






A few pictures of the city and its sounds and off again.






The sweet smells took their toll and we could not resist a pizza for lunch. :D






Spearing through the centre of Brussels and stopping for a few more pictures it was a buzzing hive of activity with the trams almost continuous coming and going.















From Brussels we headed out to Dinant the birth place of Adolphe (no not that one)





Mr Sax the Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.
A few pictures here and we was on our way for our stop in Herstal, near Liege….







Arriving at the formule 1, we parked the bikes for the night .





After checking in and allocated and checking into room 303. The manager informed us of the local restaurant a short walk down the road.

La Rotonda, was filling nicely with locals.










A nice local Beer & a few more :D :D :beerjug:






Followed by a taster





Carpaccio de boef (Steak salad)






And to finish vanilla ice cream topped with cream surrounded by espresso coffee…





That was the end of day 1
 
That bowl of maggots looked pretty disgusting .... :barf
 
Day 2 after having the Continental breakfast we left Herstal, Belgium heading for to the Ibis Hotel, Mannheim, Germany. (222 Miles)

Our intended route.



After crossing the border into Germany we headed for Cologne, Germany’s fourth largest city. A view of the rhine and spanned by the Hohenzollem Railway bridge.





Cologne Cathedral, Germany’s most visited land mark.





The rain moved in but we pushed on and followed the Rhine river through, Bonn – Koblenz – Mainz – Worms to our overnight stay at Mannheim







Lunch was : Der Big Mac und Pommes frites, mit einer Cola light. :thumb2





On to the Ibis budget hotel, Mannheim and parked up the bikes for the night, from room 303 :eek we had a good view of the bikes.







The leaflets on display gave a few locations of some resteraunts a short walk away, window shopping :thumby: :D along the way at the local toy shop.







An old Opel Wobble box and Audi quattro rally car added to the sights.









The resteraunt was the Friedrichsfelder hof :fnikefork








Nice local Beer :beerjug:, and a few more :friday






And a salad to start :D:D





Followed by Schnitzel :drool





And a sorbet in fizzy wine to finish :blast :D





that was Day 2.
 
Day 3 Mannheim to The Pension Williams, Seebach, Germany (298 Miles)
Leaving the rhine to pick up the B500 at Baden-Baden driving down past seebach and looping back up.


Our intended route.





The climbing roads took us into a pea soup of low cloud.:eek :eek:





As it cleared the landscape was changing and becoming more scenic all the time with some nice twisties. :D:D:D








Passing through Oberwolfach







And then Wolfach




And up to the Wasserfall at Triberg, in the midst of Black Forest, the Gutach river plunges over seven major steps from a gently undulated high plain into a rocky V-shaped valley.













A lot of path ways with monkey nuts on sale to feed the resident squirrels and the resident Nutcracker :D






All that walking built up an appetite for lunch at the Da Rocco, in Barental (near Feldburg) :drool




A nice salad, with an omelette and chips on the side.





The schnapps museum was next door. :D






So with some fire water purchased. :jager






we was on route again around the schluchsee and the dam, with its height of 930 metres above sea level, is the highest reservoir in Germany and also the largest lake in the Black Forest.






And up to our overnight at the pension williams, Seebach, owned and run by David and Angela Williams, all of our hotels was just to be an overnight stop over as just passing through for the night. :thumb2





But what a great place, with nice hosts in a stunning area to be based.
after the busy towns at night it was so quite. :D





The bikes parked up viewed from our room number 2 (glad it wasn’t 303) :rolleyes:





That chocolate on the pillow triggered the appetite. :drool





David had offered to drive us to the steakhaus as it was more than a walk and he was already taking two other guests with arrangements in place for the steakhaus to return them. We opted to walk down to the The Hotel-Restaurant Hirsch. Just a 10 min or so walk down hill.

A nice local Beer & a few more :beerjug: :friday



Followed by mixed grill (heikels griddle) :drool :drool :drool





With a walk back up the hill to the pension That concluded day 3
 
Enjoying this. Went to Wolfach a few years ago. There a motorcycle museum there which was quite small (about 50 bikes) but some nice bikes in there. Lovely part of the world.

Keep it coming:thumb2
 
Day 4. Seebach to the Mercure Hotel, Thionville France. (159 Miles)

After a large continental breakfast at the pension Williams it was time to say our goodbyes and get on our way.


Our intended Route.





First a visit to the local vinyards many grapes put asside for the Schnapsbrennen :jager












Then on we go crossing the rhine into France and Strasbourg.

The cathedral At 142 metres , it was the worlds tallest building from 1647 to 1874.





















Time for some lunch at Café Montmartre. :fnikefork





A nice salad with a quiche Lorraine on the side. :drool






On route to Metz and our first tolls of the trip. :eek





Metz.











Time for some cake. :fnikefork




Escargot cake with raisins :drool






And our overnight stop over the Mercure Hotel, Thionville, France Yep Room 303 :D:D:D




With some semi secure parking for the bikes.





Evening meal was at the Restaurant brochettes et compagnie. :fnikefork





A nice local beer & a few more :beerjug: :friday





Then a nice salad & on the side Le Burger Foi Gras :drool :drool





Followed by Crème Brulee A La Vanille, with caramalised bananas. :drool







That concluded Day 4.
 
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Day 5. Thionville to home (384 miles)

Our intended Route.



After a nice continental Breakfast at the Mecure we was on our way through the French rural farmland, the first stop was the battle site of Valmy.

On the way in a few blasts from the past.






The statue is surrounded by some Manchester Iron. :eek







The windmill stands where the battle took place (close to it a small underground museum is soon to open)





Stopping further on route at the Auberive cemetery.







After being diverted we came across this memorial.










And before we knew it we was back at the Chunnel and on the train on our way to Blighty. :D




And after the 1,395 miles home, always a warm welcome even if they are the wrong slippers, still it’s the thought that counts. :comfort





Having never been before to Belgium and Germany before this trip, I now know it will not be the last. :D:D:D

Thanks for reading… :beerjug:
 
Some interesting places there - its given me some inspiration for a route back from Switzerland next July. Ghent looks well worth a visit (went to Zeebrugge in May) :cool:
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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