It's been a while since we returned and seeing as none of the other tossers on the trip have offered any sort of trip report I thought I'd bung a few pics on here and see how much I can remember as the pics go up.
The cast of players; Johnnyboxer, Springer, Oscar (Oie), Darkhorse, Degsey, myself and step father Richard, seen here raising a glass to our friend and traveling buddy Gerry who had to cancel his plans to join us on this trip only 3 weeks before we set off due to his worsening health.
Richard and I elected to head down to Folkestone on Friday afternoon and stay in a B&B in readiness for our Eurotunnel crossing at 8.30am, we stayed at guest house called The Relish, it was clean and comfortable and our hosts were charming and helpful, allowing us to park our bikes in the frontage of their property.
The following morning, the plan was to meet the others either en-route or at the first Hotel, Richard and I made an early start for the Eurotunnel arriving at around 7.20am, due to a "technical issue" our departure would be delayed as all train times were being revised on an hourly basis, first estimate we were given was around a 2 hour delay, I realised we would probably end up travelling with Dave,Degsey and Oscar who had booked a crossing 2 hours later than ours, and so it turned out that we boarded at around 12.15, during the morning we had been joined by Springer who had got all spontaneous and adventurous and decided to join us after all
Johnny meanwhile had experienced delays too, he was crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge and was approximately 6 hours behind schedule too
I had hurriedly attached a camera Ram mount and small cheap camera to the crash bars of my bike to see how well this would work I experimented as we boarded the train
We arrived on French soil around 2pm local time and had roughly 290 miles ride to the first hotel which was the rather excellent Hotel Hullen in Barweiller http://www.hotelhuellen.de/index.php/en/ where we due to stay for 4 nights, the pace was quite brisk and became more enjoyable as we drew nearer our destination, I managed a few more pics from the bike mounted camera with varyng degrees of success.......
We arrived after dark, we were greeted by Johnny who had enjoyed a similarly brisk journey, we parked the bikes and checked in and met in the bar/restaraunt, where we ate, and some drinking happened
We all sampled some local Schnapps after dinner, Richard enjoyed it tremendously.......
The obligatory "view from my room" shot.....
We decided to go nowhere in particular the next day and Johnny lead us on a great ride of the area he knows so well
We did some Strasse....
And some Gelande.....
More bike mounted camera shots, not working as well as I'd hoped
We stopped here at this memorial to German tank crews (I think....) did someone say the gates were made from tank armour?
And tried a group selfie with my camera set on timer mode.......
We stopped for lunch near the Nurburgring and walked to a viewing area
Fans of yours Johnny ?
A Post ride de-brief became the accepted way to end the ride over the next few days
Over the next few days we did some of this;
Saw places and views like this;
It's the MIB's
2014 won't be a vintage year for local wine producers though 
We stopped for coffee and cake in pretty little towns
Say CHEESE for the camera
We visited emporiums of TAT......
We enjoyed some good food in good company........
Enjoyed the hospitality (and FREE w-fi )
And toasted absent friends
On Wednesday 5 of us were heading for our second Hotel in Bad Peterstal whilst Darkhorse and Degsey were heading for home
More soon................
The cast of players; Johnnyboxer, Springer, Oscar (Oie), Darkhorse, Degsey, myself and step father Richard, seen here raising a glass to our friend and traveling buddy Gerry who had to cancel his plans to join us on this trip only 3 weeks before we set off due to his worsening health.
Richard and I elected to head down to Folkestone on Friday afternoon and stay in a B&B in readiness for our Eurotunnel crossing at 8.30am, we stayed at guest house called The Relish, it was clean and comfortable and our hosts were charming and helpful, allowing us to park our bikes in the frontage of their property.
The following morning, the plan was to meet the others either en-route or at the first Hotel, Richard and I made an early start for the Eurotunnel arriving at around 7.20am, due to a "technical issue" our departure would be delayed as all train times were being revised on an hourly basis, first estimate we were given was around a 2 hour delay, I realised we would probably end up travelling with Dave,Degsey and Oscar who had booked a crossing 2 hours later than ours, and so it turned out that we boarded at around 12.15, during the morning we had been joined by Springer who had got all spontaneous and adventurous and decided to join us after all
Johnny meanwhile had experienced delays too, he was crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge and was approximately 6 hours behind schedule too
I had hurriedly attached a camera Ram mount and small cheap camera to the crash bars of my bike to see how well this would work I experimented as we boarded the train
We arrived on French soil around 2pm local time and had roughly 290 miles ride to the first hotel which was the rather excellent Hotel Hullen in Barweiller http://www.hotelhuellen.de/index.php/en/ where we due to stay for 4 nights, the pace was quite brisk and became more enjoyable as we drew nearer our destination, I managed a few more pics from the bike mounted camera with varyng degrees of success.......
We arrived after dark, we were greeted by Johnny who had enjoyed a similarly brisk journey, we parked the bikes and checked in and met in the bar/restaraunt, where we ate, and some drinking happened
We all sampled some local Schnapps after dinner, Richard enjoyed it tremendously.......
The obligatory "view from my room" shot.....
We decided to go nowhere in particular the next day and Johnny lead us on a great ride of the area he knows so well
We did some Strasse....
And some Gelande.....
More bike mounted camera shots, not working as well as I'd hoped
We stopped here at this memorial to German tank crews (I think....) did someone say the gates were made from tank armour?
And tried a group selfie with my camera set on timer mode.......
We stopped for lunch near the Nurburgring and walked to a viewing area
Fans of yours Johnny ?
A Post ride de-brief became the accepted way to end the ride over the next few days
Over the next few days we did some of this;
Saw places and views like this;
It's the MIB's
2014 won't be a vintage year for local wine producers though
We stopped for coffee and cake in pretty little towns
Say CHEESE for the camera
We visited emporiums of TAT......
We enjoyed some good food in good company........
Enjoyed the hospitality (and FREE w-fi )
And toasted absent friends
On Wednesday 5 of us were heading for our second Hotel in Bad Peterstal whilst Darkhorse and Degsey were heading for home
More soon................
