Nurburgring Trip Day 6

Thursday 15 July 2010 at 10:35 pm

Monday 12 July
OnRoad Cafe, Germany to home

Mileage start:not sure end:25335 miles travelled:597 (less about 80 on the previous day)

This was it, last day.  To be honest I was ready to go home, having been bombarded with so many new experiences and missing my lot at home.  However I really hadn’t reckoned on the sheer distances involved.

We left the hotel about 8.45 after filling up on the usual German breakfast fare of fresh rolls, cold meats and boiled eggs and were straight into the twisties again.  We dropped John off along the way as he was spending an extra day at the OnRoad.  Roads were fine until Belgium… Trev had warned us that we would be riding the worst road ever and we took it with a pinch of salt, but the reality was just that.  This particular stretch (and I can’t remember exactly where it was), was about 5 miles of the most rutted, pot-holed, crappy tarmac you’ve ever driven on.  It’s like the tanks rolled in in 1939 and they never bothered to fix it.

Soon it became just mile after mile of motorway.  After we’d negotiated the Brussels ring road we pulled into a small town to try for a coffee, and ended up in a McDonalds.  Next stop was Brugge, where we’d arranged to meet up for lunch with some other TDM club members who were on their way home from Brno.  Nice town centre and good chips.

Then it was motorway, motorway and more motorway.  We all had to come up with ways of keeping ourselves alert, mainly involving singing, shouting, waving at car passengers and (Ian’s personal favourite) shooting caravans.

Eventually Calais arrived, and after we’d blown the last of our euros on fuel and snacks we were back on the train to Blighty.  It almost felt like ‘nearly home’, but in reality there was still a good way to ride.  Being back on the left felt natural after a week on the wrong side, but it was clear that European drivers are more courteous than British ones.  After a trouble-free week in the motorsport heartland of Germany, as soon as we were back on the M20 there’s some moron in a car driving up your arse at 85mph.  And after Trev and I left Ian at Ipswich and headed into Lowestoft, we had a child in an N-reg Fiesta who decided his 1100cc engine could burn us off at the lights.  Bloody idiot.

All in all a fantastic time was had by all.  My total mileage from door to door was 1221 and my faithful TDM850 never missed a beat.  I think my riding has improved from all the hairpin practice, and I’d definitely do it all again.  I’d remember my phone and camera chargers next time though.