The quickest way to the Ring is to jump on the train to Calais then hit the autoroute to Ghent, Brussels and Liège. Then either continue to Aachen and take the excellent A roads to Schleiden, Blankenheim and then Nürburg, or drop down the autobahn to St.Vith, exit at Prum and head for Nürburg via Gerolstein. Either route involves around 250 miles of motorway plus 50 or so miles of decent bendy A roads.

Our preferred route, easily covered in a day, finishes the motorway stuff at Namur and we then head though the Ardennes. This cuts the autoroute riding down to 150 miles, which is just about bearable. Once into the hills there is a choice of routes - the most direct via Andenne, Huy, Ouffet, Hamoir, Ferières, Tres Ponts, Stavelot and coffee and crepes at Malmèdy before a bendy run via Bullange and Hillesheim to Nürburg.

For a slightly longer, prettier run head for Spontin or Dinant for lunch then Rochefort, La Roche-en-Ardenne, Houffalize, St. Vith, Prum, Gerolsteine and then on to Nürburg. This way is a good deal trickier to follow and requires a decent map, but there are some stunning roads. If you leave Calais at 9.00 you should have time for a few pleasant stops and still be at the Ring for a few laps before closing time, usually 7pm. Stay off the beer though, some of these roads have sneaky bends.

Generally the road surfaces are OK, bloody brilliant when compared to rubbish English stuff, and once into Germany the roads are mostly billiard smooth and ultra grippy, so you can wind on plenty of rebound and compression damping for decent steering and track handling. Miles and miles of bendy roads, and you'll see perhaps half a dozen cars every mile. Why on earth do Germans ride shed BMWs and big trail bikes with roads like these?

The village of Nürburg is small but has plenty of hotels and guest houses, and there are more in Adenau plus some very pleasant, slightly more distant towns like Mayen. Food is not too varied, and generally consists of pig and cow, plus loads of Italian stuff for some reason. You won't get anything French or Indian very easily.

Once at the Ring the car park and track entrance are located on the road running out of the village away from the GP circuit. Continue along this road and do a right at the end to reach the nearest petrol station, on the main road to Koblenz. A left at the end of the road will take you over the hills to Adenau. There's a decent Honda/Yamaha dealer here which can be handy for parts, as well as clothing.

You can reach various spectator areas around the circuit to watch the action. The best ones are at Brunchen and Pflantzgarten as well as the bridge at Adenau. Other popular places are Schwedenkreuz, Adenau Forest and the Karussell.