I'd been looking forward to this visit from Lenny and LJ, as I felt prepared. Not only were there croissants and Pan au chocolate in the kitchen gently coming up to room temperature and the fridge full of Belgium's finest beer, but I had the map sorted, had checked out some roads, had a chosen destination, oiled my chain, checked my tyre pressures, but above all it was about 80 degrees in the afternoon on the Saturday, so all was well with the world, until….. I got a call from LJ saying which way should they go after following a diversion sign upon leaving the channel tunnel and now finding themselves confronted with the toll booth on the A26 toward Paris!!

Turn around boys and head back was the advice I gave, so their ETA at the services (our meet point to find my gaff), on the E40 would be somewhat later than expected. Bugger!! I had bailed out of 18 holes of golf early too and what a day it was for golf too. Anyway, they arrived in one piece about 1930 hours and we came back to my place, got changed and went out for a beer or three at the local. The night ended up being a long one and none of us got much sleep. Oh well, never mind we had all weekend.

Sunday morning came about looking nothing like the day before, the sun was well screened by thick grey cloud and looked very threatening, but it was dry and fairly warm, but as we set off, my thoughts turned to the fact that waterproofs would be needed at some point.

OK, so off down the E40 to Exit 25 and then headed to Jodoigne, then Hannut, down to Bierwart, missed out the crappy N90 to Huy and took the N643 instead. But not much difference really, all the roads this side of the River Meuse are pretty crap, but once through Huy onto the N641 to Modave things get much better. As we headed along the N623 to Hamoir, I noticed that one of the boys was getting a bit keen as this headlight was approaching me quite rapidly from behind. "Ah ha, Lenny is on it now" I thought, so I upped the pace a bit, and so too did this bike behind. Only for me to find out it wasn't Lenny at all, but some local lad on some V Twin thing that looked very much like a Moto Guzzi. Now if it had been a California 1000 thing I think I would have given up biking there and then, but it was something else, not sure what, but as he came past I decided to follow him and boy did he know where he was going too, absolutely flat through completely blind bends, but what a laugh, I gave him the thumbs up as he pulled over in Hamoir and promptly turned around to go back and hassle some more unwitting souls. I don't know what it is about this road, (well I do actually), but it's popular and has quick guys blapping up and down it every Sunday when dry. A popular spot this and well worth adding into a route to the Ardennes.

After a long lunch at Hamoir, we took the N654 to Comblan au Pont and then over to Aywaille, down to Stoumont and on to Trois Ponts. This road looks great on a map, but it doesn't really hold much for me and you don't get to see the river much either, so another road I won't do again on purpose. From Trois Ponts we headed straight down to Clervaux and whilst on route some drops of water started to appear on the visor, but nothing to worry about and they stopped as soon as they started. A sign of things to come perhaps?? From Clervaux we pickd up the N10 after taking a little cut from the N7 through to Roderhausen. What a great little stretch of road, tight and twisty, what a laugh, then straight down the N10 (love this road!!), to Vianden (love this little town too). We checked into the Hotel Victor Hugo, put the bikes in the garage and went out for a Pizza, bloody lovely, nice and simple. Not a big night this time around though as we wanted to get up to the Ring on Monday for a few laps in the evening.

I was woken by the sound of vehicle tyres splashing their way through puddles, so I went back to sleep. Got up a bit later, had some brekky, went for a damp trudge around town and looking to the heavens all the time for a ray of hope, or sunshine, either would do. But, nothing happened, no wind to clear the clouds and rain, so what choice did we have?? The boys were quite prepared to take their chances and have a wet ride to the Ring in the hope it may be better there?

We donned waterproofs and set off. As we climbed up out of the Valley away from the River Our, things did start to improve a bit, it stopped raining, but the roads were still wet, so what at least we weren't!! Now I hate riding in the rain, but I don't mind wet roads, after a while something clicks and you if you can get really smooth, wet roads are great fun. Particularly some in Germany that have a bloody good surface on them, oh and a bit of over banding to avoid to, but all in all, I was in my element and enjoying the ride no end.

The second half of the ride to Ring was completely dry and so too was the circuit. The Nordschleife was not open until the evening, so we had to pray the grey clouds above would hold off, while we watched a track day going on at the F1 circuit and had another long lunch.

As we sat there a female voice from behind said, "When are you going out then?" We turned around to be confronted by this girl in touring biker gear smoking a roll up …! It turned out she had been doing a trip from Spain, through Andorra into France and over the Mannheim in Germany visiting relations etc. and doing all this on a heavily laden Fazer 600 circa 1998 or so. She seemed pleasant enough and had decided to visit the Ring to tick it off her list and she also seemed game on for a lap too. So I offered to let her come out with us for a slow one, as LJ was a virgin Ringer too (huh??) so it would be slow and it was, but poor Nicky (that's the Ladies name by the way), had lost the tow by the time we turned right through Hohenrain into the old holding area for lappage. So we didn't see her again until 2 laps later when we went back to the car park, but at least she was there and in one piece.

After a relatively quickish lap with Lenny, (couldn't go too quick as it was a bit drizzly in places and I don't like the Ring when it's damp, unless on four wheels), we went back for a coffee and then back to the hotel for a few beers in town and some grub. Not much happens in Nurburg on a Monday night, but it turned out to be a long one all the same, but also an early one as a resident we had clearly pissed off when arriving back to the hotel a bit pissed, took great pleasure in getting up extra early and making as much noise as he could, it didn't matter, ear plugs work wonders for a quiet sleep.

Then in the morning Nicky headed off to carry on her trip of Europe and we all headed back to Brussels after a stroll up the town and taking in the wonderful scenery. Once we left Nurburg, it pissed down when we got the other side of Malmedy, but as we approached the E40 West of Liege it was glorious sunshine again. How fickle the weather can be in Les Belges!!

Top weekend though, but bike needs a bloody good clean now. Oh well, anymore this year?? Who knows……….

The infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife was open to the public for the weekend of the 12th to 14th, and as it was probably going to be our last trip this year we decided we'd go along. However, there was a slight change to our normal plan! We wouldn't do the entire weekend at the Ring, we would combine it with another Ardennes trip and just use the Sunday for Ring lappage with an ETA to Nurburg of Sat evening around about 19:00 hrs.

There would be a different routemeister this time as we have moved with the marvels of modern technology and Wayne has purchased a GPS system for his PDA. With the European software loaded into the PDA we felt that this should do the trick nicely and assist us in a smooth flowing trip avoiding all motorways from Calais to La Roche-en-Ardenne?! Whilst in the tunnel the old parchment of map brought along as backup was used to supply the waypoints we wanted to head for. With these programmed and a few other instructions entered, an orbiting satellite would do the rest and guide us onwards.

Um, where's the rest of the guys, Wayne?

From the channel tunnel terminal we set off and within a few hundred yards we had the first seeds of doubt sown. The Sat-Nav took us to the terminal shopping centre and then tried to take us back to England, as opposed to some nice twisty French roads. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have mapped the terminal too well and can only exit by motorway rather than the little D roads we wanted. Once out of the Calais area the system worked well, but the operator does need to remember to use his mirrors at regular intervals to ensure those bikes which are supposed to be following are still behind - we did have an hour or two where we fragmented somewhat.

The journey to La Roche was as usual a wet one, but we got there in one piece and had found some excellent roads that perhaps we would have overlooked if we used the old navigation system of normal maps. The trip took a bloody long time, but part of that was our fault, as we wanted to avoid all major routes. The beauty of the GPs system is that it took us straight through Arras and out the other side without a hitch or a wrong turn. We could have gone round the ring road, but that is considered a major route. Another thing we learned was that you have to be fairly careful with what you ask it to do, as it will take you down some routes that are more suitable for a motocrosser (or a wild boar) than a sportsbike! Talking of wild boar, we inadvertently ordered this for all five of us in the restaurant that night and it was excellent. I definitely recommend it to non-veggies.

The next day we awoke to find the lovely town of La Roche covered in a thick blanket of fog, all looking rather dank and damp, very similar to how it had been when we arrived the previous evening. It was either a case of head straight for the Ring, or be patient. I called some of the lads that were already in Germany for a weather report, but no answer - I assume they were all out lapping. After breakfast blue sky started to appear over La Roche and within an hour we were all bathed in wonderful warm sunshine, which stayed with us for the rest of the trip. Lucky for September as the Ardenne area can be a bit wet this time of year.

After breakfast we watched what seemed like a re-enactment of the liberation of La Roche in WWII, (apparently, that's exactly what it was), with loads of Willies Jeeps and army trucks parading through the town driven by fat old Belgians all dressed as American generals. Excellent. Strange that Yank vehicles are so popular when they flattened the place in 1945; all in the name of liberation I guess. After our bit of tourism we loaded the luggage, paid for our stay, waved 'good-bye' to Madame at the hotel (not the Madame I should make clear) and set off for the German/Luxembourg border.

We were headed for Vianden, a lovely little town I had happened across in July, purely by accident. I had been quite impressed with two things, the ride there and the quaintness of a medieval town. So I wanted the opinion of the others to see if this was a spot we could incorporate for trips next year. The opinion of the lads was a resounding 'Yes'. The route was again sought by GPs and it proved superb. The roads were stunning although a bit of scratching up and down a particularly good bit nearly ended up with more than we bargained for ...

Two bikes screaming along a bendy road in opposite directions can rapidly turn into an aerobatic display of people and motorcycles - the nearest of head on crashes we could have, but luck and accident avoidance skills prevailed. It did require a sit down and a couple of smokes from one of the participants though, to get his heartbeat back to normal. Well, normal for him anyway.

After a lengthy lunch in Vianden we headed off for the Ring and arrived there about 18:00 hrs. We got a lap in before it was closed, due to an accident. It seems that all day Saturday it had been regularly closed. Because of the popularity of the Ring nowadays, particularly with English drivers in their Gran Turismo cars, it gets very busy on the weekends when the track is open both Saturday and Sunday, and this inevitably leads to some frustration and the odd crash.

I was a bit apprehensive about the Sunday rundens as I had agreed to take one of our chaps round for a few laps as it was his first visit and it is these slow laps that are the most scary - low speeds and lots of manic cars and bikes whizzing by do not a happy lap make. That said the pupil did extremely well and on the 2nd and 3rd laps we were catching and passing some cars and bikes too. To achieve this you need to have faith in your tutor, listen to what you are advised from the tutor's experience, understand Ring etiquette, be a good/natural sportsbike rider and don't be afraid to lean it over on a blind bend, when all your senses are telling you different. Anyway, we got up early Sunday morning and got half a dozen laps in first thing before breakfast. Later in the day it was more the usual scenario, with quite a few accidents closing the track from time to time.

The Ring is getting a bit too popular, due to much publicity from bike mags etc. glamming it up for track day merchants to go and hone their skills when they often find it's a completely different ball game altogether and nothing like a track day - blind bends, loads of traffic, no run-off. And once the track reopens after a closure everyone goes bloody mad trying to get laps in and the inevitable happens with too many people on the circuit at the same time. It really can get quite manic out there. I actually timed the window between two closures of the circuit on Sunday afternoon - 25 minutes!!

The longest closure on Sunday was around an hour, when a car (can you work out what it is?) stacked at Schwedenkreuz, a very fast left hander which can be unkind to quick cars if they bottle it and lift off half way round. Lots of ambulances and police went out to assist - hopefully the occupants survived this wreck. However, even with these obstacles in place we all managed to complete the tickets we'd bought and did have some cracking laps.

I find it so satisfying when you get no one come up behind you except the seriously quick Ringmeisters, and when they do, you let 'em past and hang on to 'em as long as you can, the lines they take are not what you'd be taught on any Nürburgring training programme!

The most unusual spectacle for us was of John's crashed Suzuki. Now John is a bit of a Ringmeister in our group, having been on several courses and completed hundreds of laps. A rider was running along the edge of Klostertal the wrong way, diverting John's attention long enough for him to lose the front. A bit too much front brake perhaps? If you're going to crash at the Ring this is probably the best place to do it - speed not too high, well leant over so not far to fall and plenty of runoff. 175 euros to get the bike ferried back to the pits and all he had to do was straighten the clutch lever and ride the thing. Doh!

How many blokes does it take to get a GSXR out of a van?

Sunday night was a hoot and we all got quite pissed and then had a lie in Monday morning, much needed it was too. A couple of us were heading straight home via motorway on the bikes, some in vans and a few of the guys were taking an extra day to ride the twisty route home. The weather was hot and sunny and I even saw a reading of 77 degrees on an overhead gantry on the motorway home, that's good for mid September in northern France, surely?

That's it until the next one.

The weather forecast in and around the Eiffel Mountains for the coming weekend was a bit worrying to say the least - basically 10° and raining. But we'd always been blessed with good weather before (ha ha) so this time shouldn't be any different - it'll rain all the way there but the Ring will be hot and sunny. The reason for this logic? Well, the Eiffel Mountains seem to have their own eco climate and in the past when we'd ridden through torrential downpours we'd always got to the Ring to find it bathed in warm sunshine.

We'd set out a route that should get us to the Ring about 17:00 (ish), this incorporated pretty much a 50/50 split of motorway (to break the back of it) and then interesting looking smaller roads through Belgium and into Germany, skirting across the top of Luxembourg. Namur seemed to be the point where we would locate the better riding. Once off the motorway we stopped for petrol, chocolates and nicotine and then headed into Dinant for an excellent Cote D'Agneau.

From Dinant we picked up the N94 to Ciergnon, then the N911 to Rochefort, then into Jemelle and off again on a road that doesn't seem to have a number toward Marche-en-Famenne. There I tried to locate the N888 (nothing to do with a Ducati), but due to the scale of my map couldn't, so we took the N86 to Hotton and then the N833 to La Roche-en-Ardenne. Here we stopped to look at Tanks, WWII tanks that is, La Roche got the shit kicked out of it, (Battle of the Bulge and all that), during the war, as did so much of this beautiful area of the Ardenne.

From La Roche we took the N 89 to Vielsalm where a diversion completely buggered us up, so we refuelled and took to a farm track (or so it seemed) to get back on track toward Sankt Vith. From there we picked up some of the best roads so far, some cracking hairpin, stop/start stuff up hill and down dale all the way to Prum. Now in Germany with more flowing roads, all we wanted to do was get to the Ring, so we hit the main roads to Gerolstein, on toward Kelberg and arrived at the Ring about 16:30.

We unloaded what little kit we had, (thanks to Marlboro Pete's van) and shot off down to the track. I managed to get 3 laps in before I ran out of fuel, with not enough time to refuel and get back to get another lap in, or so I thought. The other guys did 2 or 3 laps, with first prize to Scott and a few others for managing 5 laps. Wayne's lappage was abruptly terminated when his Suomy helmet's visor mount fell apart - you get what you pay for! But Tony got the big booby prize for having a Power Commander and screwing up the fuel map download. The bike was running mega lean and he didn't want to run it until he found out how to richen things up a bit. So no laps at all for him on Friday. A rapid phone call to KRJ (on his way to Cadwell for a first and a second in the Sound of Thunder) and he sorted the fuelling for a full Saturday of lapping, the weather forecast being fair, but dry. So he wasn't too disheartened to say the least, at this point anyway.

That night we continued the tradition of first night at Renata's and plenty of beer was drunk, bullshit talked and many a good laugh had, as it always is. By this time most of the remaining party had arrived, so our numbers had swelled to about 16.

Saturday morning we awoke to peer out of the curtains to a wet and misty morning, this did not look at all like had been forecast, but it could clear. It didn't, it got worse, so bad in fact that the GP circuit closed at 15:00 due to the fog. They had to cancel a national race meeting they were having, it was so thick. A few cars were out on the Nordschleife, but the track is far too slippery for bikes when it's so wet, even forgetting the zero visibility. So we headed off to the bar and then had dinner in the hope that Sunday would be better.

Next morning we awoke to freezing cold and an inch of snow covering everything. This was now getting ridiculous. All this way for 3 laps? Imagine how Tony felt ... he didn't get any laps at all! Still, he got to build a very nice little snowman on Gary's bike.

Keith had a brainwave, "Sod this, it's not going to get any better, let's bugger off to Belgium and do an overnighter where it may be warmer and drier". This was indeed a good idea in the making, so off we went. Most of the other guys loaded up and went home in their various cars/ trailers or vans. Something to be said for having a van! Vegan was doing a good trade in "inducements" to take various bikes back so their owners could hightail it to the airport for a nice warm flight home. Enthusiasts all!

Anyway, us proper bikers headed off through rain and mist until we were back at La Roche, where it was still sleeting and raining, but it was several degrees warmer and it had a nice warm hotel with a garage for the bikes and rooms available for damp riders. And we arrived just in time to catch the last few laps of the Spanish GP on TV and Rossi clearing off into the distance. Excellent - warmth, dryness, beers and MotoGP. What else could you want? - a bloody sight better than a rattly old van to Calais!

We stayed at La Roche overnight, having an excellent meal in a top little restaurant after our edifying visit to the local museum. Now, not a lot of people know this, but the town was flattened in the war - have a look at the pic right. So, although the place appears to be full of historic buildings, apart from the church they were all put up after 1945! Amazing foresight by les Belges - just a shame we can't manage similar imagination in England!

Monday morning we headed back to Calais. This time I did manage to pick up the N888 and what a good road it is too, I recommend it, plenty of bends and hills. We had pretty good roads all the way back to the Dinant area and then the straighter stuff starts as you go north and leave the Ardennes. We managed to get right across Belgium without hitting any motorways until we got to within about 80 kliks of Calais, so that was quite good. More importantly, it was dry and warm all the way. The later roads weren't up to much, but it was better than motorway - just don't ask me which way we went!

So, all in all, a not too successful a trip for getting in more laps and improving circuit knowledge, but it was still a good laugh, with entertaining company and some excellent road riding to boot. It's always nice to get away on the bike with the lads and have a laugh, rain or shine.