CGX2402 - Sweepers Heaven
After the arrival in the start hotel everybody checked already in with their bikes on the parking lot. In the evening the participants of the tour were introduced to the following days during the welcome briefing. Afterwards the handover of the bikes took place and everybody could take a seat for testing the first time. During the delicious dinner in the restaurant „Al Fiume“ the group could get to know each other a little better before all went to bed after a first eventfully day.
We said goodbye to Bad Kreuznach in beautiful weather and set course for the Middle Rhine Valley, which is one of the most beautiful river landscapes in Germany in this section. Passing Loreley and Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in the middle of the river, we soon reached Koblenz, where the Moselle flows into the Rhine at the foot of Ehrenbreitstein Castle. We continued up the Moselle valley and the landscape changed dramatically. Vineyards piled up on the steepest slopes to the left and right. By now the temperatures were rising steeply. They took their toll on many a participant, while water supplies were rapidly running out. As a result, the evening's activities were somewhat limited.
The day startet on the race track of the Nürburgring.
The third day of the trip was characterized by the search for an exit through Aachen. We came across construction sites everywhere that blocked our way. Finally, we managed to visit the “spectacular” three-country monument on the NL-B-D border. The observation tower at the Barrage de Gileppe, where we made our first coffee stop, was truly spectacular. Before visiting the racing car museum in Stavelot, we had a little surprise for our guests. Lasse had prepared a picnic right in front of the Roman church ruins. We had the famous Belgian fries with various sauces. Our guests were delighted and were treated to a culinary specialty. In order to be back at the hotel early, we continued our journey quickly so that we could enjoy the wonderful sunny day on the terrace of our hotel in Bouillon.
After the very delicious breakfast in our last hotel we startet our 4th riding day. During our Coffestop at the Chateau de Sedan, we could take some nice pictures of the old fortress. The Vanguide Christoph surprised us with some Belgian waffles. Afterwards we made our way to butte de stonne to visit the second worldwar memorial. Our Lunchstop of today we had in Orval close to the abbey where the beer gets brewed. Some nice and twisty roads brought us to our destination of today, Bad Mondorf in Luxemburg, where we will spend our rest-day. After a very nice dinner in a restaurant close to the hotel everybody went happy to bad after this eventful day.
Our last day in Luxembourg. We left Bad Mondorf for France, our fifth country on this trip. Once again we had a beautiful sunny day. Through vast landscapes, meadows and fields, we headed swiftly towards Verdun, one of the worst sites of the First World War. In just 11 months, several hundred thousand soldiers slaughtered each other without gaining any ground. We gained an impression in the local museum and other sites. Full of impressions, we stopped for lunch on the banks of the Meuse in Verdun. We continued south. To everyone's delight, the route became a little more winding and therefore more exciting. The Butte de Montsec on a lonely mountain in the middle of a vast plain is a monument in honor of the American troops who entered the First World War in 1917 and helped to end it. With deep impressions, we finally reached Nancy and treated ourselves to a short tour of this beautiful city. In the evening, some of us enjoyed the Festival of Lights on Stanislaus Square.
This morning we had a excellent french breakfast in our Hotel in Nancy. To get some miles behind us we used the highway to get out of Nancy and to the beginning of the wonderful area of the Vosges. Our first Coffestop of the day after the straight highway trip marked the beginning of a wonderful riding day with a lot of twisties, curves, switchbacks and hairpins. Some wonderful mountain passes brought us to the highest point of our entire tour, the champ du Feu, were we had a short stop to get a nice picture of our success. Afterwards we continued our Journey until after some time suddenly a huge Memorial behind a sweeper apears directly in front of us. The Memorial of the concentration camp „Natzweiler-Struthof“ is unmissable in the middle of the nature. Of course we took the opportunity to visit this camp. All of us agreed on, that the atmosphere of this piece of land is very oppressive. We left the scene with kind of a queasy feeling and moved on to get a nice lunch. Afterwards we visit the ship lift („Schiffshebewerk“) in Arzviller. This impressive building substitudes 17 locks which covered the height difference. To bring the Day to a fantastic end we had a cold, refreshing bootbeer when we arrived in our Hotel in Cleebourg. During the Dinner we had again time to speak about all the experiences of the day.
After a beautiful sunrise in the very quiet hotel near Cleebourg, we paid a short visit to the medieval town of Wissembourg at the request of our guests before making our way back to Germany and our hotel in Bad Kreuznach. We wagged through dense forests with fantastic bends through the Palatinate Forest to Johanniskreuz, the most popular biker meeting point in the Palatinate Forest. There we treated ourselves to our first coffee stop. We had chosen something special for our lunch stop. At Rodt, we took a chairlift up to the ruins of Reitburg Castle and ate Palatinate specialties such as “Schiefer Sack” or simply Palatinate bratwurst with sauerkraut in the adjoining restaurant. With our thoughts already somewhat at home, we tackled the last few kilometers and finally reached Bad Kreuznach. On the final evening, everyone was given a Belgian chocolate specialty to take with them on their journey, after we had already had our culinary fill of beer, waffles and chips in Belgium. It was a very emotional evening, during which everyone had the feeling of having made new friends.