2024 Motorcycle tour to the Sauerland (c.1700 miles)

[Rynglieder]

After a lot of indecision I eventually managed a late run out to the Sauerland as my trip for the year.

As is usual for this length of trip I used the GTR1400.



I'll put up some details over the next week or so, but for those who just want to cut to the pictures they can be found here:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/rynglieder/albums/72177720320500838/

Pete.

[Will14]

I'm looking forward to this, your write-ups are always great to read 

[KiwiCol]

I'm looking forward to this, your write-ups are always great to read 

Agreed, they are!

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Nice part of Germany,I lived up near Munster for a year, we would do regular drives into Sauerland on the weekends.

[GSXKING]

Pete your ride reports are epic with so much history in your photos also. 

[Eric GSX1400K3]

...and looking forward to your write ups coffee and cigarillo breaks included

[Rynglieder]

Thank you for your encouragement gents.

The story may unfold slowly as usual - I'm still away from home one week per month and also get distracted by other things (including planning next year's trip)   

[Rynglieder]

Planning

I was not on top of my game planning for this one. In truth I had the bones of a route set out over the winter of 2023 which included northern Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic but I hesitated in pushing the button on it.

The problem is that as Carole is not up to touring on the bike anymore the guilt hangs round my neck like an albatross. Being realistic, by the time you have factored in ferry crossings, a hotel room, meals and a tank of fuel each day the budget has got to be around £150 per day and little different if it is the two of us. I can't deny it's a lot of money to spend on myself.

It was also our 40th wedding anniversary year and there was a sense of obligation that I should do something for us both (even though she does not have my wanderlust and would probably have been happier with a new shed). In the end we took the car over to the Mosel Valley in June and my guilt was slightly assuaged.

Having discharged my marital responsibilities, my mind was drawn by the centrifugal force of my selfishness back to the idea of a bike trip, albeit a much shorter one that the initial plan. I decided to have a gentle run out to the Sauerland and base myself there for a few nights to explore in more detail an area that I had passed through on the return leg of my run to Budapest in 2015.

As I didn't start planning properly until July I was forced into a September tour, the weather should be reasonable, but the daylight hours would be on the short side – It's not the vampires or anything like that, but there's annoying low sun to contend with at times. The bigger problem is that when you are only six weeks out from the trip, the number of hotels on the shelf to chose from were limited meaning that compromises were necessary on price and location.

Pulling together the kit for a trip into Europe is not a problem these days, having done it so many times everything is pretty well rehearsed and to hand, in fact I commented to family that I was worried that I was getting a bit casual about it. The GTR has plenty of luggage space which is a problem of its own, because the capacity is there I know I take too much stuff and it always emerges from the garage weighing about the same as HMS Belfast.

Day 1 Stourbridge – Reningelst (262 miles)

Every one of these trips have started with a mundane motorway run to a ferry port and this year was no different. I'd chosen the Dover to Dunkirk route again for the same reasons as last time; it was £40 cheaper than the tunnel and I'm about ready for a two-hour break from the bike after 200 motorway miles.

Once I'd cleared the port it would only be a short run to my overnight. When I was a working man, I would have pushed on for about 150 miles for my first stop, but since retirement that pressure has eased a bit and the travelling is a bit more relaxed.

The ride from the port was equally uninspiring, mostly on the A25 but at least for a French motorway it was toll free. The satnav took me off at Herzeele for a ride through the flatlands toward the Belgian border.





A pleasant but unexciting straight road took me to Poperigne where I found the inevitable first deviation to my planned route. I'm done with trying to let the Zumo sort it out these days, so tracked back to a service station where I could grab a smoke and a coffee and sort it all out with a paper map. No great detour was involved, I simply arrived at Reningelst from the west rather than the north, but easily found my hotel where I was able to park on the street outside.



Landhuis Vedastus would probably best be described as B&B rather than a hotel. I was shown to my room by a housekeeper who promptly left the premisses after explaining that no one lived there and  one other guest and I had the place to ourselves. Showered and changed I took the short walk to a bar a couple of hundred metres down the road where I was able to sit outside with a couple of glasses of Jupiler.  Fancying a last quiet one I made it back to the hotel where I had unhindered access to the beer fridge ("just make a note of what you have had and your room number") and so ended the day feeling as content as, well, as a man with access to a beer fridge and a week of motorcycling ahead.

[Rynglieder]

Day 2 Reningelst > Kanne (c. 180 miles



The breakfast room was very exclusive – in as much as I was the only one there. After setting myself up for the day and having a fight with the malfunctioning credit card machine (good job I always set out with €100 in cash on me) I was ready for the road again.

The start of the ride was pretty ordinary being on long straight roads but with built up areas every 5km or so, nowhere that the bike could stretch its legs. Although I didn't actually get rained upon, I was often travelling on damp roads suggesting that showers were waiting to pounce on me. I'd made a point of avoiding motorways in my route planning, but with hindsight for the first stage of this journey I wouldn't have missed much.

After an hour and a half on the road I reached my first visit of the day, Castle Ooidonk, just to the south-west of Ghent. I'm used to scaffolders getting there before me but this time a special event had been laid on to spoil my photos, the whole of the gardens to the front of the chateau were covered with contractor's vehicles and partially erected marquees and the other paraphernalia of some sort of festival.



Still, having forked out my €3 for a gardens ticket I thought I should make the most of it and try and pick out the best views left available to the camera from the Count t'Kint de Roodenbeke's back garden. Sadly, there was no café available so I was soon back on the road in search of refreshment.

I had to wait a good while for my coffee though, although I'm sure I hadn't planned any into the Zumo I faced a sucession of dual carriageways and motorways but was happy to live with them as frequent showers were now hitting me. Eventually I spotted a McDonalds on the edge of Dendermonde where I got a drink, the service station opposite enabled the bike to be topped up.

The journey on to Fort Breendonk was as uninteresting as the last stint, almost constantly urban with hardly any stretches of open road or countryside. At least it had dried up a bit. I overshot the entrance to my destination so found myself trying to find an opportunity to spin the bike round in Willebroek before eventually getting the bike at rest outside the entrance.

Fort Breendonk was totally unlike Castle Ooidonk, a brooding mass of concrete surrounded by a moat and barbed wire. Originally constructed early in the 20th century as part of Antwerp's defensive ring, it became notorious for as an Auffanglager (prison camp) during the Nazi occupation in the second world war.

A reasonable €12 got me inside and an audio guide and information panels revealed its history. The exhibition was very much focused on the short Nazi period, I would have liked to have known more about the fort's original function, but I suppose Hitler sells tickets. As you go inside the fence a railway wagon sits on a bit of track encouraging the visitor to remember images from films of people being herded into concentration camps. However as far as I could make out Breendonk was not a concentration camp but a local detention centre, albeit a very brutal prison. I couldn't help thinking the railway wagon was a bit "Hollywood". An interesting experience none the less.


I'm absolutely sure that the Brussels Ring Road (R0) was not in the route plan I had fed into the Zumo, I had made a point of avoiding it, yet somehow I ended up in its congestion in the rain. I'm not sure I'll ever figure out how its little silicon brain works. Staying with the motorways and always on the look out for late lane changers trying to swat you off the bike as is the custom in Belgium I eventually got another coffee and a break on the E314.

Next up was a very brief stop to look at the basilica in the small city of Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, it was the work of moments to take a couple of pictures and do a lap of the outside on foot. It's still very much an active point of pilgrimage so not being a religious type I didn't want to intrude inside.



The final run to my destination was as underwhelming as the rest of the day's ride had been, all urban, dual carriageway or motorway right the way to the Belgian town of Kanne, right on the border with the Netherlands and near Maastricht. The hotel was located easily enough with parking for the bike right outside. A quick change and I was settled into the bar for the evening. I'd originally intended to stay in Maastricht but due to the late planning there was nothing available at the right price, however the Hotel Limburgia was fine and close enough to where I wanted to visit in the morning.



It had been a good sight-seeing day but not a great motorcycling day – not a route I would recommend, but pretty much as I guessed it would be.

[Andre]

Looking forward to "tomorrows" ride. Sure you want to the Sauerland, but there are some nice areas slightly to the south between Maastricht and Aachen.

[Rynglieder]

Looking forward to "tomorrows" ride. Sure you want to the Sauerland, but there are some nice areas slightly to the south between Maastricht and Aachen.

It seems you have foreseen my next direction... 

[Rynglieder]

Day 3 Kanne > Königswinter [D] (c. 105 miles)



The GTR was heaved off the forecourt of the Hotel Limburgia at about 09:30, it was a relaxed start to the day as there was very little milage ahead of me. I was also confident it would be better riding than yesterday as I had stayed in the Eifel / Ardennes region in the past, it's where I usually billet myself on the occasions I have attended the Belgian Grand Prix.

Fist up though was the short ride up to Fort Sint Pieter just the other side of the hill, through the mist and into the Netherlands. The suburban edge of Maastricht was given a clipping and I was soon climbing the hill to the car park.

A good walk around the site and particularly a visit to the extensive tunnel system would have interested me, but it was by guided tour only and as the first one was not until 12:30 I would be hanging round like a reserve bride at a wedding, so I contented myself with a short walk on a public footpath that followed part of the perimeter and took the best photos I could through the murk.

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Back down into Maastricht for a round of Dodge The Cyclist and then it was over the River Meuse and breaking out of town on the N278, hopefully that would be most of the urban riding behind me until I neared the trip's next hotel. I left the N278 at Vaals and skirted the town as I turned south to re-enter Belgium. Finally, there were a few hills to look at (or more realistically, hummocks that pass for hills around here) after yesterday's flat riding.

The purpose of being here was to get a lensfull of the Moresnet Viaduct, but when I finally arrived at the road that would take me below it, I found it to be closed to vehicles (and in case anyone was bold enough to ignore it there was also a CCTV sign to assert the point). The bike was abandoned at the kerb in front of the prohibition signs and after locking on the helmet I set out for a walk. I gave it 10 minutes but despite the low cloud and murk it was uncomfortably warm in the bike gear and it was becoming obvious that the views were not going to open up for me unless I strayed a fair way from the bike – I decided it was not that important to me and graciously withdrew from the scene.

There was a pleasant ride out toward Roetgen and due to a twist of history and a cartographer's nightmare the Belgian / German border had to be crossed about five times before I was finally settled into the German Eifel region. Now there were proper hills, some nice curvy roads and the odd glimmer of sunshine from between some threatening shower clouds.

It was three hours after leaving the hotel and I was about ready for a coffee when the Biker Ranch Eifel came into sight. It was moderately busy there, but the car park was big enough to find a spot to nestle the bike and take a break.




The riding now was much more to my taste, through the countryside in the northern Eifel National Park on uncongested roads where I could open the throttle a little more. I did notice that one of the turnings into the heart of the park was prohibited to motorcycles at certain times, but that did not worry me today as I was pointed firmly east.

The next almost inevitable road closure forced me off the programmed ride along the L246 and sent me toward Heimbach but it turned out to be a bit of a win as I now got to ride down a forested hillside through some twisties at the end of the Rursee. I enjoyed the substitute ride on to my next destination just as much, overall, the detour had completely failed to frustrate me. More by luck than planning I found a car park with a large empty motorcycle bay and once again the helmet was locked on to the bike while I set off on foot with the camera.

There was a short walk through town to Nidiggen Castle where I caught a few shots of the ruins and took in the views over the countryside then it was back to the car park where I had noticed an Imbis bar where I could get something to eat before setting off again.



The next chapter of the day's ride took me along the L33, not quite so interesting now the National Park was behind me, but fast flowing and perfectly suited to the GTR and some potential to make it sing during the odd overtake. There were a few damp stretches on the road but still enough patches of blue sky to suggest I should not be in for too much of a soaking.

For reasons that I found perplexing, the Zumo then directed me onto the A1 Autobahn for about 1 kilometre before turning me onto the A61 - but again, only for about one junction. Looking back at the map I now realise that the Zumo was trying to avoid Weilerswist. I don't know why; it had never been there before so it must have been sheer prejudice.

The ride continued along unremarkable roads under skies that were giving mixed signals until I reached Hemmerich. This was a planned brief stop for an exterior castle photo and a smoke whilst I braced myself for the city of Bonn where I would be crossing the Rhein. A brief shower made a spirited attempt to extinguish my cigarette, but I found a small tree to lurk under.



Once the shower had passed, I hit the highway again on wet roads, I passed through Waldorf (which is presumably where salad was invented), and let the Zumo lead me toward Bonn. The rain had caused big shiny industrial units to sprout from the landscape until I found myself in the city's residential nether regions.

Riding through Bonn was not quite as traumatic as I had feared, the GTR is a heavy lump in traffic and it was now raining heavily so I took the pace right down so that there was plenty of braking time for those traffic lights that seem to jump out from the side of the road. Eventually I crossed the Rhein on the Kennedybrücke with a bit of blue sky ahead of me.

Hanging a right, I tracked the Rhein southwards and the Zumo lead me onto the [42] which turned out to be like a shopping mall car park on Christmas Eve with everyone trying to jockey for position as routes merged and were further strangled by roadworks. An unpleasant 20 minutes was spent playing the clutch like a pinball machine before I was finally disgorged near Königswinter. At least there was then a more enjoyable curvy ride up the wooded hills to the east of the Rhein valley, this was obviously a favoured area for hikers judging by the car parking areas that were laid on at the roadside.
It wasn't long before I reached the night's hotel, VILLA FIRST im Sophienhof, and moored the GTR on their car park. Before checking in I grabbed the opportunity for another smoke on their front terrace where I noticed a stream or cars and a mini-bus arriving and about 20 people making for the entrance doors. Some sort of function tonight I thought...

Once in my room, showered, changed I was ready to see what the bar had to offer. That's when the drumming started. It seems that the percussionist community of the Rheinland had booked the function room for the night, one would rap out something and then the other 20 would repeat it. I was pretty sure I was not going to be able to endure it, so I found myself literally drummed out of of the building and took a walk up the hill in the last of the day's light to join one of the forest trails that lead around the hillside. I'd hoped an hour's walk would see me clear of the disturbance, but when I got near the hotel there was no denying they were still at it. I bought a drink or two from the bar and sat out in the back garden as far away as I could in the company of one or two other refugees.

Once they had finally desisted from their collective pounding I went back up to settle for a night's sleep. It had been a good day today on the whole and there should be another one ahead of me tomorrow.

[Rynglieder]

A couple more pictures that got squeezed out by upload limits:

Sint Peter Fort, Maastricht



Motorcycles prohibited signage



A damp ride through Bonn

[Rynglieder]

Day 4 Köningswinter [D] > Bad Fredeburg [D] (c. 100 miles)



Another low milage day was ahead of me today leaving plenty of time of sightseeing. Normally 100 miles is not much more than an afternoon out when I'm at home -it's debatable whether my wife would notice I'd gone -  but this sort of trip is not just about grinding out miles. Breakfasted, loaded up and then a very short ride to start the day.

The ruins at Heisterbach Abbey were probably not much more than a challenging walk away from the hotel, but they were on an adjacent hill. To get there on the bike I needed to run the twisties down into Köningswinter again, and then back out and up on another curvaceous road. There is still an active abbey here and I found myself competing for space in the car park with a wedding party. Fortunately, the gardens were free to enter, so I was able to steal in and take my pictures of the older abbey remains while the wedding guests were still getting their ducks in a row.

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Next up was another very short ride to Schloss Drachenburg – also nearby, but once again on a different hill and requiring a loop in and out of Köningswinter. There was a walk of about a kilometre uphill after I got the bike settled so I was grateful for a rest in the gardens after I had parted with a few Euros at the ticket hall. With ample time in hand, I took the trouble to have a look around the inside of this German Imperial era castle. It looks very impressive from the outside with its many towers and turrets, the interior is what we British would probably call "late Victorian" and not really my thing. What made entering the castle worthwhile though were the views from the balcony over the river Rhein below. Once I'd had my money's worth, I began the walk back down the hillside but somehow managed to miss my path to the carpark. I'd reached the edge of the town before it dawned on me that something wasn't right, but there was no choice but to slog back up and down again.



It struck me that there were many other possible places to visit in this region, it has gone down in the ever-growing stack of notes for revisits. There followed a series of well paved and signed roads through the German countryside, exactly what these travels were all about.

And so it continued until I reached the very attractive village of Altwindeck where my intention had been to view the ruin of Burg Windeck. Now, I won't lie to you, I couldn't find it, so ended up just having a cigarette by the bike. I'm sure it was around there somewhere; it will probably turn up one day when I'm not looking for it.

More than happy to continue my ride, I saddled up again and had a most agreeable time tracking the Sieg and Westerbach river valleys. As I joined the [256] I encountered another "motorcycles prohibited" sign, but it was advance warning of a restriction 4.3km ahead, I trundled on hoping that my route would diverge before it became a problem. Although slightly irked that as a biker I was prohibited from taking the road that I wanted, I will grudgingly concede that they had put in a signed alternative route for bikes and the surrogate tarmac was a perfectly suited to my purposes. It wasn't a long detour and I soon rejoined the [256] and kept it company to Brüchermühle where I turned toward my next waypoint. It was a ride through the hills and above a large reservoir that led me to Aussichtspunkt Wiehltalsperre – nothing more than a roadside layby with views over the lake that I had pre-selected as somewhere to dismount for 10 minutes and hopefully take a picture.



Snapshot gathered; it was time to climb back on for more of the same. It had mostly been an overcast morning, but temperatures were about right for riding and it looked as if things were brightening up, I do like a bit more sun on my pictures. There was a period of perfect riding with roads sweeping left and right through countryside, woodland and villages until I found myself unexpectedly dumped on an Autobahn again. I'd love to know why this happens when the pre-programmed routes are all selected to avoid motorways, but as I had spent a good chunk of the morning sightseeing, I decided to roll with it and make some progress. It was only a few junctions on the A4 and A45 in the end and I was let back loose into the surrounding topography near Olpe.

After another short period on the good stuff, I arrived at the connected reservoirs of Biggetalsperre and Listertalsperre and took a few moments off the bike at different locations to view the dams. I was now well into the Sauerland and it was everything I hoped. Just after 5 o'clock A McDonalds sprang out from the roadside and as I was not sure what was going to be available that evening it seemed a good plan to wrap myself around a burger and fries.
Having fortified myself, the bike was starting to drop a few hints about needing feeding. I'd certainly have comfortably made it to my hotel, but with a garage to hand I thought I may as well get the job out of the way. Onto the last leg with the sun throwing long shadows in front of me I finished the run with a meandering road to Bad Fredeburg.

The parking bays outside the hotel were all full, but when I checked-in the manager opened up their garage for me so the GTR was nice and secure for the night. There were a couple of beers on the side terrace before settling in to a good sized room with a balcony offering views over the town to the hills beyond. It seemed very good value for money at £323.00 for 4 nights, including breakfast, a good base to start exploring the region from tomorrow.

[Rynglieder]

And once more, the photos that fell foul of the upload limits.

I'm sure you'll work out where they should have been inserted...