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| ...well I was on a Triumph! |
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| some kind of art in a field |
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| Durbuy chateau |
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| Hare Krishna castle |
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| Lunch! |
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| Medieval fortified farmhouse |
Journey's End
1 week ago
Thursday, 4 September 2014
A stolen day out on the bike
It can be
difficult sometimes to justify taking a day off work in the middle of the week
just to ride the motorbike in the sunshine, so my justification was..…I needed
to see if my new bolt-on screen spoiler would reduce wind noise on motorways.
And I needed to visit Durbuy, a town in Belgium that declares itself to be the
smallest city in the world, using a route that also took in Reinhardstein
castle and lots of wriggly roads. The real reason of course was that I was
jealous of Sonja’s recent rides in the Black Forest; the Belgian Ardennes is
the closest area to me that has similar winding roads. Plus the bike will have
to go back to England soon as the dark mornings & evenings will soon be
upon us.
An early
start saw me blast down the autoroute past Antwerp and Brussels in the early
morning fog, by the time I reached Namur the sun was breaking through; I had a
nice breakfast there and then with the satnav set to ‘winding roads’ proceeded
to enjoy the picturesque drive across to the city of Durbuy.
An internet
search before I set off had shown the only vegetarian restaurant in the area
was just outside the town, this turned-out to be in the grounds of a castle now
used by the Hari Krishna group for retreats, with delicious vegan meals in a
tranquil setting and very friendly people, so even though I wasn’t really
hungry I sat down to a pleasant meal in the sunshine.
After an
hours break I set off again on those twisty roads, in no time I was in yet
another picturesque village where a coffee and frites were enjoyed in the sun,
then following my pre-planned route I headed north to begin the trip home,
although somehow the satnav took me south into Luxembourg – a bonus really as
the roads are lovely there. Just outside Antwerp I re-joined the autoroute for
the final blast home. I got home a tired but happy bunny – 2 tanks of petrol,
540 kms and about a million bends – bliss!
Oh and the
spoiler didn’t make the noise and buffeting any worse, but I can’t say it made
it better.
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Any excuse is a good excuse to ride as long as the sun is shining and there is no snow on the roads. Sounds like you had a great road trip with a delightful lunch. Too bad the wind screen didn't make much difference.
ReplyDeleteCostar lady - it was a good day. I'm becoming resigned to the fact that these adventure bikes with the upright screen are all noisy, guess it's just something I'll have to live with. Or swap for a BMW RT. There's a thought!
ReplyDeleteSorry - Vstar lady, predictive script got the better of me!
ReplyDeleteNo prob...but I'm a much better supporting actress than co-star =D
DeleteI don't know many adventure riders that are happy with their windscreen noise. They all seem to be noisy and/or buffet.
ReplyDeleteRiding through the countryside on a sunny day is the perfect excuse to take a day off midweek. It looks like a wonderful day and brilliant to find vegan food at a castle too.