Suggestions for places to ride to in Northern Europe

[dern]

I'm thinking of putting a trip together for a long weekend on the bike on my own, camping at night. I'm thinking about northern France, Luxembourg, Germany for places to go. I'll probably do something like 4-6 days, not sure yet. Any suggestions on roads I must ride or places I must go to would be gratefully received.

Thanks

[Rockburner]

Where's the "line" you're not going to cross?


(I was going to suggest stopping at Oradour sur Glane, but it's south of the Loire, so arguably further south than you might be considering).

[dern]

I don't mind spending 4 or 5 hours getting somewhere on the first day but then want to string together some places without having to do hundreds of miles on autoroutes. I went do to Toulouse a couple of months ago which was great but was all autoroute. The Loire would take a big chunk of time to get to I think.

[dern]

I should have said that this will be entirely on road.

[KungFooBob]

Nurburgring innit

Do a lap just to say you have, then go enjoy the Eifel mountain roads.

[Yorick]

Nurburgring innit

Do a lap just to say you have, then go enjoy the Eifel mountain roads.

And go up the tower

[dern]

Nurburgring innit

Do a lap just to say you have, then go enjoy the Eifel mountain roads.

Is it possible to do a lap without scaring the living crap out of myself? Always looks bloody alarming for bikes on youtube.

[KungFooBob]

Nurburgring innit

Do a lap just to say you have, then go enjoy the Eifel mountain roads.

Is it possible to do a lap without scaring the living crap out of myself? Always looks bloody alarming for bikes on youtube.

Depends how busy it is, just don't try to go too fast, you'll need at least 50 laps to remember which corner comes next.

[ChrisW]

The Nürburgring's well worth a ride round & yes you can take it easy if you want to, many do.

If you do consider Bastogne - Nürburg, the B410 & B257 is a lovely route.

[dern]

Hadn't occurred to me but I like the idea of doing a lap.

[dern]

Ok, there's one section. Just need to fill in the gaps...

Screenshot 2023-07-27 at 11.51.15.png (1.16 MiB) Viewed 557 times

[Count Steer]

I did something similar in 3 days (an overnight at the destination in Germany and 1 stop each way) but it wasn't very leisurely and had to pretty much just blat back through Belgium on the autoroutes. I'll see if I can dig out the place we stayed in Luxembourg as it's one of the things I remember most about the trip. Nice place, food was and they had secure bike parking, which I didn't bother with...it was pretty much full of Dutch registered Harleys. I think we stopped in Alsace* somewhere near Colmar on the way out (mainly because it was somewhere I'd stayed before) . A couple or more stops each way would have been welcome but it was pretty much an errand rather than a serious holiday.

* Alsace/Vosges - nice area for a bit of a bimble. Popular with German bikers so places tend to be bike savvy.

[dern]

We've stayed on a campsite in Luxembourg a few years back a couple of times and it's a lovely country. Cheap petrol too although the speed cameras are on a hair trigger.

I'll be stretching this to 5 days all in I think, maybe longer.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Go to Namur and have a walk round the old motor cross track, it was the greatest motor cross track in the world, well if not the greatest, it was definitely the maddest.

[Count Steer]

We've stayed on a campsite in Luxembourg a few years back a couple of times and it's a lovely country. Cheap petrol too although the speed cameras are on a hair trigger.

I'll be stretching this to 5 days all in I think, maybe longer.

Ah. I missed the camping bit so the places I stayed won't be much use! Agree with the Namur idea though - and Dinant - as places to see if you're in Belgium. They're both reasonable sized places so maybe not best for a camping trip. TBH though if it's great roads etc you're after I'd tend to stay over the border in France.

[Dodgy69]

Google maps and head for the dark green bits... If you have time for south Germany, consider the black forest, some fantastic roads, L93 springs to mind, then you could loop back up through France, great roads everywhere I would imagine.

It's the top bit I didn't like, on and off the train. Need to get south sharpish.

[ChrisW]

I've done the trip to Namur Citadel to try to spot the old MX track & it is well worth doing - if if the MX track means something to you....

Namur itself is quote pleasant and there's nice cafés etc. up toward the top of the hill. But there weren't many interesting roads in or out of the place.

[slowhare]

A good overnighter might be Amsterdam, avoiding tolls. I’m headed there this weekend via the chunnel.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I've done the trip to Namur Citadel to try to spot the old MX track & it is well worth doing - if if the MX track means something to you....

Namur itself is quote pleasant and there's nice cafés etc. up toward the top of the hill. But there weren't many interesting roads in or out of the place.

I could probably walk you round it, parts of it were feckin steep, Egypt220 (I think that was his username) would have been the best person to take you round, he raced there.

[Supermofo]

Only places I've been that way was when I went to visit the Ardenne battlefields. We stayed in La Roche-en-Ardenne which was nice and spent 3 days around that area and to be honest most of the roads were really good so I imagine from there east into Germany/South into Luxembourg is gonna yield some decent riding roads to play on.

Looks like you've missed the Chimay road races which would have been a fun event to visit I reckon. Keep meaning to try and go to that.