dan-quattro
Registered User
Wow, just got back from my first trip to the Ring, was ****** amazing!
We got the Tunnel Saturday afternoon following some hefty roadworks on the M25 and a couple of crashes, but we got there eventually and boarded the train. This was my first time on the tunnel too so that was interesting
We were going for my Dads birthday and also because we just knew it was somewhere that had to be done at some point in our lives lol.
Once we hit France we had the satnav take us to Brugges in Belgium...we hadn't been before to here so thought we'd stop by and see what it was like.
We had no hotels booked at all, we were doing them all on spec as it left our options open more. Brugges turned out to be a really nice place, beer was top notch, our fav being Brugges 'Zot' and of course Leffe.
Second day we headed to Cologne. Didn't really enjoy this too much, couldn't seem to find a comfy area to drink in or eat, nothing like Belgium, and so we ate at somewhere half decent and had an earlish nite ready for the ride to the Ring the following day.
We set-off for the Ring, only took us just over an hour to get there from Cologne, but it took and hour to get out of Cologne city centre lol, roadworks were a nightmare from the start and of course Serena on the satnav kept trying to detour us, only to lead us down more roadworks and roads that had been closed for works, no not fully her fault. A bit of clever work by ourselves managed to get us out in the end lol.
We had booked one hotel, and that was the hotel an der nordschleife - http://www.hotel-an-der-nordschleife.de/ - we arrived and found our rooms to be very clean, comfortable and at a good rate per night, 75 euros incl breakfast.
From our room you could see the Ring:
We had a mooch around and found the start of the ring where you buy tickets and enter the Ring, and the cars on display were very nice indeed. Plenty of British bikers were floating around and some hefty German Porsche GT2 & GT3's.
My Dad got his nerves together and got us 1 lap to say he'd been on and we set-off for the entrance. We were in his Audi A4 1.8T Sport, next year I'm taking my S3, and the lap we had was very good fun if a little slow...16 minutes lol.
But, in saying that it was our first time and just wanted to get round in one piece and not suffer any damages to the car or track.
His Nurburgring sticker sits firmly on the boot now and he drives with much pride, awwww
We hit Adenau on the night for some much enjoyable Bitburger and a pasta in the first resturant as you enter the town, I forget the name but it was spot on!
For the last night we headed back up to Brugges as we enjoyed it that much, and this day was my Dad's birthday, so we wanted somewhere we knew was good for eating and sleeping, so Brugges it was.
I had far too much beer in the bar that hosts 300 Belgium beers at a time, right across the road from the Hobbit pub which serves what was one of my best steaks ever lol, and so the next day for travelling home my head was firmly up the window as I tried to rest my eyes and stop my stomach from doing somersaults lol.
All-in all, it was an awesome trip, and one I would very much recommend. As said, I will be heading back next year think in the S3 tohave some more fun.
Below are some of my pics from the Ring, hope you enjoy . All images can be viewed on my website: http://www.djaphoto.co.uk/
Our Ring pic
British Bikers
Yummy
Red, White and Blue
My Dads proud sticker lol
My artistic side coming out, x3 image stitch
Possibly my favourite image
We got the Tunnel Saturday afternoon following some hefty roadworks on the M25 and a couple of crashes, but we got there eventually and boarded the train. This was my first time on the tunnel too so that was interesting
We were going for my Dads birthday and also because we just knew it was somewhere that had to be done at some point in our lives lol.
Once we hit France we had the satnav take us to Brugges in Belgium...we hadn't been before to here so thought we'd stop by and see what it was like.
We had no hotels booked at all, we were doing them all on spec as it left our options open more. Brugges turned out to be a really nice place, beer was top notch, our fav being Brugges 'Zot' and of course Leffe.
Second day we headed to Cologne. Didn't really enjoy this too much, couldn't seem to find a comfy area to drink in or eat, nothing like Belgium, and so we ate at somewhere half decent and had an earlish nite ready for the ride to the Ring the following day.
We set-off for the Ring, only took us just over an hour to get there from Cologne, but it took and hour to get out of Cologne city centre lol, roadworks were a nightmare from the start and of course Serena on the satnav kept trying to detour us, only to lead us down more roadworks and roads that had been closed for works, no not fully her fault. A bit of clever work by ourselves managed to get us out in the end lol.
We had booked one hotel, and that was the hotel an der nordschleife - http://www.hotel-an-der-nordschleife.de/ - we arrived and found our rooms to be very clean, comfortable and at a good rate per night, 75 euros incl breakfast.
From our room you could see the Ring:
We had a mooch around and found the start of the ring where you buy tickets and enter the Ring, and the cars on display were very nice indeed. Plenty of British bikers were floating around and some hefty German Porsche GT2 & GT3's.
My Dad got his nerves together and got us 1 lap to say he'd been on and we set-off for the entrance. We were in his Audi A4 1.8T Sport, next year I'm taking my S3, and the lap we had was very good fun if a little slow...16 minutes lol.
But, in saying that it was our first time and just wanted to get round in one piece and not suffer any damages to the car or track.
His Nurburgring sticker sits firmly on the boot now and he drives with much pride, awwww
We hit Adenau on the night for some much enjoyable Bitburger and a pasta in the first resturant as you enter the town, I forget the name but it was spot on!
For the last night we headed back up to Brugges as we enjoyed it that much, and this day was my Dad's birthday, so we wanted somewhere we knew was good for eating and sleeping, so Brugges it was.
I had far too much beer in the bar that hosts 300 Belgium beers at a time, right across the road from the Hobbit pub which serves what was one of my best steaks ever lol, and so the next day for travelling home my head was firmly up the window as I tried to rest my eyes and stop my stomach from doing somersaults lol.
All-in all, it was an awesome trip, and one I would very much recommend. As said, I will be heading back next year think in the S3 tohave some more fun.
Below are some of my pics from the Ring, hope you enjoy . All images can be viewed on my website: http://www.djaphoto.co.uk/
Our Ring pic
British Bikers
Yummy
Red, White and Blue
My Dads proud sticker lol
My artistic side coming out, x3 image stitch
Possibly my favourite image