Arriving in Germany

This morning saw me up very early and getting a shower then my breakfast. As this was a budget hotel, then a budget breakfast was served. I really didn’t want too large a breakfast though because I always seem to feel uncomfortable on the bike if I’ve eaten a lot before hand. My route today was to take me out of France, through a bit of Belgium, Luxembourg and into Germany to a small village called Ruppertshofen where I was to stay at a B&B dedicated to bikers for 4 nights.

After breakfast I took a look outside, it was damp and misty so I changed into my waterproofs before setting off to Germany. My first stop was Devant Luchy where I needed fuel before going much further. It was a Sunday and most of the petrol stations were closed but on my 4th attempt I found a station with a shop attached to it. Once fuelled I set off travelling through Libramont and on to Bastogne. As I rode through the town, I wondered about stopping for a while but not sure at this time how the weather would turn out I decided to continue further while the weather was good and made a mental note to return sometime in the future. After Bastogne I crossed the boarder into Luxembourg and instantly the road surfaces improved and the weather was picking up. I was looking for a left turn off the main road which the car and caravan in front of also took into the village of Braubach. Soon the road narrowed because of a watchtower, I thought I’d stop and take a picture. I actually pulled up across a driveway and the owner looked puzzled so I gestured to him, I was just taking a picture. I waited for the traffic to clear and stepped into the road and took my snapshot, as I returned to the bike the guy was pointing up towards the roof tops across the road and saying something in German which I didn’t understand so I apologised, then he said in very good English, “look up there”, when I looked up in the direction he was pointing I could see this was a castle build high on a pinnacle of rock. The guy then went on to tell me I could ride up to it on the bike so this went on my list of places to visit while in the Rhineland.

Soon I saw the sign for Rupperstofen ahead and my Sat-Nav was counting me down for a right turn but I couldn’t see the junction, 50-metres and I was braking still not seeing the turning, finally as I was on top of the junction I saw it and turned down the narrow road next turning right at the bottom when my Sat-Nav announced “you have reached your destination”, I looked for a sign but saw a guy beckoning me over to him, I gestured back but couldn’t make the turn into the yard so I rode down the hill a little and turned around and came back. When I pulled up in the yard Andre said “John?” And I knew I was in the right place.

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