Day 1 - The NMA Tour Adventure Begins

“Four o’clock in the morning and still we cannot sleep
Turning over, turning ‘round, twisting in our sweat
They say there is no rest for the wicked ones
Dear God, what have we done?”

After an almost sleepless night due to nervous excitement and a little trepidation, the alarm actually went off at the ungodly hour of 3.45am. An hour later, after a piece of toast & a shower, I was on the road to the Le Shuttle crossing at Folkestone. I arrived at 6.18am, checked in and boarded the train for the 7.18am crossing in a carriage just for me. All the staff at Folkestone could not have been any more helpful and were interested to find out where I was travelling to. They probably regretted asking when I rattled off my itinerary!

It was all going too smoothly. I was told the train had a communications problem, but the engineers were aboard and trying to fix it. An hour later, we had to all disembark the train and board another. As a result, we rolled into a dank grey Calais at exactly 10.am local time. I could have had at least another hour in bed.

Back on the road, I hit the E40 heading east towards Dunkirk in the miserable drizzle, then heading south on the E42 through Lille, then into Belgium and through Mons. I passed by Charleroi and entered Luxembourg somewhere along its north western border. The roads in Luxembourg are a motorcyclists dream - perfectly smooth tarmac with hardly a pothole in sight. The roads in Luxembourg just scream affluence.

During this leg of the trip, I had to stop on a total of 4 occasions. Twice for fuel, paying the exorbitant price of €1.99 a litre at a service station on a motorway in France (I knew I was being ripped off but I had no choice), then just €1.57 a litre in Belgium. I also stopped for lunch consisting of a very tasty poulet au curry baguette with salade & oeuf (coronation chicken & sliced egg). I wanted a coffee, but I couldn’t fathom out the coffee machine. My final stop was Lidl for essential supplies - a bottle of red & some chocolate biscuits.

My 1st planned stop was Bourscheid Castle, which looked impressive, but not so impressive that I forked out €7 of my own money for a tour. Well I would have, but it was now 3.15pm and I had more to see. After a few photos from the road, I mounted my bike and continued.

The 2nd scheduled stop was Vianden Castle which was a testing 30 minute ride away. In my opinion, Vianden Castle was way more impressive, however I did only see & photo it from afar. Probably worth further exploration if time permits!

It was then a 45 minute ride south down the tunnel heavy E421 to Luxembourg City & my accommodation for the night - the Luxembourg City YMCA. I arrived at the city centre YMCA at almost dead on 5.00pm. That equated to pretty much 10 hours of motorcycling, helped hugely by the incredible heated inner soles that kept my feet not warm, but hot the whole day & a saddle webbing that kept my backside not just off the saddle, but also slip free (Both Christmas presents from Jackie),

Now it is a long time since I have stayed in a YMCA. I had to pay a deposit of €3 for my room key card and a subsequent deposit of €10 for a padlock and key for my locker. My allocated room was a dorm with 4 bunk beds, a toilet and a shower. I made use of all the facilities and was just sorting my self out when my 1st ‘roomie’ returned to the dorm. I managed to get him to say hello, before he totally ignored me with something far more interesting on his phone.

I then went out to explore the city centre famed for its Grand Ducal Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral & the Bock Casements along the Alzette River that runs through the length of Luxembourg. My first mistake was that I forgot to take my camera. I walked around for an hour and a half during which time darkness descended until it was too dark to see anything of interest. I considered getting a McDonald’s meal, but was flabbergasted to see that even a Big Mac cost €12. Instead I returned to my dorm for my bottle of red, lots of Twiglets & a few chocolate biscuits.

Whilst writing my blog, Grumpy bastard had a shower and went out. Two others also turned up, so we have a full compliment tonight. I just hope no-one keeps me awake with their snoring.

Song of the Day - Luxembourg by Elvis Costello & The Attractions.
NMA Song of the Day - No Rest by New Model Army.
Daily Total Distance - 379 miles.Read more