Easter trip to Vianden, Luxembourg. One spare single room available - Maybe a double / twin?

[Wapping]

Due to a cry-off, I have a spare single room available for a trip to Vianden over Easter.

Here's the story:

For those who don't know I used to arrange lots of jaunts away, over on the UKGSer site. For some reason or another, theses were popular and often over-subscribed. Vianden at Easter is one that I've done before and (touch wood) it's gone OK.

The jaunts have all followed near enough the same format: I've booked the hotel(s), created some suggested GPS based routes to get there and back and for all or any days out whilst we are away. It's up to bods if they want to do their own thing, even so.

I secure the rooms on my credit card, so that means we avoid paying deposits. Rooms, meals, drinks etc I have billed to each individual tourists' rooms, which you settle on departure. It works and I've always had very few problems. Naturally, I'm keen to keep it that way.

Daily mileage varies, anywhere between 250 and 350 miles, usually along country type roads but with no (deliberate) goat tracks. I've ridden them all on anything from a 1600 GT, a GS, an HP4, an S1000R and an HP2 - who says you can't tour on just about anything? In short, nothing that you couldn't ride on a bicycle, a FireBlade or a.... Well, you get the picture. Do I care what you ride? Not one jot. Do we use any motorways? Yes, if it makes sense to. Do I head for a ploughed field? No.

Who is it suitable for? Anyone who can ride a motorcycle. At a rough guess I've had over 350 punters join me / us over the past six or seven years, with many repeat bookings.

What besides GPS routes do we do? If, as there sometimes is, there is a reasonably large party on the road, I'll generally use the marker 'drop-off' system, only because it keeps everyone reasonably together and enables everyone to ride at their own pace through the day. Overtaking in the group is fine; just be careful and realise that not everyone is the next GP champion and not everyone is Captain Slow. None of it is a race but it's not a dawdle either.

Any rules? Only one: Start each day with a full tank of petrol, please. I don't care if that's 14 litres or 36 litres or anything inbetween; fill it up.

What's the plan for Easter?

1. I (and I think the rest of us) am crossing over and back via the Chunnel. I don't have my crossing times to hand but off the top of my head they are:

Out on the Thursday, at about 19:30

Back on Easter Monday bank holiday, at about 19:00

2. We have rooms booked in the Ibis Budget in St Omer for the Thursday night before Good Friday. I have one spare room. You can arrive near enough anytime you like. The hotel has reasonably secure parking (for those that agonise over such things) but I always bring a lock and / or a chain, irrespective. There are plenty of reasonably priced restaurants a few minutes walk away, up in the main square. Catching the 19:30 train over means that I won't get to St Omer much before 21:30 so I'll either get my skates on to find something in the town, or grab a beer and bring a sandwich.

3. Good Friday morning, a reasonably early start as it's a decent schlep to Vianden. We'll stop for a coffee somewhere and have a reasonable lunch (not hours) in or about Chimay on the Belgian border. Then stop in the afternoon in or about Bastogne for a coffee break. Time to arrive in Vianden? Good question! I'd guess anytime between 17:30 and 18:30

4. In Vianden, we are staying in the hotel Petry, which we have used several times quite happily. It doesn't have much of a garage, so we leave the bikes outside. The hotel has two restaurants, one a sort of pizza / spagbog type, the other a bit smarter, steak and wine sort of thing. Neither is mind-blowingly expensive. I'll put a link up later. There are several other restaurants and hotels in the town, many of which we've used at some time or another.

5. Saturday / Sunday. I'll plot some routes or do your own thing. Where will we find lunch? No idea. Will we stop? Yes. Will we starve? Nobody has.... Yet!

6. Monday, back to Calais and home. Again, I'll create some suggested routes. Stopping? No idea but we will, I'm sure.

Anything else? I think that's it.

Replies via this thread only, please.

Richard

PS I might be able to change the single into a twin or double room instead. The Ibis Budget I probably can, the Petry I'd need to check.

[Wapping]

Links to the hotels:

http://hotel-petry.com/en

http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-591 ... ndex.shtml

[Wapping]

Just bumping it up the page.

Just in case anyone wonders what the roads are like once we get there. Vianden is in the eastern Ardennes, close to the German border. In two words: Great roads; varying from fast open stretches over the hill tops, through to narrow tree lined roads winding their ways through the trees and alongside streams or rivers. Picturesque villages and some larger towns abound. For anyone interested in WW2 events (or just Band of Brothers on the TV) the Ardennes are home to the Battle of the Bulge and all that that entails. Spend a day at the museums if that appeals.

http://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Vianden

http://www.ardennes-lux.lu/index.php?lan=en

http://www.roughguides.com/destinations ... /ardennes/

http://www.visitbelgium.com/index.php/bastogne

[gland]

stayed at hotel petry last year very nice place and good food too. some cracking roads around there. worth the trip if anyone was wondering.

[Wapping]

Thank you for the endorsement.

I'll leave the opportunity for someone to join us open until Wednesday evening. After that it's only reasoable to let the hotels know we are going to be one short.