What makes the perfect road? | Are these roads in Belgium and Luxembourg biking Nirvana? | Ep 5

Greetings YouTube! Hit that subscribe button and join me as I ride from the Ardennes region of Belgium to Luxembourg. I don’t know what your idea of the perfect biking road is (let me know in the comments), but I think the silky smooth, twisty tarmac on offer here is pretty darn close!

Greetings, YouTube, and welcome back to my channel. It is a beautiful morning here in Belgium. I’m in the Arden region. My bike awaits. I’ve had a great night in the tent. Got to pack it away. All that stuff to get sorted. I’ve been researching online for best biking road in this region region of Belgium. And uh one one road came back at me. Maybe you’ll agree, maybe you won’t. I don’t know. We’re going to go and ride it in just a minute once I’ve got the tent down. Oh, that’s done. Okay, let’s have it. [Music] Right. Today’s plan then is to check out some awesome roads basically and my first port of call is going to be uh a natural park which a Google search has said has a stunning route through and um an amazing waterfall. So that’s going to be my first port of call. Along the way I am going to see if I can grab myself some breakfast somewhere. I was going to heat up a like a ready-made beans and pretend sausage kind of breakfast thing whilst here at the campsite, but I just didn’t fancy that. I fancy a coffee and a croissant. That’s what I want. I wanted something a bit fresher. And then once I’ve checked out that natural park, what I’m going to do is uh head to Steinbach where I will take the N838 to Tavini. And that is supposedly, according to the internet, a stunning road of sweeping espens through fantastic scenery. That sounds like my kind of thing. And then after that, I’m heading to Luxembourg where I finally managed. It took virtually all night to find one. A campsite that was absolutely free and available. I’m not mcking about with number plate recognition. I can’t I’m facing the wrong way. They haven’t thought that through when the camera’s at the front. So, just ride through the gap. That’s one way of motorcycle touring, I guess. So, I will just be stopping along the road when I find something that looks like a suitable breakfast option. And I’m just enjoying myself. I’m enjoying being in Belgium. I’m enjoying looking and seeing rocks like that. Very then that. And yeah, loving it. Loving it completely. and you lot are invited as ever. If you haven’t already subscribed to the channel, please do so and hit the notification button and all that stuff and share it with your friends and your family and your pets and all that kind of stuff as well. And let’s just have a good old riding day. It really is a beautiful part of the world. Well, I’m I’ve got what 49 minutes? 49 minutes to get to this natural park, which the internet says will have deliver spectacular riding roads. Now, I think the the thing is I’m riding spectacular riding roads just to get there. And I think that is kind of default in all of all of this region. It’s all about the the cornering. The tarmac’s good. The countryside is gentle, but it’s interesting enough to to be beautiful. No, it’s not the the Swiss Alps or the Austrian Alps or the Doommites or something like that, but it has its own unique charm and it is beautiful. Well, it’s rush hour here in sleepy Belgium, but I see a cafe. So, I’m going to let this traffic disperse. I’m going to park myself. I was going to park myself where that wheelbarrow is and uh get myself A coffee and a castle as planned. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you. Heat up here. I am going to use that lamp post as a means of security for the bike. From where I’m parked, it’s about a 30 minute walk to um Cascade. Flash it up on the screen. Waterfalls. And uh I’m not going to sweat like I normally do wearing my jacket as I I walk around. So, what I’ve done is I’ve locked the bike to that sturdy lamp post. The lock is going through the jacket sleeve. It’s also going through the helmet. I’ve got all my valuables in the rucks sack on my back. So, um, if the bike did get stolen, then I’ve got everything, my passport, my keys, everything, everything. All the, um, computer stuff I use for the channel, all with me. It would still be a disaster, but at least it wouldn’t be completely the end of the world. Um, it says it’s about a halfhour walk. I think it’s roughly that direction. So, we’ll go and check out these waterfalls. And then it is the then it is the N838 all the way. So let’s have it. So as the DJI fly map has told me, this is in fact the whole of the Arden region of Belgium is one massive no-fly zone. There’s the sign saying no drones 250 euro fine if you disobey. I have no intention of disobeying. But when I get down to Luxembourg later today, um there are no restrictions to that extent. There are the odd bits here and there near airports, etc. But hopefully where I am out in the the country, camping, etc., and having a little explore. Tomorrow I’ll get a chance to have a muck about with that. Send it up in the air and capture some of the views. Anyway, this is going to be a halfhour walk. A whole load of this ahead of me. What I will do is I will rejoin you when I get to the falls. Of course, I might join you again if uh something deviates from just a gravel path, which it is. Apparently, this was founded as a nature reserve in 1957, so it’s well established. Well, either there’s been a lot of rain or like I read on the internet when I was researching this last night in my tent, um, parts are like walking across a living swamp, it says. So, I’m expecting it to get marshier and boggier. Luckily, my boots are nice and waterproof. Um, no affiliation with former boots at all. Um, it’s not a review. It’s not a plug. It’s just the boots that I’ve been using for the last probably 15 years. Um, they’re a bit tired now to be fair, falling apart slightly. Um, but what a cracking pair of boots they are. They’re the the highlength adventure boots in brown um by former. I find them really comfortable to walk in even across swamps. Uh yuck. Hear that squelch. Uh I can walk for miles and miles in them without them causing any blisters or anything. They’re comfortable. They’re comfortable to ride um in. They don’t slip off of the pegs at all. And uh when they were new, they were extremely waterproof. They’re not quite as waterproof now. They let a bit of water in, but uh they are 15 years old and they’ve seen a lot of action. They really have. All right. Apparently, I need to turn right in a minute. This really is quite boggy. Oh, right up to the ankles. Yuck. But I’m off track as well. Okay, let’s try again. That flowing water sounds encouraging. Must be getting towards the base of the falls. Been work walking for a lot longer than half an hour. Keep coming across sharp paths as well. Well, not quite as large as I was expecting, but very nice nonetheless. And now I’m going to start what’s probably a 45minute trek back to the bike. Right, I enjoyed that. It was good to get some exercise and uh stretch the legs, give the back side a rest. Next on the agenda is the N838, which according to the internet is one of the best biking roads in the Arden region in Belgium. I’m sure if you have local knowledge, you will correct me if I’m wrong or you will concur, one or the other. It starts in Steinbach, ends in Tang Tang. I said it better earlier. Um, it’s going to take me an hour to get to Steinbeck. The actual road, Steinbeck even. Absolutely hopeless case I am when it comes to pronouncing places. Uh the the actual road itself is about 8 kilometers long. So it’s going to take me an hour to get there and do 56 km to ride an 8 km stretch. But that’s worth it. And then once I’ve done that, I may try and get some light refreshment at the end of that ride before heading to Luxembourg and my campsite tonight. Am I going correctly? Yes, I think so. It’s warm. 23°. I said I wasn’t going to break a sweat doing that, but I still did. more of this gorgeous tarmac. I can’t tell you how smooth it is. It’s just perfect. That’s good to get a bit of breeze on me. I got to say the the route just to get me to Steinach and the N838 is absolutely sublime. Anyway, to be fair though, the internet did say the roads around this national park, natural park I think it’s called, um are all good for bikers. And I wouldn’t disagree. Fantastic. And remember from the UK Cala Oend this is just a long weekend away. Absolutely cracking riding. So, unless I’m mistaken, I believe this area I’m in now, I’m near somewhere spelled W A I M E S. Um, Wes is known as Little Switzerland. Um, and you can see why. I’m I’m digging a kind of Swiss vibe here. It’s all very beautiful. Love the old stones that the buildings are constructed from. Beautiful. Right, I just stopped cuz I wanted to dial it in so that the satnav was following it. We’ve got 8 minutes. This is supposed to be the road. It could well be. It could well be. To be honest though, I think they’ve all been absolutely fantastic. I’ve just loved this last hour getting here. So, I’m going to get to Tavin and then I will dial in the sat the satnav the campsite for tonight. Right, let’s try this road out for size. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] I just love these avenues and trees. I love them with the dappled sunrise this and the quality of feels like autumn’s on the way already. [Applause] [Music] [Music] I think that’s going to be this A very very tiny little village. I have arrived. Well, that folks was a great road. The internet wasn’t wrong. Right. What I need to do now is have a look at uh my campsite for tonight cuz it’s still couple of hours with no motorways selected and I’m not doing it with motorways. Well folks, another day, another country. Welcome to Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in the world. And as I mentioned earlier, all public transport is free. So if I could get a bus now right across to the other side of the country, wouldn’t cost me a penny. So I was trying to work out the last time I was in Luxembourg. I’ve certainly never ridden a motorcycle in Luxembourg until this moment, but I think I was 10 on a family holiday when we came into Luxembourg, and that would be 46 years ago. Wow. I still remember bits from the capital, but uh I won’t recognize anything, obviously. What I do know though is this is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Cracking tarmac again. It would appear every country I visit has better tarmac than the UK. But then that’s not hard, is it? I say the UK, England in particular, I think. Another beautiful avenue of trees. Oh, there’s the view. Beautiful. Well, Luxembourg is the country of wide openen views by the looks of it. It may be a small country, but but the views are massive. I was just thinking and I will talk to her later this evening that this would be a fantastic Belgium, the Ardan and Luxembourg would be a fantastic first tour for for my partner a mirror with her new Speed Master once she passes her A license. It would uh probably be best to trailer the bikes across the channel and get here and just enjoy these roads rather than slogging on motorways. I know she wouldn’t enjoy that, but she would love this and I’d love to be riding these with her. I think I would take that old Bonavville that’s knocking about. That’ be a good partner for the Speed Master. We could be flying the Triumph Flag. Having said that, this BMW so comfortable, so capable for long distances. What a bike. Well, all I can say is the hours and it was about an hour and a half of scrolling through and looking on different websites for a campsite last night and everything was fully booked. This is the only one I could find and I think I struck gold. It looks really, really nice. Um, I have made a reservation for an evening meal in there. There’s a nice looking restaurant. So, I’m going to eat some proper food and I think they’ll even do me breakfast in the morning. So, perfect. And I have a spot near the river. I actually got to choose my pitch online last night. So, this is all very civilized and incredibly nice. And I’m looking forward to getting the tent up, getting myself organized, and having an easy evening. What is the time? It’s half 5. Dinner’s Dinner’s booked for for seven Got to love that tent. Well, that’s it. I’ve got starters. Dinner’s coming. I’ve got a cold beer on the go. Been chatting to the guys behind me. I’ve got a good book to read. Happy days. Right, I hope you liked today’s episode. If you did, please give it a like and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already. And I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye. [Music]