V8
Tour 2015 to Germany
Report provided by Al Barnett and photo
by Mario Kloostra.
See the earlier report from Kai and Claudia Knickmann.
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Posted:
150922 |  | Around
30 cars, from 7 countries, mainly V8s but including an A and a C, arrived at Moers
in northern Germany on Wednesday 2nd September. We were met by Walter and Brigitte
Kallenberg, our local organisers, who were to guide and watch over us for the
whole of the 5 day event. They had done a great deal of work putting together
a varied and interesting programme and preparing detailed 'Tulip' diagrams for
each of the drives.
This part of northern Germany is the power house of
the country with the accent on big industrial complexes, rather than lakes and
mountains. During the tour we were able to cross the mighty Rhine river by ferry,
be briefed about a new and massive coal fired power station by its Chief | Engineer,
have lunch in a brewery and enjoy a boat tour of Duisburg harbour, the largest
inland harbour in Europe and that was all just on day one! Subsequent days were
equally interesting with trips into Holland to an amazing tuning house, a visit
to an extraordinary 'English Garden' inspired by Sissinghurst and Great Dixter
and time at an archeological complex with fully rebuilt Roman buidings rather
than the usual pile of stones.
The hotel Van der Valk was comfortable and
the staff helpful; the food improved every day culminating in Saturday's farewell
dinner. Regular tour stalwarts Tony and Sylvia Lake and Jim Gibson and Sue Walker
organised a charity auction and a presentation to our hosts. There were good and
well deserved words said about Bob and Carolyn Owen who were retiring as V8 Tour
coordinators. Walter and Brigitte did a fine job throughout and we all appreciated
how much work they had done.
On Sunday 6th September we all went our various
ways with quite a few of us opting to spend some additional days enjoying the
unrestricted autobahns and excellent beer. I can happily say that the RV8 cruises
very comfortably at 100mph with speed limited only by some poor road surfaces
rather than performance.
The Register tours are always enjoyable and we
look forward to the next one, wherever it may be. |
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