No-burgring

All the way to the Nurburgring, we were debating whether to take the Jag on the circuit. It’s driving fine, but there’s a few warning lights which pop up every now and then, and the brakes have softened somewhat since crossing the mountains. An unscheduled emergency braking manoeuvre didn’t help matters, and when the steering column collapsed into the dashboard we thought it was some kind of irreversible safety mechanism. Turns out the steering column adjustment lever is just a bit loose.

All in all, these factors, coupled with my [Ed’s] paranoia about getting the car home, meant that we would have to drive it very slowly round the racetrack in order to be able to also drive it back home to the UK in one piece.

We pulled up to the Nurburgring and found to our disappointment that the decision was taken out of our hands, as the track was unfortunately closed to the public. There were, however, a few test cars belting it round the track at well over 150mph. Therefore we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably a good thing that a couple of twenty-year-old saloons driven by a bunch of muppets weren’t pootling round the circuit getting everyone’s way.

We had a drink in the bar, and then set off for our next overnight stop in Koln (Cologne) in western Germany, just an hour north of the Nurburgring. As per the usual routine, we phoned ahead and got rooms in a basic hostel and parked the cars up.

For once, we weren’t under pressure for an early night, as our drive the next day would only be three hours. So we grabbed the playing cards and set out to a beer house for some home-brewed beer and traditional sausages of varying shapes and sizes. We made it through most the bars in Koln, and the last of us got in at 4am, so not bad going.

Unfortunately the next morning a couple of us had to get up at 8.30 to move the cars, and not remembering where we had parked them the day before proved to be a bit of a handicap. When we eventually found them, we topped up the parking for another couple of hours to give us time to grab some breakfast and soak up a bit of culture in the form of Koln cathedral. After what seemed like a thousand steps up the tower, we were rewarded with a fairly mediocre view of the city, armed with the knowledge that we then had to walk all the way down again.

We left Koln at about midday, and have journeyed north to our 13th country – Holland. We’ve got a sort of apartment in central Amsterdam, rented from a very dodgy looking bloke, and are just catching up on our personal hygiene before hitting the town.

Tomorrow (Saturday), we are hoping to be back at the Batchworth scout hut at around 8pm, so if anyone’s around to see our triumphant return, we’d love to see you.

The great news tonight is that we’ve hit our (much extended) target of £10,000!!! Thanks a million for all the donations – who’d have thought that such a ridiculous idea could be so much fun and raise so much money. Considering our original target was £2,500, we can say that this has been well and truly smashed. Talking of which, we’re off now to grab a beer or two.