Germany and Luxembourg. 2024

[Pie man]

On 01/09/2024 at 20:09, Gerontious said:

And the guys were agog at the petrol station at Dasburg which doubles as the most amazing duty free type place- they sell tobacco by the bucket!! As well as other essentials. (Obviously) like cheap petrol.

I used to nip in there for some goodies on returning to the Daytona, brilliant place. I was looking to nip over there next week, however I received notice that the Hotel Daytona has closed indefinitely, Sadly Jan, the co owner has passed away.  The husband and wife team were really welcoming and the food he cooked was superb, and at the end of a riding day, a drink was ready for you at the bar. 

[bonio]

That's sad to hear.

[Gerontious]

I’ve never stayed at Daytona and in fact I’m not convinced it even existed in early 2012 when I was looking at hotels in the area, though to be fair I was concentrating my efforts around Vianden as the original, very original intention was to stay on the Luxembourg side of the border and within easy reach of Vianden, a place I considered unaffordable, but still a good centre. So I was looking at hotels within the area up to about 10 miles. And so it was that I clicked on the Schloss and the rest is history. My search ended abruptly. It’s difficult enough organising a group of strangers and trying to coax a deposit from them was just another complication and seemed quite daunting. So as soon as I saw that the Schloss didn’t require one.  That was it. Sorted.

The “Biker Welcome” label helped too. So did the price for half board - which at the time seemed too good to be true!! Anyway it was worth the risk and it all worked out really well. Over 12 years we’ve been there 8 times. With 4 breaks, once when we had a week in the Black Forest. Another time the Vercors in the south of France and then a forced break due to Covid. One year when travel was too risky. And the next when it was simpler to go to Ireland instead.

 

im sure the Daytona won’t be closed for long. It’s quite unique in that part of the Eifel & Luxembourg.

Edited September 21, 2024 by Gerontious

[Bungleaio]

There’s a shame to hear but we’ll never go there. Schloss for life!

[bonio]

Going past the Daytona on a Saturday morning with the forecourt brimming with bikes was always grand sight. Hope it's not gone forever.

[Pie man]

19 hours ago, bonio said:

Going past the Daytona on a Saturday morning with the forecourt brimming with bikes was always grand sight. Hope it's not gone forever.

The owners are Dutch and it is a regular place to stay for Dutch bikers. I too, hope its not gone forever. 

[rob m]

I hope @Gerontious and the other guys doesn't mind me gatecrashing this thread, but I still have lots of pictures of the first Eifel trip in September 2012. I was sorting through a hard drive yesterday looking for pictures of my boy's 7th birthday party and they were in the same folder.

 

This was the original group outside the Schloss in 2012. There was only five of us actually, the two fellas stood behind Jack were on their own tour, I think as one guy was called Martin, and they left that morning to head for the Black Forest. I'm the bloke on the right wearing a white t shirt.

 

 

It was a great trip, my first ride into Europe and I loved every minute of it. I was on my Honda 929 Fireblade. It's great to see that others are still having that experience and I'm sure they're now excited for their next trip. There's something magical about the Eifel.

 

 

[Gerontious]

My greatest memory of the very first trip and arrival at the Schloss. Was terror.

 

as I mentioned the cost of the room seemed too good to be true. Half board was (at the time) comparable in price to room only at other hotels in the area.. especially those I looked at over the border in Luxembourg. Maybe a few that offered B&B. But they didn’t have enough rooms or they demanded a deposit.

 

So when we arrived I was terrified that the Schloss might be a flea pit. Aware that sometimes websites show places in the best possible light. I ran to the two guys who were already there and asked them ‘is it alright?’ And got broad smiles - “it’s great!!”.

 

it was a Monday and we arrived in time for dinner. Which was pretty good, far better than I hoped. The rooms were exactly as portrayed on the website - so that was good too. And the rest (as they say) is history.

 

Breakfast next morning was gob smacking. Really good.

 

it was the first time… so it wasn’t perfect and a lot of lessons were learnt. Most notably the travel in both directions was moved to the weekend. So we had 5 days ‘there’. And it became set in stone that we would go the weekend after August Bank Holiday.

 

this first time was an experiment - we went for 3 days. Just to see what it was like. Crossing on the Monday and returning on the Friday. (Which was a big mistake)

 

nobody died.

Edited September 23, 2024 by Gerontious

[Simon Davey]

That's great to read @rob m, cheers