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       Because we usually use the Newcastle/Amsterdam DFDS Ferry, to get to France we have to drive around Antwerp, there really isn’t a viable alternative. Normally we would take the A1/E19 from the Dutch border and connect with the Ring Antwerpen (R1) to go through the Kennedy Tunnel but on the June 2005 trip to the Dordogne the delays due to the roadwork’s in and around the Kennedy Tunnel were appalling. On the way back through Antwerp to Holland we got stuck in very heavy traffic actually in the tunnel. It was 33 degrees when we entered the tunnel and it took us 45mins to get through it and that was only with some desperate filtering before we succumbed to either heat exhaustion or simply loosing the will to live - yes it was that bad. On the July trip to Normandy we followed the diversion signs for HGV’s around the R2 Ring and through the Liefkenshoek Tunnel. There is a toll of 5 Euros for the Liefkenshoek Tunnel but it was well worth it - no traffic jams and straight through in both directions.

     The roadwork’s in and around the Kennedy Tunnel look set to continue for some time so to avoid it use the Liefkenshoek Tunnel. It is approx. 16kms longer but as long as the roadwork’s are ongoing I would recommend this route. (Click the logo on the left for the latest information on the roads in and around Antwerp). One other thing I have noticed on the motorways in Belgium recently is that they appear to be abandoning the national motorway road numbers in favour of the E.U. green ‘E’ road numbers so if you are planning a route using the motorways make sure you also note the ‘E’ numbers, (ex: ).

I’ve travelled through Belgium many times over the years but never really stopped long enough to explore. This year, having fufilled one ambition, to ride the old Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, I decided to fulfill another one by visiting the Spa Francorchamps circuit in the Belgian Ardennes area. If you were to ask any motor racing fan, either bikes or cars, to name some famous motor racing circuits the most likely answers would be Monza, the Nurburgring, Le Mans and Spa Francorchamps. I have now been to all four and ridden two of them, the Nurburgring and Le Mans,(which for the most part is made up of public roads which are closed for the 24hr Du Le Mans sportscar race), and had long wanted to visit Spa. Although we were staying in southern Holland, near the Dutch/German border, it was less than an hour away from Spa. Staying off the motorways and taking the ‘N’ roads, roughly the equivalent of our ‘B’ roads, it soon became apparent that a lot of the roads in Belgium are not all that they should be and a sharp eye needs to be kept for pot-holes, (much like Britain then !!). The circuit lies on the edge of the Parc Naturel des Haute Fagnes which is a densly forested area. The Ardennes area itself covers almost half of Belgium and continues into Germany where it becomes the Eifel. Spa Francorchamps apart, the Ardennes is well worth visiting for it’s own sake.

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