Spa Summer Classics 2012

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Yesterday was a bit wet and drizzly, definitely not a day for the races, but Sunday predicted nicer if cool weather, a good day for some family fun ... cute little read Lotus Ford Cortina in the parking lot as walk in shows familiar postures ... puzzlement, disgust, determination and resignation ... I could have turned around right then ... perfect ... this is the heart of amateur racing at its best

It really is a family fun event, no big sponsorship tents here, these are all gentlemen racers (and gentle-ladies) and the gear may be serious, but the atmosphere is laid back and collegial as you wander around watching people pick up after breakfast from their tents or rv's ...

Fella's two-by-two, young and old checking out the cars and generally having a good time ... lots and lots of Mini Cooper's, must be tough competition ...

But if there was one image that sticks from the day more than any other ... I mean seriously, who needs Chippendail's professionals when there is every so much manly posterior on display for free? I am telling you, they should have been advertising this entirely differently to the fairer gender ...

The day is absolutely perfect, scudding clouds, good moisture in the air for carbs to breath freely, cool enough to keep overworked engines and brakes in the safe zones and a nicely dry track ...

Awww, seriously! After Le Mans in France, the Ferrari exhibit of excess with the twenties of tractor trailer rigs, the other posh setups with mobile homes with popouts and hydraulic lifts for everything and everything polished to a tee... here is something from the entirely different side ... truth be told, I bet these guys have more stories to tell ...

Out on the track the little open seater racers are true to form, the capacity of these little rockets far outstrip the capacity of many of the drivers and the entire race seems to be run under the yellow caution flag, the race proctors do not even bother waving it, they just leave it hanging limply against the white safety barricade ...

But lots action is to be found in the paddocks, the little racers really are the cutest of things ...

Gauges, gloves, steering wheel ... that's a start ...

Put it altogether and fun is the result ... hmm, he seems to be following the directions to the brasserie, lunch break?

The patron saint of hunting, st. Hubert, is a favored local boy in the Ardennes, and the Jagermaistr Porsche livery is well known and used ... like seeing the two guys in driver's suits walking by, guy in cream must have borrowed a fan belt from the paddock down the way ...

Boys from down south came up for the fun, and brought a few pretty shiny things with them ....

Out on the track the boys are heading for the hills ... and after a bit of wandering about and watching it is time to replicate ... the hill-heading part if not the interesting speediness with which they exercise their machines ...

Spa Francorchamps is a storied racing track, but it is also near some utterly amazing parks and preserves. If the long string of interesting classic cars passing my with sign's on their nose stating 'tour gourmande' has anything to do with it, instead of the hills being alive to the sound of music, the sound around here must be chewing ... but the meadows have plenty of pretty little flowers ...

Really, this close to the german boarder one almost gets the idea they might be having a spring or a summer, unlike our own poor Brussels this year ...

The GPS said there was a chateau-fort around here somewhere ... after ditching the car and walking through those meadows ... well, yeah, they were right ...

"It was in 1354 that Wenceslas of Luxembourg agrees Renaud Waimes permission to build a castle there.

Because of the extinction of the family Waimes the castle passed successively into the hands of Zivelle , ofBrandscheid then Nassau.

In 1550, following the marriage of Anne de Nassau and William de Metternich , Reinhardstein becomes the property of this important family Rhine, who will occupy it until the French Revolution.

In 1812, Count Metternich, father of future President of the Congress of Vienna, sells the building to a demolition. Abandoned, it degrades significantly over time.

In 1965, Professor Overloop discovered the ruined castle and almost by accident in his own words, it was love at first sight. It took him no less than eighteen months, helped by some fans and drawing on the expertise of local artisans, to ..."

The nice man at the entrance can speak to us in dutch, a smattering of the local dialect, but no French or English this day ... but the brochure is clear enough, we have to come back after lunch for the tour of the inside ... but I have designs for lunch further down the road ... so another time ... "Following 150 years of neglect and destruction, since 1970 the "Burg Reinhardstein" (Reinhardstein Castle) has finally been returned to its former glorious existence. In the heart of the East Walloon cantons, in the south of the High Fens, the castle, standing on a rock outcrop, looks down over the Warche, and is only about 800 m downstream from the Robertville dam."

But there is a small and unique if unassuming outbuilding that captures my attention ... built next to the stream, with a small dam and a grate allowing water underneath ... well?

Yup, you guessed it, the water still runs freely underneath and back out to the stream and if the looks of that toilet paper holder are any indication it was used at least up into the 70's if not later ... ahem, feeling better about the water quality nowadays brought on by modern treatment systems?

She really is the prettiest little thing ... remnants of former glory in the carved stone alongside the pathway, a hidden hobbit door, an outbuilding down below with picnic table set out, nice!

But lunch is calling me ...

Wending through the forested back country a familiar smell assaults ... aha, a few years my parents worked the sawmills, I went with them and awaited the school bus after playing about in the sawdust, chips and mill-yard ... there is something unique in the smell of freshly hewn timbers ... something that smells moist and sweet ... not exactly fond memories, they were rough times, but to see a working sawmill today is a pleasure ...

And speaking of logs, there is a little café made out of a new log-cabin style chalet, for all the motorcyclists pack into some of the waystops by the hundreds, this is always a family friendly event ... and ordering the blue-plate special delivers a platter overflowing with stuff as well as a coffee and a bit of sparkling white stuff ... somehow this little crossroads and the bakery up front always seems to exert a gravitational pull ...

Back on the roads it seems every motorcycle in the western hemisphere has descended ... every crossroads has a horde coming this way, looking that way you see a horde heading around the bend ...

Actually, the roads out here are nice, one sees why they all come out ... am envious, but stuck in the cage this day ...

So, apologies if I bore you with a day of bucolia and wandeling about the back-countries between belgie and germanie ...

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