Few roads in the world have a nickname as earned as the Nordschleife, which Jackie Stewart christened the Green Hell. It winds for about twenty-one kilometres through the forested hills of the Hohe Eifel, with well over a hundred corners, big climbs, blind crests and a drop of nearly three hundred metres between its lowest and highest points. It was built in the 1920s as a work-creation project for a depressed region, and above it, on a basalt cone, stand the ruins of Nürburg castle, a twelfth-century fortress that gave the circuit its name. The tower is still there, and from it you can look out over the whole area.
Most days of the year, the track is closed for testing or racing, but on many evenings and weekends it opens to the public in sessions called Touristenfahrten, when anyone with a road-legal vehicle can pay per lap and take it on. Motorcycles are allowed, but the track has no run-off in many places, the surface changes grip suddenly and accidents are frequent, so respect it. If you do not fancy it, the grandstands are free to sit in, and there is a noisy, friendly crowd at the car park, with bikes of every kind. Check the calendar before you arrive, because it changes and closures are common.
The country around is the volcanic Eifel, a high, rolling, forested plateau with small farm villages, and fog can sit over it for days. The nearest villages, Adenau and Kelberg, are small, with fuel stations, bakeries and guesthouses used to motorcyclists, and Daun, eighteen kilometres off, is the nearest larger town. The Hohe Acht, at 747 metres the highest point of the Eifel, rises just to the west of the circuit, with a lookout tower that gives a long view.
From here the Eifel Volcano Route runs south to Gerolstein, through country dotted with maars, round crater lakes formed by gas explosions thousands of years ago. The roads are smooth and flowing, with long curves through forest and over open ridges, and the traffic is usually light outside event weekends. The weather is cool and wet, even in summer, and the mornings are often foggy. Be careful on wet tarmac and in the autumn leaf fall, and watch for speed cameras and police near the track, where noise limits are enforced.