29 September, 1.30pm, autobahn service station 43km from the Nurburgring

THE time is very nearly here.

In a couple of hours we’ll be hurtling round the Nurburgring.

Made famous for my generation by Top Gear and featuring on practically every computer racing game made in the last few years.

Recently on Project Gotham Racing 4 on my Xbox 360 (yes I am a geek), I’ve been racing round it in a Ford GT40 in the snow.

Today I’ll be going more sedately round the giant circuit in our Bubblegum Bangers Rally Mazda 323.

But I can’t wait.

So far, today has being more relaxing than yesterday’s epic of trying to uncover the clues dotted between Rouen and Amsterdam to locate out hotel.

And I’m not feeling as bad as I thought I would after a night out in the ‘Dam.

That’s because on a Sunday night it closes up at 1am.

I thought that since it is the den of iniquity where all things go, it’d be a 24-hour non-stop party zone.

But no, it is like any other European city.

The powers that be want to show the masses who’s in charge and curtail the fun.

To be honest, after being on the go all day yesterday and feeling my age come the evening, I’m quite pleased they did.

The only stress Nick and I have had to undergo today is negotiating our way down here.

The motorway map of north-west Germany is like a plate of spaghetti being attacked by an octopus.

Thanks to my map reading we decided to go right into the German industrial heartland, past Oberhausen, Cologne and Bonn.

But once through this we have entered a vista of rolling hills covered in golden Autumn trees.

My limited poetic skills cannot do justice as to how beautiful it is round here.

I’m also glad to report that everybody made it to Amsterdam with nobodies’ car dying on them.

After Saturday’s massacre where four cars bit the dust it seems that the ones that were going to pack up, did so in the first hundred miles or so.