Austria 1: On the way

4 to 7 June

Autobahn 

After a three and half year lull in travels in Europe we are off on a five week trip to Austria, which was always on our "must visit" list but was escalated as a result of the high praise of our friends Hazel and John.

We had an overnight stop at Bearsted CMC (if there was a loyalty card, we would surely qualify for a free night here!) before an early morning shuttle and we hope we are compliant with any requirements now we are no longer a member of the EU. Our passports have a long validity, we are proudly bearing a UK sticker and are not carrying any meat or dairy products. The fridge is very bare. 

Waiting to be called for the shuttle

The call for our shuttle was delayed by 15 minutes and we were hauled over for "security". Apart from swabbing the steering wheel and asking if the gas was turned off we were oblivious to what the purpose was. There were certainly no questions about foodstuffs! And no delays at British or French passport control. Once in France we stopped at a Leclerc supermarket to stock up the fridge, ate a sandwich in the car park and carried on, getting back into the groove with the foibles of the peage.  And it made me smile (again) when I was reminded that the A26 motorway is called L'autoroute des Anglais.

We arrived at Camping Chalons en Champagne at around 6 pm. It was very full and we were offered one of two disabled pitches. Probably the closest we have ever been to a facility block. We have been here before (2016) - it is a convenient overnight stop, but not a site we would recommend. John suĝgested we had dinner at the so called restaurant but it seemed to be a one man band and several people were waiting so we catered for ourselves. We recently purchased a Remoska, (low wattage cooking device) and have been very pleased with it so far. On this occasion it produced a very good risotto.

Camping Chalons en Champagne

We got away early next day (6 June) and drove a short distance through rural France with fields of poppies (I was itching to take a photo but there was nowhere to pull over) to rejoin the A4 motorway heading east. As we passed through the Foret d'Argonne the temperature was already 20 deg C. I was a little confused as the junctions have been renumbered since our road atlas of France was published in 2019.

We commented on the good quality of the road surface on the motorways (perhaps there is no word for pothole in French!). And France is so much better prepared for EV charging than we are. At services there were banks of charging points for 16 vehicles.

EV charging facilities on a French motorway

We stopped at a convenient service area for lunch, taking our picnic to a table in the shade of the trees. Lovely. 

Lunch in the shade

However we were later to pay for this little pleasure, when we got snarled up in a two hour twenty minute delay on the A8 near Karlsruhe. However, discipline seems to be much better in Germany than in the UK in these circumstances. Lanes 2 and 3 automatically pulled as far apart from each other as possible creating a way through for emergency vehicles. And hardly anyone attempted to change lane.

The final straw was to find that the junction we needed to exit was closed as a section of the eastbound mototway is being rebuilt. So we were rather late arriving at the site (7pm) but within half our hour we were on our way to the Italian restaurant three minutes walk away. The pasta dishes and beers were very welcome.

A welcome beer

Camping Aichelberg was otherwise a good choice; although the camping area is not very pretty, the facilities are first class and freshly baked rolls and croissants are available from 8 am.

Camping Aichelberg

After breakfast outside we set off on the final stage of the journey to Austria. Sadly we had to head back towards Stuttgart to get onto the motorway and it was slow through the roadworks.

Towards Munich we passed a solar farm, but instead of being installed in a level field, they followed the contours of the land. It looked strange, but I suppose it increased the overall efficiency.

Finally we crossed the Austrian border, drove around the edge of Salzburg and arrived at Campingblick Wolfgangsee. It's a beautiful spot, nestled among the mountains by the  lakeside. We look forward to exploring over the next few days.