Category Archives: Austria

Day 22 – Back to Germany

Our lovely campground provided us with superb German bread rolls for a small fee. It was a great last breakfast in Italy, as we were really close to the Brenner pass or Brennero as the Italians would say.

Number 3 is getting a lot better taking pictures with his own camera

Packing didn’t take long; we hadn’t even unpacked the awning. Once we decided to get going, we were on the road in good time. Flo had planned the route for today which would bring us from Brixen to Illertissen through Austria and to our next Covid test. Organising all this takes a bit of getting used to.

The Brenner was a letdown, especially for Number 3, as it’s neither an especially high pass nor a tunnel. Suddenly, we were at the gate to pay the 10€ toll for the pass we had just taken without realizing it. Ooooh. Number 3 who we primed for an extra long tunnel, was disappointed. Our next “exciting” stop for today was lunch next to a fast charger. On the way there, in search of a bakery for fresh bread, we made the mistake of stopping in front of a Spar supermarket. Number 3 saw the car-shaped trolleys for kids and would not leave this place before he’d driven around in one for a while. With Flo refusing to buy bread in a supermarket when we were “surrounded by bakeries”, we bought fresh milk and left again. Number 3 was beyond happy about this experience.

The notorious car-trolley and a happy Number 3

Having bought bread rolls at a bakery, we found the charger. It was next to a fuel station and a restaurant which you could only enter when recently tested or fully vaccinated. In search of a place to have our picnic, we used the tunnel underneath the motorway and sat down in the shade of a parking lot on the other side. It was rather hot already.

After the break, it was a straight ride to Illertissen. We’d booked a Covid test there at 4pm, but arrived at 3pm already. It was no problem to just get tested earlier. The results would be send to us via email in about 20 minutes as we had a bit of time to kill before we could get to the campground. If you wanna stay somewhere in Germany overnight, you have to be tested.

Ice cream while we wait for our test results

We opted for the usual “gelato and go” ice cream option and sat down in the shade. Before Number 3 had even finished his ice cream, we had our results on our phones and drove the last five minutes to the campground.

The campground was lovely. The owner put us in a nice grassy area with shade, there was a table and a bench next to it and the new facilities were close by. Both kids enjoyed having some free time to play and explore. In no time, both of them looked like piglets.

Flo treated us to a pancake dinner and we brought the kids to bed. We thought we were in for a quiet night, maybe even chat to friends online. Wrong. I was still in the tent with the kids when Flo started to look for his phone. He last used it to show our test results to the owner of the campground…after that he’s not sure what happened to it. So we turned everything upside down. For one and a half hours, we looked into every box, every little place in the car, asked the owner twice if someone had found a phone, looked in the bathrooms…and Flo got grumpier and grumpier. We had to face it, his phone was probably stolen. Bummer.

This is when Flo started to try the “other” solutions. He realised “google find my phone” was an option and got a location on the campground though on the other side of it from where we were. Then, he’d force it to ring even though it was set to silent mode and, on the third try, he could hear it ringing before someone stopped it. In the end, an old lady had it in her hand and he got it back. We’re not sure if she and her husband wanted to steal it or if they just have dementia. Her reaction was “who are you? What is your phone doing in my trailer?” Anyway, he has it again. Phew.

Day 322 – Breakdown

Rinse and repeat. That was the motto for today. Get up early, ride hard, push through all of Austria and arrive in Würzburg at Flo’s dad’s place in the evening.

Austria in a nutshell. Or so.

Austria in a nutshell. Or so.

From Budapest, Vienna is just 150km away so when we reached the Austrian capital, it was time for our first coffee stop. Not wanting to get into the city traffic, we had it at a motorway fuel station along with the obligatory Mozart chocolate. It had been raining since we crossed into Austria and it didn’t look like it would stop any time soon so I put on all of my rain gear now, Flo was still wearing his from yesterday’s rain.

It only got worse. All through Austria, it was pourring down with rain. While the suits kept us dry, our gloves were soaked through leading to cold hands and our boots were simply carry-on puddles. During a roadside lunch break at Burger King’s, we emptied our boots out, at least.

Trying to get warm and slightly dry

Trying to get warm and slightly dry

All this rain led to the probably most dangerous situation of the whole trip. It was gushing down, making it hard to see much and the Austrian traffic people deemed it appropriate to paint a giant white arrow for direction right into a corner. Only the right lane turned but the next lane over was also ornated with an arrow pointing straight ahead…in a corner. Rain and paint are the deadliest combination of things for a motorcyclist. The rear tire gave way and slide which brought the bike to wooble dangerously before the tire had grip again. Lucky us that we didn’t fall going 130 km/h on a motorway.

Damn, green cooling liquid all over the place

Damn, green cooling liquid all over the place

The border between Austria and Germany is practically non-existent. We were waved through without a glimpse into our passports and weren’t even able to stop at the “Welcome to the Federal Republic of Germany” sign as there was simply no place to stop. Still wanting to get a “back in Germany” photo, we stopped at the next rest area. As soon as we had crossed over to Germany, the rain had stopped. Still, we didn’t quite get our celebratory photo as Flo discovered bright green cooling liquid on Rocinante’s side; we had a leaking radiator.

Broken Rocinante and desperate Flo waiting for the towing truck

Broken Rocinante and desperate Flo waiting for the towing truck

The next fuel station was not too far away. They even sold liquid that is supposed to fix small leaks. All you have to do is pour it in and keep the motor going for 15 to 20 mins so that it can harden. As soon as the engine went on, cooling liquid was gushing all over the place. This motorbike was going nowhere until the radiator was fixed. Out of money and out of time, this would mean the end of our trip. No riding into Frankfurt, celebrating our achievement. What a bitter disappointment. Flo was desperate.

Our bike does this way too often

Our bike does this way too often

So first, we called the ADAC. There was nothing more we could try at the fuel station so we might as well hope that they send a mechanic. They didn’t. They sent a towing truck for a car. He was competent nonetheless and we had Rocinante securely on the truck in no time. The workshop we were towed to was awesome but they didn’t have good news for us: The replacement would only be here at the end of the week and it would cost us 500 euros. Impossible. We have neither the time nor the money for it. Completely deflated, we asked about a botch job. Due to German law, the workshop is unable to provide anything like that. You could sue the workshop and no one would take that risk. However, one of the staff people gave us the hint that we, ourselves, could ask someone to fuse the holes and put the radiator back in. This way, the workshop would be not liable and we have at least the chance to ride to Frankfurt. They were even able to point us to a mechanic for radiators of all sorts. Flo called him and he agreed to see us at 8am tomorrow morning to take a look at the radiator and try to fuse it.

Well, this is not how we thought our last night on the road would look like.

Well, this is not how we thought our last night on the road would look like.

Tomorrow morning. At least, there was hope again. All we had to do now was get a rental car as the mechanic was 25km away from Passau. Oh, and a place to spend the night which wouldn’t cost 50 Euros. We checked everything online but 50 euros was the cheapest we could find. So we concentrated on finding a rental car and got lucky. There was a special offer: 33 euros for one day and 300km. If everything else failed, we would sleep in the car. As Passau turned out to be too expensive for us, we started driving towards the mechanic. The GPS showed a camp ground on the way and maybe it would be less than 50 euros.

The camp ground turned out to be amazing. 12 euros for a night for two people; exactly what we needed for one night. Super-duper tired, we put up the tent one last time. Tomorrow would tell us if we can arrive in Frankfurt on two wheels or if we have to resort to four wheels instead.