No haste less fuel
We normally take the very high road, via plane, to
Austria. This time we decided to load up our jalopy and head off on the low road. A nice sunny drive around the
M25 etc. to
Folkstone followed by a
Eurotunnel underwater transit to the Continent. TW decided she did not want to go through France, so after a minimalist drive to
Lille, it was
Belgium for us. TW was not impressed with the roads. 'This is apalling' was her comment as we bounced along on the inside lane of the
Autoroute. 'I know the Belgians like their
cobbles but this is ridiculous' was her follow up. Have to say the surface was pretty poor. Anyway we made it to Crupet, the village where I stopped on my cycle route last year. The hotel is rather nice, 'oh you live well on your cycle trips don't you'. Not sure booking into the
Moulin-des-Ramiers was a good idea in hindsight.
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| Basic accomodation? |
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| Run of the Mill? |
Perhaps a
Youth Hostel would have been a better tactical option. Anyway, she liked it and we had a nice wander around the lovely village of Crupet before heading to my Birthday Dinner. There is a nice Pub in town that serves good meals and fine beer. The door was open and a mobile phone and set of keys rested on the bar. It was like the
Marie Celeste. We looked around for signs of human activity, maybe a note,
help yourself to a beer be back soon! Nothing! After an age a woman turned up carrying a basket of washing. Were closed! But it's my Birthday! The other three Restaurants in Town were also closed, shock horror. And on a Thursday too! We retired to our Hotel Room and ate the emergency rations extracted from the car, namely Tuna Salad and Crisps. Oh, and washed down with a bottle of
Gauloises Beer from the Mini Bar. I thought Gauloises were cigarettes but hey-ho.Good job we had good lunch in
McDonalds en route. A really comfortable bed and a good breakfast made up for any shortcomings in the Dinner stakes so overall a very nice visit to Crupet.
There are folks who do
UK to Austria in a oncer, i.e. non-stop, but not us. We drive too slowly and we like to make the occasional detour. Today's diversion was to the
Meuse River. We had a bit of a stroll and then a drive to
Dinant where we picked up the road through the
Ardennes towards
Germany. We both find driving pretty tedious so we stopped off at
Saarlouis, on the
River Saar for another wander. There was Festival going on which was massive and it also has a nice
Altstadt. The Tourist Office was pretty hopeless though. No knowledge of the Hotels in Town. Fortunately they had a brochure for a Hotel in nearby village of
Elm,
www.muehlenthal.de/
It was really good Hotel. The Restaurant next door was lovely. They cooked steaks in a swinging bbq arrangement over an open fire. The Breakfast Buffet was to die for, as the Aussies would say. All good value at 75 Euros per night for B&B. TW's demand to avoid France certainly paid off handsomely. It is also bike friendly and they rent out
e-bikes. The immediate vicinity is a bit residential. We would have stayed another night but, not surprisingly, they were fully booked for the holiday weekend. We would happily have spent a day pedalling along the River Saar.
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| Towering over the Donau |
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| TW in Race Mode |
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| TW in Training mode before breakfast |
Oh well — off to the Danube, or rather the Donau. The journey was a saga of hold‑ups and roadworks. I know some people boast about doing the UK–Austria run in 12 or 13 hours, but they’re clearly not using the roads we travelled, and certainly not on a public holiday.
Our next stop was Dillingen, and another bike‑friendly hotel: the rather prison‑sounding Hotel Convikt. To be fair, Germany really has its act together when it comes to bike tourism. In the UK a cyclist is treated like a second‑class citizen; here you’re welcomed, encouraged, and — quite rightly — seen as good business. Well‑marked routes and safe paths make cycling a pleasure.
I took my mountain bike, TW rented an e‑bike, and we set off along the Donau for the day. The temperature was around 35°C, so we worked up a serious thirst. We stopped for lovely salads at a Gasthof in a small village before a very, very hot ride back to Dillingen. Our route took us past the Costa Gravel Pits, where the locals were desperate for a bit of water and were busy barbecuing themselves — and their sausages — by the lakeside. It was so hot I even managed to get TW out for a ride before breakfast.
Dillingen
The Convikt “imprisoned” us very comfortably for two nights — €83 per night B&B. Another decent buffet breakfast was demolished before we headed towards Munich and on to Austria. Once again, the roadworks were horrendous, which only encouraged the German outside‑lane warriors to drive even faster to make up time. We don’t join them; we find a nice lorry, tuck in behind it, and stay there.
Fuel consumption for the trip averaged 60.8 mpg, which isn’t bad considering the car was heavily laden with a year’s supply of porridge. No detours today, apart from stopping for an Austrian toll sticker and some fuel. Perhaps we’re getting the hang of this “racing tourist oncer” business. We left on Thursday and arrived “home” on Monday.
Hmm. Perhaps not.
