Life in the slow lane - UK to Austria by car

 No haste less fuel
Crupet
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.
Basic accomodation?
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 a mobile phone and set of keys were 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. 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/
Our little terrace at the Hotel Muehlenthal
Image may contain: people sitting, table, living room and indoor
Restaurant Muehlenthal


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 pedaling along the River Saar.
On the Danube ( Donau)
Towering over the Donau

TW in Race Mode
TW in Training mode before breakfast
Hotel Convikt
Oh well, off to the Danube, or rather the Donau. Amazing hold ups and Road Works. I know people claim to do UK to Austria in 12 or 13 hours but they don't do it on the roads we travelled. h and not on a Public Holiday! Dillingen was our next destination and another bike friendly Hotel. The rather prisonerially named Hotel Convikt. Germany really has got  its act together with bike tourism. Whereas in the UK a biker is a second class citizen, here you are made welcome and its very good business. Well marked routes and safe paths encourage cycling. Oh well, I used my Mountain Bike and TW rented an e-bike and we headed off along the Donau for a day. The temperature was about 35degrees so we worked up a good thirst.We both had 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. The locals were desperate for a bit of water and were BBQing themselves and their sausages by the waterside.The weather was so hot I even managed to get TW out for a ride before breakfast!
Dillingen
The Convikt imprisoned us very well for 2 nights, 83 Euros per night for B&B. Another decent Buffet Breakfast was demolished before we headed towards Munich and to Austria. Again, the road works were horrendous and made the German outside-laners go even faster to make up time. We don't go out there. We find a nice lorry to sit behind in the inside lane. Our fuel consumption average for the trip was 60.8 mpg and that is in a vehicle heavily laden with a years supply of porridge. No detours today apart from a stop to buy a toll sticker for Austria and some fuel. Perhaps we are getting into this racing tourist 'oncer' business. We left on Thursday and arrived 'home' on Monday. Hmm. Perhaps not!

The sun setting in Bad Hofgastein

Location: 89407 Dillingen, Germany

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