Driving down to Bad Hofgastein in July 2022

 Day One - Home to Châlons-en-Champagne 

Chalons and a band in the square

Any early start saw us on the road at 06:15 heading for Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel. We were booked on the 10:30 train and joined the queue at the M20 exit at 09:30, on schedule. That’s where our trouble started. After a long wait we were told we were on the 11:06 so we grabbed a sandwich and emptied our tanks in the Terminal. Clearly there was significant disruption as traffic formed a long snake around the car park and service roads. The displays that normally tell us to head for the train weren’t working and it was terribly slow getting through the border controls. Eventually we were able to park up and wait for the 1pm train. Bit of an oven in the carriage, the car behind were wearing masks so we tried to wear ours but it was too darn hot. Bit of a wait to get off at the other end and the car in front started their engine early, TW asked them to turn it off but they declined. Anyway we drove off at 14:30 local time and headed for Châlons-en-Champagne. We seemed to being paying out a lot in tolls on the way but we made it to the Hotel d’Angleterre in good time. Quite a nice Hotel and good Customer Service from the Reception. The room price was 110 Euros. We ended up with a big bill of about 250 Euros as we ate Dinner in the Hotel Bistro and Breakfast in the restaurant, oh and paid 10 Euros to park the car. Chalons is quite an interesting town. Lots of bars and a band was playing in the square.

 

Day Two - Châlons-en-Champagne to Weißenhorn              

After a lovely Breakfast, at 16 Euros each it needed to be, we were back on the tarmac at 9am and heading for Bavaria. The French leg of the journey went well but as soon we reached Germany we hit jam after traffic jam. It was 37 deg C, the Service Stations were rammed so there was no respite from the heat and congestion.

We were so happy to reach Weißenhorn and our room for the night at the Hotel zum Lowen. Our second visit and we also retraced our steps to the Barfusser Brauerei for dinner, very nice. 

Tasty traditional grub on this menu

 

Day Three - Weißenhorn to Bad Hofgastein

Another day, another jam! This time we tried to by-pass it by taking side roads but with limited success.We exited Germany in Salzburg and miraculously the roads cleared and we made good time to our little place in the mountains.

The Geraniums survived