After an hour queue to clear the Austria / Germany border it was foot down and ~140mph from Munich to Ulm. Not much faster than me except an AMG Mercedes which disappeared from view as fast as it appeared in my mirrors, lol
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After an hour queue to clear the Austria / Germany border it was foot down and ~140mph from Munich to Ulm. Not much faster than me except an AMG Mercedes which disappeared from view as fast as it appeared in my mirrors, lol
Currently somewhere on the outskirts of Brussels taking a break.
Then a short 100 miles sprint home.
Trip stats......
Over three days solid driving!
So......2018. The 4th proper, out and out road trip. Each year the route and itinerary change, with tweaks to driving miles per day, countries visited, passes driven, hotels stayed at and activities on the rest days. As usual, no road trip is without incident (well, it seems in my case anyway!) and you'll read more about them in the following write up. 2018 also saw us embark on the longest road trip yet, at 9 days and most miles driven at nearly 2800. My Croatian friend has been banging on in my ear about how beautiful Croatia is and how amazing the food and drink is for many years now. So last year i said to her, "ok ok, i'll go on the next road trip." Fast forward to 2018 and here we are. And she wasn't wrong!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading
2018 Euro Alpine Road Trip
Day 1 - Lets leave this crappy weather behind......hold on, the UK is in the worst heatwave since 1976!
Usually when people go away for a summer break it is for the good weather, but here in the UK, we've had weeks and weeks of hot summer (28° or higher) so i was actually looking forward to some cool mountain air. Even leaving the house at 5am for the Eurotunnel the air was hot and sticky. As a side note, those of you reading the UK news would have read about the Eurotunnel delays caused by the hot weather. Looks like we got lucky departing when we did as there were no delays for us.
After the brief train journey, the sat-nav route was loaded and Liectechstein was our final destination for the day. I've never been to Liectechstein before, so was another country to cross off the list. I will say this though, it's bloody expensive! You can think of Liectechstein of an extension of Switzerland in terms of costs, rules/laws and infrastructure.
A little something to help with the long drive ahead.
And a milestone.
As usual, we go via Luxembourg for the cheap diesel (0.98p/litre) but we got stuck in traffic in Belgium for what seems like hours.....well actually, it was. Lost two hours in Belgian roadworks which meant that at 14:00 we were still only 100 miles from Calais, and 500 miles still to drive! Refuelling in Luxembourg at 15:46, meant we had a long final drive to the hotel.
We arrived at the hotel at 21:45, a full 15 mins before checkin closed. Nothing like cutting it fine.
Total mileage of the day?
Only one thing to do after a long drive......food and beer!
What to choose?
The hotel
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/Eurotunnel/etc) - 17 hours / 705 miles
Day 2 - New Roads
A bright and early starts with a typical German breakfast of meat, cheese and bread.
Hmmmm, weather doesn't look too good, but it's still early.
Stopping off for an early driving break en route to the Austrian Furka Pass
But's not long before he arrive at our first mountain pass
And only a short drive to the first major pass, the Silvrettastrasse.
Apologies for the finger
Bit of an issue trying to leave the top though
And you can never have too many beer glasses
insert picture of leaflet
En route to the Hahntennjoch Pass, we tackled the Flexenpass.....bloody foggy!
There are mountains over there, i promise!
The summit, including a fresh water spring.
join two photos together
"European Watershed, North Sea, Black Sea"
After a short drive and a few hairpins, we reach the summit of the Hahntennjoch Pass
Ready to descend
View of the little people below, just outside of Imst
Final roads of the day are Haimingerberg Landesstrasse and Hauptstrasse.
Reward for a hard day's driving!
Mileage to date
Getting back to the hotel, i fancied another beer and the GF returned with this......
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 9 hours / 207 miles
Day 3 - The Sella Pass......finally!
Another German breakfast of chees, meat and bread and we were on our way again.
Today was the day i decided to use my cheap Chinese GoPro knockoff camera. I attached it to my tow hook eye mount and screwed it into the bumper. Dead, it wouldn't even turn on! I tested before travelling and all good. After plugging in some charge it came to life, so left it to charge whilst we continued on to the summit of our first pass of the day, the Timmelsjoch. However, at the summit i had a little thought.....where is my tow hook cover? Yup, on the floor on the Austrian side of the Timmelsjoch! So if anybody finds a tow hook cover from a LCI E90 in Azurite Black....it's mine!
We tackled the Timmelsjoch back in 2016 and the weather was awful and to be honest it wasn't much better this time around
More fog
Looked like the German R8 Owners Club was also in attendance
But thankfully, the Italian side was much nicer weather
The hairpinned road of the descent
Then onto the Jaufenstrasse / Passo Giovo......
And some amazing cake from here!
Then it was Penserjoch
And finally, the Sella Pass! In 2016 we had to give it a miss, due to running out of time and then in 2017 we were due to drive it on a Wednesday that it was closed to combustion engined vehicles.
More roadworks!
And the first of many that night!
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 10 hours / 272 miles
Day 4 - New Countries
Woke up to a fantastic view from the hotel room. Maybe we'll get some decent weather?
Mmmmmm, cakes for breakfast!
Passo Del Predil
Just over Passo Del Predil takes us into Slovenia. Our first time in Slovenia and it really is beautiful. Our view whilst we have a bite to eat.
Working our way down through Slovenia, we took a wrong turning and i suggested we turn around and take the correct turning, but i was overuled. We ended up on a gravel road for about 5 miles. We eventually civilisation and tarmac.
Before we knew it, we were in the queue for the border / customs for Croatia. A quick glance at the passports and we were on our way again. Our hotel was in the coastal town of Malinska on the largest island of Croatia, Krk. To access Krk, you can use the bridge, or the ferry. We opted for the bridge, very quick and a cheap toll. The view from the car park just after the bridge.
One thing we noticed straight away about Croatia....it was face melting hot! Which means one thing.....BEER!!! Some local brew, Karlovacko.
And some food.
Some more local brew, this time, Ozujsko
Sunset over the island
Getting our feet wet, to cool off.
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 9 hours / 204 miles
Day 5 - R and R
With no miles to drive today, we spent the day at the beach and just generally lazing around
The beach, with blue skies
The view from the local caves
Taking a mud bath!!
Time for food and more beer! The 2nd best rated restaurant on Krk! Citta Vecchio!
The small streets around town.
And a bed time beer
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 2.5 hours / 42 miles
Day 6 - More Croatia
Due to somebody reading the ferry timetable incorrectly (i.e. me!) we had a 6am wake up, rather than 8am. Oops. I thought the ferry off the island was 9.45am.......it wasn't, it was 7.45am! Ah well, on we go.
In the queue for the ferry.....well, kinda. Once again i messed up, lol. The ferry goes to the island of Rab. And then i thought there was a bridge to the mainland. Well, there isn't, it was another ferry!
All aboard!!
Pretty decent view.
And onto the next ferry!
Really packed in.
Now on the mainland, we headed up the mountain pass, the Veliki Alan Pass
Seems like a nice place to stop for food.
Vratnik Pass
Our next hotel was in the town of Rijeka which involved a cruise along the Adriatic Highway, which was absolutely stunning. However, Rijeka was not due to the weather. Thunderstorms and a lot of rain!
We ate out at Restaurant Trsatica.
Starter for 2
Platter for 2 to share
And a seabass
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 5 hours / 123 miles
Day 7 - Heading Towards Home
But first, some snacks!
And of course, we couldn't leave Croatia without some of their beer
En route to the Vrsic Pass
Good News
At the foot of the pass
The summit, complete with sleeping animals on the roads
A very strange descent into Austria (via the Wurzenpass. Every hairpin / corner was cobblestones!
Random photos
The view from the hotel room
Tonight's activities?
The restaurant is a short walk away and the trees are all carved with different animals / people.
Restaurant with bonfire.
Can't have food without?
Bratwurst and veg.
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 8 hours / 242 miles
Day 8 - It takes how long to get through the German border?
Staying in a hotel close to the Nocklam Pass and starting at 9am, meant we had the road to ourselves! Until we got to the top when some cows decided to block the way down
The summit
The view
From there we head towards Germany over a few minor and our last passes of the trip
Leaving the mountains behind we get stuck in a traffic jam that takes us an hour to drive 6 miles. We finally discover the cause, German border patrol. A quick chat with the officer and we're on our way on the Autobahn. A few miles after the border and we see everybody's favourite sign, yup, the derestricted sign! Foot down and 150mph on the speedo. Doing 150mph means we can arrive at the final hotel for some.....can you guess?
Yup, ice cold beer!
And more breaded pork
As a side note; cheap Chinese centre caps do not like 150mph! I lost 3!
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 8.5 hours / 331 miles
Day 9 - More Authobahn
Final day. We start with more Autobahn. More 150mph until Luxembourg. More cheap diesel. More pizza.
We arrive at the Eurotunnel earlier than planned and get an earlier train.
Some final stats of the trip. And 352.33 litres of diesel
Total driving time (including stops/fuel ups/etc) - 12 hours / 601 miles
Hope we can do together some of this trips in the future!
