Stage 1 : Wing Mirrors Mean Nothing To Me ! Oh Vienna !!

Ben Battye : 

Day 6. Following a heated debate late on Thursday regarding Friday mornings departure time from our chosen campsite deep in the Carniche mountains in Southern Austria (heated because I threw a strop at the suggested 5.30am start) we awoke on the dot of 6am (much more reasonable) and with a collective spring in our step packed and prepared Martha in a speedy 26 minutes (a new record).

As we left the Panorama campsite in Liesling, waving goodbye to their very hospitable welcome (gifts of locally made chocolate and a 10 Euro FTFE donation clasped tight) we waited with baited breath to see whether G Troughton Esq could emulate S Moore Esq’s fantastic yet hair raising drive through the Swiss Alps.

Negotiating mountain roads without coffee or the breakfast of choice to date on Stage 1 – the classic cheese and ham sandwich – is a tough feat however one which George coped with admirably. Narrow roads, check, cavenous ravines, check and the obligatory Italian double length truck approaching us on the wrong side of the road, check, all asked tough questions of Martha but the old girl loves these mountains and within 30 minutes we were clear and on our way to the Slovenian border.

At the start of the day an epic 550km stood between us and Vienna so our short foray into Slovenia, to rack up our 8th country, was always going to be brief. As Ross exited the longest (and smelliest) tunnel to date – a mind boggling 7984m – George duly snapped the Slovenia country sign and we pulled straight into the now unmanned border checkpoint (unmanned as Slovenia joined the EU in 2007). In under 5 minutes, with Steve at the helm and very reasonable ten euros twenty toll paid, we ventured straight back into Austria to tackle the remaining 362km to Vienna.

Following a brief sandwich stop and with the required mileage decreasing at a steady 80-90kmph, no swear Friday rapidly turned into iPhone pub quiz Friday with Chris and George reigning supreme.

Unfortunately George’s second stint at the wheel was cut short by a downpour of biblical proportions and with fears of aquaplaning 7.5 tonnes into the central reservation, we were forced to pull over and sit it out.

We finally reached Vienna at around 5.15 CET and with the aid of the, ahem, TomTom, ahem again, we safely navigated our way through the back streets of the 18th century capital city to the luxurious opulence of the Westend City Hostel. When I say safely, i mean that is if you ignore the two car wing mirrors Ross destroyed on the way there but hey who am I to talk?!

Imagine then our dismay to find no hot young Swedish backpackers accompanying us in our 8 man dorm but three middle aged Japanese women tourists.

The randomness of stage one continues.

BJB

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