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Au - Munich
E.Route : Au - Munich : ETD ---- : ETA ---- : Dist ----.
A.Route : Au - Munich : ATD 0950 : ATA 1620 : Dist 165 m.
- Depart Au 0950
- 0955 - 1000 Fuel stop
- 1205-1207 Bog stop
- 1250 - 1344 Stop in Salzburg
- 1357 - 1437 Frontier Clearance
- Arrive Munich 1620
Est.A.Spd ---- : Gross A.Spd 24.26 mph : Net.A.Spd 34.38 mph.
Stop time 1:41 hr : Speedo TD 16662 : Speedo TA 16827.
Comment : An uneventful day in travel terms apart from Liz B's narrow escape from being forced to hitch home from Salzburg
Jim Lindsay's diary:
4 October
We got up earlier than we had expected, when a tractor and grass cutter arrived to
cut the clover and found us blocking their way into the field. Luckily we had camped
on the part they had already cut rather than flattening the standing crop, and the
farmer was quite amiable and wanted to chat. It was a cold morning with low mist.
Suddenly the mist evaporated and showed the whole valley, including a railway we had
heard but not seen in the dark.
This was the day when Ricky tried to get back into driving. His logic was that we
were back in safe old Europe where accidents were much less likely, and we would be
putting ourselves in danger by having only three drivers for the long distances
involved. There was a good deal of bickering and a farcical "secret" ballot which
he organised, which only served to show how little support he had. Luckily we had
with us a senior mechanic from Manchester called Paul who had been with us for a few
days. He was a man with presence and quite ready to veto Ricky driving again. There
were some histrionic gestures from RC about how we didn't deserve him and how he would
leave us, but he stayed.
We stopped briefly in Salzburg and enjoyed unfamiliar luxuries like Mars Bars. My
thanks after all these years to Don C for treating a poor schilling-less boy to coffee
and cakes. There were late-comers when the time came to leave, and for the first time
we decided to carry out the threat of leaving them behind. There was general
celebration when the time came and only Liz B was missing. We gave her a few seconds
of grace and then our happy coach swung round the corner, only to find her there,
apparently trying to hitch a lift.
That evening we arrived in Munich and settled in a huge public camp site. It was
Oktoberfest time and most people were looking forward to it. Sadly for me I had a
rotten headache and no money, so I spent the evening in a cold tent trying to sleep.
So I missed the beer festival. I have been back to Munich quite a few times since then
but business had almost always meant that I arrived just after the Oktoberfest had
finished, so I may be fated never to experience it
In clover and beer, plus views of the West by Liz Y
The thing about sleeping under the stars in a hot country is that you can't help waking up with the sun.
In a cold country it's different. If you have succeeded in building a cosy cocoon of sleeping bag, blanket
and multiple clothes, you feel no great urge to wake up. That's my excuse for being one of the last to
surface on a misty October morning in Austria.
I've been trying to pinpoint exactly where this Austrian valley was. I think it was in an area now known as
Au bei Turnau, which isn't far from Leoben. Anyway, we were "in clover", always a good place to be! As usual
when we had chosen some potluck patch in the dark, our surroundings were a bit of a revelation in the morning.
For what it's worth, here are my first waking impressions: most of the group milling around making breakfast
and packing stuff up, someone making an amused comment about the dishevelled heap of remaining sleepers, a
large rosy-faced farmer grinning down at me and a tractor apparently about to mow us all down.
As all this came slowly into focus, I realized where we were, i.e. at one end of a half-mowed field of clover.
I took in that there were people poised with large rakes and some sort of part-filled trailer attached to the
tractor. Also some curious onlookers, three small children, one with a bike. Seemed a good idea to get up
post-haste. The Alpine valley was beautiful. When the mist lifted, mountain slopes and pine forests came into
view. Breakfast smelt good too, primuses on the go, pancakes and hot coffee, perfect.
By 10 o'clock we were back on the road, heading for Munich via Salzburg, where we stopped for a quick look round.
I can't recall much, a distant memory of a pretty city, a big clock, maybe a cafe. We set off again within the
hour, crossed the German border and reached Munich in time for the beer-swilling revelry of the Oktoberfest. In
Munich we paid for a pitch in a commercial campsite within easy reach of the city centre. It has to be said,
our huge tent looked out of scale alongside small, ridge tents of fellow campers, mostly young people also here
for the beer. Gulliver goes to the beer festival.
In the bierkellers, barmaids in tight-bodiced dirndls waited at tables. In each hand, they gripped fistfuls of
1litre steins. Singing was noisy, ambience a sort of raucous German ceilidh. In the streets, young revellers
were loud and laddish. Munich itself was atmospheric. Half-timbered, mediaeval buildings of the old town were
quaint, like a Christmas card. Some of the group stayed late at the Hofbräuhaus. A few of us were back at camp
a little ahead of them. It was quiet in the tent. I heard someone tell a companion about a monster tent he'd
just seen. An English voice, somewhat inebriated, one of our neighbours, laughter.
Next on our itinerary was a return visit to the USAF base in the Frankfurt rhyming Rhine-Main area. We would
have time here to clean and organize Cuddles for the last leg of our journey, and to sight-see again in
Frankfurt am Main.
All the groups reassembled for two nights at the base. Travelling with some of the other contingents were the
sixteen Indian students who had joined the expedition in Delhi. UK Comexers were interested in their impressions
of the German cities. One of the Indian girls remarked "We have this level of development." I thought of
Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier, and modern buildings we had seen in New Delhi. India was complex and
vast. Direct comparisons with Western cities weren't straightforward.
