CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2023

Much time spent stacking gear onto trailer. More time still spent persuading it to stay under the tarpaulin and not scatter itself to the winds. Hitched up and chugged off from the tackle store at a bit past 7. Arrived at Dover early and got on the 10:45 boat, arriving Calais 1 am local time. Stopped just short of Luxembourg to find that the contents of the trailer had settled and that there were now some big gaping bits under the tarpaulin which required some fettling. All then went well until 20 miles before Salzburg, when it was raining hard and my wipers suddenly stopped. Couldn't see a right load, so came off at the next junction. Tried to fettle broken wiper linkage in pissing rain, but couldn't so decided to ring Green Flag. Of course the village we were in had no public phones, but luckily I found a tourist info place staffed by a very helpful lass who spoke dead good english, and better still, had a phone I could use. 10 minutes later, having got straight through to someone useful at Green Flag, I was supping tea and waiting for a call back. Within one hour of ringing for help, I was trying to explain to a disgusting mechanic in a pink shell suit what was wrong. Cunningly took him to tourist info place, where we had a translator to explain the concept of 'temporary bodge fix' which resulted in a convincing-looking fettle within an hour. Carried on happily to Bad Aussee and a Schnapps at Hilde's at a bit past 7 in the evening. Perhaps I should've supped some Gösser before writing this.

P.S. Managed a ton (downhill) on the Krautobahn in Diesel Maestro plus big trailer. Helps make up for doing 30 uphill...