Before heading off to Stuttgart, we started our morning filming at Lake Bled, outside of the restaurant we had eaten at the previous evening. The staff at the restaurant was so interested in what we were doing they plied us with free coffees. As we had come to expect now, the hotel staff and their kids were keen to get the obligatory selfies in the car, and of course, we obliged. The rest of our team checked out of the accommodation and met us for breakfast a little later, where we were looking out onto this wonderful view. It was all very relaxing. Little did we suspect the day of awful traffic, closed motorways, etc., that was ahead.
Our plans were to be in Stuttgart for late afternoon where we had arranged to meet up with members of the MG owners club, but this soon went wrong. Traffic was horrendous as we came into Austria, and it went from bad to worse with major congestion, motorway closures and diversions. We spent hours nose-to-tail in traffic, crawling along frustratingly slowly, which was incredibly frustrating. However, the leisurely pace did allow us ample opportunity to appreciate the scenery between Bled and Salzburg, and it was stunning!
We developed brake problems with the pedal taking on that worryingly spongey feel, and the issue became increasingly apparent with the constant stop-start traffic. The one thing we weren’t carrying was brake fluid, as we understood that the system had been fully overhauled quite recently. Our mistake.
We stopped at garage for fuel and added brake fluid. It was low, but not cause for major concern. At most stops, garage staff has been happy for us to film but not here. After all, this was Austria, the land where dash cams are not permitted.
Setting off again, we saw signs for a Porsche Museum only a short distance away, so we headed there for a brief photo opportunity.
Getting back to our planned route, we experienced more delays, so we abandoned our plans to make Stuttgart that night. We contacted our German friends and rearranged our get together for the following morning for a late breakfast. We had been defeated: There was no way we were going to be there that night. More traffic chaos around Munich and more road closures and diversions meant that the furthest we could make would be Augsburg. We found a simple but acceptable hotel in the southern part of the town, and we arrived at about 8pm. At least we found a nice Mustang to admire whilse we were caught up in the congestion!
Hungry and tired, we parked up, dropped our things in our rooms and took a tram into the middle of the city for a much-needed evening meal and even more needed beers!
Lake Bled in Slovenia to Augsburg, Germany. This had only been 276 miles but it was exhausting.