4 week road tour of Germany

[Francis007]

Not sure whether anyone will be interested in this but I just thought I would post my musings on our 4 week tour to Germany in our Q8.

We just returned on Wednesday after crossing over on the Shuttle four weeks ago and making our way to Dortmund for our first overnight stop . Then we headed south to the little town of Parsbeg in Bavaria whjre we stayed for several days. Then up into the mountains of Bavaria to stay at Berchtesgaden for 5 days.

We then crossed back to Berlin for a few days and then onto the wonderful city of Dresden where we stayed for a week. Finally we headed to a favourite Schlosshotel of ours in Lower Saxony whe re we stayed for 8 days.

And then a leisurely drive heading for home for the same overnight in Dortmund before we spent 3 days in the little Belgian town of Ypres. I have a great Uncle who is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemery at Tyne Cot. If anyone wants to visit a site that will take your breath away visit this cemetry. The number of young British Tommies buried here who perished in the mud of Paschendale wil make you weep .

I have to say that although my missus and I have been touring Germany in the car for many years the road network of the country has deteriated a little in the last few years. Not so much you understand as the apalling state that the UK roads are in now. Many more speed restrictions and repairs on their Autobahn sytem now.

However the overiding opinion was that their autobahns, their A and B roads are still in a superb state compared to our roads. Great signage,billiard smooth surfaces, well engineered cambers etc. Also the standard of driving on the Autobahns is so much higher than here. Precise signalling to either come out in a lane or back in again and an almost 100 % compliance to speed restrictions . The only thing I would say is that if you do get in the big boys outside lane on the unrestricted stuff to overtake slower traffic, even though you are probably doing 120 mph, the fast boys behind doing 140/150 plus will try to bully you to get back inside ! And also just maybe the UK registration and sticker does provoke some just a tad ! 

The car went well. We ticked over from 8000 miles to over 1000. Comfortable and just about fast enough. We had theusual software gliches that any Audi owber recognises nowadays. Lost the top screen one time as it just got stuck trying to initialsie. Then I lost my user identity " thingy " at start up one time so when I started the car my preference didnt kick in. Nothing too nasty and all sorted by a quick reboot by starting the car up again.

The most annoying thing was a repeated loud bong and red warning triangle and exclamation mark in the drivers panel warninf of " limited visibilty " !  This came onquite a few times on the Autobahn when the minimum visibilty was at the very least 300 metres and more. God bless the EU eh in forcing he manufacturers in giving us that. 

Hope ths is of interest. If not just ignore.

Frank

 

[Trevor]

Great write up Frank and thanks for sharing it with us

I too have done a similar route on my motorbike through Ypres onto Black Forest and into Bavaria then Austria before heading into Italy.....what amazing roads is all that can be said and the views are second to none!

Brings back some great memories and is strongly convincing me to plan another European road trip, thanks!

[Francis007]

Glad to be of service Trev ! You have got to plan another trip and then tell us all about it.

As you know,it's a different world over there.Driving is still enjoyable.

One thing I forgot to write is that I was flashed 3 times by speed cameras whilst there. I await what will drop through the letter box in the next few weeks with interest 🤔 

[Trevor]

Yes, will definitely enlighten you with the planned trip (when finances allow) and will definitely look forward to riding on roads that I have to concentrate so hard on avoiding obstacles and just enjoy the scenery.

Was flashed in Germany but never got a ticket, in France I have been stopped and (illegally) fined by the corrupt police force there 😞

I will post in the Road Trips section as could do with kick-starting that one up again
https://www.audiownersclub.com/forums/forum/87-road-trips/