SPEED LIMITS? WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING SPEED LIMITS
It was a spectacular Bavarian summer day when I left Erding to go and check out Salzberg and Berchtesgaden. I was wearing jeans and my textile jacket with no liner and the vents open.
I told the GPS to avoid highways and headed south through the farmland. No animals there, all crops. Wheat and corn mainly. Unlike Australia, you never see a dead animal on the road.
The GPS directed me through a spectacular village on a hill with a huge ancient church at the end of a cobblestoned street with open air restaurants. It was extremely picturesque.
Then it directed be south on a winding road through rolling farmland and the Alps appeared in the distance. Their mountains are far taller than anything in Australia. A stork flew along beside me for a while. An eagle rode a thermal above.
The roads over the mountains were great, and Salzburg was just the other side. The KTM 990 has a small tank, so I looked for juice straight away. While I was filling up, it started to rain.
I’d intended to walk around Salzburg for a while, but because of the rain, I skipped that and headed to my next stop, Berchtesgaden, which was only twenty or so kilometres away but in Germany.
It rained all the way. I’d wanted to see the Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden, but I was soaked. I told the GPS not to avoid highways, and to take me back to Erding.
It sent me to the nearest autobahn. The rain eased off a bit. The speed signs said 100, then they said 120, then they were three diagonal grey lines, which means default speed limit applies. Which on the autobahn as how fast your vehicle goes.
I stayed in the centre lane for a while with the invalids, women and nervous people who only do 130 or 140. Then I hit the left lane and wound it up to 170 or so. A car 200m ahead got out of the fast lane. I passed him and glanced in my mirror. There were lights approaching fast, so I moved over, still at 170 and a Porsche passed at well over 200.
I got the hang of it after a while. Stay in the middle lane and the KTM doesn’t drink too much, if you’re coming up to a truck or something check the mirrors, squirt it up to 180 or 190 in the fast lane, pass him and get back in the middle lane before you get an Audi enema.
The rain stopped. I dried out. I was back at the hotel a couple of hours later. It was a beautiful Bavarian summer day in Erding.
I’d previously texted the family that I was going to Salzburg today because I had it on good authority that the hills were alive.
I send them another text: “The hills are dead to me.”
About the Author
Al Al does a bit of everything, and likes hanging around with Boris, because there are generally motorcycles and whiskey, and because hilarity generally ensues. He wastes his spare time not moderating the BIKE ME! forums, where he posts occasionally and is regarded as unfair, unbalanced and unmedicated. Shows how much THEY know.
