Day 11, and we’re still in Innsbruck, Austria. It’s about 11 o’clock at night as we record this, and what started as a fairly ordinary morning turned into one of those days where absolutely nothing goes quite to plan!
The Day Starts With a Dodgy Tyre
Suzanne was up at the incredibly early time of 7:10 this morning, apparently the earliest she’s been up since we left Plymouth. There were important jobs to do, including getting some washing done because she was apparently running out of underwear!
There was also the usual morning tea and coffee debate. Suzanne has officially given up making tea because, according to Steven, she’s never been able to make a decent brew. Steven, meanwhile, is quite happy to make the tea himself, although Suzanne describes his tea as being about as strong as “Nat’s piss”!
Anyway, the important stuff started when Steven decided to check the motorhome tyres.
Yesterday, while driving the roughly 200 miles into Innsbruck, we’d both noticed that the motorhome didn’t feel quite right. There was a slight vibration and the vehicle felt as though it was pulling slightly to the right. It wasn't dramatic, but it was enough to make us think something wasn’t quite right.
And when you're driving a big motorhome, that's not something you really want to ignore.
When Steven looked closely at one of the tyres, he spotted something very strange. The inner tread had a much larger gap appearing in part of the tyre, around three centimetres, before returning to normal further around the tyre. The tyre was also starting to bulge.
Neither of us had ever seen anything like it.
The tyres had only been replaced last year, and we estimated that they’d done somewhere around 4,000 to 5,000 miles. So, understandably, we wanted it sorted.
Waiting, Waiting and More Waiting
We contacted the breakdown service through our insurance at around 8:50 in the morning.
And then we waited. And waited.
We had to call them back several times, and it wasn't until around 3pm that things finally started moving. Fortunately, an Austrian garage contacted us shortly afterwards, came out to inspect the tyre and agreed that it needed replacing.
The problem? They didn't have one in stock. A replacement had to be ordered from elsewhere and delivered to a local garage, hopefully ready for us tomorrow. So, most of Day 11 ended up being a tyre saga!
Steven also contacted the company that originally supplied the tyres, and even posted some photographs on Facebook and in a few motorhome groups. As you can imagine, that resulted in a variety of opinions about what might have caused the problem.
Some people suggested tracking, others suggested hitting a kerb, and there was the usual Facebook debate that comes whenever you post anything remotely technical!
Whatever the cause, we're just hoping the new tyre sorts everything out tomorrow.
Turning a Boring Day Into a Good One
With our plans for the day effectively put on hold, we decided to make the most of being in Innsbruck.
We took Frankie and Tilly down to the river for a good run and swim. They absolutely loved it – although Tilly decided to disappear downstream at one point, which caused a minor panic!
The river was flowing incredibly fast, and for a few seconds we were wondering exactly how we were going to get her back if she didn't manage to get herself out. Thankfully, she did.
Both dogs came back absolutely exhausted, which was exactly what we'd hoped for!
We also managed to spend some time updating the Touring Ideas website. It's one of those jobs that is easy to put off when you're travelling because there's always somewhere else to go or something else to see.
But, if we don't write things down while they're fresh in our minds, we soon forget the names of places, what we did and all the little details that make the trip interesting.
So, the tyre problem actually gave us the opportunity to catch up with the website and add more blogs, photos, videos and the voice recordings that go along with them.
You can follow along with our adventures at www.touringideas.co.uk
Bikes Into Innsbruck
Once the girls had finished their swimming session, we decided we'd had enough of sitting around.
We got ourselves showered and cleaned up, got the electric bikes out and headed into Innsbruck.
It was roughly five kilometres each way, although our bike computer suggested we'd actually covered around 13.5 kilometres by the time we'd finished because we'd been riding around the town.
And that's the thing about exploring somewhere on bikes, you end up seeing far more than you would on foot.
We had a wander around Innsbruck, found somewhere to eat and stumbled across what looked like a small festival or street-food gathering. There were long tables with people sitting around eating and drinking, which immediately looked like our kind of place!
Potato Spirals and Bratwurst
We couldn't resist trying some of the local food.
First up was a spiral of fried potato. Basically, a giant potato turned into something resembling a very long, curly chip!
It was absolutely delicious. We probably didn't need two of them, but when something is basically a giant fried potato, it's difficult to say no.
Then came the bratwurst and currywurst.
We had to ask what the difference was, but once we'd figured it out, both were excellent. The currywurst came with a sauce that was so good Steven was practically mopping it up like gravy.
It's funny how travelling works because you end up eating things you probably wouldn't normally buy at home and sometimes they're the things you remember most. And yes, we're still slightly obsessed with kebabs too!
The Return Bike Journey
After a few drinks, some food and plenty of exploring, it was time to get back to the motorhome.
One thing that is worth mentioning: we are very strict about drinking and driving. If Steven is driving the motorhome, he doesn't drink.
The bikes, however, are apparently a slightly different matter!
The ride home was eventful enough, including a moment where the route seemed to take us somewhere that looked suspiciously like a field. Thankfully, we made it back in one piece.
And by the time we sat down to record this, we were enjoying a glass of sangria and reflecting on what had actually been quite a good day, despite starting with a potentially serious tyre problem.
Tomorrow: Hopefully a New Tyre and Germany
The plan for tomorrow is simple.
As soon as we get the call to say the new tyre has arrived, we're heading straight to the garage to get it fitted.
We'll also get the motorhome sorted with water, empty the tanks and then hopefully get back on the road.
Our next destination is Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany, in the Bavarian Alps overlooking Austria.
It's somewhere we've wanted to visit for a while, and we're hoping that tomorrow will finally see us heading that way.
Our original plan for Innsbruck had been to go up into the mountains, but the tyre problem put paid to that. We're not staying an extra night just to do it, though. There's plenty more of the journey still to come. And knowing our luck, there will probably be another obstacle waiting for us!
Day 11 Done!
So that's Day 11.
What started with a dodgy tyre and a whole day of waiting turned into a surprisingly enjoyable day exploring Innsbruck by bike, taking the dogs swimming, eating some fantastic Austrian street food and getting the Touring Ideas website caught up.
Not exactly the day we'd planned, but that's touring for you. Sometimes the best days are the ones you didn't plan.
Tomorrow, hopefully, it's a new tyre, a full tank of water, empty waste tanks and the road to Germany.
Let's see what happens!
Follow our journey:
🌍 www.touringideas.co.uk
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