Sitting here now resting in Annecy France after blasting across the German Autobahns over the last two days, and I can't help but feel a little cheated.
Usually when the word 'Autobahn' is mentioned, men (and some women) start to melt at the thought of no speed limits and endless lanes of driving bliss... But after today and many other tens of thousands of klms I have spent traversing Germany, it is unfortunately proven once more a myth. You see, the 'unlimited speed' idea is just not possible. Yeah, sure, you can max out your car's speed without being arrested, and therefore (theoretically) get from point 'a' to 'b' very quickly, but it is far from the perceived German efficiency. For a start, there is only a limited amount of Autobahn with no limit, and then the weather must be perfect, and the traffic too, otherwise they change the speed signs back to 120, etc... which brings me on to the traffic - if you managed to get up a good speed, it is only a matter of minutes (if that) before you are cut off by an Eastern European truck driver deciding to overtake another travelling 2km/h slower, or some old man in a 20yr old VW 1.0lt who decides he must pass a 30yr old Mercedes... you get the picture. Then you have the contra-flows, where the roadworks dictate ridiculously narrow lanes (usually 2.2m, where a car is approx 2.0m wide incl. mirrors) and 80km/h speed limits for km after km. And finally the traffic jams... everywhere. "What does this all equate to?", I hear you ask... well, an average speed of only 111km/h from Nth to Sth of the country. Quite sad really... Oh, but I haven't mentioned the roads yet... you would imagine that the Germans have roadbuilding down to a fine art, but you are wrong. Much of the Autobahn network is a patchwork quilt style of aging concrete, some of which is back breaking at speed. So you dream of taking a sports car on the Autobahn? My humble Beema with sports suspension, 18inch wheels, and shockingly hard Run Flat Tyres made some of the road feel like corrugated iron... give me Swiss roads any day ;)
Okay okay, there are some good points... mostly the drivers themselves. The traffic is beautifully organised, with no passing on the slow lane side, and courteous merging, activating the hazard lights to warn other drivers behind of fast decelerating and stopped traffic. I have rarely seen any accidents either, amazing taking into account the high speeds. Most of the cars travel between 140 and 180km/h, maybe to do with comfort (on the bad surfaces) and mostly to do with fuel economy. All this actually makes the Autobahn more relaxing, and a joy to be a part of... And there are some small moments of brilliance, when the new road surface appears, the traffic thins, and the sun shines... then it all starts to make sense.
So has the romance died? Yes, it has... but if I dig deep enough, many years ago, I can remember falling in love, on a small section just outside Chemnitz... keeps the hope alive that the pain is worth the reward ;)
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