GPS Coordinates: N47 08.547 E9 52.107
My first day In Austria, fully loaded with my weeks shopping, I thought I’d look for somewhere nice, somewhere I could possibly stay for a few days to work on projects, read, sleep, eat well.
I used what I learned from previous countries; grey roads near water = good wild camping spots. My satnav took me though a small village with seriously narrow roads then over a little bridge, down a dirt track, through an open barrier (which I didn’t see at the time) and then into the woods…
Now I just needed to find the perfect music. Easy! Tame Impala followed by Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works for when it got dark.
I stayed in this spot for 4 nights. I didn’t see anyone all this time until the last night; a load of the kids from a village 2km away came with drinks, music and a Ukulele. They invited me to their fire by the river. Such a good place to grow up!
Then I had a bit of trouble
That open barrier across the dirt track was now down and locked. Each end of the dirt track had one. I’m totally stuck! I went to the nearest village and no one knew who had the key, they said it is always locked and couldn’t believe that I managed to drive through it. I spent 30 minutes filing down a hack saw blade to make a lock pick, but to no avail – it was a heavy duty 5 pin cylinder.
After 3 hours, I decided I should try and drive round the barrier. I instantly got well and truly stuck in the mud. SHIT! I could hear a chainsaw in the distance, somewhere in the forest. I went and found the chainsaw man and he pulled me out with his tractor but I was still back to square one.
I invited him into my van and offered him a drink and an orange. Chainsaw man kindly dedicated his afternoon to helping the trapped English man get out of the woods. He drove home in his 10km/h tractor and called his friends. No one knew anything about the key for the barrier. ‘Police will have to come’ said chainsaw man. I’ve been driving without a motorway vignette and that is one hefty fine. Maybe I should offer the police a drink and an orange as well?
I was lucky that the police didn’t really care. They opened the barrier and I sped off and bought a 2-month motorway vignette at the next garage.
Lesson learned. Always keep an eye out for open barriers/gates.. AND buy your vignette pass
