Greece Holiday Day 20

8/8/2018 - Text to follow and proper photos rather than video still collage.

Angie drove lots during the holiday and again today for the ascent from sea level around Venice up the valley to the Brenner Pass. The top row of photos shows the "uphill" slant as we head there and the joy of seeing mountains and clouds and snow and green...

We had filled up with petrol in "cheap" Greece and were trying to get to Germany without having to buy any in very expensive Italy:- remember the days of having to buy petrol coupons for Italy at the AA in London?  Nor did I want to buy any in Austria as being a company car, I could claim all petrol receipts in Germany.

The great thing was that the brand new BMW 525i had one of those relatively new-fangled "Onboard computers" which included an estimate of how much further one could drive before refuelling. On the collage of the first day of this holiday, one of the photos shows the display "Reichweite" = distance to empty. A very simple device and I didn't really believe it could be that accurate.

Well as we drove up the Brenner, the computer was reducing the distance quite quickly but once we were over the top and heading downhill to Innsbruck, it reported a sensible and do-able number. In Innsbruck though, we took a very windy, narrow, steep road up to the German border at Mittenwald before getting to Garmisch and nearly home.

On this steep climb, the computer suddenly started giving out warning beeps and saying it was empty - 0 km. Angie looked at me quizzically and so I took the helm and like all "technically talented" men, ignored the stupid thing. Naturally, the motor soon started chugging and I just managed to pull off on to the grass verge.

Luckily I had a spare canister. Slightly problematic was that it was under the floor of the estate cars boot and even under the spare wheel - a round shaped BMW's own custom, expensive, optional extra that fits inside the rear, "hollow" side, of the spare wheel. And of course on top of the floor lid were all the wonderful light items like a folded up inflatable boat, an outboard engine, and tank, sundry beach umbrellas.......... All of it, including the spare tyre, was pilled out on to the grass, me trying to ignore the giggles of people in cars passing.

When one stopped, I turned around to see an Austrian police car parked behind me with flashing lights. They actually turned out to see the funnier side and after a quick chat, moved on. Not sure exactly what the law was then in Austria but in Germany, running out of fuel (at least on an Autobahn) is an offence and carries a good monetary fine.

Eventually, we got home to Eichenau and the first traffic jam of the day at the railway line crossing, 100 metres from my flat!