Mission 3 – Are We Nearly There Yet?........Not Quite!
Start Point: Lake Garda
Finish Point: SAS Carlton, Bratislava
Mileage: 504
…for a moment, I feel nauseous, 500 more miles? Dave say’s what the problem man
- |it’s daylight and it’s stoped raining this will be easy. Truly
heart-breaking. I could do with a shower, and could quite happily sleep for the
rest of the day.
We get back in the car, and punch Bratislava into the Sat Nav. Unlike some older
systems, BMW Navtech has the maps. Engage. As we come away from Lake Garda, we
decide to get in touch with Craig Preston, Team Fastnet, who we’ve been in
touch with online before the event started.
He’s had an awful night – trying to follow the official route, getting lost,
hitting the weather and truly dreadful traffic around Milan. He’s still
approaching Lake Garda for breakfast as we’re leaving.
We’re about to make his morning worse.
‘Bratislava? Are you serious?? How many more miles is that???’ he asks.
We tell him the bad news, but try to encourage him by advising that few (if
any?) others of the Calais posse had made it when we’d left either – the
Dunkerque route seems to have had the easier of the two routes.
We tell him he’ll feel better after breakfast, to keep the chin up, and get back
to work. After two hours, we’re in Austria, driving through a stunning valley.
It reminds me of a video game, dropping, sweeping roads and long, curving
tunnels.
We need diesel. We’ve swapped range information with other teams at Lake Garda –
some monsters have been stopping every 150-200 miles to refuel, the 530d had
managed 600 before we refuelled the night before!!
We fill her to the brim, and also the two 10 litre tanks in the boot. We’re good
to go until Bratislava.
We’re not making the greatest progress – seems to be roadworks everywhere. After
an eternity, we finally hit the Slovakian border.
There’s a non-too-impressed look on the border officials faces entering
Slovakia. I’m too tired to care what they’re thinking. They let us pass. We
pull in to buy a Motorway Toll Sticker, and then there’s a few more miles into
Bratislava centre.
Frustratingly, the Nav can’t quite get us to the front door of the hotel – we
dig out the route pack directions and spot Peter and Chris in the Black Monaro,
following them home.
Pulling up in front of the checkpoint girls at the Radisson is a sight for sore
eyes. They start issuing advice and instructions regarding parking the car /
checking in luggage / dinner, but it’s not really registering….I’m truly
zonked.
Somehow, I get up to the room. Quick shower, change into evening wear, then down
to discuss the day’s stories with others.
Outside, there’s a black Audi A8 parked a little down from the checkpoint desk.
There’s debate over whether it’s undercover police taking down details of
Cannonballers, or hotel security staff keeping an eye on things.
We head across to a local bar for a drink, then it’s up to the restaurant on top
of the Novy Most bridge for dinner. Stunning view. Big Wis and Albert join us
for dinner, as do Patrik and Lars, the Swedes in the M5, and our two favourite
Noble-men. We’re soon having a blast.
Straight afterwards, we’re down in Circus Baroque, a nightclub on a boat moored
on the river. The Cannonballers take over the joint. At the time, it seems like
a really good idea to find another club. We hit a couple of other joints that
night, and get back in at X o’clock…all I know is day is breaking again as we
get our taxi to pull in for kebabs on the way back to our hotel. Not the wisest
move in retrospect….morning checkpoint closes at 10am……