Skoda Superb engine temperature goes very high after start up

My experience very much mirrors that already described. I was about to join the M3 motorway in Hampshire to return home to Newmarket and I happened to glance at the temperature gauge to see it rising rapidly into the RED. Not wishing to risk ‘life & limb’ by possibly breaking down on a dangerous so called SMART motorway, I pulled over and switched off. I then turned on a few minutes later to see that it had gone back to normal i.e. 90:degrees and after letting the engine idle for a few minutes, I noted that the temperature stayed st normal. I then drove home at speeds in excess of the National speed limits and the gauge ‘behaved’ itself and has done so subsequently