Here come the Alps

Tuesday 6th May.

We are parked this afternoon on the banks of a lake at Schwangau, a few kilometres north of Fussen. It's a campsite and although we are trying to avoid them due to cost, we've been away a week now so we needed a domestic day and a washing machine. I've strung a line out between a couple of trees on this pristine site and we are gradually turning our pitch into a Benidorm balcony. The site is at the foot of the alps where we can watch hang gliders throwing themselves of the nearby cliff and circling in the thermals before they land and catch the cable car back up to do it all over again. We can also watch cyclists and in-line skaters doing their thing round the lake while we sit in the sunshine with a beer and a fag. There are probably people swimming in the lake too but it really is too much effort to walk down and have a look. It's a hard life. The plan was to stop in Fussen and visit the two castles there, Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau, but as the cost would have been about £40 for each of us we decided to give it a miss this time.

We had a free nights parking last night in Nordlingen where we walked around the town on the old walls looking in folk's back gardens, another Medieval town on the Romantic Road but not so chocolate boxey as Rothenburg. We met our first English motorhomers since leaving England there yesterday, Peter and Gwen, who were bound for Italy and it was good to have a chat with them.

We've driven just over a hundred miles today and for the last thirty or so the alps came into view as we drove through some beautiful countryside with pine forests and wild flower meadows. Tomorrow we cross the alps toward Bolzano in Italy and rather than take the motorway (they're always pretty boring) I've found an interesting B road on the map which looks suitably wiggly and should take us up about 2500metres. I've checked with the folk here on site and they say it's fine for Motorhomes, where have I heard that before? Anyway we'll take the wiggly road, drive through Austria for a bit and then cross into Italy at a place called Timmelsjoch Pso del Rombo, irresistible.

So, the washings done, we've used the spotlessly clean and piping hot showers and now it's to to visit the bar to buy some WiFi and enjoy a well earned stein!

Our first day in Germany at Bad Honnef watching the ferry and barges.

The walls around the old town at Nordlingen:

Here come the Alps:

ps Office closed now, can't buy WiFi, no 3G Ho-Hum.

Wednesday 7th May

Not the best day.

After checking at the campsite yesterday that the B road we wanted to take across through Austria into Italy was ok, off we set this morning. We drove the few kilometres south and entered Austria and soon we were on the road to take us to Italy. The weather was pretty lousy, rain all the way but as we climbed up to nearly 2500 kilometres it cleared and we were in brilliant sunshine. We'd reached the snow line and as we drove through we laughed about what might happen if the 3m high snow banking the road suddenly thawed, whoosh and we'd have been rolled down the alps! We remarked upon the absence of vehicles in either direction but higher and higher we climbed. Then.......... The road was closed! That was it, we could go no further.

So, we'd been travelling a couple of hours and the only option was to turn round, and after an hour or so try and cut across via another B road to get south of Innsbruck and back on the road to Italy. Back down into the rain and then up and up again passing through ski resorts closed up at this time of the year full of locked up hotels, bars and shops. Spectacular scenery as we drove through tiny hamlets and villages but by now we were getting tired and just looking for somewhere to park up. Austria doesn't do "somewhere to park up"

We drove on and on, everywhere we could have parked was barriered off, we thought we'd stop at a bar, buy a drink or two and ask if we could park up for the night but all the bars and hotels were closed and their car parks chained up. By now I'd been driving for six hours or so and about had enough. Finally Phil spotted a bar that was open after we'd driven through a town, where every car park was inaccessible to Motorhomes, and we pulled in. I reversed in to a spot and clouted the rear end on a grassy bank!!! I got out and inspected the damage which is not inconsiderable. I could have cried, I possibly did. Then I swore a bit. We went into the bar which was full of truckers and workmen who either grinned or smiled sympathetically as we entered, having been told what had happened by the guy who was parked next to us when we "arrived". I ordered a couple of beers and asked if we could park for the night and I think the lass behind the bar felt so sorry for us that she didn't feel she could refuse.

So here we are at Matrei am Brenner, 160miles later, on a busy dual carriageway, 100metres from the railway line, feeling pretty sorry for ourselves. Hopefully it will stop raining tomorrow and I'll have a chance to see if I can repair the damage to the van. If I can't I suppose the good news is that we're parked 50m from a Renault garage which has a couple of sad looking Motorhomes in the back yard.

Some pics from today:

 

We have no WiFi here and there's no 3G. We've been quite surprised how hard it has been to get an internet connection in Germany and now in Austria but hey ho.

Tomorrow, or whenever the van is repaired, we are setting off for San Candido on the Austrian/Italy border. It's a campsite described as rural, comfortable, quiet. We'll settle for that.

Thursday 8th May.

We are parked up this afternoon on a Reisemobilstellplatz at Gailberg, Austria. It's attached to a very splendid hotel and has all the services we need. When we left last night's parking spot after carrying out some emergency body repairs we had intended to stop at San Candido in Italy but when we arrived it was on a main road, next to a railway line, €18 a night and we were told we couldn't use the waste bins as they were "private". This information was forthcoming from a most unpleasant lady who glared at us while we re-programmed the sat navs before we drove off giving her a cheery wave. We've had a sunny day today and a drive through Austria into Italy and back into Austria again and the scenery has been wonderful with the Alps to our south all the way. So far the Alps up to about 1500metres have been pine forests and every few miles there is a saw mill and timber yard, some of them very large enterprises, and all along the roads we have travelled there is logging activity. The results can be seen in some of the spectacular wooden chalets we have passed.

When we set off this morning I was looking for an opportunity to fill up with diesel but all the garages were showing prices round about the €1.50 per litre so I held off waiting for something cheaper. Suddenly we were in Italy with the cheapest at €1.70!! The tank was quite low when we re-entered Austria and the first garage, 50metres over the border, had diesel at €1.32 which was the cheapest we'd seen in a week. We now have a full tank.

We are at 1000 metres here and after lunch we set off up through the forest, climbing to about 1200 metres where we reached the start of the snow. It was warm and sunny and the air full of the smell of pine resin. As we turned a corner on the path we saw a couple of deer about 40 metres away. We stood still and watched them feeding for a minute or so, hardly daring to breathe and then one of them spotted us and they trotted away into the woods. So after a lousy day yesterday today has more than made up for it. The location here is possibly the best since we set off just over a week ago, we are surrounded by pine forests with the tops of the snow clad Alps just peeking over the tree tops. Our next stop will be in Slovenia which is only 80 kilometres from here and our stop for the night, hopefully, will be at the base of a ski station at about 2500 metres.

Still no WiFi or 3G. Strike that! We have come to the bar for a beer and they have free WiFi!

Some pics from today

We met Mr Toad on the path in the forest.

 

 

I think we might be crossing these tomorrow.

If you look really hard you can see our van.

 

Friday 9th May

We are still parked at Gailberg. We've driven every day for ten days so decided this morning that we'd have a break and stay here another day, it's so beautiful and peaceful here and we've had another hot and sunny day. After a few domestic chores and a hearty breakfast we packed a lunch and set off for a walk through the alpine meadows with the pine forest towering above us. All along the route were signs showing all the different flowers we could expect to see during the different seasons. We ended up at a lake of crystal clear water with frogs, toads and newts and although we didn't see any we did see another deer feeding nearby.

On our return somebody from the hotel came to see us and informed us that tomorrow they were expecting 200 motorcyclists on a charity ride who would be stopping for refreshments and we should not be alarmed by their arrival. Unfortunately they aren't expected until noon by which time we will be on our way to Slovenia. I've found another great little winding road over the alps for tomorrow and double checked with the hotel staff that it will be open. Apparently it definitely is although they advised me it was very steep and very narrow - bring it on.

Now, although the hotel has WiFi it's pretty weak and seemingly incapable of posting this blog but I'll try again this evening when we pop over for a stein or two.

 

Posted with Blogsy