Rasbro's Ramblings July 2014

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Austria proved too enticing to leave as we spent most of July cruising the back roads of the eastern part of the country. We have crossed this area a couple of times before and always said there is more to see and do, so we did. Many of our campsites have been on farms or on ski lift parking areas. The farms are usually good value, have fewer campers and often sell their own produce eg eggs, milk, cheese and one site regularly baked streusel which was particularly nice. Some farms are perched on precarious hillsides which can be a challenge to drive to but often give sublime views. It’s funny how things vary from country to country. Austrian campsites are really cheap for washing and many offer free wifi yet there are few public motorhome “dump points” as in Germany and France. In Germany you rarely find free wifi, even at McDonalds you have to have a German address and mobile phone to access it.

There have been numerous distractions along the road this month including a section of the cycling Tour of Austria near Salzburg; a vintage car rally in the Enntal; local music and entertainment in various towns and even the mountain equivalent of an Ironman competition where the competitors start the race by running under the spray of a snow gun!

We have managed quite a lot of walking by choosing the less steep routes so Brian’s knee can cope as well as using ski lifts to get up high without the effort. Geocaching has featured in many of our walks and we passed our 600 cache milestone this month. As this has been a fairly wet summer, everything is so green it hurts the eye and we have seen some stunning waterfalls in recent days.

We briefly crossed the border into Germany in the middle of the month spending a few days exploring the Bavarian forest area and visiting interesting towns on the Inn and Salzach rivers. One day we spent a few hours exploring the interesting Bayerischerwald Museum Dorf. It has 150 old houses dating back as far as the 15^th century. They have been relocated here from all over the region and set up with tools, furniture, vehicles etc to replicate how they would have been lived in back whenever. They even had demonstrations in some houses of old crafts and cooking, the donut type buns hot from the pan were delicious!

Unfortunately we shared our campsites on two occasions with some caravanners who made us ashamed to carry a GB number plate. They were from Ireland and appeared to be of the itinerant persuasion. At the first campsite they left their rubbish on the pitches (this was a large, well organised holiday site, not just a free camp) and there was some sort of fracas at the exit with the police being called to sort things out. The next night we came across another group of similiar people on a stellplatz. We opted to stay but a few other motorhomes came and left just as quickly. Fortunately one other motorhome did eventually stay which made us feel less uncomfortable.

Another lovely place for a wander is Berghausen with a massive fortress spreading one kilometre along the hilltop overlooking the river. The museum/gallery in the ducal palace held some beautiful paintings and medieval furniture. The stellplatz here was in a nice location along another ridge top and we shared this one with a dozen other motorhomes, one of the busiest sites so far.

Moving on we spent a few days in the delightful Berchtesgaden region with its well organised walking trails making easy pickings for us. Whilst it was busy, it was by no means crowded and if we didn’t have so many other places to explore we could easily have spent several days. Back in Austria we have been exploring the many valleys of the Hohe Tauern National Park region which by any standards is a magnificent part of Europe. It is probably going to keep us occupied for the first part of August at the rate of progress we have been making. Although some of this is due to having more “rest” days in between walks due to the incredibly rainy weather we have experienced lately.



By the end of August we will be back in the UK and heading across to Ireland for 3 weeks of exploring, hopefully in some sunshine!

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