GERMANY
Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th September
We are planning to meet up with fellow Australian travellers, Michael and Pam who are currently in Austria on their fourth trip in their Hymer and so we are now headed towards Innsbruck to find a good overnight site.
Found a campsite in Innsbruck which was very busy but quickly decided we did not want to stay here – prefer the country so set off again after some lunch.
Had planned to get fuel in Innsbruck but forgot and soon we were on the motorway where prices are regularly .3 Euro (45 cents) a litre dearer.
We climbed higher and higher through some unbelievably magnificent scenery but were concerned when the Low Fuel light came on.
Got stuck behind a tractor going uphill for quite a few Kms and felt the pressure mounting as going uphill in Ziggy in second gear chews up fuel quickly.
Finally got to the top and breathed a sigh of relief as we headed downhill topped up with fuel and Ziggy happily continued on.
Our campsite for two nights: Karwendel, Mittenwald – Germany
Crossed the border from Austria in to Germany, though you wouldn’t know it.
Had heard that Germany had stepped up border patrols and were no longer allowing refugees in. No sign of a border patrol on this secondary road here though.
Wow, Mittenwald is the most amazing little village set at the bottom of a mountain with the second highest mountain cable car lift in Germany just a short walk away. The Stellplatz allows for 20 Motorhomes and was quite full with only a couple of spots available.
We had passed through the village on the way to the Stellplatz and couldn’t wait to explore it.
The prettiest village we have come to so far. Difficult to describe. The facades of many of the village houses are decorated with murals dating back to the 18th century. Most of the colourful and artistic frescoes are based on biblical themes. Every house looked new, fresh and colourful.
Dropped into the tourist office and picked up some brochures. There are some fabulous walks at the top of the mountains to explore – maybe tomorrow.
Did our favourite thing after a long walk – stopped in the village, had a beer and watched the passing tourist traffic before heading home for a well deserved rest.
Saved a spot next to Ziggy for Michael and Pam who were arriving lunchtime so took the time to catch up on emails, pay bills and upload some blog info. Internet has been woeful in Austria – so slow – and chewing up the GBs as if they were MBs. Think the Govt here must have shares (or own) the internet companies. A short half hour on the web just sending emails and doing some research took up about 3GBs. Think we might run out of our 10 GBs before the end of the month.
Michael and Pam arrived after lunch and the hours just rushed by with copious glasses of wine consumed, travelling stories exchanged with much laughter and finally a break to show them this most beautiful town.
Back for a BBQ and a bottle of well aged champagne (Pam had been waiting four years to drink this with someone – luckily me) and more wine, liqueurs and finishing with chocolates. Just such a fabulous night with a parting promise to work off the calories tomorrow with some exercise.
No headaches, or hangovers next morning but not an early start!
Friday 29th September
We met with Michael and Pam again in the morning, donned some cold weather gear and hiking boots and headed towards the cable car.
Where we stayed overnight was only 930 metres above sea level with no snow at this time of the year, however, the top of the cable car is 2244 metres with snow and then on the hiking trails heights of over 2350 metres are reached.
The views from the top are great and get better the further up the hiking trails you climb.
Michael and Pam both had Nordic walking sticks and were able to manage the more difficult sections much better than Krys and I without the sticks so I think we may be purchasing some sticks before future walks.
We reluctantly descended back to our Hymers, said our goodbyes and headed off in different directions.
We headed off towards Blaichach to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we met at the Polish campsite “Bumerang” in the first four weeks of this trip – Marie-Louise and Robert. They are also regular motorhome travellers and have been communicating regularly with us.
Again the motorways were smooth and easy driving and we look in awe at the colourful Autumn landscapes around every corner. Leaves dropping by the thousands with each gust of wind. The streets and paddocks covered with thousands of leaves of every colour and the trees now becoming barer each day as we head towards winter.
Our campsite for the night: Alpen-Rundblick – Blaichach
Marie-Louise and Rob arrived late afternoon after visiting Oberstdorf nearby to get tickets for the German Ice Skating dance competitions on Saturday and Sunday. Travelling with them were Kazik and Jola who are the co owners of “Bumerang”. They were travelling in Spain when we visited Bumerang and it was great to meet with them this time.
Too much laughter and way too many vodkas (home brew moonshine with raspberries to make it healthy! ). Didn’t realise how strong they were until we stood up and headed back on unsteady feet.
Very popular campsite with the locals but quite expensive as apart from the 17€ per night fee, everything was extra including WC, shower and of course electricity. Lovely views across to the mountains and takes around 50 motorhomes.
Don’t think we would have been very popular with our neighbours as we partied on till around midnight.
It was a very interesting conversation as Marie-Louise and Robert are Dutch but have been living in Poland for quite a few years and Kazik and Jola are Polish but we were all speaking in German with Marie-Louise and Robert helping out with the translations when our German let us down, which seemed to increase the more moonshine we had.
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