Week four - Austria's National Park Hohe Tauern

Trip miles 1,358

+26 daytime

The drive up into the Alps proper was made easy by the wide lanes of the motorway and long slow inclines. At 1000 meters we stopped to rest Bertha’s steaming tyres and take in the views of the peaks with a mid-morning coffee. Our travelling compass and altimeter ‘the orange thing’ confirmed our height as being 1005 meters above sea level. We had started out at 350 meters from camp.

The "orange thing" displaying the altitude

Bertha taking a rest after climbing up to 1000m

A six km toll tunnel took us through the peak of Hochfiend as the illuminated road reached 1148 meters above sea level – well done Bertha!

Camping at a luxurious 20 euro a night rate (not planned but various park and tourist taxes were added) we had fabulous views of the mountain peaks and free-flowing solar powered hot showers which used the freshest mountain water. Flocke the pretty white and apricot camp cat made a fuss and as one of only three vans on the site we pretty much had the run of the place which was being spruced for the season by its charming family of owners.

Camping Maltatal

 

We headed out early the next morning on the cycle trail to Gmund, an artist’s town to rival Gordes in Provence. The route took us up the mountain sides and through farm yards which seemed to present a picture of spring in the sunshine – contented dairy cows, gleaming ponies, flustered ducks, clucking chickens, friendly cats, fluffy rabbits and waving farming families were all out enjoying the gorgeous sunny morning.

Gmünd in Kärnten - main square

Gmünd Castle across the Lieser river

Gmund is an utterly beguiling town centred within its medieval walls and boasting original public and patrician houses now renovated and worked in by artists and sculptors. Ringed by mountains and set on a pretty river it simply has the best of everything but does not feel pompous or self-important, rather quietly traditional and charming as typified by its award-winning town dairy herd contentedly chewing in their stables within the dark cool town walls.

Award winning town cows

 

We meandered along the winding streets and had coffee in the main square watching everyone’s delight in the Fruhling day. At noon the square emptied as shops shut and workers headed home for the lunch break. The roasted chickens being sold fresh from the spit by the street seller tempted a few others but we headed on out to cycle the route back along the riverside with a picnic salad lunch.

National Park Hohe Tauern

Onion domed church in Hohe Tauern Park

Passing Bertha’s camp we continued on for another few miles at a steady pace alongside the river to Fallbach – a 200 meter waterfall dropping precipitously down its mountain side and still forming a 60 meter high but rather grubby snow mound at its bottom.

Fallbach - the highest waterfall in Austria

The charming Grossfalls

Fortified on a goat cheese sandwich and salad (!) we headed further up to the picturesque Wasserland, a two and a half hour trail of waterfalls and mountain springs. Cycling up to the first stop at Grossfalls we called time on further inclines and turned around for home. Barely touching the pedals we flew down the mountain road the 6kms or so to Bertha. An exhilarating end to a largely mountain climbing day on the bikes!

Cycling back though the Hohe Tauern Park

The first day of Spring ended with the trusty outdoor catering equipment ‘the cadac’ set up for the first time since Normandy in June last year. The tantalising aroma of curried chicken wafted across the site as the sun set slowly behind the snow-melting peaks.

Curried chicken doesn't get better than this...

Week four – Austria

Werfen, Where Eagles Dare

Trip miles 1,310 miles

+17 daytime (and up to mid-20's when the strong sun shines)

Heading south on the climbing mountain motorway A10 we gambled on the only campsite at Werfen being open as advertised, today. Indeed we were greeted enthusiastically and declared ‘die erste gaste’ the very first guests of the season! Pitched next to the fast-flowing and wide Salzach River and neighbouring rail line we saw the fabulous DB trains that we had been travelling on making their way down to Trieste in Italy – our destination.

 

View of the Werfen Valley

 

It was nervous moments whilst we finally recommissioned Bertha’s water systems out of danger of heavy frosts, flushing the air-locked pipes and filling the water heater whilst the pump noisily banged away at the air bubbles. No need for concern though – she was soon back on running hot and cold water for the first time on our trip!

 

Water systems back on by the Salzach River

 

Elated, we headed out on the riverside cycle path up to the pretty medieval town of Werfen overseen by its fabulous cliff-top Schloss Hohen Werfen, backdrop to everyone’s favourite WWII movie ‘Where Eagles Dare’ but surprisingly without the legendary cable-car (which we found out was super-imposed).

Humming the film’s theme tune and radio call signing each other in a predictable manner we clambered and pushed the bikes up a narrow cliff path as the funicular lift was closed. As indeed we discovered was the castle. It was Monday, and a ‘rest day’.  

Hohenwerfen castle - "Broad Sword calling Danny Boy"

 

Puffing up the path behind us and carrying shopping was a lovely young German woman who turned out to have been living at the castle for a year as the resident ‘falconnier’ and who loves her job of flying her birds of prey in the daily falconry display – but not today. Ah well.

Hiking high in Austria

The following day we cycled in the opposite direction to Bischofshofen to admire the waterfall created by mountain snows tumbling down above the winter ski resort town. Having done a clothes wash at the camp’s laundry room (the first in a grubby 23 days!) we cycled slowly up an ever inclining path up to the now closed cable car station. From there we slogged up the mountain bike trail to a rewarding picnic next to the powerful waterfall.

Bischofshofen Wasserfall

Wash day at last!

Week three – the German Alps

Trip miles 1,275

+18 daytime

The chance spotting of a Wohnbmobile Stellplatz at Bad Reichenhall gave us a wonderful base for three days to explore this beautiful corner of Germany. The Berchtesgaden National Park is framed by six mountain ranges, including the Watzmann (2713m) Germany’s second highest mountain.

Our home at Bad Reichenhall

Bad Reichenhall is an historic spa town built on the fortunes of its salt mines. The streets are wide and gracious and boast mainly luxury hotels and (yet more) orthopaedic kliniks. It also has a fabulous bar and eatery where we were immediately treated as locals on finding it on our first evening foray into town, and to which we returned after every tremendous day of sight-seeing!

The Salzburg Linie train venturing deep into the mountains

Up and out soon after the hooting Semmelvan arrived with fresh bread at the Stellplatz at 8.30 we used the clean, fast and reliable local train service to explore the national park. The tracks wound through picturesque farming villages now filling up with chic weekend homes of wealthy Salzburgers and some Munichers and featured every modern comfort – wooden balconies, solar panels, under floor heating, glass panelled rooms onto the view and wide and expensively tiled garden terraces. Fantastic!

Obersalzburgbahn cable car

Our first venture was by foot from Berchtsgaden to take a ride on the Obersalzburgbahn cable car up to just under 1000m. From there we wandered along a snowy hiking path to the area’s big historical attraction the Dokumentation Zentrum, which details the history of the idyllic mountain community in the early 20^th century when it found itself the unwelcome home of the Nazi’s in the south.

A snowy walk from the cable car across the mountainside

The exhibition explained how centuries old farming families were initially bought and then bullied out of their homes to make way for Borrman’s bulldozers and the building of a complete complex for the so-called ‘Nazi elite’. A striking documentary featured original footage of the farms and then the compound and specifically Hitler’s self-designed own Berghof as filmed by his mistress Eva Braun.

 

 

A late addition to the complex was a huge network of bunkers which mirrored the life above ground and was intended to continue Hitler’s ‘government’ should he be forced underground. We wandered around a small corner of the huge 14km subterranean system.

Waiting for a bus down the icy mountainside we got chatting to Mark, who had tried to visit the bunker system at the nearby Zum Turkum Hotel – once home to a local switchboard of more than 1000 connections and the powerhouse of the Nazi telecommunications system. The hotel had changed hands and so tours were closed but the new owners hoped to start them again soon – another example of how open German communities are about their dark past.

Leber kase, kraut and chips!

Stopping at the fabulous Schwabenbrau pub on the way back to Bertha we planned a German treat for dinner – leber kase! Literally translated as liver cheese this traditional meal is actually pork wurst meatloaf, which we served with some obligatory white cabbage kraut, and then added some oven fries and a good dollop of strong mustard senf. Washed down with a good cheap Chilean plonk (£1.90 for Cab Sauv) - this may not sound particularly appetising but it was actually delicious!

On Jo’s birthday we spent a fabulous day cycling and hiking around Koningsee at 630m Germany’s highest lake and beautifully emerald green and ringed by mountains. At the picturesque lookout point at Malerwinkel we were joined by two jovial Austrian brothers who broke into a spontaneous mountain song. Their lovely melodic voices pitched and bounced together off the towering walls of the fiord-like mountains and they ended their celebration of the moment with a round of yodelling. A real treat!

View of Koningsee from Malerwinkel overlook

Pushing the bikes up the steep wooded pathway to the top of the mountain we then flew down the other side in an exhilarating, brake-frying flash, stopping momentarily at an inviting stream to greedily gulp down the pure water and cool the tyres.

Sipping the pure fresh mountain water

The cable car up to Jenner at 1802 meters was closed as was the bus and elevator route up the mountain side to ‘Kehlsteinhaus’, Hitler’s Eagles Nest, built at 1837m as an official 50th birthday present ‘to the Furhrer from the people’ but which he hardly visited as he was afraid of heights and probably attack by the RAF which actually never regarded the site as worth bombing. It is now a restaurant but until mid-May remains ‘geschlossen’ - closed.

 

Hitler's Eagles Nest at the top of the Kehlstein mountai

Does this really need a caption?

We contented ourselves with the view of Eagles Nest from sunny Berchtesgaden down below and then partook of a MaccyD’s cheeky birthday fillet of fish treat in probably the best located McDonalds in the world, ever.  We pedalled back to catch our train, bumping again into Mark at the station. He advised us to visit Werfen across the border in Austria to see the historic medieval Schloss which featured heavily in ‘Where Eagles Dare’.  A terrific tip, thank you Mark!

 

  

On our third day we took the bikes and pedalled around the fast-flowing River Salzach and its wide green plains to visit local villages and admire onion-domed churches. At Marzoll we found a very sweet pink and turreted castle and neighbouring domed church and in nearby horse riding centre Turk, we stopped for coffee at the village shop – a wonderful store of fresh vegetables, bakery and a delicatessen array of meats and cheeses. The village shop!

Schloss Marzoll

Back at Bad Reichenall and discovering that the town’s cable car which would have afforded a fabulous view of Bertha at her riverside camp was ‘geschlossen’ we discovered a new burst of energy and set off on an 11km route around the Salachsee, a lake created to stem the flow of the Salach through the town. A sunny bank of lively and photogenic frogs caught our attention!

A posing frog!

Having carted the bikes more than 1000 miles already it was good to clock up some miles on them and over two days we totalled more than 30 on them, so not bad going on tyres and legs!

The journey home to Bertha