Category: Uncategorized

Friday 20th Sept 2019 – Day 19

Tunnel Vision.

Today I developed a severe case of tunnel vision and Michelle and I began to feel like rabbits spending their days in burrows.

We have over the past week driven through a few tunnels as we’ve moved from site to site and felt a sense of achievement after driving through one 2 km long, However today surpassed that. The lengths gradually grew longer, 2km, 3km, 5km and we drove through one 7k. long I thought that was our record, then we got to the big daddy, 15 km long and it cost 10 euros toll to drive through. The alternative was a long, steep, narrow twisty road over a pass, tunnels are useful but the scenery isn’t much to write home about.

Tonight Homer is resting his wheels at Camping Sonnenberg, also known as the Panoramic campsite because it is terraced and there’s a wonderful view of the mountains from virtually every pitch.

After a lunch we went for a walk part of the way up the mountain behind us, the trail runs through woodland and every so often there’s a clear view down into the valley, the campsite being one view.

Thursday 19th September 2019 – Day 18

Tonight Homer’s wheels are resting at a campsite next to an outdoor swimming baths and floodlit tennis courts on the outskirts of Hall in Tyrol which is a few kilometres from Innsbruck.

Again we had a good journey on good quality roads surrounded by the high mountains and we were lucky to travel in sunshine which enhances the scenery. We had no expectation of what the town would be like so it was a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be quite old and have small cobbled streets that wound through the town.

Wed 18th September 2019 – Day 17

Tonight Homer’s wheels are resting on the campsite ” Camping Bad Neunbrunnen am Waldsee” try saying that after a few pints! We are moving steadily across Austria and this is a stopover on our way to Lichtenstein.

We arrived around 12.30 and following instructions on the reception door we selected a pitch and had to go back at 5pm to pay, 21 euros tonight, after lunch I had a Krapfen, not what you may think it’s a donut! Very nice too.

The site has its own small lake which pleased Layla. On site there are a large number of touring caravans that are permanently sited here with the great majority belonging to Dutch people. This area has a lot of snow in the winter, I don’t suppose there’s much downhill skiing in their home country, the vans are protected with an extra roof and virtually all have large porch rooms built on. The facilities here are 5 star and can’t be faulted.

We continue to be impressed with the views and tonight’s are up to standard.

Tuesday 17th September 2019 – Day 16

Last night we had a thunder and lightning storm with heavy rain that lasted from 11.15 pm until nearly midnight and then thankfully stopped, it has been very hot and muggy for days so the storm has bought a freshness to the air today.

Tonight Homer is resting his wheels on a site on a farm outside the town of Altenmarkt.

The journey here was quite spectacular driving up through mountain passes, on one we reached 950m high, many of the roads had streams or rivers running alongside, thankfully it stayed dry and the journey was enjoyable.

We try to arrive at sites by about 1 pm as they quickly fill up and today was no different, we were second here but by late afternoon the site was almost full. The farm sells eggs and local wine so it seemed rude not to support the local economy, the wine was 5 euros for a litre bottle and the eggs 3 euros for 10.

A few minutes after their purchase two eggs were in the saucepan and I enjoyed them for my lunch, they are very large with gorgeous yolks, as I write this I’m enjoying the wine. We have noticed that the eggs here and in Germany are always white, different to the UK where we go for brown. After lunch we walked into Altenmarkt which turned out to be quite modern with a good range of shops, we got talking to two couples touring on their motorbikes who were Geordies, their claim to fame was meeting The Hairy Bikers on the Grosseglockner road, a famous mountain road close to where we are staying.

Monday 16th Sept 2019- Day 15

Tonight Homer’s wheels are resting in St Wolfgang on Lake Wolfgang, chosen purely because of our friend Wolfgang in Germany. The area is very similar to our Lake District and the town of St Wolfgang has some similarity with Windermere in that it is very geared up for tourism, this evening whilst we were walking round the town a group of Japanese tourists made a fuss of Layla and were amazed she had travelled from England. ( I didn’t tell them she shared the driving.)

We are parked up next to a small railway station that is the starting point for a cog railway that runs for 5.85kilometres and climbs to the mountain station at 1,732m at the peak of Mount Schafberg. We were very tempted to go on it but when we realised that it cost 79 euros return for us and 16.50 for Layla and she had to wear a muzzle it became a big no no.

The views here are stunning and you can see why it is so popular.

On the journey here today we stopped at an Aldi to purchase a few necessities and much to our surprise found in Austria is known as Hofer.

Sunday 15th September 2019 – Days 13&14

We set off yesterday morning and drove around Lake Chiemsee which is Bavaria’s largest lake. We were heading for Passau which amongst other things is noted because it is the confluence of 3 rivers; the Ill, Danube and Inn where they join they appear black, brown and light green respectively forming a watery tricolour as they flow out of town. We’d wanted to stay here because it looked a fascinating place, unfortunately there were no spaces on the camper stop and we had to make do with a short walk by the river.

The only other places anywhere nearby were over the border in Austria, using Park4Night I found a site about 30 miles away next to the river Danube, Camping Inzell, it took some finding and was about 3 miles down a single track road, but what a beautiful place. As we crossed the border into Austria I stopped to put in fuel and to obtain a vignette valid for 10 days to enable us to drive on Austrian motorways, it cost 9 euros 60 cents.

Wifi and phone signal here deep in the valley are almost non existent but lack of that service is more than made up by the variety and number of boaters that are passing us on a regular basis, from small motorboats, large commercial barges, and very large cruise ships.

The campsite is part of a guest house which provides a large number of rooms and has a restaurant and bar, it is currently catering for a large number of cyclists as we are on a popular cycling route alongside the river.

Friday 13th September 2019 – Day 12

Today we drove along some wonderful scenic roads on our 100 mile journey to tonight’s destination where Homer is resting his wheels.The sat nav bought us right to the edge of the site unfortunately it was the wrong side and a fence was in the way, I had to do a very tight turn around, drive back up the narrow street we had driven down and access the site a further 100m on, such fun.

We are again close to the Austrian border south west of Munich near a large lake called Chiemsee, there are lots of campsites and stopovers next to the lake but unfortunately they don’t have great reviews. So we have selected one a few miles away at Bernau, the site is a purpose built motorhome stopover, part of a huge sporting complex on the outskirts of this small town. We are on the part that hosts the squash and indoor tennis club and we have free access to all its facilities, it also has a restaurant and bar which we haven’t taken advantage of as tonight was curry night in Homer. The site is well laid out with large pitches and is 14 euros a night plus electricity which on average costs us 1 euro per night.

Thursday 12th September 2019 – Day 11

This morning we took a slow walk into Füssen it is the highest city in Bavaria and we are at 800m above sea level. The town architecture is different in that many of the buildings are painted on the outside in such a way as to give a 3D effect.

We wandered around for some time, looking at the castle and other buildings and of course the shops before we sat down and had lunch in the sunshine, it has been 23 degrees here today.

After lunch we walked out of town to the lake where Layla had a great time.

As we walked along we passed a stand selling pumpkins and other similar things, they are quite common by the roadside with an honesty box for your payment.

From the lake we could see Neuschwanstein Castle which is a 19th century Romanesque style palace on a hill near Fussen. It was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat for Richard Wagner. The Cinderella Castle at Disney is reputed to be modelled on Neuschwanstein Castle.

Wed 11th Sept 2019 – Day 10

We decided today to miss out a few scenic towns on the route and drive the 100 miles to the end of the Romantic Route at Füssen in the Bavarian Alps close to the Austrian border.

Our first task was to drive 700m to a petrol station where both ourselves and Peter and Alison filled up with LPG at approx 70cents a litre, our tank took 5 litres which is all we have used in 2 weeks. Then standing next to the fuel pumps we said our farewells as Peter and Alison are heading West slowly making their way to Dunkirk whilst we were heading South.

We are now on a site especially for motorhomes at a cost of 15 euros per night, it has a launderette, toilets and showers and a cafe on site. You have to pay a little extra to use some of those facilities but not an extortionate amount.

When we arrived I think we both realised we were suffering a little from travel fatigue from moving on each day, so we have booked in here for two nights and so far have only walked 100m to the adjacent LIDL to top with a few essentials and spent the rest of the time reading sitting outside in the sunshine. Michelle has used the laundrette to wash and dry our used clothes so we are set up for another week now.

From Homer we have a view of the mountains in the distance.

Tuesday 10th September 2019 – Day 9

We’ve had a hard day today with very little time for relaxation, well I might be fibbing a little.

Occasionally you have to spoil yourself after a hard day site seeing.!

After leaving last nights stopover which was free apart from 3 euros for electricity we drove to the next town on the Romantic Route, Nordlingen. I think I’m now beginning to suffer from an overload of historical buildings but I did enjoy the one aspect of Nordlingen which was the fact it had its town walls intact and you can walk around the town on them giving an unique perspective to the town.

From Nordlingen we drove to where Homer is resting his wheels this evening, a site 15metres from the Danube at Donauworth, the Danube definitely isn’t blue here!

This town has a different feel to it as it has a good mix of the old and new. There’s a modern open area with cafes, restaurants and shops next to a small river against the old town walls, this is where we enjoyed beer and cake this afternoon after we had been clothes shopping.

The weather is beginning to turn autumnal, the mornings and evenings are cool, but the daytime is sunny, I’m still in shorts and haven’t been driven into jeans yet.We did discover one shop that had a sale and I bought 2 sweat shirts for 10 euros each and in another Michelle had a pair of jeans for 10 euros.