Europe by Van Day 25

By 9.15 we got underway, having first been for a food and wine shop in the nearby supermarket. It was another sunny day though the morning air was crisp.

Mr C decided not to take the tunnel into Austria. Instead we drove up a scenic valley with tree-covered hills and beyond, bare stark steep mountains. We then took the steep (18%) zbendy pass. Going up was bad enough but going down the other side in Austria was scary. The brakes were hot and smelly despite us being in a low gear. We stopped at the bottom to buy the Austrian vignette then got onto a motorway.

We thought a detour to Hallstatt, a picturesque town on a lake in Austria, would be a nice jaunt. So did half the planet. We barely saw the town as we had to go through tunnels and then were out of it again as there was no parking to be had. We drove round the lake a bit and had a sandwich before re-tracing our route, heading for Berchtesgaden and Germany. The scenery was breathtaking. Green pastures with grazing cows, gradually leading up to wooded hilly areas, beyond which were steep, pale, rocky, vertical mountains which further in the distance receded to a deep dark blue. It was complete chocolate box.

Mr C thought he’d found some free Park4Night places near where the buses left for the Eagles Nest, Hitler’s wartime holiday house, but staying overnight was no longer allowed and neither was staying in any of the car parks. The place was heaving with tourists. (Which of course we are too). We decided to go for a camping site or restplatz but all were full. The last one we tried near Koningssee was also full but Mr C pleaded and for cash the manager said we could stay on a bit of rough ground by a shed for €40. No facilities apart from wifi. But we had to take it as we didn’t want to drive in the dark on the steep mountain passes.

We drove 218 miles.