More of Austria

The weather continues to be a bit mixed, but at least it has cooled down now, and most of the time it’s in the early 20’s which is very pleasant.  On Thursday we decided to circumnavigate the lake on our bikes – just short of 30 km, and as such was Karol’s longest ever bike ride! It was relatively flat too, and all on cycle paths, so no motorised traffic to contend with.  We also had great views of the mountains and the lake itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday was a bit different, in that we had to take the car in for service!  I’d been informed (by the car) that it was due for an oil change, so the site kindly booked it in for us at the local VW dealer in Villach – some 10 km away.  We were up and out early as they wanted the car by 8.30 a.m. and they booked us in very efficiently (in English!) but said they needed the car all day as it also needed a gearbox oil change too, and they wanted to deal with our ’emissions’ problem which apparently meant that they would reduce the bhp from 200 to 170!

They provided us with a taxi to take us back to the site, and a couple of ‘vouchers’ with which to pay.  The taxi driver duly arrived, but when we gave him the address he struggled to find it on Google Maps, and was obviously searching for the words to ask us again, when in exasperation he said, “Oh, do you speak English?”  It turned out he is Slovenian with a Croatian father, whose wife persuaded him to join her in Austria (she’s a nurse) but he doesn’t speak German, and is desperately trying to learn.  He was so relieved that he didn’t need to struggle in what he described as ‘that ugly language’ and proceeded to give us tips on where to go in the area, and urged us to go back and visit Slovenia too. What a lovely guy!

We spent the day at the site and waited for the garage to phone to let us know when to collect the car – as ever (what is it with garages?!) there was no call, so we phoned them just after 4 to be told the car was ready. We phoned for a taxi, were told it would be 20 minutes, and set off for the main site entrance. Eventually after another couple of calls our taxi arrived at ten past 5, unfortunately not our friendly Slovenian but a local Austrian who made texts and calls and even calculations (11×2!) on his hand held mobile phone, all whilst he was driving. He obviously didn’t want the job and made it very clear. When we eventually got to the garage he refused to accept the vouchers and demanded 20 euros from us. We’d had enough by then so paid him and reported him to the garage who reimbursed us most of the money and promised they would deal with it.

We were so relieved to have our car back we decided to celebrate and go the the restaurant at the site for dinner. This saved the day as it was delicious and we had a chat with the only other Brits we met on this site – we mentioned that we planned to go to Slovenia the next day and they gave us some great advice on places to go – they were an inspiration as they are probably 10 years older than us and they are making their way round Europe with a tent. They suggested we drive over the mountains rather than going back through the Karawanken tunnel, and recommended we drive to Bohinj to the lake and on to the Savica waterfalls.

The next morning we set off earlyish and arrived at Lake Bled, about 30k away from Villach, about 10.45. We parked up and walked down the hill to the lake itself.  Frankie Long had recommended we visit the lake, as she’d been and said it was a stunning setting.  It truly is!  We were able to walk right round the lake, stopping for coffee, and then to buy a picnic at a local supermarket.  We took loads of photos, which frankly don’t do it justice, but will give you a flavour of the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our picnic, where we were accompanied by a flock of sparrows (very entertaining watching the parents feeding their young with our crumbs) we drove into the Triglavski National Park and up to Bohinj.  We decided to press onto the waterfalls first, where we followed the well laid out steps up the mountainside to the falls themselves.  We could write a guide book on waterfalls after this holiday!  This one was particularly long – 78 meters from top to bottom, in an A shape, with a point at the top and two torrents of water.

We stopped off at Bohinj on our way back to take photos and stock up on a few provisions.

We then set off over the mountains to Villach. We’d used the tunnel on the way into Slovenia, so wanted to try going ‘over the top’ on the way back.  It’s 20 km further and obviously a little slower, but we drove through the beautiful Kranjska Gora valley and there were some fantastic views on offer all the way home.

Sunday the forecast was mixed once more, with the best of the dry weather in the morning so we set off to walk the Sassler Trail – an 11 km circular walk up the mountain on the opposite side of the Lake to the campsite.  It also promised a cafe at the top!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had an App to follow, and a bit of a map, but still managed to get lost a couple of times.  We met a German couple doing the same walk without a map, so we at least had someone to get lost with now!  We all arrived at the cafe at the same time, and sat down to order our food and drink – everything homemade.  In fact when we asked for coffee afterwards Kathrin, the owner, said she was only licensed to sell things that she had made, so couldn’t do coffees!

We also met another German couple having lunch – he was a publican from Lemgo and it turned out his father was from Sheffield, which explains why he is called Michael John Pitt!  He invited us to visit his hostelry and said he would show us the sights of Lemgo.  Really nice guy who helped us translate the menu, and took a good number of photos of the two us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The return down the mountain passed without further mishap other having to negotiate two electric fences strung across the path, and we were back at the caravan mid afternoon for a well earned cup of tea!

We dined at the restaurant on site once more and met a Dutch dentist and his wife who shared our table.  They were very interested in UK politics, sought our view on Brexit, and gave us their view on Europe too, which was similar to ours.

This morning we left Seecamping Berghof and drove the 200 km to Venice.  We drove through umpteen tunnels through the Julijske (Julian) Alps and then through the lush farmland of northern Italy, with fields of vines, sunflowers and fruit trees on all sides as far as the eye could see.

We arrived at lunchtime, pitched efficiently in hot sunshine, and are gearing up to spend Karol’s birthday in Venice tomorrow.