Austria - An Early Summer Diary in Bad Hofgastein - Day 6 to 10

Day 6

Walking up via the Toboggan Run

Good day for a walk up to the Neudeggalm for a drink followed by a Picnic Lunch. The Neudeggalm is above the middle station so it is around 1hr 30 mins from the valley. On this Sunday it was quite busy with walking groups and locals.Very friendly atmosphere. We walked down and took the train from the middle station after our picnic.

Cattle appearing from the forest

TW meeting the locals

View to the Valley

The Aeroplanstadl was closed but the bears shared our picnic

Day 7
We left the Gastein Valley today and headed through St Johann on a 45 minute drive to Wagrain. Wagrain's Grafenberg lift is open on a Monday and gave us the opportunity to use our SkiAmade  Summer lift pass. The lift itself is about 30 years old so it rattled its way to the top of the mountain. We assumed the lift station would have walking maps but sadly not. We had to rely on the little yellow signs and opted for an approximately 2 hour walk down to the village. Have skied here a few times so nice to see the hills in Summer A pleasant walk on a mild dry day with a necessary pause at the Sonn Alm half way down. On the way home we stopped in St Johann at the Kika department store. TW is a keen shopper so taking her on a long walk before hitting the tills is an excellent tactic. There were welcome complaints of her being too tired to walk around. Must remember for next time.

Wagrain - at the top of the Grafenberg

TW on the trail

View to the North from Wagrain

This is my meadow - Lovely Austrian Cow

Lunchtime view towards Kleinarl from the Sonn Alm

TW on the home run to Wagrain

Goat goes to ground in Wagrain

Almost back to Wagrain

Day 8
Took the long and winding road on my Bike to Biberalm today. Its a 900m climb so it took a while. Getting back down was dramatically quicker. Nice dog at the Biberalm, through the stick for her a few times which we both enjoyed. Few jobs to do in the Apartment so made a start as the weather is a bit cool.

View to the South and Bad Hofgastein

The road home

My mate at the Biberalm

Ebony and Ivory - Nice goats at Biberalm

Day 9
Today's walking on the Schlossalm had a ski route H2 theme. A climb from the Middle Station to the top via the MaurachAlm in warm sunshine. Still very quiet. Only saw one small group of Scandinavian walkers. We had a wander around the Lake at the top, could hear the Marmotts singing but did not see any. TW got to sit on her favourite bench overlooking the valley. Bit of lunch in the Kleine Scharte lift station before taking a ride down to the middle in the Cable Car. Wandered across to H2a and clambered down the piste and then the toboggan run to the village. Needed a snooze before setting off for an evening concert given by the local Trachtenmusikkappelle (one of the two town bands) in the Kursaal. A very good evenings entertainment.

Day 10
TW heard the bands playing in town and hurtled off on her bike to watch a procession. We did not realise it was a public holiday today, all the shops were closed. Tonight's Dinner could be interesting. Corpus Christi is 60 days after Easter and, as ever, is a good excuse for a party. Meanwhile, I headed off up the valley towards the Graukogel. Its quite a climb up to, and through, Bad Gastein towards Windischgratzhohe and the middle station 1481m. From there I took the forest road down to Grunen Baum and joined the bike route back to home. Arrived back at the same time as TW  who had been up to the Kleine Scharte and had explored a new walking route that heads towards the Kaserebenbahn. Did a few chores and then watched the World Cup, England v Uruguay. 2-1 defeat.

Austria - An Early Summer Diary in Bad Hofgastein - Days 1 to 5

Day One

Hintere Prossau

Getting cold feet

The first full day in Bad Hofgastein and the sun shone from a clear blue sky. Up early to get fresh bread from Billa. As a special treat we had Dachstein Brot, a still warm triangular loaf with carrots included.

Kotschachbach

A good day for a bike ride to Prossau. Up the valley by the River to Bad Bruck and then climbed the forest road to Gruner Baum. Followed the Kotschachtal to Prossau. The Cafe was open but resisted the temptation to stop. Parked the bike and walked further up the valley to Hintere Prossau where the waterfalls plummet off the mountains. Had a paddle in the ice cold river. Wandered back through the forest to the bike and rolled back to Bad Hofgastein via the bike route through Gadauern. Much hotter now, must be mid thirties. Late lunch on the balcony with TW.
Weather a bit unsettled in the afternoon, we pedalled along to the Badesee and then M-Preis to buy dinner.
Dinner on the balcony cooked in the trusty electric wok. After Dinner a stroll into town. Sat and listened to the Kur Orchestra outside in the Alpen Arena. One or two personnel changes from last year. The rather elderly and somewhat portly Piano Player replaced by a Lady.

Making a splash

Waterfalls at Hintera Prossau

Day Two

Schlossalm Cable Car - spot the chap on top

Valley view in June

Getting close to Kitzstein

Little House in the meadow

Set off on the bikes to the Schlossalm lift. Bought Ski Amade Summer lift passes. Normally we just buy the local pass, 85 Euros, but as we have the car we splashed out 130 Euros for the regional pass. Headed up on the train and then the cable car to the Kleine Scharte. Walked down in the warm sunshine to the Aeroplan with TW and then down the Toboggan Run (on foot of course) to town. Mighty hot. Lunch on the Balcony followed by a snooze. Time to do some washing in the shared machine downstairs in the basement. Did four loads during the evening, good job there is a lift as the leg muscles stiffening up. Walking downhill certainly finds muscles that other pursuits do not reach.

Day Three
Weather forecast confounded as it was a lovely morning. I headed off on my favourite route via the river and then up to Bad Gastein on the bike route. Through Bad Gastein and on to the Johann Promenade to Angertal and then up to the Baerstein Alm for lunch with TW. Cloud building, could be a wet descent! Not raining when I passed the Fundneralm so no excuse to stop. Started to pour down just before town. Nicely soaked when I arrived home. First rain since we left UK. Drove to the Garden Centre and bought Geraniums for the Balcony. Bit of a planting session then a massive electric storm passed through. Still banging and crashing and moving furniture upstairs after midnight.

Day Four

The Amoseralm above Unterberg

Butterfly on a chive

Looking North

Valley view of Dorfgastein

Taking advantage of the car we drove down to Unterberg just below Dorfgastein. Walked up to the Amoserlam.

Don't feed the bears

TW had not been there at all before and I had only been there on the bike. Had an Almdudler and some bread and ham (Speckjause). The waitress was Columbian which caused a bit of confusion as first she brought us bread and cheese and then we had to share a single portion. Oh well, we had a drink in Unterberg. TW had a non-alcoholic weiss beer, I had the standard variety so no more driving for me. We stopped at Billa on the way home to pick up water and Dinner. Had to buy a new headset so TW could Skype TMIL. Very stormy so we were late getting to the Kur Concert. Big party at the Palace Tennishalle but too expensive for us.

Day Five

Cows en route

The weather looked a bit uncertain today so we stayed close to home. The Eastern side of the valley has no skiing so is quite heavily forested. There is a good, but quite hard, bike route up to the Rastotzenalm at 1740m. The route goes directly up from behind the Church  830m and has the advantage that if the weather turns thundery it just a matter of turning around and whizzing back down. There was no need for that today and I got to the top for my beer break OK. A couple of Austrians were also cycling up but I managed to stay in front for the 900m climb. Parts of the route are quite rocky so it was nice to have the Scott out here this year. The only setback was when TW phoned to ask me the computer password! The food looked good at the Alm, quite a limited menu of course. The Gamskarkogelhutte right at the top of the mountain (2467m) was still closed. It looked a bit cold and snowy up there..It did try and rain on the descent so was a bit cool as I plummeted back down to the village.

This is a lift to take provisions to the Gamskarkogelhutte

Drinking buddy - Sharing my table at the Rastotzenalm

A rocky road - The route down

A quiet location for the Rastotzenalm

The pooch at the Rastotzenalm

Had a good lunch at home including some TW carrot soup. Needed a snooze before heading to the shops. Had a very good dinner at the Berglift Restaurant.

Life in the slow lane - UK to Austria by car

 No haste less fuel

Crupet

We normally take the very high road, via plane, to Austria. This time we decided to load up our jalopy and head off on the low road. A nice sunny drive around the M25 etc. to Folkstone followed by a Eurotunnel underwater transit to the Continent. TW decided she did not want to go through France, so after a minimalist drive to Lille, it was Belgium for us. TW was not impressed with the roads. 'This is apalling' was her comment as we bounced along on the inside lane of the Autoroute. 'I know the Belgians like their cobbles but this is ridiculous' was her follow up. Have to say the surface was pretty poor. Anyway we made it to Crupet, the village where I stopped on my cycle route last year. The hotel is rather nice, 'oh you live well on your cycle trips don't you'. Not sure booking into the Moulin-des-Ramiers was a good idea in hindsight.

Basic accomodation?

Run of the Mill?

Perhaps a Youth Hostel would have been a better tactical option. Anyway, she liked it and we had a nice wander around the lovely village of Crupet before heading to my Birthday Dinner. There is a nice Pub in town that serves good meals and fine beer. The door was open a mobile phone and set of keys were on the bar. It was like the Marie Celeste. We looked around for signs of human activity, maybe  a note, help yourself to a beer be back soon! Nothing! After an age a woman turned up carrying a basket of washing. Were closed! But it's my Birthday! The other three Restaurants in Town were also closed, shock horror. And on a Thursday too!  We retired to our Hotel Room and ate the emergency rations extracted from the car, namely Tuna Salad and Crisps. Oh, and washed down with a bottle of Gauloises Beer from the Mini Bar. I thought Gauloises were cigarettes but hey-ho.Good job we had good lunch in McDonalds en route. A really comfortable bed and a good breakfast made up for any shortcomings in the Dinner stakes so overall a very nice visit to Crupet.
There are folks who do UK to Austria in a oncer, i.e. non-stop, but not us. We drive too slowly and we like to make the occasional detour. Today's diversion was to the Meuse River. Bit of a stroll and then a drive to Dinant where we picked up the road through the Ardennes towards Germany. We both find driving pretty tedious so we stopped off at Saarlouis, on the River Saar for another wander. There was Festival going on which was massive and it also has a nice Altstadt. The Tourist Office was pretty hopeless though. No knowledge of the Hotels in Town. Fortunately they had a brochure for a Hotel in nearby village of Elm, www.muehlenthal.de/

Our little terrace at the Hotel Muehlenthal

Restaurant Muehlenthal

It was really good Hotel. The Restaurant next door was lovely. They cooked steaks in a swinging bbq arrangement over an open fire. The Breakfast Buffet was to die for, as the Aussies would say. All good value at 75 Euros per night for B&B. TW's demand to avoid France certainly paid off handsomely. It is also bike friendly and they rent out e-bikes. The immediate vicinity is a bit residential. We would have stayed another night but, not surprisingly, they were fully booked for the holiday weekend. We would happily have spent a day pedaling along the River Saar.

On the Danube ( Donau)

Towering over the Donau

TW in Race Mode

TW in Training mode before breakfast

Hotel Convikt

Oh well, off to the Danube, or rather the Donau. Amazing hold ups and Road Works. I know people claim to do UK to Austria in 12 or 13 hours but they don't do it on the roads we travelled. h and not on a Public Holiday! Dillingen was our next destination and another bike friendly Hotel. The rather prisonerially named Hotel Convikt. Germany really has got  its act together with bike tourism. Whereas in the UK a biker is a second class citizen, here you are made welcome and its very good business. Well marked routes and safe paths encourage cycling. Oh well, I used my Mountain Bike and TW rented an e-bike and we headed off along the Donau for a day. The temperature was about 35degrees so we worked up a good thirst.We both had lovely salads at a Gasthof in a small village before a very,very hot ride back to Dillingen. Our route took us past the Costa Gravel pits. The locals were desperate for a bit of water and were BBQing themselves and their sausages by the waterside.The weather was so hot I even managed to get TW out for a ride before breakfast!

Dillingen

The Convikt imprisoned us very well for 2 nights, 83 Euros per night for B&B. Another decent Buffet Breakfast was demolished before we headed towards Munich and to Austria. Again, the road works were horrendous and made the German outside-laners go even faster to make up time. We don't go out there. We find a nice lorry to sit behind in the inside lane. Our fuel consumption average for the trip was 60.8 mpg and that is in a vehicle heavily laden with a years supply of porridge. No detours today apart from a stop to buy a toll sticker for Austria and some fuel. Perhaps we are getting into this racing tourist 'oncer' business. We left on Thursday and arrived 'home' on Monday. Hmm. Perhaps not!

The sun setting in Bad Hofgastein