More Austrian Alps

8/8

0700: Boys bike up the side of the mountain on one of the many ‘intermediate’  tracks.  It’s mapped as a 25 km circuit.  2 hours later they return, sweat drenched having got nowhere NEAR the top.  Despite this, Jeff reckon’s they did the equivalent of 2 ‘Cootha’s’!  Kel & I lie in bed and read.

School today is the usual maths, some Italian and research into Sigmund Freud. The blanket of soft, white cloud slowly lifts revealing an enclosing endless crumple of jagged peaks protecting the fertile valley full of corn crops and a fast-flowing powdery grey-green river.

Off on the bikes through the MOST divine little villages with only a cluster of wooden homes to each beautiful simple golden cock adorned spire.  The yards are so often enhanced with weaving fast running pebbly brooks turning old wooden water wheels and all kinds of beautiful pots exploding with rainbow coloured blooms.

Soon, we reach Galitzenklamm, a board walk around a Dolomite Gorge that costs E12 to climb - seems a rip off but nonetheless, is beautiful and rock climbers offer entertainment below us.

We decide to continue on along the River Isel on a typically excellent bike track.  It traces the Austrian-Italian border upstream for more than 100 kms and is as busy as a highway with Italian families trickling along in both directions.  In our heading it’s all uphill and the funny thing is Kel didn’t notice we were ascending - those little legs are getting stronger.

We stop for an ice-cream & coffee, admiring the Dolomites as they thrust the cloud aside to bare their sheer awesomeness, and then coast downhill home, only really needing to pedal when we get to the cornfields next to the campground.

Wil and I bike our way into town sans helmets frequently declaring our love for each other, life and the surrounding amazing ever-present ridiculously scenic Dolomites (past Audi’s show room windows - more grunts of loving life from Wil).  We stock up on some cold meats and a nut-strudelly thing to take up the mountain on our walk tomorrow.  Jeff & Kel relax in Ed until our return when we all tuck in and scrub up Ed.  We leave the kids kicking a ball and drive into the local car wash to finish him off with a high pressure spray.

Most satisfied, we complete homework, have a cuppa, have a scotch and then shower before a dinner of wurst, fabulous walnut bread, mustards and salad. 

In the meantime we get sandwiched in by two of the noisiest traveling groups imaginable.  With galloping Italian on one side and garrulous, undulous Spanish on the other, we all manage to drift off to sleep after a good read.

9/8

Well slept, Jeff and I jump on our bikes a rip up the mountain behind us.  We go up and down three times to the amusement of an elderly lady tending her garden half way up the hill.  At the top is the local swimming hole - a beautiful tarn/lake called Tristachersee in which a lone figure paddles, making simple lines in the glassy surface.

Back at Ed, we grunt our way through some push-ups and sit-ups, wake the squids with a cheerful Aussie yip, and think we managed to wake the Latino neighbours too!  Buon giorno!  Buenos Dias!!   Kel still has her baby Snuggy strapped to her chest having slept like this all night.  The kids roll over and read whilst we enjoy our first coffee with stupendous views and watch the neighbours move out.

A quick skype to Gren and then a much anticipated breakfast before maths.

We wash up, put on washing etc whilst waiting for the clouds to clear off the mountain tops thus giving us the best altitude walking conditions.

Clouds not clearing so we mooch about home and then take a bike trip into the wee town with it’s prolific number of sports equipment & clothing stores. The boys can lose hours in these.  The brief is a brightly coloured cycling shirt for Jen (all in black ain’t a good idea in the morning mountain mists on skinny switch back alpine roads.)  We find a hot pink one quickly but soon are sizing up in line skates and walk out with 2 pairs!!   What the…??  Well that takes care of the afternoon!

Meet Dutch neighbours - Pauline, Alex and Troy who are on their way back from Italy. They sing praises of a most enjoyable country and share some travel suggestions. With the conversation turning to food, Pauline trots back and forth to their van bringing Dutch goodies - nutty soft cheese & appelstroop amongst them. Gorgeous wee 2 year oldTroy runs about after the kids holding Kel’s hand as she learns! Just as we set up for a light dinner, Pauline knocks and invites us to a dinner of schnitzel - their shout - in the campground restaurant. How incredibly generous. The boys dominate talk-time discussing the in and outs of motorbike racing …. In GREAT detail.

Late to bed.

10/8

Cracker ride UP a mountain chasing the fine Jeffrey derrière.  Grateful for the hot pink top as we find us ourselves in the clouds!  Tough grind of incredibly steep gradient switch backs.  Love it!  We pass the point the boys reached the other day.  I am stunned with Wil’s fitness!  Pause at the top before a COLD whiz down.  My hands are sore & shoulders tight from squeezing the brakes so hard.  Brilliant to then wake the warm kids and share a keenly anticipated breakfast in the sun.  My favourite part of the day.

We squeeze in some maths whilst we do a last load of washing.  When Wil’s done, we leave the others and walk to the shops.  Right at the end, we figure they don’t take VISA card, so I leave Wil with the goodies and run - in thongs - to the ATM in the next town!  Woo-hoo - the achilles is OK!

Shopping bags loaded on our shoulders, we meet Kel & Jeff chugging up the road in Ed. Gratefully, we pile in and head up to the cable car station. But, we all a bit lack lustre about the tarn walk with views over the Dolomites (having really absorbed them from many angles in the past few days) & the olds are feeling a bit ‘tight’ about the E 42 fare and the fact the peak seems clouded in. 

Consensus reached, we drive out toward the Grossglockner Road, initially taking the wrong route past the Roman town of Aguntum and through incredibly beautiful countryside.

Back on track, we reach the toll gate & E32 paid up, we wind away up the mountain pass, through Heilingenblut with it’s much painted needle-thin spire 

and then taking the Kaiser Franz Joseph Hohe detour to the tallest peak after which the drive is named.  Like bait, it’s pointy snow capped 3789 metres pulls us along to a motorhome carpark 800 m down from the visitors center.

looking down on a rainbow!!!

We score THE BEST overnight stop of the trip in a small free park on the edge of the world surrounded by never-ending precipitous valleys created by an amphitheater of peaks.  Silvery thread like waterfalls trickle from the high glaciers into powdery khaki green tarns.  Just outside our dining room window, the towering Grossglockner with it’s majestic flowing Pasterzengletscher - the longest in the eastern Alps - pokes it’s peak in and out of the circling clouds.  Whilst the adults gaze transfixed by the show of natural beauty, the kids have found the enormous smooth, bitumen carpark behind us which has completely emptied out and don their skates for a huge session.

high altitude skating (~2500m)

With blue lips, pink cheeks and anaesthetized finger tips, they hurry in after an hour or so for (Czech) warm soup (or was it gravy?? - we added all sorts to flavour it up & thin it out!) & bread.  We all snuggle in beneath the changing views of the granite giants.  

Grossglockner sunset

11/8

Adults up early with camera in hand to watch the views open up.  It’s all still, softly sunny & quiet.

Grossglockner sunrise

When we finally sit to breakfast, the carparks are filling up and the clouds have thickened & darkened brining rain & wind.

It’s been a while since we’ve geared up with beanies, gloves and thermals.  All plumped out with clothing, we march up the road to the visitors centre from where we take the Gamsbrubenweg walk alongside the glacier. 

alpine fashion queen

Shortly, we all notice the effects of altitude with Kel struggling the most.  Wil offers her a piggyback ride (lasting only a few seconds). 

Sweet clumps of purple and yellow alpine flowers decorate the path and waterfalls smooth the rocks. Enormous moraines demarcate the previous glacial outlines strikingly displaying the extensive recession.

Several hours later, we’re back at Ed and keen for the next Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse adventure.  We cruise along a magic curvy road that looks like a scale electric set track and stop for lunch at Geologischer Lehrweg, a lookout with a geological display of local rocks.  Our favourite are the green ones called   Serpentinite & the other greeny ones with peridot veins in them.

The entrance to Biker’s Point on Edelweiss Spitze says no vehicles more than 3.5 tonnes - well Ed is just that (unloaded we think???)......so off we go into the mist! The road is cobbled with incredibly tight switch backs and soon disappears into the clouds making the corners blind.  

Biker’s coming down shake their heads in disapproval and disbelief.  Jeff & Ed make it to a small carpark at the top.  We all climb the lookout point to see…….nothing…….just clouds.  So anxiously we descend, riding Ed’s breaks and looking out for headlights.  Phew, at the bottom on a wider road, we laugh in relief.

But that’s not it for Ed’s break pads.  Another 18km at >12% decline to come - no problem!  Eddie rolls and turns with ease till we get to our night stop - Zell Am See - where a large lake and warmer air welcomes us into this pretty holiday town.  Exhausted, we pull into our lakeside park and put on the mocca pot whilst the kids strap on their skates.  Revived, we cycle the great lakeside path behind the skating picaninnies 2km into the tiny town. 

Without exploring, mindful of Kel’s new skater’s fatigue, we turn back to prepare dinner and have a shower.  At last, we’ve a shower that’s not timed or coins operated and we can wash our hair! 

12/8

Jeff & I head for a run together with my achilles finally feeling great but  BUGGAR , only 4kms in, a tightness grips again and I have to stop and walk back.  Jeff completes a great run and tops it off with a dip in the lake!

brrrrr!

Brekkie and then unfortunately we are moved to a site more crammed in spot in the body of the campground.  The kids labour miserably through school today.  No rhyme of reason. 

Once school is done and after a few plays at the lake, we bike out to the sculpture gardens on the other side of the lake.  Being Sunday and a very fine day there are throngs of locals and visitors sunning themselves on the lawns by the lake, swimming, all manner of watercraft in action including yachts, a magnificent racing cat, a hydrofoiled moth type craft literally flying across the lake, paddle boats, water-skiers and donutters, a guy propelling a large board with a sit up cycling mechanism.  

How they revel in this weather, but all around are the signs of the long winter - cut wood stacked to the rafters, hay bales everywhere, massive structures on the sides of the precipitous hills presumably to stop avalanches pushing the towns into the lake. 

Back around the lake to little Zell Am See zentrum which is incredibly picturesque, not just with the natural panorama of lakes, sharp glaciered peaks and verdant hills, but also with the human stamp.  Playgrounds by the lake and a gorgeous walk through the town central mall area with it’s churches and hotels and restaurants.

We share a beverage by the lake and continue to admire the water craft as well as the colourful sculpture by our table whose columns represent the 9 states of Austria, height proportional to population.

Austrian Totem

Then back on the bikes to Eddie, Jeff and Kel head out for a swim in the lake (22 deg) followed by a warm shower, then we prepare a wurst paella on the BBQ and eat outside as the throngs of kids skate/ride/run by.

Bloody chatty neighbours warble on way too long into the night. 2 blokes - one’s trails off in a slur and the other’s voice marches on in a abrupt soliloquy. Utterly peeved, I turn lights on, mutter obscenities and search for earplugs. Jeff more practical strategy of going outside and asking him to be quiet, works better.

13/8

We’ve another magic bike grind up a strong gradient planned and struggle from our warm nook to meet a beautiful clear sky.  Rugged up with all sorts of cold weather attire, we make for the pointy bits.  How utterly exhilarating riding alongside powerful, crystal clear rivers/falls, up through fields mowed just for us whilst being rewarded with spectacular views across the See.  We cycle to the rhythm of tinkling goat & cow bells and heaving, flare our nostrils, desperately taking in the mountain air that’s garnished with the glorious smell of cut grass.  At the top, we sit on a bench with commanding views and imagine the 25,000 German soldiers marched out of here by the Americans at the end of WW2.  The plan is to whizz madly down the hill & wake the kids up for a swim in the lake before school.  But we freeze our bits off and opt to leave them (the kids) in bed with books and instead enjoy a quiet coffee by the lake before a hot shower!

A delightful post exercise breakfast is sprinkled with what words we know in Italian - including all those needed to play UNO.

School, reading, and then on with the skates and into the village, yet another superb day with blue sky, white puff clouds, warm air with a cooling breeze and more watercraft, although as it’s Monday, less than yesterday.

From across the lake admired our morning ride path, stopped for a double scoop icecream, then on around the lake till the path peters out where we spin and head for home, Wil streaking ahead, Kel gathering confidence but still very careful.  Can’t resist stopping to take pics of the splendid rim of peaks and the watercraft scorching about.

that's the morning ride!

Back at Ed, a short read (all into good novels) and then Jeff and Kel brave the crisp waters for another swim while Wil skids about on the bike and Jen quaffs a red wine on a lake side bench.  

1, 2.......

3!!!!

J+J enjoy more philosophical chats in the warming late afternoon lakeside sun while the kids play on the pulley raft, then in for showers, leftover dinner, a movie (Alice in Wonderland again), a book, and a bed.

14/8

We decided on the same mountain side bike climb as yesterday only this time we summited and thankfully took a camera to catch the splendid, almost unbelievable vistas.  On the way up, the farmers were out cutting their grassy fields for us!  On gradients so ridiculously steep that only olden day sickles will do the job. The soft threshing sound of the blade slicing through moist grass, broken occasionally by the rasping sound of the blade being hand sharpened, cows and goats rang out ‘congratulations’ and ‘morgen’ on their neck bells.

We whizzed home to the babes and readied for departure after maths.  The desk girls (one a ski instructor) provided awesome information about possible November skiing options on our return trek to London via Austria.

Drove out after emptying waste and water filling, shopped at a magnificent “Maxi Markt” and dribbled on along the fantastic highways aside the milky green rapid river and stopped at The LichtensteinKlamm gorge.  Walked the 1km from the carpark up to the gate, passing throngs heading down, found the line up to pay the E13 to be another 30m long, so spun on our heels, had a swing at the playground, told some stories about White Pup and Eeyore, and headed back to Eddie. Besides, we’ve seen an amazing gorge or two here and still wonder if any could rival Karijini back home. As year long travellers,we find ourselves having to rationalize expensive options like this. 

On northwards up the valley heading Salzburg-ward, found a lovely stop by the river at the foot of some truly awesome mountains, Jen made another incredibly tasty and healthy sandwich and a coffee and we sat on a bench in the shade of Ed (hot in the sun) aligned to the mountains, chatting about this and that and other important stuff.

Well satisfied with our lunch break we headed on to Werfen to explore the Ice Cave at Eisreisenwelt. Parked in the Stellplatz by the river and caught the bus up the steep hill, actually the very rocky mountains we admired over lunch.  The white building we presumed was a walker’s hut was actually the upper cable car station.  On the way up we passed a magnificent Schloss (Castle) and once we got to the gates and paid for tickets (E78 all up including bus trip) there was another 20min steep walk to the cable car, hot in the sun, carrying our extra layers in the bag and under arms, kids moaning about the uncomfortable heat and why on earth we need this warm gear.  The views below to the valley floor and mountains on the other side were literally breathtaking - an excuse to stop, take a few snaps, and pay off some of the oxygen debt.  Unfortunately no snaps allowed in the cave.

800 of such caves exist but none are all ice for as long … and it is the largest in the world!( 42 kms of cave but only 1 km is all ice)

As the conditions are controlled by closing off the cave entrance, the ice mass is actually growing in the same way stalagmites and stalactites grow. They are fed by the annual spring melting of snow and glacier above. Through the rest of the year, 4oo m of rock above keeps what’s there frozen.  Our spectacular entrance was marked by levitating wind speeds across the thermal gradient as the doors opened ( know to reach 90km/hour!)  

last walk to the Ice Cave

from the mouth of the cave, no more pics

Over to Wil……..

Ice Caves....
Do you know that unusual feeling, before an important event, of extreme anticipation and excitement? The same feeling that keeps a child up until midnight the day they lose their tooth, or before Christmas Day, or before the last day of school. Well, that was rushing thick and fast into my head when we pulled into a car park from which you can catch a bus to Europe's largest ice-cave network. We quickly changed into warm gear and rushed outside to catch the bus. The sun glared down from its mighty blue palace, and I wondered why we needed these track suit pants. About half an hour later, after scenic bus ride, a stunning stroll and a breathtaking cable-car trip, I found out. Our tour guide opened a door in a cave for us and, literally, I was nearly swept of my feet. A freezing cold wind that can reach 90km/hour was rushing out of the door, and we had to walk hunched over to avoid falling. It was a miracle our little gas-flame lamps didn't go out. Our tour guide was holding a coil of wire (magnesium) which was a welcome beacon of blinding white light amongst the (close-to) pitch black. Every second person had a lamp that was also emitting a soft, warm glow. Our tour guide gave us some quick information, and we trudged off into the great unknown. It took me a while to notice that the floor, that wasn't the boardwalk, was actually all ice. Then, and only then, did I grasp the true magnificence and grandeur of the caverns. I was intrigued by the magnesium as well. As we walked further into the cavern, the magnesium lost my attention. Quite abruptly, to be precise. No tiny bit of glowing wire could even dream of competing for a person's interest against the huge, imposing, a bit foreboding wall of ice that loomed up out of the ground ahead of us. Our tour guide told us about its history (in one ear, out the next) before ushering us up a set of 45° stairs up it's side. When we reached the top, and walked a little further, an equally breathtaking sight scurried hopefully into view. The huge curves and twists in front of us were called some Nordic god's palace. Lucky god. If a god lived here, his fingers would be purple and his ears would be bright red. Anyway, the so called 'palace' was extremely, unbelievably, unnaturally even, beautiful. Even more so when there is light behind it. The ice is made up of pale greens and blues, and its infinite murky depths conceal age old secrets not yet discovered. As we continued, we saw two more ice monuments. An organ, and a melting elephant. We continued to wind our way through narrow tunnels, in which you could reach out and touch the roof and both walls. We saw holes in the ice, places where pioneers are buried and a wind-swept wall with layers and layers of old and new ice on to of each other. About halfway through, the cold started to set in. I hastily pulled my gloves on, but it made little to no difference. By the time we got back to the door, I was torn between wanting to stay in the caverns for ever and wanting to run as far as I could from this desolate place of coldness. I heartily agreed with the wind as it swept me out into the warmth and sunlight. We sat down on a bench and took our gloves off. Big mistake. It felt as though something had crawled into my fingers and was scratching around. I sprinted into the bathroom an ran some freezing cold water over my hands. Nothing could have been more welcome. Now, an hour and a half later, I am thinking very differently.