Walks, waterfalls and (city) walls

So another week and a bit, and another blog. Number 24 now, blimey you must all be getting fed up with our tales by now!

Last entry was from Oberstorf where we'd arrived the day before. Once the blog was compiled and Jase was back from his ride we took a lovely walk into town for a wander around and a stunning apple strudel mit ice cream - yummy. The weather had turned for the worst into the evening, pouring with rain, but that didn't stop it being Friday night Pizza night at the English van! Again more yum!

Saturday morning and the previous night's rain had cleared to leave a beautiful clear day. Jase and I donned our walking boots and backpacks and set about walking up to Seealp at 1,280m - this was the first stop on the Nebelhornbahn, but finances being what they are, we decided to walk it instead! The initial few miles were pretty steep from town, past the ski jump and on up towards a waterfall - this really was a walk that just kept giving. Just as you thought you'd seen the last of the river, or the best falls section, you turned and found another.

The climb at times was fairly tricky, with lots of loose stones and slippery roots, so I was glad for my boots and walking poles. The views from the top were stunning - down over Obertsdorf and around the stunning crystal clear lake.

We stopped and had a picnic lunch before heading back down - the weather was on the turn, but we managed to make it back down to town in time for a well earned ice cream! The evening was rounded off doing some washing - I know, the glamour!

Sunday morning and again lovely and sunny. We had more of a challenge today because the weather was forecast to turn thundery again, and earlier in the day plus we had a walk we wanted to do but washing to get dry! Cue a hastily erected indoor drying room in the van! We managed to get all the smalls hung up around the windows, and took a view with the bigger stuff to hang out on the line, planning to be back before the forecast rain was due.

We were both a bit weary from the previous days walk, so this one was set to be a little gentler along the river valley and to the Cristelssee. Again views all the way along were stunning, and the lake itself was amazing - literally lurid green! On the return leg we sat streamside for a picnic lunch and refreshed our feet in the water (freezing).

We made it back with about an hour to spare on the washing and I'm pleased to say it all dried beautifully.

Monday morning and a fairly early start as we were hitting the road. Our first stop for a wander around was the town of Fussen, after a quick dive around Lidl, we found a good parking spot roadside and had a walk around. The town itself was full of architecture covered with detailed paintings - really cool. It was also dominated by a hilltop castle - most of the detail around the windows etc is actually painted on.

Our lunch stop was a nice quiet car park with great views of the surrounding hills - they really seem to be picking up in height now.

Onwards to Garmisch-Partenkirchen which we planned to stay in for a couple of days. Now, as mentioned in last week's blog, we'd found Germany to be way more expensive for Aires than we'd hoped - we had expected to have to pay, but we were expecting more in the way of services in return (electricity, water etc). But this having not been the case, we decided to take a bit of a flyer and stay the night in a swimming pool car park - it had been noted on Park4Night, and the views were simply stunning.

Having found a suitable discrete spot, next to some Italians, a French van and Spanish camper soon joined us so we felt quite at home.

The pool itself had a really good write up, so we decided to head in for a dip (thinking if nothing else, the showers ought to be worth it!). The pool was fab - the first one a lovely 32 degrees, so nice for bobbing about in. We then did 15 lengths of the 34m main pool, only to hear an announcement that the waves were starting - cue reminders of the Swindon Oasis back in the mid 80's for anyone local! I'd forgotten what fun that is! We then braved it on the 2 slides - the first being a very steep sheer drop - my swimmers are by now sporting a far bit less elastic as they fought a losing battle against the water! The final bit of fun was the springboard - my swimmers really let go here, but I'll say no more about that!

Once we'd had as much fun as we could handle, we headed for the showers. Every bit as lovely as they looked on the way in, although we might have caused something of an international incident by walking wet back into the changing rooms while everyone else literally got naked in the shower area - oh well! We had a lovely chilli to round off the day, and had a thankfully peaceful night, albeit with the occasional train horn for company.

Tuesday morning and with no visible issues from our overnight stay, we headed into Garmisch for a wander around - for anyone that isn't aware, the two towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen are separated by about 2kms and were drawn together following the 1936 Olympics, which I now realise was a bit of a smoke screen for Hitler! Garmisch is very much the modern part of town, with Partenkirchen being much more ornate in design.

It was here we located the best coffee house this side of the channel - we'd already been in one place for a coffee and a bun, but on seeing this uber cool place, we had to go in. They were roasting on the premises and were so welcoming it was a breath of fresh air. The coffee was simply stunning.

We'd decided that with no issues at our poolside residence we'd stay another night (as the French van was too). To a degree it was fine, but I had a bit of a restless night hearing all sorts of strange noises - mostly people emptying their recycling Jase assured me!

Wednesday morning and we decided it was the right time to leave the poolside car park, and headed for the other end of town where we could stay by the ski jump for €2.50 for the day and night. Once parked up (not without its politics!) we packed our backpacks, put on our boots and headed up another hill. There was no real destination in mind, just to see the sights, and it's fair to say they didn't disappoint.

Back at the van for a well earned giant bowl of pasta - over the past 5 days we'd walked no less than about 30miles, most of it uphill!

Thursday morning we had to be away from the car park by 10am, or feed the meter again, so we packed up and headed on our way towards the Chiemsee. The drive was pretty much ok until we hit a big traffic jam about 30miles out. We'd been really lucky with jams to this point, but Germany was proving to be the exception (another strike against our time here). We opted to head away from the motorway and found ourselves on a parallel A-road moving quicker than the jam.

After another Lidl pitstop we found a car park right on the side of the Chiemsee which was €4 for the day and then €10 for the overnight stop - not bad for a lakeside location, although we were fairly hemmed in & without any services. Anyway, we paid our money and took our picnic lakeside. It was another lovely day, so the "beach" was fairly busy. We enjoyed a really lovely lake dip just as the rain clouds started rolling in. The "beach" and most of the car park duly cleared fairly quickly, and in no time we were left with the other small vans ready for the overnight - the access to this car park means that only small vans can use it really.

Friday morning and we'd decided to pre book a campsite just outside of Salzburg to enable us to have a day in the city. Being high season we've been avoiding campsites since we left Epernay, but managed to find this one for €20.50 per night which isn't too bad. On the way we wanted to see the Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden which was Hitler's hide out, but the weather really wasn't playing ball with very low cloud and rain. We opted to roll onto the Konigsee which was just up the road. Again, we got lucky with the parking as just as I was about the feed the meter (Germany really likes to take money at every single possible opportunity), a Spanish van came and offered us their which had hours left to run. We donned our rain jackets and headed out towards the lake with more stunning views. Even more unexpected was to see and wander around the Bob and Skeleton tracks from world cup events. The clouds also lifted briefly to give us a glimpse of the Eagle's Nest - not as fancy as we'd expected, but for it's time, pretty impressive a build.

Back at the van, and after a quick lunch we headed on towards our campsite for the next couple of nights. Arriving at a campsite in the pouring rain, freezing cold and when the farmer is spraying the next door field with sh1t is never the warmest welcome, but undeterred we pitched up and made ourselves at home having our first glass of wine since we left Epernay.

Saturday morning and things look much the same weather wise and with the same aromas all around! We'd got details of the bus timetable from the site owner and wandered the 4 minutes to the bus stop ready for the 10.33 bus. When it did eventually turn up some 10minutes late, it merely rolled right on past with the driver shaking his head in an "I'm full you unlucky wet people" sort of way. Heads fairly well dropped at this point and in a period of 3 weeks, where Germany and Austria has had many last straws, this really was the last one. The next bus was at 11.33 so we walked back to the van to temporarily dry off, and plan our move somewhere else. We've both really tried with this part of the world, but with a combo of some of the rudest people I've ever met, a feeling of being fleeced for every penny I've got, through to deteriorating weather, we'd both had enough.

Being British though, we weren't going to miss our day in the city so we headed back to the bus stop, and with some relief, this one stopped. We still had to stand the whole way, but at least we made it. The walk around Salzburg was lovely - it's a walled city with very impressive cobbled streets where the usual brands try and fit in. The cathedral was particularly impressive inside.

The rain turned on with a vengeance around mid afternoon, so after a lovely Starbucks (don't judge, it's been 6months) we headed for the bus stop, thinking we'd be ahead of the masses. Oh no, cue more barging than you'd see at your average ice hockey game, I've honestly never seen anything like it. Grown women pushing small children out of the way to make sure they get a seat. Just confirmed our decision to run from the hills!

Back at the van, we tried to dry out as best we could and make our escape plans. I don't want to offend anyone (especially as we have family living in Germany), and maybe, as one of my friends has suggested, we've just relaxed into the French ways more than we think, and can't integrate back into a higher tempo lifestyle now, but Germany and Austria just aren't for us. The scenery is lovely, but everything else just doesn't feel like fun anymore.

So now to today, Sunday. We packed up this morning from our fragrant farm and headed down towards Salzburg Airport to Hangar 7 which is a free museum run by Mr Red Ball housing his collection of F1 cars, planes, bikes and helicopters - all right at the end of the main airport runway.

After a nice wander around, we headed for the motorway and back to Germany. We had an journey time of 3hrs back to Bad Waldsee where we can pick up some supplies for a job Jase wants to do on the van. Unfortunately due to border control at the Austrian/German border, this journey took 5hrs. The border essentially funnelled 4 lanes into 1 and had 1 person peering into the odd car. I have no issue with border control at all, but it has to serve a purposes which this did not - other than reminding us what life will be like post Brexit!

Our plan from here is somewhat radical. Having said Auf Wiedersehen to Germany we will be heading back to France and over towards the Limousin, and if time permits Bordeaux. This is an area we've not visited before, so should be good. We have a fair bit of driving ahead of us, but figured there is little point in keep plundering our pot of money if we aren't having fun.

More when we can, but for now stay safe all

J&J x