Austria ... Mini adventure 2009

Driving to Austria from Scotland by mini ...  a great holiday and a mini adventure in every sense of the phrase.

Our destination was Inner Alpbach in the Tyrol. It was a bit of shock to arrive - in early July - to find our first twelve hours giving hot sunshine and then snow !  But fortunately this was short-lived and that morning was the only poor weather experience we had, and I'm getting ahead of myself.

The journey had begun with the Scotland to Zeebrugge ferry and having landed at 9.00am we zoomed off through Holland and Belgium into Germany.  We hadn't booked anything so stumbling upon the lovely town at Wurzburg at the end of a long hard day was the ideal start. With a lovely old bridge, beautiful spires, the river Main and sleek trams this old university town is a great spot to relax.

From Wurzburg it was on through Garmisch and into Austria by Bavaria. Wurzburg is in northern Bavaria and the contrast with the south of this huge area is quite marked.  By the time we emerged into Alpabach were were in the Alps, and the snaking drive up the valley was a good full stop to the day's driving.

Our first morning in Alpbach was bizarre. The temperature had plummeted overnight to 6 degrees and it had snowed. Thankfully the day improved rapidly and afternoon brought clear blue skies and soaring temperatures, this was much more like it. An early morning walk on quiet zig-zagging mountain roads became a favourite and acted as the perfect pre-breakfast exercise.

There are heaps of great drives near to Alpbach. The one that I would say is a 'must not miss' experience is the Grossglockner.  It is a private road in that you have to pay a fee, but I wouldn't hesitate to pay the small cost.  Firstly the scenery is breathtaking, classic Alpine mountain views, second the wildlife is great too and finally the road is stunning.  It is a wide road, easy to drive but with enough hair-pin bends to make for a real experience.  If you do go I'd suggest you visit the lovely Natural History museum where you gain a real insight into the animals and  plants that surround you.  As well as a superb inside museum experience there is a marked flora walk outside the museum.  

     From here we headed up to the top of the Grossglockner where the views are if anything even better. The Swarovski Visitor Centre isn't far from here and I'm glad to popped in.  You can see the huge glacier (although as the displays make clear nowhere near as big as it once was) and it was near here that we spotted our first Marmots. It's a great day out and if like us you call into St Johann   If you are thinking about visiting the Grossglockner than here is the link to the website (in English) http://www.grossglockner.at/en/

It wouldn't be Austria if there wasn't a reference to cable cars.  And the cable cars make for good high level walking, no matter how late in the day you elect to start. Kitzbuhel is one of the great ski centres in Europe and was arguably one of the first. It's a lovely place to visit in the summer and the pastel shades of the buildings give it a really calming influence.

North of Alpbach, to the north of the River Inn is another great drive and one that you can easily combine a walk with. 

Inner Alpbach is a classic Tyrolean village. In the winter it is a ski centre but a fairly small one with not too many big hotels. In the summer it is transformed into a walker's paradise and the many tracks and trails make for great days out.  Butterflies, bees and a range of upland birds make for a good wildlife experience.

Sgor Gaoich

Glen Feshie arguably the loveliest glen in the Cairngorms. From here the slopes of Sgor Gaoich open up invitingly. A gentle path from the car park at the end of the road takes you up onto Carn Ban Mor.

 

It's a grassy path initially with big, open views all around until you reach the ridge that leads to Sgor Gaoith.  The short, clipped grass giving way to a more stony top, but not one that is hard to navitage across in good visibility.

 

 

A highlight on the ridge and on the summit is the view down into Loch Einich and across to the likes of Braeriach and Cairn Toul.

 

 

Another good outing for my 20 year old Hot Ice rucksack !!

 

Broad Cairn

Occasionally you set off on a hill-walk in the rain anticipating a fairly horrible day with little to see. However, from time to time the weather can turn during the day and that was our experience on Broad Cairn.  From dull wet weather to sun shine, it was a great day out.

 

From Loch Muick we took 'the lightening' path and this gave us a great close encounter with some red deer hinds.

 

 One of the reasons for picking this walk was the fact that the paths are quite clear, which in a bad day can be a real bonus.

 

Our garden

At the end of a long day there is nowhere quite like a garden to relax.  We are very lucky with the spot we have.  South facing in the main we benefit from the drier climate that the east of Scotland offers ... and I say that after several decades trying to nurture plants in the much wetter west of Scotland.

When we got this garden it was just a plot, so we have had all the fun of planning and planting on a blank canvas.  Would we do it differently if we had the chance to start from scratch again ... you bet, but that said it hasn't turned out too badly.

 

To get from the above to what follows was great fun. Once the house was complete the first task was to get to work on turning the earth over and raking out all sorts of stones.  These varied from fist-sized right through to some that needed two of us to remove.  Wheelbarrow, after wheelbarrow followed, but gradually we had a soil that we could rake before laying the turf and erecting fences and a greenhouse.

 

 

 

 

Every garden needs a helper or two  The two that we have offer limited help !

 

 

 



Cairngorms

Cairntoul, Braeriach, Ben MacDui, Lochnagar ...   so many classic mountain names and so many great outings in one spot.

I'm not sure when I first fell in love with the Cairngorms, but after years of walking in the western hills these were a welcome change of scenery.  Vast plateaus, stunning long views and more often than not quite dry underfoot ... now that really was different.

The wildlife is marvellous in this area - from adders and lizards to golden eagles and red deer. I bought a Nikon D40 in 2009 and the first day I took it out we came across an adder near Derry Cairngorm. Unbelieivably lucky and what a great wildlife experience.

 
The Lairig Ghru is one of the great sights in this region. I had a great overnight here with my father in law, stopping in the Corrour Bothy on a summer Sunday night. A slightly damp weekend it was nevertheless marvellous to wake up in such a fantastic spot and the sense of silence first thing in the morning was eerie.

The remnants of Caledonian pinewood here are absolutely stunning, the smell, the colours and the beautiful shapes.  Heading north to the Pools of Dee and scrambling through a wonderful boulder field we eventually emerged into classic Scots Pine woodlands and within minutes had our first sighting of a crossbill. Yes, there is so much to see in this area no wonder it draws you back like a magnet.

Montalbano

What to do when you have to reluctantly leave your Italian holiday behind ?  

Read Italian books, of course.

David Gilmour's - The Pursuit of Italy is one of my favourites and R J B Bosworth's Mussolini's Italy is another fascinating read.  But for real escapism I love the Montalbano detective novels.  The scenery, quirky characters, amazing food and sheer love of humour jump off the pages. 

Another highly enjoyable element of Andrea Camilleri's series is the superb cover artwork in the Picador series.  I find it a tough call to decide where Camilleri or Michael Dibdin is my favourite at the moment. The Zen detective novels are another really well crafted series, and whereas Montalbano is set in Sicily where the dry, arid landscape often dominates, the Zen novels are by and large set in Rome with frequent interludes in Venice. As you can imagine the sophisticated Rome life-style seeps on to the pages and the escapes to Venice bring that watery wonderland to vivid life.  Both series are finding huge popularity in Britain now withe t.v. adaptations lending a boost to their coverage.

Provence by Mini - the Vaucluse

 

Provence is a fantastic summer location.  The Mediterranean climate, the consistenty high temperature, the lovely fruit and vegetables, the honey, the wine and the magnificent hill top villages. There is a lot to see if you are on holiday and a return trip is hard to resist.  Favourite spots I'd pick out in terms of villages are Bonnieux, Gordes, Lacoste, Lurmarin, Oppede le Vieus, Rousillon, Venasque, Les Baux.  For scenery I'd say that Mont Ventoux is a must and if times allows the larger town I'd visit is Avignon.

 

St Saturnin Les Apt is one of ourfavourite destinations in this region, and it is a wonderful base for popping of to visit a range of superb hill top villages.  I suspect it has undergone something of a makeover in recent years.  Many of the roads and paths are in stunning condition and the sandy buildings are well cared for with few run-down options left for those who revel in 'a project'.

 

If Roman history is your thing then it would be hard not to visit Glanum. It's a great site and the visitor centre is one of the best I've been to. The French equivalent of Historic Scotland look after this site and it's a great place to spend a couple of hours. I'd make time to enjoy the visitors centre (a cool option on what can be hot days) and don't miss out crossing the road for what I heard one little boy describe as the 'mini Arc de Triumph'.

 

 

 

The Abbeye de Sanque draws many visitors. It's a lovely medieval Cistercian abbey and is one of the best places to see Provence's famed lavender fields. Home to Cistercian monks it was apparentelyh founded in 1148. Just north of Gordes you reach it by a 'B' road which in recent years has been made one way to ease the flow of traffic.  The old building sits in a valley floor and the surrounding lavendar fields make this a photographer's dream.