Tuesday 20 October
We have a look at where this camper place is and realise it is near Wels where we were 3 days ago (about 2 hours drive away) and it isn’t 30 minutes up the road where they used to be. Oh well, Scot phones and we decide we really need to have the battery replaced so hit the road heading back where we have already been. It really turns out to be the best decision as Carolina speaks perfect English at the camper place and can translate for us so there isn’t any misunderstanding about what we need and a lovely man comes and takes our battery out – which when we see it, has a hole in the corner, shaved off by it jumping around in the back as it’s not properly secured. We can’t figure out how it could even still be holding a charge. In hindsight we were silly not to have had it checked in England but you live and learn what is necessary and we are fast becoming experts at what is required in a van when buying one. So the battery is replaced with a new one and even though it seems expensive for a battery (which it isn’t really), the leisure batteries are much hardier and work differently from an ordinary car battery so it really doesn’t matter the price because without it we cannot live in the van. So the battery is in and is properly secured now and we also have a new floor light which replaces one that nearly set the van alight and burnt a hole in Scot’s shirt. Plus it’s an LED one so it will never get hot and burn anyone or anything. Two problems solved and we are very grateful to them for being able to help us at a moment’s notice.
We head out, it is mid afternoon so we will not likely get to Innsbruck today but we will head towards there. We have to go through Salzburg and into Germany to get to Innsbruck as the land in Austria between Salzburg and Innsbruck is so mountainous that we cannot drive these roads in the van. So we head around Salzburg and onto the border but as we cross into Germany the traffic stops and we can see it is lined up for miles in front of us. We cannot get off anywhere and the right lane is chokka with trucks and we are in the left lane with the cars. We creep along a bit at a time and eventually we reach where the traffic is held up – by police searching cars and trucks for refugees. We aren’t a target so we get let through and are on our way on the highway. About 10 minutes later we see this van driving on our left hand side and Scot says ‘It’s the Trakka’ and I look and our Kiwi camper friends are driving alongside us holding up a little kiwi. How bizzare, in the whole of Europe and here we are on the same highway heading the same way. This is the second time we have run into them since we met in Riga. Rob pulls over down the road and we discuss where we are each going so we end up following them down the road to a free camperstop outside a guest house. There was no way we would have gotten anywhere near Innsbruck and it is getting late. It is lovely to have someone we have gotten to know to have a chat to for the evening. We go inside the guest house and have a drink at the bar and a catchup.
Rob and Sue tell us they are going to the Neuschwanstein castle which is on the border of Germany and Austria and is similar to the Disney castle. So we change our plans and decide we will go there as well but we both take different paths. We head away and decide we will travel via Innsbruck and then over the border into Germany. It is a beautiful day as we leave the guest house and head back towards Austria and down to Innsbruck. Innsbruck is a city that is surrounded by mountains and they are amazing and a lot are covered by snow. We head off the main path and stop in Innsbruck for a quick look at the surrounding scenery. It’s funny that you seem to see more amazing scenery every time we travel to another place. It is all amazing in Austria. We head out of Innsbruck and begin to travel on the road going north from here and into Germany. I realise that we are about to head over a fairly large mountain and the roads are quite steep but we know the van can take it. The scenery in this part is simply to die for with snow on the mountains and deep green lakes and of course the autumn colours which are spectacular to say the least. No photo will do this justice and as we stop at the summit where there is a restaurant and many other tourists you can see the look of sheer wonder on everyone’s faces at the surroundings.
We sat and ate our sandwiches in the sun taking in our spectacular scenery. The pass we are going over is the Fernpasse. I worry about coming down the other side and our brakes overheating but we seem to manage it without a problem. We reach the castle about mid afternoon and see Rob and Sues van and park up beside it. We leave them a message in case we don’t see them here and then look for the place that sells the tickets as they don’t sell them up the road at the castle. Actually there are two castles, the major one right up on top of the hill which is a hell climb and one at the bottom that King Ludwig II built for his parents. We only want to see the large one at the top but find they are all sold out of tour tickets for the day as it is a major tourist destination and there are hundreds of people milling around down the bottom. We can still look around the outside and part of the inside so we climb the hill to have a look. My body is not responding to the climb today and I feel unwell as we reach the top so have to stop for a rest at which time I spot Rob and Sue coming down. We say our hellos and goodbyes as they are now on their way to Bern and then off to France and Spain so I doubt our paths will cross again for a while. We look around the castle and Scot offers to take a photo for another couple as you do as you never seem to have any of both of you when on holiday. So they reciprocate and we get talking. The lady is German from Munich and the guy is half Greek so we learn a bit about Greece from him and the lady imparts some interesting information about the castle and King Ludwig II and his life that we hadn’t heard before.
The castle is amazing and we wonder at how someone can wish to live in such a massive place such as this. It took about 15 years to build as much as has been finished before he died. They say he was crazy but I am not so sure they were right. Maybe he just had different ideas from others.
We head down and leave the castle area and find a camper stop place which we are finding more of and love them. They cost from nothing to only a few euro to stop for the night and some have electricity plus toilets and showers and some have none of the above. The cheaper the better and now that we have a new battery we don’t have to worry so much about electricity except when it is really cold. We pull in and the gym across the road is the reception place, shame we don’t feel like a workout as it may be free. There are a couple beside us and the lady is German and the man is Dutch. Agnes is a lovely lady who loves a chat and she keeps us out chatting for an hour or so but it is getting cold and we haven’t set up so we say our good byes and set the van up.
