Sunday July 21, Altenmarkt

A wet and busy drive this morning

What a storm we had overnight, and this morning it was very grey and drizzly which soon turned to heavy rain. In hindsight we should have just stayed put, not only because of the weather but also it was Sunday and the roads were extremely busy. Such a shame as we caught glimpses of great scenery through the mist and rain.

We also discovered that the Austrian government have closed some of the “free” secondary routes in the region during summer weekends, making drivers use the motorways. At this time of the year many tourists travel through Austria on their way south to Italy and Croatia for their summer holidays adding to the chaos.  Very glad that we organised for a GoBox to pay for our motorway travels.

Had planned to follow a “yellow” route through the mountains to the lakes around Bad Aussee, but once again a hiccup when we saw a sign banning vehicles over 3.5Tonne. Although we are 3.85T, we may have got through, but often these signs send up warning vibes that the road is probably not the best for bigger vehicles. So we took the soft option of using major roads!

It was getting onto mid afternoon and we decided to find a place to stop rather than go to the lakes. Thanks to Park4night we found a great camping spot in Altenmarkt, which also has a washing machine, so sheets off the bed and the washing is on. Found that there are some good cycle paths along the valley, and maybe we will stay a little longer and get the bikes out tomorrow.

…and the laugh of the day. I got the box of eggs from the cupboard to hard boil some to go with the potato salad for dinner. On opening I wondered what sort of eggs they were as the shells were really shiny. Had a close look, translated and realised I had bought hard boiled eggs, and they came with a packet of salt!!! Lucky I wasn’t planning on scrambled eggs for dinner!!!

Checking out the neighbours!

An appropriately named town!

The "surprise" hard boiled eggs even had a sachet of salt.