Thursday July 11, Heiterwang

A ski town just over the pass.

Woke this morning to a rather grey day and a few spits on the roof, with a forecast for heavier rain later. Said goodbye to our German neighour, Olaf who spoke very good English. A very interesting guy who is taking a work break for a few months and travelling in his motorhome. We enjoyed a long chat over a few drinks last night.

Our plans for the next week are to explore some of the mountain areas of Austria, driving some of the passes and enjoying the scenery. Today we wanted to drive the Flexen Pass through to Lech then follow the Lech River North to a camping spot we had found just out of Reutte. Set Jilly to not use the motorways, but the drive to get to the pass took us on some very minor roads, so we opted for the motorway and for the first time heard our Go Box beep as we passed through the electronic scanners on the motorway, pleased that it is working correctly although have no idea how much is being deducted from our €75 account.

The drive up and over the pass was absolutely spectacular, and the road was extremely good and quite wide. Ian really enjoys these sorts of roads and there wasn’t a lot of traffic so he could take his time and have a good look around. Stopped at the top and rather brisk as only 11 degrees. This is ski country and we passed a number of “ski towns” with many guest houses and hotels. Wanted to stop in Lech and have a look around but unfortunately couldn’t spot a parking area for us. The rain held off although the skies were very threatening.

We turned onto the 198 which was a great drive following the Lech River in a valley through the mountains. Found a spot to pull over for a late morning coffee, with same great views looking down the gorge to the glacial blue river. And everywhere there were little wildflowers, picked a nice bunch for my we vase. One of the mauve flowers which looks like clusters of tiny orchids on a stem has the most delightful perfume.

Continued on passing through a number of villages along the way, but by now the rain was just starting. It was almost 3 o’clock when we finally arrived at the campspot, once again a nasty red cross on the sign stopped us driving through the village as the road was dug up. We had to return to the main road and take quite a detour to come back in from the other side. This is a large carpark for a restaurant where they have set up power points and dump facilities for campers.. This afternoon the rain really came down for a few hours, so feet up with the book. There are 15 campervans here tonight.

With umbrellas up, we walked across to the restaurant for dinner this evening. What a great experience and the owner really reminded us of Faulty Towers. He would break out in song, and start to yodel, then put some great rousing Austrian music on. The room itself was all timber with high vaulted ceilings. It was a limited menu but we opted for the traditional Weiner Schnitzel – using veal and it was so tender and tasty. A great night.

The road we went through to the top of the pass,
just carved out of the mountain.

At the pass, the water seemed to be
naturally coming out of this rock.

Stunning scenery.

Looking down on the Lech River

I just love the wild flowers at high altitudes.

View from our camp tonight.

Loved the interior of this restaurant.