Friday 22 June 2018

Salsburg

Daytrip out from the hotel to Salsburg today. Can't quite believe how lovely this place is. 



We went on a guided walk with a local lady who had a strong accent and a very strange sense of humour! She was a bit difficult to understand and already I can hardly remember anything that she told us. She was very disappointed with the inaccuracies in famous film called 'The sound of music' though. 
However, it's a beautiful place with lots of over the top buildings. 


The weather changed completely today and it is much colder. It got even colder as the day went on and we spent the last happy hour sheltering in a bar with a glass of wine watching the world Cup. 

Penkelstein lift and lakes

Stunningly beautiful walk today. We caught the Hahnenkamm lift to the top of the mountain and then walked along the top to the Penkelstein lift. This turned out to be a major junction with lifts appearing from all directions. 





We stopped for a break by the lake and then another lake, then the cafe, then a lunch break, and then yet another cafĂ© before properly starting our walk down. 


It took quite a while and we got a bit worried about the time, so jogged little sections to try to make up for the earlier dawdling about. After whizzing along, cutting hair pin corners through grassy fields and downhill striding, we arrived at the bottom of the mountain, but around the other side from our hotel. 
Our cunning plan was to catch a cable car from there back up to the top and then another one straight back down almost to our doorstep. 
It all went well and we got back to the top before the lifts stopped for the day. We also notched up our longest day of the holiday. 

Wednesday 20 June 2018

Summer in the mountains

Today we spent some money and bought a lift pass, so had to make the most of it, by catching as many lifts as possible. We started with two cable cars up to the very top of the mountain on the opposite side of the valley, reaching a height of 1,900 metres.
It was a beautiful day and we didn't even need to wear a jacket. There was loads of people sat around just taking in the view and picnicking. 



After doing the same ourselves, we set off downhill and along the top of lower mountains and stopped for lunch in the sunshine. 



We then set off hiking along the wiggly path behind Daz, over the mountain in the distance and we then got to the best bit, a lovely paddling pond and sunbeds. 




We lazed about for a while and then caught the slowest two person chairlift down to the town. It was so peaceful, just like sitting on a descending balcony and finished off the day very well. 





Hahnenkamm downhill ski run

Yesterday we went for a big walk to the top of the Hahnenkamm lift and found the top of the Hahnenkamm ski run, which is one of the steepest and famous in the world.
At the top they have set up the starting gate so people can stand and look out to see how steep it is, and on the way down they show the route and it is possible to follow sections of it. 






We got to one corner of the path and there is a television screen showing highlights of the skiers at that section, and the notice says that they reach speeds of 140 kms per hour! 
It was like the side of a cliff in sections and they do the whole course in less than two minutes. It took us two hours to walk down. 
Finally, our hotel is in a lovely position and we could see it from the restaurant right at the top. 



Monday 18 June 2018

Day two at Kitzbuhl

The weather forecast for today was terrible, but it rained all night and had stopped by 10am, so we were soon up and out.
Our hotel manager recommended that we do a round trip via lots of little villages including one called Aurach. 
We had a lovely day, walked 17kms and are going to go for something more adventurous tomorrow. 







Sunday 17 June 2018

Kitzbuhl

We arrived in Kitzbuhl in Austria last night, and we set off to explore today
The weather was was beautiful and the staff at the hotel recommended a walk along the valley. It seemed a good way of easing slowly into the holiday, rather than setting off straight up the side of a mountain. 


It was quite a trek though and we walked for about 20 kilometres over mainly gentle hills. The scenery was amazing and we passed three lakes and people were happily swimming and splashing around in two of them. I tested the water and it was surprisingly pleasant, but I haven't brought my bathers so I won't be going in for a dip. 







Sunday 3 June 2018

Rolling Stones at Coventry City

A couple of weeks ago Daz found out that the Rolling Stones concert at Coventry City football stadium was not sold out, so he bought us two lucky dip tickets for £30 each.
We drove down there yesterday and parked in a field a couple of miles away from the stadium. It was a lovely day, we got to the show nice and early and went to the ticket collection point. 
It was quite exciting as we were given a random blank envelope with two tickets inside. 





I opened it and we found out that we were on the fourth row with a good view of the stage. Daz looked up the tickets online and they were on sale for £130 each, so it was a really good lucky dip for us! 
The Specials were on first and they were showing their age a bit, also we didn't recognise many of their songs, but good overall. 
Next up was the Rolling Stones and they were fantastic! Mick Jagger was leaping about like a teenager and the others were quite lively too. 
Fantastic evening and we afterwards we raced back to our car park and managed to avoid getting caught up in the mass exodus home.