We happily left the Natters See camp site near Innsbruck this morning - not because of the camp site itself which is beautiful - but because of the influx of football fans. Some were there when we arrived and some more came during the evening. A converted coach had arrived by this morning painted in the blue and yellow colours of the Swedish flag - goodness knows how many bloke were staying in that! Steve heard some chanting at just before 4am - and he had earplugs in. Others were up and about, noisily, by 7am. The day was predicted to bring many, many more of them. When Steve went into the washrooms he could only communicate by saying Abba and Volvo - not words that were useful in that situation. A nod and a smile was more useful.
So we had done our research last night and found a nice campsite in a town called Prutz, westward of Innsbruck along the A12. It is high up in the Tyrol yet we are surrounded by mountains many thousands of feet higher. Many of them snow capped. We were surprised at the number of tunnels along the A12 and the length of them - one was over 3 miles long - that is some cutting into the rocks! It was a wonderful drive with scenery to die for at every turn.
The weather has thankfully cleared and the day became progressively warmer and sunnier - more to our liking. We found the camp site easily and set up, had a quick lunch and decided to explore the area by cycle. We rode alongside a very fast flowing river - white water rafting scenario - in the bright sunshine with the snow capped mountains surrounding us on either side and the air as fresh as you can get it. We had a whale of a time riding through meadows filled with wild flowers, tree lined paths by the river and some more strenuous parts as we started to gain height. The bonus was that we had a ride downhill on the way back!
We passed a herd of very pretty alpine cattle with their bells on - babies they were really and very photogenic as you can see in the pic. We also saw many stacks of mown grass that were piled high to look like spooky straw monster monks in procession. I even poked my hand into one to see what it was covering but only felt a wooden pole. What is that about then? - see pic. Aftr our cycle ride we treated ourselves to a huge ice cream from a local shop and sat and ate it in beautiful sunshine - we really crave that!
We rode on to see the local church which is in a beautiful setting - see pic - and had a beautiful graveyard. Nothing like we have seen in the UK - every grave has a wonderful headstone with a small garden area fronting it. The flowers are all fresh and they are immaculately tended. It made us feel quite humble.
Steve was also surprised by the number of large wood piles around each property - no problem here with a smoke free zone or gas bills - each house has a massive wood pile - some of them are quite decorative as they pile the wood in an attractive pattern. The one in the pic attached was an ordinary one that Steve wanted to show the size of compared to him.
There is wifi on this site too and we are using the same while we sit in the caravan. The dishes are washed and stacked after a lovely meal of Thai green curry and rice.Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are setting off along a 26 km mountain drive to a glacier at about 9000ft. We will need our thermals on and a cuppa soup for our return.
This evening we are continuing to plan our route and get the driving directions. Watch out for the glacier pics tomorrow - hopefully.
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