Joys of European Caravanning

Tunnel all booked for April and Route completed which can always be changed as we go along.                                                                                                                

This year we will have a different trip in as much we will be spending more time at Campsites en-route with no 6 week stop on the Ossiachersee due to the closure of Jodl Camping which has left a deep hole in our Trip.  

Another reason is we will be leaving the caravan at Camping Vierthaler below Salzburg, by kind permission of Family Vierthaler, then drive solo to spend a week up in the ski village of Hochrindl in Karnten with the Thaler Family previous owners of Jodl Camping. 

On arriving at the Belgium/German Border the German Police had set up a Border Post.  There was no queue and we were waved straight through but there were 4/5 cars being searched by about 50 Armed Police.  This was set up due to the Brussels Bombings.  

We arrived here in good time for our 21st visit and found everything as excellent as usual a wonderful 5* Very Friendly Camp Site.  Free excellent WiFi all over site.  We visited the Restaurant 6 times over the 8 nights here,  It really si so good and very reasonably priced too.

The weather has not been too good and we have been waiting for it to improve so after 8 days decided to abandon the idea of meeting Lutz at Heidelberg as he invited us to park the caravan at the back of his house and sleep in the house for a couple of nights which we really appreciated.      

On the way to Bernkastel we came across this view which we thought quite spectacular.

Mosel High Bridge
Hochmoselbrücke
Zeltingen-Rachtig, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
518 feet high / 158 meters high
689 foot span / 210 meter span
2016

We had a very wet journey down as it started to rain as we left Oberweis which then turned to Snow which thankfully did not settle.  We had a lovely evening with Lutz and a lovely meal out at a Winery in Hocheim then early to bed in a lovely warm room.

After breakfast we went for a ride out to the Campsite where Lutz had had is caravan on a seasonal pitch which he has now given up.  On the way back we called in at the lovely city of Limburg to visit the Dom (Cathedral).  Will post photo's later as having problems with those taken on my iPhone.  From here Lutz took us into Wiesbaden for a trip on the Neroburg Mountain Railway powered by water.

The website for this site is here  The Owners are very friendly and helpful.        

The Site itself is very clean. neat and tidy with lawned grass.  There are 3 separate areas for Touring Caravans and Motor Homes with water and electricity nearby.  The Toilets and Showers are 5* heated and spotless.  The Laundry Room is situated in a second Toilet Block at the top of the site.Charge is 2.40 Euro's a load.

White rolls are 30 cents each which you order and collect from reception. WiFi is excellent over 80% of the campsite by Hotsplots charges as below buy at the Reception.

12 hours    2. 00 Euro's

24 hours    3 Euro's.  

3 days        5 Euros.  

7 days.     10 Euros.                                                                                                                 

This is a wonderful city on the Tauber.  Very very old City. Website to look at is here     You park in one of the car parks outside the various Gates and walk in as cars belonging to residents and Hotel guests are only ones allowed in. 

This Site is excellent for visiting Regensburg it was newly opened last year when we visited it and still everything looks new the Toilets, Showers etc pristine.  As it was Ascension Day Holiday weekend it was quite busy.  We decided, not as we did last year, and not stopping more than one night to go for a standard pitch and found the ACSI Card pitches were all in one area one side of the roadway grass and the other bare.   For 3 Euro's you can have a bigger pitch higher up the Site.   

This is our 3rd Year visiting this camp site it really was such a good find.  website here for all details.  The owners Herr and Frau Vierthaler are such friendly and helpful people.  The views from the pitches are fantastic.  Every year the views are different due to the weather Snow or no Snow, this year snow.  There is a full review of this Campsite on Page - Austria Campsite Reviews on this Website.                                                                                              

There are so many wonderful places to visit from here.

ie:-  Berchetesgaden 33 miles.  Salzburg 30 miles.  Hallstadt 40 Miles. Wolfgangsee  across toll mountain road 41 miles.  Main Road 57 or 66 Miles which way around you go via Michelin.  Zell am See  34 miles. and round trip up to Saalfelden across the Hochkonig back to Campsite 72 miles. 

When you stay here at Pfarrwerfen a trip to Berchtesgaden is a must it is a wonderful town.  You can follow the 159 through he towns of Golling, Kuchl around Vigaun through the larger town of Hallein and on to Kaltenhaus where on both sides of the road is the large Hofbrau Brewery.  On the left side they have a huge restaurant which we visited for Coffee it was huge in there and had many rooms.  Across on the right hand side is the Brewery with a shop where you can buy Steins, Glasses and of course Beer.

Here are a few photo's of this lovely town where it is easy to park in a large underground Car Park in the center of town.  It has of course got a lot of history with being able to visit the Eagles Nest,  The Documentation Centre of WW11 artifacts with a Tunnel underneath you can walk along.  Higher up on the Obersalzburg is the Turken where you can walk down steps in the Bunker     where the tunnels led to the Berghof.    Here is a link to Obersalzburg.

Travelling from Campsite to Werfen and then Golling and turning right just before Golling town proceeded to Abtenau just before there turned to the left onto a small road signposted Wolfgangsee at Voglau where there was a large Furniture Factory.  Following the road up and up with wonderful view over valleys and snowcapped mountains we reached a sign saying Maut the German for Toll.  There was a machine so put in our 10 Euro note and hey presto the barrier went up and we were on our way again.  This pass leads to Postalm and skiing resort where the only Restaurant was open so as it was coffee time in we went a very old typical Austrian ski lodge.  Wonderful Coffee and Hot Chocolate and very friendly owner chatted to us.  Then on our way to, on this occasion, and drove to the little town of St Wolfgang home of the White Horse Inn.  Note if visiting only one way into the town park in the 3rd Carpark, which was 2 Euro's for 2 hours, as that is nearer to the town.  We had our picnic lunch by the see and then it started to rain quite heavily so we proceeded to the Whit Horse Inn on the See side and had a Coffee and Sachertorte till it subsided then did a bit of present shopping before returning to the car.  Decided to travel home by the main road via Bad Ishl, end of the Hallstattersee, Gosau, Abtenau, Golling, Werfen and back to caravan.          

We were so lucky to be able to visit the past owners of Jodl Camping in their new home in the Mountains 1,500 metres above sea level.  The House newly built was finished in September when they moved in after the closure of Jodl Camping on the Ossiachersee.

Page 2 of 13th Trip 2016  Here