DAY 97 SATURDAY JUNE 30 KLAGENFURT

Had the hotel buffet breakfast and loaded up ready for the big race.  We do not do much work at the race but we will be up at 4am to get to the start tomorrow and will be in the hot weather all day.  Bevan and Vanessa went to register and submit their bikes and bags with clothing and food for safekeeping at the changeover stations. We caught the no. 10 bus to the Woerther See and found a huge hive of activity with people getting ready and queueing to leave clothes and bikes.  We found the finish chute

and saw a lot of grafitti on the paths where the runners would be, encouraging their friends.  We walked along the beach  where the swimmers will start at 7am and up the 300 metre canal to find the ramp where they come out of the water and run to the bike transition area.  We tried several spots to try and locate the best place to get close to the competitors.  The bike ride heads away from the town and as the temperature was 36C today and predicted 39C tomorrow we decided not to venture that direction.  Klagenfurt is more than 600 metres above sea level and the lake is fed by snowy mountains but the water in the lake was measured at 24.5C so they banned wetsuits.  Vanessa was especially disappointed to hear this because she will still feel cold at that temperature and she needs the suit to help keep her afloat in the fresh water.  We caught the bus back and had a quiet evening in the hotel.

DAY 96 FRIDAY JUNE 29 MORE OF THE AUSTRIAN ALPS

Our bus to Salzburg left at 11.15 and was crowded when it arrived and the grumpy driver insisted all our luggage go in the underneath lockers. Bevan and Vanessa struggled to jam their bikes in. At the next stop a class of schoolkids crammed in.  Lyn took two photos of the hotrl and bus stop while we were waiting.

Because of the crowd on the bus we got off at the station one minute after our train was due to leave. B&V carried their bikes up the escalator and hopped on the train with them but the guard made them get off again and take them up to the luggage van, so the train was seven minutes late leaving. We settled in comfortably for a 3 hour trip to Klagenfurt where the Iron Man Race will be on Sunday. The train took us through spectacular country with beautiful mountains either covered in tall trees or showing patches of snow; lovely little villages with flower decorated balconies everywhere; glacial-fed streams flowing next to us; long tunnels through the mountains; steep ascents finally reaching 1300 metres.  We could have taken 100 photos but here are a few:

The train was delayed for reasons only explained in German over the loudspeakers so we arrived an hour late in Klagenfurt.  By the time we walked to the hotel (in 39C heat) and B&V got back to the race centre it was past 6pm and registration had closed, but they got to go to the welcome dinner of pasta.  They told us it was not up to the standard of Busselton and Melbourne.  After the weather cooled a bit we wandered around at 7pm looking for somewhere to have dinner, but found the streets deserted and only a few people sitting in the open air restaurants, nearly all of whom were sipping drinks or eating ice cream.  We thought we might have left it a little late, but found an excellent Japanese Restaurant in the main square.  By the time we had finished and were walking back to the hotel, most of the places were filling up and at 8.30 they were ordering their meals.  As we approached the hotel we saw B&V were also just arriving back with a mature Japanese man who was staying in the hotel and had gone with them to the welcome. He was happy to have some company who could speak Japanese.
The temperatures are predicted to be in the high 30s until Monday which will suit Vanessa but not Bevan.  Fortunately our hotel has individual air conditioners in each room so we can cool off.  In our travels in UK - Europe we seem to go from one extreme of temperature to the other, but we expect to be in warm to hot weather for July.

DAY 95 THURSDAY JUNE 28 ALPINE WONDERLAND

We fronted up for breakfast at 8.30am with Bevan and Vanessa and found the most elaborate breakfast buffet we had ever seen. Took our time and had our fill but made little impression on the huge amount of food there.  Bevan had planned a bike ride for us today, so we went to the hotel bike rental garage where the selection was just as incredible as the buffet.  Lyn was given the latest e-bike with lithium -ion battery and motor on the chain wheel.  Malcolm was given a road racer with drop bars but swapped it for a super lightweight road bike with straight handlebars and narrow tyres.  So we were both equipped to handle the hills that are everywhere around here.  B&V used their IM bikes.  We set off up the first long hill away from the lake on a wide separated bike path next to the main road.  Lyn zoomed up the hill with Malcolm pushing hard behind her and we got to the top feeling confident.  As we headed downhill we were relegated to a shoulder on the road itself, which disappeared after about 100 metres.

THE BIG DOWNHILL

  As we were now into the traffic, Lyn decided to call it a day and found her own way back to the hotel down the bike path.  The other three hurtled down to Wolfgangsee (plenty of references to W A Mozart here) which proved to be even prettier than Fuschel.  We continued on to Mondsee which was used in the Sound of Music then followed back roads through farming country next to beautiful rushing mountain streams even more impressive than the Scottish burns we had seen.

REST AND WATERING SPOT

The last 9 km of the ride was hot and hilly so B&V cooled their heels waiting for Malcolm to ascend slowly.

CRESTING THE 3KM LONG HILL SOAKED IN SWEAT

WAITING, WAITING

AT LAST! HAD TO WALK UP THAT ONE - NO GRANNY GEAR

NOW FOR THE BIG DOWNHILL BACK TO FUSCHL LAKE

After Malcolm had a shower to cool off we had afternoon tea by the lake, then rested till dinner.  Bevan booked a table at a restaurant right on the edge of the lake.  The temperature had dropped comfortably, the food was delicious, and we had very enjoyable conversation.  No power boats are allowed on the lake to preserve its purity, but electric ones are permitted, so there is an evening cruise people can do on a tiny ferry with a man playing the trumpet in the bow and the sound echoes around the mountains.  They passed by our table twice.  To finish our meal we had the house special desert of Salzburger Kochel which was a large plate of stewed berries hiding under a huge sweet souffle.  It was meant for two people but we cut it into four.  We stayed until they turned the lights out at 10pm.  Another wonderful day.

DAY 94 WEDNESDAY JUNE 27 FUSCHL AM SEE

THE MOUNTAIN

VIEW OF HOTEL FROM OUR WINDOW

At  9.15am we caught a 150 bus which took us through the mountains (over 700 metres) and dropped us right at the door of Bevan and Vanessa's Hotel (Mohrenwirt).  We poked our head in the doorway and realised this was the dining room,  not the reception, but we saw Bevan and Vanessa having breakfast right next to us.  We sat down with them and received a complimentary drink while they finished breakfast and they introduced us to the staff.  Jacob, the manager/owner is an Iron Man athlete and is keen to attract athletes to the Hotel.  All the staff were friendly and we noticed that the Austrian girl who booked us in was called Evelyn.  The village of Fuschel am See (on the lake) is surrounded by mountains and all the houses have bright flowers in boxes along their balcony rail.  The lake is 4 km long and is fed by mountain streams.  Jacob says "you can drink the water in the lake".  We explored the village, which is really "Sound of Music" territory, and bought some Austrian bread and cheese to eat as lunch in the residents' kitchen. Meanwhile Bevan and Vanessa did a "short swim" across the width of the lake as part of their taper for Sunday's race.  At 4pm they took us on the 10km walk that goes right around the lake,  passing a little fish farm and going through forests of high pine trees.  The sign said it was a 3 hours 30 min walk but B & V do it in 45 minutes when running.  We took 2 hours 30 mins.  The clouds disappeared on the way so we were quite hot when we got back and had half an hour before going to the dining room for a 7pm buffet which was bountiful.  To cap off a magnificent day we heard an Austrian Band start to play on the stage set up in the next street.  They were all dressed in traditional clothes with knickerbockers, long white socks, red waistcoats, blue blazers, Austrian black hats and pig tail tassels.  There were about 40 in the band and the music was outstanding, ranging from Verdi to Elton John (Can you feel the love tonight).  They finished with the Radetsky March which lends itself to audience clapping.  The highlight of the night was a 15 year old boy who played the xylophone as lead instrument for the William Tell overture. More serendipity!  Bevan went to the bar to watch a boring soccer match between Spain and Portugal.

OUR AUSTRIAN LUNCH

CUTE TRIKE IN OUR LOBBY

THE LAKE

THE BAND

DAY 93 TUESDAY JUNE 26 BACK TO EUROPE

We had been planning this day for a long time,  working out how we could get from Leith in Scotland to Fuschl am See in Austria in one day.  In the end we managed to do it in 26 hours. Starting at 8.30 from our Premier Inn we caught the number 10 doubledecker hybrid ecobus to Edinburgh Waverly Station where we boarded the 9.30 East Coast train to London Kings Cross, getting a free lunch served to our reserved  seats in the first class coach.  Crossed the road to St Pancras Station, negotiated the French Immigration Police (who were far less inquisitive than the English ones - Why are Aussies interrogated by the poms every time they enter England, when the Belgian, Dutch , Irish and French just give a perfunctory stamp?),  and crammed onto Second Class Coach on the Eurostar to Paris, leaving at 3.01pm.  Another mystery here - Why, when we possess First Class Rail Passes for both Britain and Europe did it cost us $130 to travel by train from London to Paris (or twice that if we had chosen First Class) in conditions worse than any of the trains we used within England or Ireland?  That is, in fact the same price we would have paid if we had bought concession tickets, so we saved nothing.
We advanced our watches by an hour in the chunnel and arrived in Paris Gare du Nord at 6.17pm.  We were then about half way to our goal.  Since it was our first time in Paris we had some trouble working out how to use the Metro to get to Gare de L'Est,  but received some useful help from two elderly French gentlemen, one who sold us his unwanted tickets and another who reassured us we were stepping on to the right train because there was no indicator board on the platform that had the words Gare de L'Est on it.  Always difficult when you get off a train in a new city and we always seem to head in the wrong direction.  At 8.05pm we boarded the City Night Line train for Munich and climbed up onto our top bunks in the Couchette while four young girls occupied the intermediate and lowest bunks.  It was a tight squeeze but much better than trying to sleep in the Day-Night seats which we could have had for nothing.  All the double suites were booked out months before.  The train pulled into Munich Central at 7.10 am and they announced that the train on the next platform was for Budapest via Salzburg with Railjet.  We had reservations on a train that was to leave an hour later but we jumped on the first class carriage of this one which gave us a very comfortable trip with lovely scenery, arriving at Salzburg 9am.  We were surprised to see very few old buildings here and wondered whether this was because of the bombing.  We had managed to get from Edinburgh to Salzburg in 24 hours and still felt OK.

LIGHTHOUSE ON THE FIRTH OF FORTH NEAR OUR ROOM

VIEW OF BRITANNIA FROM NEAR OUR HOTEL

ON THE TRAIN FROM MUNICH TO SALZBURG

ALPINE LAKE FROM THE TRAIN

ARRIVAL AT HOTEL MOHRENWIRT

LATE BREAKFAST WITH BEVAN AND VANESSA

DAY 92 MONDAY JUNE25 EDINBURGH CASTLE

We joined a long queue to pay 13 pounds each to enter Edinburgh Castle (Cardiff charges 15) and passed through the tattoo quadrangle with its huge banks of plastic seats.

CASTLE DOMINATES ART GALLERY

MY ONLY PERFORMANCE WAS WIGGLING MY EARS

We went through numerous museums and admired the views from the ramparts.

SCOTTISH TANK IN BELFAST IN 1970S

HUGE FIREPLACE FOR THE OFFICERS DINING HALL

WAR MEMORIAL

TURRET FOR THE LONE PIPER

ROUGH ABBEY SHOP AT END OF ROYAL MILE

DAY 91 SUNDAY JUNE 24 OBAN

With some days still available on ou Britrail Pass we chose to do a tour of the Western Highlands today.  We tried to plan a trip to Malliag and Fort William but that proved too far so we went to Oban, which is on the coast near The Mull and Iona.  It proved to be one of the most beautiful train trips we have done.  It took us alongside several Lochs including Lomond, past many hills which would be completely covered in snow in winter and through a narrow pass between the mountains.  Oban was a very lovely little town with a busy ferry service to the islands and a huge tower built by McCaig in 1900.  On the way home we saw a beautiful village next to a lake. Next best thing to a trip through Canada.

SCOTT MEMORIAL IN EDINBURGH

VIEWS OF LOCH LOMOND