Author: CaravanRamblings

We were only intending to stay at Campingbad Ossiachersee for a night or two as a stopover on the final leg to Croatia. However, we have liked the site very much and the area is so stunningly beautiful that we will have been here for nearly a week when we leave in the morning.

It has certainly been a bonus to have had such beautiful weather. Highs again in the mid 20s but nice and pleasant overnight as the temperatures fall off rapidly.

In preparation for our departure, we spent much of the morning packing away and restocking our provisions. Mo seems to think Croatia and Slovenia might not be quite first world countries – I think she’ll be in for a surprise.

In the afternoon we cycled into Villach and looked around the old town, stopping later for a beer.

Some pictures follow of the town and it’s church and also of Landskron castle – which we didn’t manage to visit on this trip.

Yesterday was a quiet day, shopping trips and a cycle in the evening to Villach – all on dedicated cycle paths – around 11 miles round trip.

Today we left the campsite around 10:45 and headed to Annenheim to catch the water taxi (although some around here think it’s more of a cruise than a taxi service!).

We bought a “round trip” ticket for about 25 Euros and travelled to Ossiach, where we had previously cycled several days ago.

We looked around Ossiach Collegiate Church and walked around the outside of the former monastery which was situated here.

The church décor was magnificent but whilst on the surface, many of the features appeared to be constructed of marble, they were in fact all painted wood. Painted very nicely though.

Lunch was at the restaurant Naturgasthof Schlosswirt. Food was great and very nice service from the friendly waitress who did her best to translate the menu.

Mo had two “giant” meat-filled noodles whilst I opted for the Schnitzel wrapped in rosti potato and cheese. The accompanying salads were very nicely put together and extremely tasty.

It’s been a really hot day today and on our return to the campsite plenty of time for a spot of sun bathing.

Monday was a mixture of dry spells and heavy showers so it was a good day to catch up on some chores. It was nice enough by the evening to fire up the BBQ and to eat outside.

Today we woke up to a beautiful morning in Annenheim on Lake Ossiachersee and decided we would cycle the 30km around the Lake.

There are cycle routes in abundance around here and the entire route around the Lake took some 3 hours. Not entirely effortless cycling, the route is classed as moderate.

The 3 hours included a stop half way for our picnic lunch and also some sightseeing.

Note for the future – don’t bring so many provisions from blighty as there were many nice places en route for lunch out…

When we arrived back at the campsite, the sun was still shining amidst clear blue skies so I decided to launch the drone for some aerial photography.

A selection of photographs follow, taken by the Mavic pro which was hovering over the lake. Lot of fun but it’s still a bit nerve racking as I haven’t really figured out all the controls properly. It is however, an amazing feat of engineering, both hardware and particularly software.

Fortunately the drone hasn’t acquired the Wannacry malware and demanded some Bitcoins for its safe return to base. Maiden flight on foreign soil…

Evening will be another BBQ I expect.

After a busy drive on Friday we didn’t much fancy negotiating the Munich A99 ring road on Monday morning so we decided to move on today, armed with various suggestions of where to stay in Austria as we head further south towards Croatia.

We left Camping Lech just after 09:00am. The stay cost just short of 30 Euros each night which is a bit more than the ACSI pricing but whilst we paid something for electricity, it wasn’t metered and in the end didn’t cost too much more than Camping Prumtal where we managed to gain an 11 Euro electricity bill for the 2 nights!

The journey today was around 250 miles and the traffic was light with no heavy goods vehicles on the road.

About 20 or 30 miles short of the border between Germany and Austria we stopped for fuel and to purchase the Austrian vignette. We bought a 10 day pass for around 8.90 Euros. The 10 day pass appeared to be the shortest one this particular garage was selling. We don’t  know if that’s usual or not.

It took us around 5 hours to travel the 250 miles to Ossiacher See and we chose Camping Bad Ossiacher See, mainly because it’s only a mile or two from the motorway.

This is an ACSI site and the lady at reception was very friendly and helpful. We were offered any pitch for the ACSI price and we chose one nearer to the lake which we believe normally carries a surcharge.

The lady at reception did such a good job of selling the area that we will probably stay around 5 nights and one day will cycle around the lake and another day, cycle to Villach.

Because we are staying a bit longer we decided to use the Isabella Sunshine awning which whilst not as easy as the sun canopy, provides more space and shelter, although after tomorrow the weather looks to be improving throughout the week with forecasted highs of 28 degrees on Thursday.

We caught the bus from right outside of Camping Lech, destination Augsburg Hauptbahnhof from where we visited the Fuggerei village.

The Fuggerei is the world’s oldest social housing complex still in use. It is a walled enclave within the city of Augsburg. It takes its name from the Fugger family and was founded in 1516 by Jacob Fuggerei the younger (known as “Jakob Fugger the Rich”) as a place where the needy citizens of Augsburg could be housed.

The village despite the many tourists, is still occupied but the rent, which until recently, had been a single Euro per annum is now around 88 Euros p.a.

The Mozart connection.

Later in the day we visit the Hofgarten and the nearby cathedral, Dom Mariä Heimsuchung.

Dinner was excellent at Bayerisches Haus am Dom, in the company of our close friends from Munich.

A thoroughly enjoyable day…

A prompt start to the day, leaving Camping Prumtal just before 09:00. Our journey was plotted at around 320 miles but this increased within the first half an hour as the road south to Triere was closed for maintenance.

Apparently there are a lot of roadworks taking place all over Germany at the moment, but especially on the A8 From Pforzheim to Stuttgart and then onwards to Munich. It’s a Friday, traffic is insane, weather was atrocious in places and the German drivers were extremely courteous to the UK Caravanning fraternity.

In then end, we arrived Augsburg around 4:00pm and the temperature on arrival was 22 degrees and the sun was (still is!) shining.

Another first for us at Camping Lech and we have a lovely pitch next to the lake. Gabi was very helpful in the prior exchange of emails and whilst their stated closing time is 18:30, she had said she could accommodate an arrival as late as 20:00.

A selection of pictures around the site follow and once this blog is posted, it’s off to the bar / restaurant for a pizza.

Another glorious day here in Oberweis – highs in the mid 20s. A late start after a very long day yesterday and the last camper to pick up their “early” morning bread order. Still, the Onion Baguette was a little different and very nice with marmalade for breakfast!

The new shower block is even plusher than at first sight. The walk-in showers have underfloor heating.

Visited Bernkastel and had a picnic along the banks of the Mosel.  This is a very pretty town – selection of photographs below.

Evening we had booked a table at Kohler Restaurant which, whilst open to the public, also serves as the campsite restaurant.

Menu is extensive and the food absolutely first rate.

The caravan has been parked at Bishops Green Farm since Sunday whilst we finish off the final preparations. We have just bought “front” panels for our Isabella sunshine awning and we wanted to make sure that everything fitted properly – and it did.

Bishops Green Farm Camping and Fishing lake is located close to Newbury and near to Ecchinswell of Watership Down fame.

The site and facilities are immaculate and pristinely clean.

We  have however, been cheating and staying at home in the evenings and overnight as we have had so much to sort out.

Tomorrow we head to Folkestone and the tunnel to Calais and onwards to Germany.

It looks as though we may be heading off on Euro Trip 6 in around 10 days. Nothing is booked yet and the van hasn’t been used since September of 2016 but it was serviced as per the schedule in January.

First job is to motor-move the van from its storage location onto the drive for a thorough clean. It’s been a damp winter and the roof in particular has much algae on it – the van looks more than its 2 years of age and it takes all afternoon and the following morning to restore its pristine condition. I used various Hozelock brushes along with the soap sticks. Finally I sprayed the van with a solution containing “Bobby Dazzler” and all looks good.

Next item to investigate is the ATC (Alko Traction Control). Following a couple of threads on Caravan Talk, ours doesn’t appear to be working correctly, if at all. In particular, winding back a couple of years we were speaking with a couple at Bilbao discussing the ATC led and noted that their LED illuminated at connection whereas ours didn’t click into position until the engine had been started.

This was tracked down to a blown fuse on Pin 9 of the 13-pin electrics and a fantastic explanation from a CT (Caravan Talk) contributor about how in this situation, the ATC at engine-on would effectively gain it’s power from the leisure battery as the fridge signalling cable indicates engine-on.

Further work revealed that two fuses on the Towbar electrics has been swapped around at install and the 20a fuse was on the fridge signalling cable and the 5a fuse which blew, on the Pin 9 permanent supply. All now rectified.