On the road again!

The adventure continues and so far there is only one fixed goal - spending New Year's Eve in Sicily. As already mentioned several times, we will spend the winter in southern regions and the summer in the north.

For the rest of the calendar year, we plan to explore the countries along the Adriatic coast up to Greece and then cross over to Italy by ferry.

But first, a brief review of the time since the last entry:

As you know, our last destination was the wedding in Stuttgart. On the mountains of the A8, Freudolin's whistle, which had been present for quite some time, developed into a full-blown whimper with a lack of drive. Since carrying wasn't an option, there was only one choice - professional help. Well, more or less. At least we were somehow towed away somewhere. From Pforzheim, we continued with public transport to Stuttgart, where we arrived just in time for the wedding reception with a three-hour delay.

After a week, we were able to pick up our Freudolin healthy in Pforzheim. We used the following days to sort out our belongings, so that we were well equipped to start towards Slovenia.

Day 26: Use all the comforts of a bath, fill the water tanks, and off we went from Freiburg towards Lake Constance. When considering where we would spend the first night, we realized that Chrissy and Marcel, two friends, are on a short trip in Austria and this is on the way. So we briefly consulted them and arranged to go on a hike in the Bregenz Forest the next day.

So we were able to determine the cable car valley station in Schoppernau as the overnight destination. The way there was already overwhelming, the mountains of the Alps are a different caliber than those of Ireland. Although we only had 10 days off, we needed the first night to get back into the swing of things.

Day 27: After a slightly bumpy morning routine, we headed to the meeting point at Hochtannberg Pass. Chrissy and Marcel had already selected a very nice tour, which took us to Körbersee via Salobersattel, the most beautiful place in Austria. There we took a break and enjoyed the prepared delicacies.

This spot on earth is really beautiful. Since we weren't done here yet, we took a detour via Neßlegg in bright sunshine, from where we went steeply uphill back to the parking lot. We had a super nice day. Many thanks to Chrissy and Marcel, we were very happy that you took time for us. To everyone else: Think carefully about where you go on vacation in Europe, we'll be there faster than you think. ;)

After saying goodbye, we looked for an overnight place that was roughly on our route. At the foot of the Zugspitze, we spent our coldest night of the journey so far. Luckily, we upgraded our sleeping bags and didn't really freeze inside the bags.

Day 28: Enjoying a smooth 3°C, we had breakfast with our cereal bowls, jumping around the bus to enjoy the view of the surrounding mountain landscape. On this day, we wanted to cover some distance. Google Maps led us via Innsbruck to the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy. During the crossing, we realized that there is a huge outlet center right on the border. A blink of an eye later, our bargain hunter gene activated and Freudolin was parked in the parking garage. In our defense, we only bought useful hiking clothing. After a short detour through Italy, the path led us back to Austria, more precisely to Lienz.

There we had a nice pitch right by the Drau River directly at Dolomitenbad. Since a little hygiene was needed again, we paid the entrance fee and splashed and swam in the 32°C warm water. Afterwards, we extensively used the temperature-controlled showers.

Day 29: Today, we actually headed to Slovenia. We entered Slovenia via the sometimes adventurous Wurzenpass. In Kranjska Gora, we visited the tourist information to get some recommendations for hikes. Standing in the parking lot, we wondered whether there was a church or a disco going on. It was the exact intersection of both - an international bodybuilding competition :D From the abundance of suggested routes, we decided on a rather easy one to the two waterfalls of Martuljek - we should easily manage the 7 km.

Until the first waterfall through the beautiful gorge, we only wondered why everyone else was walking with hiking poles. On the way to the second waterfall, it quickly became clear to us that the trail, classified as easy to medium, was turning into a climbing adventure in some places. It was definitely worth it, but we won't underestimate 7 km that quickly again.

Meanwhile, we have chosen an idyllic pitch right on the Save River as our sleeping place. Surrounded by mountains, we are already sitting slightly freezing in the riverbed and writing this entry.