Friday 18 August 2000. Our early morning walk before the coach is a slightly longer one as it will be our last. [sniff!]
We are heading for Krimml in the Hohe Tauern National Park. On the way we pass an old steam locomotive by the side of the road.
Now, never mind bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens, waterfalls are one of my favourite things! England has some extremely pretty ones but nothing on this scale. I'd been looking forward to this visit since we booked the holiday! Please note: we start at 1100m above sea level. There is some climbing to do...
Krimml has the longest waterfall drop in Europe. It drops in three stages and we have arrived at the bottom of the final stage. In total it drops 380 metres (1246.72 feet) with the top and bottom drops being 140m (459.32ft) and the middle drop being 100m (328.08ft). That's just the difference in height. From top to bottom (or bottom to top) you climb the path for 4.2km (2.6 miles).
Pete and Derek from the coach left their wives below and went storming off at a rate of knots, determined to reach the top. The path zig-zags steeply up the hillside and few people were running...
We've climbed 70 metres vertically so far up the winding path. That's somewhere just over halfway up Blackpool Tower... There was a fair bit further to go yet though - we were only just getting going! My head knew that... My feet and legs were beginning to think I'm an idiot... The path is steep. In places it is as steep as the stairs in your house!
This is the top of the bottom fall and the middle fall can be seen above it. The stream does a graceful zig-zag from the middle fall to the lower fall.
Then on reaching the top of the middle fall, a swiftly tumbling stream came into view, leading up to the higher fall glimpsed between the trees. Yikes... that looks another long way up!
A bridge crossed the stream before we reached the higher falls. Very picturesque and an excuse to stop for a bit of a breather!
Who was this handsome devil leaning against the the bridge parapet and trying not to look as though he's gasping for breath?
Time was getting on. We wondered whether to carry on higher or to turn to be able to both eat and look at the souvenirs on offer back at the bottom. I wanted a look at the higher falls. I zoomed off ahead at a snail's pace... This was as far as we got - 1,330 metres above sea level, 230 metres (754.59ft) higher than when we set off. That means we have climbed the equivalent of one and a half Blackpool Towers!!! We wanted time to eat and also to just sit and watch the water at the bottom. Heck, we just wanted to stop shaking...!
By mutual unspoken agreement (we couldn't talk by now...) we turned and retraced our steps. Not much further down was a restaurant on the way down and we ordered wiener schnitzel each, having been told not to miss the chance of trying it. It was excellent and we both enjoyed a really great dinner. We were the only ones there apart from the staff.
We had ordered in German and after a while a waiter came in and rattled something off that I didn't catch. Presuming it to be "Is everything ok with your meal?" I just answered casually, "Ja, danke!" upon which he beamed and nodded, opened the windows, turned the stereo down and left...
On the way up we had walked past most of the viewpoints in order to keep going upwards instead of detouring. So on the way down we went to have a closer look at the falls from the viewpoints at frequent intervals.
Even though we had marvelled at the falls on the way up, the views from some of the platforms built as viewpoints were superb. Spray from the roaring falls filled the air around us, brightening the mountainside with unexpected rainbows. We were still quite high up here and had yet to make our way down to the bottom of the falls. We were at the top of the lower of the three falls. The rapid clomp of feet came behind us - Pete and Derek on their way down. They had made it to the very top but reported that the rains of the previous two nights had washed part of the path away and they had been forced to tread on the brink of the drop!
The rocks at the bottom of the falls gave us a natural seat and grandstand view. The spray dampened and refreshed us and apparently the water has taken such a battering by falling so far, it is enriched with negative ions and is very refreshing and a restorative for asthmatics!
We had around a quarter of an hour before we were due back at the coach and stood by the river which tumbled away from the falls in a cascade of white water rapids.
The water, when I tested it with a hand, was icy cold betraying its glacial origins. The spray too was cold and refreshing and it was only when we started off towards the coach park that we realised we were soaking wet...
Back at the hotel, we walked once again down to the lake at Zell-am-See for one last look. This time the weather was a little more kind to us! As we walked back along the lake there came a shout. Sarah was swimming in the lake, also having a last fling. Tomorrow will be the long trip through Germany and Holland to our overnight stop in Belgium.
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