Join us for a 9-day holiday trip by coach to Austria, staying at Schüttdorf, close to Zell-am-See, 12-20 August 2000. We'll be touring the sights and musical box chalets of both Austria and Germany as we venture into Bavaria and the Tyrol.
Each article can be accessed by clicking/tapping the fourteen photos below. A link on each page will bring you back here.
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.
We are heading back to 1982 for this entry. Long-standing readers will know that I have a vast collection of photographs from my freelancing days from the 1970s through to 90s.
Every now and then as technology gets better and screen resolutions get larger I get the urge to re-scan my old film negatives and the quality always makes me feel it's worth the effort. It could be the scanning software (not though the scanner which I don't upgrade as often), or it could be Adobe Photo Shop software. It could even be my skills with the Adobe. But probably not...
Anyway whatever it is, the photos here were taken on 5 May 1982. On this day we had driven up to Ambleside in the Lake District and walked up the river or stream - I'm never certain as to whether there are rules that say when a stream becomes a river... Anyway the water in this case is called Stock Ghyll. "ghyll" is a northern word for narrow valley or ravine or mountain stream and is derived from the Norse "gil". We climbed up this fairly steep ravine as far as Stock Ghyll Force - "force" being another local word for "waterfall".
At the time I was regularly supplying photographs as stock images to a number of magazines. The two local magazines most inclined to actually use them were Lancashire Magazine which at the time was a bi-monthly magazine who encouraged me to start writing articles for them and Lakescene - What's On In Lakeland which was a small A5-size magazine that gave a monthly round-up of special events taking place in Cumbria over the next month.
Despite the small page size, Lakescene printed one photograph full page every issue on the right hand on the first opened page. Two of the photographs from this article would eventually make their way onto this exalted page.
Which is the reason why I took so many of them in portrait orientation. I used to research my magazines quite thoroughly. What was the ratio of colour to black and white? In 1982 only top end magazines had much colour apart from maybe the cover. Lakescene, with a relatively small readership, used black and white even on the cover and making that spot was an even more satisfying achievement than their full-page "page 3" spread.
Then I checked the ratio of portrait to landscape photos, whether human figures were always/never included, whether views were identifiable or general, whether they were balanced, tended to be dark or light in tone, whether they were always taken in sunshine or was bad weather sometimes included etc. If you wanted to be successful it was no good sending a magazine photos that they would never even consider. Doing your homework was essential. Editors were busy people. They would send your photos back (if you had supplied a stamped and addressed envelope) but never, ever, with a letter saying "We would have accepted these if..."
And here, having walked back down the hill into Ambleside, taking photos all the way, we arrive back to see Stock Ghyll make the stone-lined curve at the foot of the hill to flow underneath the quaint Bridge House.
Wednesday 26 September 2018. Our final day before flying home tomorrow. Our port for the day is Split in Croatia. We have been here a few times so have booked our only organised trip of the week for today.
We are taken by coach to Krka National Park near the border of Croatia with Serbia. A feast of waterfalls that I have seen described as both "spectacular" and "boring". Make your own minds up as you go through these very selective photos. I took well over a hundred during the day. What a good job we didn't have my good friend David the clicky monster with us - we'd have had to have dunked his camera in the water to stop it smoking...
Our guide told us the usual bits of history and culture on the way here and mentioned the park's wildlife. It has, we are told, bears, wolves and Croatia's most venomous snake, the antidote to which must be administered within forty minutes or death will overtake the ambulance...
"However they tend to keep to the higher ground and all we are likely to see will be ducks and fish..." And breathe... Once at the park we have a quick comfort break and then we are given a map and choose to walk through it on our own, having made sure we know where and when to meet up again. The boats on the river far below will be another part of the tour as we will meet up with the bus somewhere else following a short river trip on one of these boats.
The route around the park was by following a raised walkway made from wood. It was easy to follow and we could make our own pace. In fact despite us setting off first, the rest of the party overtook us at one point and were then overtaken by ourselves once again.
There were large waterfalls and small waterfalls. Some tall, some short. Some wide and others narrow. Some fast and some slow. It was most certainly not boring. There were quite a lot of people walking the wooden trail in both directions and several languages to be heard.
There were plenty of fish to be spotted in pools and streams. From tiny fry to foot-long adults they swam in shoals amongst the lily pads.
And the ducks. That's alright, we don't need to see the wolves, bears and poisonous snakes thank you...!
There's a spell of smaller falls, cascading over short drops.
And then a long drop into a large pool below.
Each rush of airborne water accompanied and set off by luxurious greenery.
The faster moving falls create their own foam even after a relatively short drop.
At this point water flowed in numerous streams under the walkway. There was a large party of young people in these blue sweatshirts. They are from Heidelberg University.
At every large fall there are people standing with their backs to it taking selfies with an outstretched phone in hand. "This is a picture of me obscuring X. And this is me hiding a lovely view of Y. This one is me with a dog's nose and ears..." If anyone is miffed at there being so few pictures of me, please let me know... Well? No? Thought not! ☺
We are getting to the end of the trail and the most spectacular view of all. At this point it is permitted to swim. Our guide had warned that it would be cold but it didn't prevent quite a few people from stripping off and getting into the water.
We are near the meeting point for this last view of the falls. A bridge takes people for a closer look but apart from me and a Japanese girl taking a photo of her friend who hadn't noticed and was busy picking her nose, everyone else on the bridge was staring at their phone!
It was lunchtime. "Fancy a sandwich?" asked Fran. It was crammed full of ham and cheese. We ate 1/3 of it each and admitted defeat at that! On a nearby table a little girl from Nottingham, either two or three years old, was singing "Let It Go! Let It Go!" over and over. The cold never bothers me anyway...
Our meeting point was a pole with a solar panel on top. "You won't miss it..." our guide had said!
From here we make our way to the boats for our river cruise back to where the bus will be waiting.
Even having left the waterfalls behind, there is still some spectacular scenery!
The boat takes us to this small village whose name I failed to hear, see, ask for.
"Follow me, straight to the coach!" said our guide loudly. However... "I've lost my husband!" comes a voice. Had he mistakenly gone off with another group, wondering where his wife might be? No... he had just decided he wanted a drink and thought he was more important than everyone else. The mind boggles! He hadn't even taken his wife!
On the way back in the coach we are coming down the mountain road towards Split and in the middle distance pass a fortified hill - Kaštel Gomilic - which is the location for the city of Meereen in TV's Game of Thrones.
