We have just completed six days in Austria - John's choice as he wanted to visit the place he last went to 50 years ago. Needless to say it was a little more developed but equally as lovely.
We spent our week cycling via the lake (today's photo) at Zell em See to Kaprun - we did this trip twice, once with a small group and once on our own. On the first trip we did the last part from the lake to Kaprun on our own while the guide returned with the Scottish couple who were with us and a little less ambitious - however we found out later that on a slightly different route back the lady had fallen off and been taken to A&E with a fractured shoulder - this was her second fall as just before they returned she fell on the gravel while trying to avoid a horse and a dog - unlucky or what! The bikes were Eco bikes so you could switch on the battery pack to give you a boost if you needed it ......as the journey to Kaprun was flat we resisted the temptation even though the bikes were quite sturdy heavy machines. We did however need to use the boost when we decided to cycle up a mountain on Thursday - really exhilarating and it still required plenty of pedaling - coming down was scariest part as it was gravel and very steep. Part way down we stopped for a lovely lunch in the sunshine.
On Tuesday the weather was very wet even so, we donned our wet weather gear, and decided to walk with Hannes, the very personable activities lead, to a mountain house where Fritz lived. Fritz is now retired but he is frequently used as the face of Austria - he has an enormous prize winning beard and looks like a traditional Austrian. In his lovely home mountain side home he brews beer - a very small glass gave me a hangover almost immediately which lasted for 24 hours - a nice flavour but clearly not a drink for me!
If there had been 5 of us he would have cooked a traditional meal - something sadly we were unable to taste but we did enjoy the views of the lake from his prime location.
Apart from Tuesday we were really lucky with the weather. I made good use of the gym and the pool - I did 50 lengths everyday - it was a really nice sized pool with plenty of room so it was a pleasure to swim in.
Saturday saw us depart from Salzburg nicely refreshed after an energetic but satisfying break.