Austria 7: Hohe Tauern National Park

25 - 28 June

Rocky mountain high

It was only 25 miles to our next planned stop at Heiligenblut but we set off reasonably early in order to have a relaxing afternoon there. The site was idyllic, rather like being in someone's very large garden. The mountain views were lovely, facilities excellent and a restaurant/bar if you wanted it.

Heiligenblut is at the start of the Grossglockner mountain pass through the Hohe Tauern, which is where we headed next morning.  There was no way I was going to drive up and down the steep road with 36 hairpin bends and John did a superb job. We climbed from 1300 metres at Heiligenblut to a maximum 2571 metres at Edelweiss Spitze, the road's highest viewpoint, stopping frequently to take photographs and/or let the van's brakes cool down.

The road you see goes right around the mountain

There was a very interesting exhibition about the history and construction of the road at Fuscher Lacke. The  Glockner route dates all the way back to the second millenium BC (supported by archeological finds). The current pass was built between 1930 and 1935 but allowing for winter breaks, work was only possible for 26 months of those five years.

The whole experience was amazing but the side road up to Franz-Josefs-Hoehe (2369m) to view Grossglockner itself and the Pasterze glacier was the definite high spot (excuse the pun!)  Another interesting exhibition on the glacier and wildlife was located here at the Wilhelm-Swarovski observatory.

On leaving the pass we found our campsite, a "holiday park" which was not our first choice, but the site where we would have liked to stay was fully booked. While there we cycled along the flat cycle path to Zell am See in one direction and towards Kabrun in the other.

Zell am See from the end of the lake

Swans and cygnets by the lake