Austria 8: Pinzgau and Zillertal

 28 June to 2 July

Trains and boats and planes

The good weather seemed to have deserted us but at least it had stopped raining when we left Zell am See.  We arrived at our next halt early afternoon - a "Stellplatz" (camper stop with minimal facilities) behind a pub/restaurant up a track a mile from the main road. There was a signpost indicating several walks and at random we picked one for 30 minutes to Wald in Pinzgau. This was downhill through forest,  fairly steep in places, across a stream via stepping stones.

We got to the destination in 35 minutes, so felt we weren't too far off the pace. The Pinzgauer Lokalbahn, a narrow gauge railway built to serve the local community and formerly to transport timber, is currently closed between Niedernsil and Krimml due to flooding and a landslide in 2021. The unused railway line looked very sad. 

After the climb back it had brightened up so we drank tea in the weak sunshine overlooking the town of Rosental. There was also an area at the edge of the site for flying model aircraft so I went over to chat to the three chaps there and asked if they would mind if I took some photos. The photos of the plane were hopeless (in my defence it was flying very fast and quite far away) but I took a few of the operators as well.  

In the evening we walked all of fifteen metres to the Gasthof for a very nice meal. We felt very much in the heart of Austria.

The waterfalls at Krimml were next on our itinerary. Another steep and zig-zagging route to the top, this time on foot; there's a lot of "up" in Austria! The gravelled path closely follows the falls with viewpoints so the frequent stops for photos extended the suggested time of 1 hour 15 minutes to the top. Coming down was so much quicker. Apparently 176 million cubic metres of water thunder down each year.

We then drove for about 1 hour 15 minutes through the Gerlos Pass to get to Jenbach. From there you can ride the Zillertal railway to Mayrhofen, by either steam, diesel or a combination. This necessitated a trip on the bus (free with yet another visitor card!) to get to the station. John worked out the timetable, although we were waiting on the wrong side of the road initially.  It was a pleasant ride through the Zillertal, with the clickety-clack sound and smell of smoke to accompany us. The weather was showery and ribbons of clouds hung in the valley.

We passed one of the largest wood processing plants we have seen to date. Piles and piles of stacked trunks, some stripped of their bark, machinery producing wood chip and sawdust and finished planks of wood stacked under cover.

The area is very rural and we have frequently seen tractors spraying possibly liquid fertiliser on the fields. It doesn't half pong!

We repeated the trip to the station next day, this time to ride on the Achenseebahn cog railway, which climbs steeply and then descends a little to reach the Achensee. We felt sure we could hear the engine say "I think I can, I think I can" as it laboured up the hill (for those of you who remember Rev Awdry's books).

The weather was overcast and cool and we were decidedly chilly by the time we reached the end of the line. This was conveniently a stone's throw from the pier to get onto the boat for a trip around the lake. We headed straight for the restaurant for a hot drink followed by a hot lunch to warm up. It was a pleasant two hour trip around the emerald green waters (due to the limestone cliffs) of the lake.

Pertisau

You can use the boat as a hop on hop off service but because the weather had put us off the early start we originally intended, we weren't able to investigate Pertisau, which is where Elinor Brent-Dyer is believed to have written her Chalet School books. (Sorry, Louise). The return train journey was extremely noisy as the engine braked us against the gravity and I did wonder what the driver was looking at as he leaned out of his cab!