Helpful Hans

SCHWAZ.

We're up for 9 o'clock mass and find an immaculate WC on route. The mass doesn't go so well, 40 minutes in and the confirmation is only just in. We give up and return to the van for breakfast. We're heading for Innsbruck but decide to go via Kitzbuhle. At the last minute, we decide to stop and look around to see what makes this an expensive skiing resort. It's a lovely village and we enjoy a coffee in a bakery. Rosie declares that it's the best she's had in a long time.

There is a lake around the corner, Schwartzsee, so we stopped for an hour. Rosie sunbathed whilst I walked around it, about 2.5km. Managed to fill a couple of bottles of water from the fountain and move on.

Austria has some fabulous countryside. The valleys are so wide and then there are the mountains. The people are not the happiest, at least on the outside, that we're surprised. This part of the country seems to offer everything.

Our destination is Schwaz, in the Tyrol. The site offers facilities and parking for 6 euro. It also offers a helpful German. He tells us how to pay then points out that we should have removed the grills behind the the fridge. Suddenly, it works perfectly and explains why we have been throwing food away.

We walk into town and discover a mass in an hour's time (there are 3 churches in the town with different mass times!). We have an hour to kill so we enjoy milkshakes outside an ice cream parlour.

Back at the site, we plan the next stage of the journey whilst the dinner (pizza) cooks. Then the gas bottle runs out, finally. It's lasted almost 8 weeks! I manage to disconnect and then connect one of Dave's bottles. There is a slight smell of gas so we try to ensure that it is not the connections. Our helpful German must we watching us because he comes over with an aerosol can. It can detect leaks but we don't have any. Pleased with my work in changing it over.

Rosie planning the next part of the journey and ignoring the stunning backdrop.