Settle in, this could take a while.
So I last left you in the French Alps. We were doing a 2 week workaway in a little village called St-Jean de Sixt. As per normal, we would work the mornings and go wandering off into the alps in the afternoons. Long, hot Summer days and some pretty spectacular scenery made this place pretty good. We didn't always go up and had a few afternoons swimming or kayaking on Lake Annecy. Again we did a great overnight hike and spent the night in a grassy valley whilst staring at Mont Blanc, and only some sheep for company. This was great hiking country. The hills were literally alive. Green, green grass. Wild flowers. Cows mowing and sheep bleating. Cow bells ringing. It really is alive.
From there it was to Montreux Jazz Festival. We didn't see any of the big names in the concert halls, but there is plenty of free stuff going on. Highlight was probably being a few metres from Quincy Jones who was adjudicating a vocal competition.
Then onto some more hiking near Zermatt and the iconic Matterhorn. There are no cars in Zermatt, so we were camping at one train stop down the mountain called Tasch. We did a day hike and got nice and close to the horn. There is glacier skiing here 300 days of the year, so when you get to the snow line you see people strutting down in ski boots, a bit weird after you've been slogging it uphill for 3 hours. We walked right next to some of the glaciers up there, which was great as you get a much better appreciation of size and power as they carve down the mountain.
The next day the bad weather set in. We drove through rain all day and then set up camp in the rain. Luckily this was one of the few campsites where we had a little sheltered kitchen to cook in. We stayed in Lauterbrunnen, just beneath the Eiger, however I didn't get to see it due to cloud. Not bad seeing two out of my list of three big mountains. We then headed up to Aarau, near Zurich to catch up with Viv. A great few days with a familiar face.
From there it was up to the Black Forest. We again had some pretty cloudy, rainy weather so did a bit of driving around and checked out a few waterfalls. The highlight was picking wild strawberries and raspberries. Tiny little things that really packed a punch.
Then onto the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein. A great setting and free to walk around and explore all angles of the castles. We actually forked out for some tickets to have a look inside. A fairly new castle from the 19th century. The guy was a little crazy and a fan of Wagner opera, so all the rooms are decorated accordingly. He even had a cave built inside.
We then headed down to Austria to get one final dose of mountains. We headed to Umhausen, near Innsbruck. We got OK kind-of weather and went for a day hike, but the snow line was dropping down to about 2000m and we were camping at 1200m. So it was getting a little cold.
We had had enough of rubbish weather so threw in our plans and decided to head up to Munich early. However, we also encountered some car problems. It also happened to be Bella's birthday. The clutch was feeling dodgy but I didn't say anything and was just hoping to make it to Munich. However, it started slipping and we literally nearly stopped going up a hill. Luckily we managed to turn around and gently take it back to a little town called Zirl. We found a garage who could repair it, got a quote for half the value of the car, but swallowed and decided we had no choice. The bad news, apart from being Bella's birthday, was it was Friday and probably wouldn't get the parts until Monday. So we waited 3 or 4 hours in a tiny park on a traffic island, and headed back expecting bad news. A weekend, in bad weather, without a car. Miracles do happen however and the car was ready to go. So a quick swipe of the credit card and we were off only a few hours later then planned.
The bad news was the bad weather followed us. We expected a bustling, exciting Summery city. We got a wet and quiet version. We did get a few hours of sunshine one day, and managed to find a beer garden to have a litre of beer and a big pretzel.
I then did a bit of family history, searching out the town where Fuss's lived 150 years ago. It's a small village called Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It's in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The house is long gone, but I stood on the street where my great-great-great-grandfather walked out of the family home in 1847 and sailed to Australia.
We then headed down to Cologne, mainly to see Prince (a musician). We lived in London for nearly two years and didn't get that many acts we wanted to see. This was close enough, so we made it work. Pretty cool to see a big show in a foreign country.
Then down to the Mosel valley, where we based ourselves in Cochem. A winding river, with vineyards covering the steep slopes on each side of the river. A pretty setting, even with the rubbish weather we continued to have.
Relief came when we headed down to Frankfurt to visit Karin, a friend from Fiji days. A luxury to have four walls and a roof over our head. We stayed 3 nights and even got a bit of sunshine, so we enjoyed a few apfel-weins on the banks of the Main and a few cruisy bike rides too.
Our days on the continent were quickly coming to an end but as it is with Europe, there is always something new. We went to Ypres in Western Belgium, which was the site of the western front for 4 years during WW1. A great learning experience and now Flanders fields will have a much more specific meaning to me. They play the last post every day at one of the city gates of Ypres, where most of the allied soldiers marched through on the way to the front. The area now is littered with cemeteries. Most were created as the war progressed, although countless cemeteries were lost due to shelling with the front moving back and forth. We went to Tyne Cot cemetery which is the largest allied war cemetery in the world. There are 12,000 graves, of which 8,000 are marked as unknown. We also visited small cemeteries which were created during the war. They now sit in the middle potato and corn farms. Far different from the boggy quagmire that was a battlefield less then 100 years ago.
We then headed up to the rainy French coast for a quick overnight before catching the ferry the next morning. We had a great sunny day on the ride back and a great white cliff welcome as we approached the Isles.
It was then straight up to Oxford to hang out with Pete for a few days. Before heading for Scotland. We did an overnight at York on the way up and also a quick trip through the Yorkshire Dales and over to see Hadrian's Wall. A wall that the Hadrian, the Roman Emporer, built in the 2nd century AD to keep the Scots out and the English in.
We spent our first night in Scotland on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. Wild Camping is allowed in Scotland, although this was a very loose version of wild, as we were in a park, next to a busy road.
We then headed up to near Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK at 1300m). It was a nice sunny day and we found out the weather was turning so we made a late start but headed up. It was one of the busiest trails we have ever walked on with a constant stream of people going up and down. All shapes and sizes, super ready and those that looked like they were going shopping on the high street and ended up climbing a mountain. We made it to the top in about 2 and half hours. As is mostly the case, the top was still covered in cloud and we were still sharing with 50-100 other people. A wee bit windy too, so we headed down soon enough. See the photos for the cloud line (looking up and looking down).
They were right about the weather and the next day it bucketed down and came in sideways. Great scottish weather. We went for scenic drive along the coast, which would be lovely about 2 days of the year. And then headed back inland for Loch Ness.
Another night wild camping on the shores of Loch Ness, we awoke to a more calm and maybe even sunny day. We then headed to the Highland area for Scotch which is mostly around a town called Dufftown. We did a tour of Glenfiddich and Macallan. Glenfiddich was great and free. About an hour, completely through the whole manufacturing process and then trying 3 types of whisky at the end, including an 18yo.
We were then on the downhill run, heading south towards London. We spent one final night wild camping in the Cairngorn National Park. It really was the final one, as we got eaten alive by midges in the morning as we were packing up. There was a breeze in the evening to keep them at bay, but it was still in the morning. Unfortunately it was a brilliant day and it would have been nice to linger, but we hiked it back to the car quick fast.
We then headed down to Stirling and checked out the William Wallace monument. It was reassuring to know he was well famous before Hollywood got hold of him. Unlike the film though, they wouldn't be fighting on nice grassy fields with blue skies. Fighting through muck and heather in the boggy depths next to the River Forth.
After a week in Scotland we headed down to Lakes District and we spent 3 nights in the one place, after a week of moving too much. The Lakes District has had tourists since the 17th century and you can see why. It is a great place of natural beauty and of little English villages too. Some are over-run with tourists, but plenty that are not.
It was then down to Bath and Stonehenge for our final stop before London. We went to the ancient Roman Baths in Bath which are sourced from a natural hot spring. A pretty amazing place not just in Roman Britain, but in the whole Empire. The baths went into disarray after the Romans left in the 4th century, but the uncovered some great stuff and continue to do so.
We have now been in London since Saturday. Besides the boring things like selling the car and packing our stuff, we've made sure we enjoy ourselves too. We went to see Wynton Marsalis (trumpeter) at Ronnie Scot's. A welcome shot of sophistication after 6 months camping. And saw one final West End show, Love Never Dies (the sequel to Phantom of the Opera). We board a plane tomorrow for Kuala Lumpur, where we spend a week, including 2 days catching up with Ben (Bella's brother) and Nan. And then we'll be in Oz on 5th September. From there, it's time to set up shop. Find some jobs and somewhere to live. But first we have a week on Fraser Island with Bella's family.
So that's that. Hope you've enjoyed the journey.
Lots and lots of Photos
