Alpine Adventures

The European Alps are amazing. Steep rocky mountains fractured and sheared over the millennia by uncountable frozen winters, with stark precipices jutting impossibly skyward. Rivers of rock shards ‘flowing’ down their faces as the scree slopes are renewed regularly with snow and ice prising the rocks apart.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. First came the fairytale castle. What a gorgeous structure it was, in a stunning setting to boot! The only thing that spoiled it for us was the crush of humanity, all those other people who had the same idea as us to visit a Disney-esque castle in a drop-dead gorgeous setting. Crowds, shoulder to shoulder, shuffling in queues, selfie-sticks, hemmed in, just too busy. Yes it was stunning, but boy we were glad to get out of there.

Anyhow, back to the Alps. Back to beauty unbound, to nature at its most spectacular, to extremes in temperature and magnitude.

We entered the Austrian Alps and meandered around random roads not really knowing (or caring) where exactly we were going, as long as the scenery was suitably jaw-dropping. And there was no shortage of unbelievably spectacular views to please us and send us off on unpredictably narrow roads. Luckily Ebeneezer is not too wide and we were able to squeeze our way up some pretty spectacular winding trails. The Austrians make some incredible roads into almost impossible places, and we took advantage of plenty of them.

There were amazing numbers of motorcycles on these winding mountain trails too, heaps of fabulous BMWs, Ducatis, Husqvanas and everything you can imagine, all enjoying the fantastic road surface, corners and scenery. All those classy bikes sure made Rod grin broadly.

The views were spectacularly expansive, huge vistas with high rocky peaks with remnant snow and glaciers and thick forests. Deep rocky gorges with riotous foaming rivers roaring over boulders and tumbling down escarpments. The forests were predominantly made of pines, of quite a few varieties, but there were thick patches of lush broad-leafed trees as well.

Beneath the trees, on the forest floor, wildflowers grew in profusion. Growing out of the ever-present thick mossy ground cover was an amazing diversity of different herbs that were desperately trying to reproduce before their world became frozen again. Reds, blues, whites, pinks, purples and yellows were splashed everywhere, fuzzy bumble bees and local honey bees feasting madly. We tasted wild strawberries and wild raspberries from these gorgeous wet bushlands. The stinging nettles were absent from these high mountain forests, unlike every other part of Europe where they are the most common form of herbage to be seen.

The size and grandeur of the Alps are impossible to translate into words and pictures. They are incredible.

The hills were alive with the sounds of our wonder and amazement (“Oh my goodness gracious me! Look at that!”). There is no doubt that we absolutely adored those huge and awe-inspiring vistas, and we now have a new favourite place on Earth.