12 days across Southern Germany – Total 1200 km

A quick stop at the Bürstner head office (Normie needed a small part)  then it was onto Triberg in the Black Forest.

Triberg – Cuckoo clock & Black Forest cake capitol of the world

A cute little tourist town with many woodworking shops selling all manner of trinkets.

Triberg

Next was the town of Rottweil, and yes this is where they first bred the dog.

Rottweil for the big SIX-Oh!

Rottweil

Coming down from the hills to Lake Konstanz was a contrast.

Konstanz Harbour

Each night brought wonderful places to stopover.

Steibil – view from our window

Just before the Schwarzwald turns into Bavaria is Hohenschwangau where Ludwig II built his fantasy castle.

Schloss Neuschwanstein – a nice view

Schloss Neuschwanstein – Disney’s inspiration

Driving into Bavaria near the Austrian border is very beautiful, the mountains here are not as tall as further south but it definitely makes for a more scenic drive.

Zugspitze – cog train finishes here, the final ascent is by cable car

We stopped for a couple of nights at Garmisch-Partenkirchen from where we were able to ascend the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest peak.

Zugspitze

Needless to say it was breathtaking and every bit as exciting as Mont Blanc last year

Zugspitze or Ice Station Zebra

Very proud of Deb who fought many demons to get to this point.

Zugspitze – a very brave girl

Deb actually took the below picture as I was too scared to go that close to the rail.

Looking down at Lake Eibsee from Zugspitze

After the majestic Bavarian Alps we came to the Königssee, a long, clear lake surrounded by high mountains. The terrible weather prevented us from taking one of the many cruises that leave here but even in the low cloud and drizzle this region was stunning.

the haunting Königssee

Due to the bad weather, a visit to Berchtesgaden (also in this area) was out of the question so we nipped up the road (30 minutes) to Salzburg in Austria hoping that the rain would be gone in a few days when we returned.

Salzburg

Arriving in Salzburg the weather cleared a little (temporarily) so we were able to visit some of the outdoor attractions.

View from the cable car ascending Unterbergen

With the Salzburg box well & truly ticked we were originally planning to head west towards Vienna, however the rain returned and the forecast in all directions for the next week was bleak.

Schloss Hellbrunn

I had read about the Grossglockner High Alpine Road being one of the most scenic and dramatic routes in the Alps and as it was 75 km away hoped it would be clear by the time we reached it down south. Alas it was not to be and if anything the cloud & fog were thicker and the rain heavier with the forecast showing no let up ahead.

While enjoying lunch in Zam al See I checked Facebook and found our dear friends, Wendy & Ray Capkin, had just arrived in Venice and were posting very sunny photos of their visit.  We quickly calculated that they were ONLY 350 km away and it would take approximately 6 hours to reach them, so we said “bugger this” and headed south to the land of pizza, pasta and hopefully, sunshine.

a funny thing happened on the way across the Alps