I tried to think of low things and flat things to make myself feel safer – pancakes, cowpats in English fields, lying on the concourse of Victoria Station playing draughts.
The road eventually levelled out at Gerlos, which the guide said is populated mostly by Dutch people. The coach stopped at the “Seeblick Panorama” parking point with a shop and a (locked) toilet above a reservoir for 15 minutes. This pointless-seeming intermission seemed suspiciously like a commercial tie-in – i.e., an arrangement between the bus company and the trinket shop to make gullible tourists buy expensive fridge magnets and marmot teddy bears. Stranger still, they sold novelty voodoo dolls. Views of the highest mountain in Austria, Grossglockner, were some consolation. The coach took off again, with more terrifying cliff-edge bends to the Wasserfallzentrum building at the base of the Krimml waterfalls, the highest in Austria, where the coach dropped us off. With strict instructions to be back for 4:15, we started walking to the falls. It was a steep, intense climb up the side of the mountain, surrounded by more than 300 different types of moss growing from the rocks.
I bumped into David and Sylvia, the friendly couple from Guildford who are staying at the same hotel and took the same flight from Gatwick. He is a former journalist, and yesterday – as a retirement gift from Sylvia – took a powergliding flight off the Mayrhofen cliffs.
On our walk up, there were several viewing points where we could see various sections of the tiered waterfalls. They were fairly spectacular, not least because of the mist and spray they created. There were more religious shrines, too.
We eventually made it to the cafe at 1,306 metres and sat in a kind of marquee for coffee. Shell the Thomson rep was there already. The waiter was a little grumpy: when I paid, he kept the change as a tip before I could even offer it.
The braver half of our party continued further upwards towards the highest waterfall, but I had had enough already. It was steep and the muscles in my legs were quaking from the intense exercise, so we sat by the river and rested. It rained a bit but was sunny at the same time – quite refreshing.
The walk down was quicker. We tried drinking some of the water that was running down the mossy rocks. It was deliciously fresh and clean. At the bottom, we could see another part of the falls. The spray here was especially impressive. People recklessly clambered over the rocks at the edge of the water, making me wonder at the fatality rate.
We got back on our big, white coach and began the dreaded return journey along the mountain passes – this time through driving rain and on slippery roads...
Miles walked: no idea – not many, as it was mostly vertical
Cats spotted: 1 (in a field, seen from the coach)
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