Austria to Udine

Saturday 26th April.

We had another lovely sleep in the van last night even though it rained, a lot.

Once we were up, I took Meg for a walk through the woods by the Aire, it led to the river which we crossed via a bridge and then worked our way back on the other bank. She was like a little child, jumping up and walking along the wall .

Van packed, emptied and filled, we headed for Italy via Austria.

Our route today was through the Austrian Tyrol region to end up in Udine, Italy.

Gareth had purchased online a digital Vignette for Austria, much cheaper for this van than the last one. This would allow us to drive on their roads but we still had to pay any tunnel tolls.

Before we left home we had heard that Germany were introducing some border controls. We weren’t sure to what extent this was but, driving from Luxembourg we noticed police at the border and the lanes were reduced to a single one, with a slower speed limit.

Today we noticed similar, not exiting Germany but the entry road had reduced lanes and a police presence. So there appears to be some truth in that.

We had no trouble entering Austria and I, for one, sat back to enjoy the glorious scenery.

Gareth chose the route for the scenery which took us through Kitzbuhel so we saw loads of ski related buildings, ski lifts and of course mega winding roads.

Some were so tight – hairpin wise – I couldn’t look.

On occasion our ears popped, the sun shone on the snowy peaks, the different shades of green of the trees contrasting with harsh rocky outcrops where nothing grew. Stark but all of it breathtakingly beautiful.

At the top somewhere, we crossed the border into Italy, and almost immediately the road conditions worsened.

It appears there was a landslide which nearly crushed a snow Galleria. At some point the road would have been blocked, but thankfully it is now open but the evidence of the damage caused is still there. Scary stuff, up in the middle of nowhere!

The squiggles on the satnav seemed to go into overdrive which made us laugh nervously.

Still, Parker did what Parker does and there were no dramas, he was as cool as a cucumber as always .

Finally we arrived in Udine. A little known place just outside Trieste but lovely.

We parked in a free spot about 20 mins walk from town. There are no services which is ok as we don’t need them.

Udine has a lot of pretty lanes, which were surprisingly busy on a late Saturday afternoon. It was hard to find a table for a drink!

After a good old walkabout we just caught a couple vacating a table and grabbed it. A few glasses of the house red @ €1.50 a glass! And a few tapas dishes for me, Gareth tried a local dish of sausages and polenta – it was ok but he said he’d do without the polenta next time.