We decided to leave Bavaria & head south as the weather forecast for the former was dire....and proved it as we drove quite a lot of the way to Austria in the rain, including an incredible deluge where the whole autobahn was travelling at 35mph. It made for some interesting cloud patterns anyway once it had stopped. We stopped at the border to purchase our vignette (toll pass to allow travel on the autobahns) which cost €8.80 for 10 days – a bargain compared to the price of the M6 toll motorway at home.


We arrived on the site I’d chosen in the dry, thank goodness, at Seeboden on the shores of the Millstattersee (Lake Millstatt) – but as our site was called Panorama, it was up a very steep twisty hill then 300m of a dirt track! It was almost deserted with only 3 other vans on and with no panoramic views at all, so we decided we’d only stay one night and move in the morning.





A surprise greeted us on opening the electric box to plug in – a flutter of wings as Mama Bluetit flew out, leaving a nest with 5 hungry very new babies in the corner. Bless her, we wouldn’t have disturbed her for the world but had no idea she was there. Fortunately she and they didn’t seem permanently disturbed, so we plugged in & left them to it.








As we’d decided to move on, we drove down the lake to view the other sites but rejected them both: one looked OK but we discovered it was part-naturist & we didn’t fancy naked aging bodies around, & the other was right on the lake shore but cost €30 a night for what was basically a flattish grassy field – we’ve been paying €15 or €17.


We moved on just half an hour up the Drau Valley & are now on a really nice site on the banks of the R Drau surrounded by mountains. We knew as soon as we drove in that we would stay – Drau Camping is lovely, spotlessly clean facilities, flat grassy pitches & looking very like a Caravan Club site with hanging baskets round Reception – not that we’ve really been able to enjoy it as we’ve had every strength of rain known to man, with brief clear patches in between. Ah well. At least its warm & we’re hopeful of better weather soon.


My German is being stretched on an hourly basis as very few people here speak English, (once again we’re the only Brits on site) but we’re managing with a lot of arm-waving & dictionary/app usage. Frau owner was great, making sure we knew where everything was, asking if everything was ok & pointing out where the supermarket in the village was. After we had set up we strolled to the village to stock up, then walked back along the river bank to chill under the awning.