Beginning of the most picturesque route yet. The scenery here is constantly changing - canyons, hills, mountains, forests, vinyards on a hill, bridges and a little industrial estate from time to time.
Grein (http://www.grein.at/ ) is one of them fairy-tale villages, nestled in the side of a hill in a forest and just kept spotlessly clean like most things up here except for my Merrels. Featuring Austria's smallest theatre and one of the most famouse 'Kaffeehaus' in Upper Austria. Talk about good ice-cream!!
Anyway, got there at five and paid almost ten pounds just to pitch my tent. Gotta love them tourist areas. Putting the tent up in this heat, even this late in the evening is not much fun and a very sweatty affair indeed. My neighbours were watching with great amusement having just parked their trailers and vans. However, just as I finished a very tall and very blonde gentleman invited me for a drink in the shade in front of his trailer where I met his better half. A Fanta never tasted this good before, especially considering I hardly ever do 'pop'. After a quick chat my new Dutch friends, Keith and his wife invited me to have dinner with them. Best meal all week plus decent conversation! We grilled our pieces of chicken on a hot metal plate in front of the trailer and it reminded me a lot of the Fondue and Raclette my french friend and I used to have in the mountains of Chamonix in France.
Although almost ten in the evening (my new bedtime in these strenuous conditions) I strolled through town and grabbed a chair at Schörgi's and had the best ice-cream to date. This place comes highly recommended but check it out yourself - http://www.schoergi.at/
