Steger Kaprun

... hand at an ariel assault course....he came back a shell of his former self after 3 hours in the trees hanging from bits of wire and trying to keep up with 9 year old girls who were more agile than him..for my penance I had to play pitch and putt with Lauren using carved putters and wooden balls..no danger i'll be joining a golf tour anytime soon. 

Definitely worth a visit in winter for you keen boarders out there.

... took us right up through the mountain to the top. An elevator in the middle of the mountain! It was made of such good brass and the engineering was so good, it has ever been serviced. But it also caused the deaths of 12 construction workers when it was made. Or thats what we were told. After the war, the UK and USA blew up most of his buildings in this area but Germany managed to save the Eagle's Nest because it was so amazing and ...

... through Berchtesgaden is an amazing colour, like blue-green-white. When you look into it, it is absolutely clear. Berchestgaden is a very pretty little town. After walking up and down a couple streets, we had a sandwich and some Cokes for lunch at a little deli. It was good to tide us over until supper but not too filling. With no further shopping prospects, we rested in our car until it was time to meet for ...

... legs began to whimper and ask whether it wasn't time to gently ride back to base for a nice, cold beer. However, they quickly came to their senses and marshalled themselves for the coming onslaught: a long, hard fire road climb up 9 long switchbacks. Bigger than anything in South East England, for sure. The reward was worth it: a long singletrack descent with lots to offer in ...

... lunch but I went back up and used the Flying Gangster trail as my post-lunch challenge. It didn't disappoint! It's a freeride trail, with some very steep, fast sections, jumps, drops and big berms, but there's nothing you can't roll over if you're a beginner-level freerider or more used to XC, like me.

On my first run, I fell off after a bit of the trail that was covered with wood ended ...

... technical singletrack which was much more of a challenge for me and I had to work on shifting my balance on the bike, keeping the weight much further back, and trying to take a more balanced approach to braking, as I was heavily favouring the back brake (to such an extent that the rear tyre showed significantly more wear at the end of the week). Mountaintop lunch was a "Strammel Max" (ham, eggs ...

They even have a special word for the rain that falls in Salzburg - it's something like Schnurlregen - but I'd have to find my Austrian book to check the spelling. Well, that was my fear for my holiday! And here we were, landed in Salzburg, and guess what? rain!

Luckily by the time we'd waited for the passengers from Glasgow to arrive so that our coach could leave it'd stopped raining - so it couldn't have been that special Salzburg rain that ...

... trek. I think the hostel I'd booked into is one of the worst I'd ever stayed in, even beating the weird creepy one in the South Island of NZ, and the awful bed-bug ridden one in NY. This hostel used to be a hotel but is now actually a student accommodation place during term time, which they turn into a hostel in the summer.... they basically have done a really poor job of it, and I was less than pleased at having to stay here for 2 nights. I think the ...

August 26-Monday
We left Kitzbuhel at 8:30. There was a brief stop in Berchtesgarden, in Germany, at 10:00. Up on the side of the mountain, we could see Hitler's Eagle’s Nest. It was rather chilling to see that part of history. The bunker is now a restaurant. Our rest stop overlooked a valley filled with wonderful homes. What a view! Back on the bus and on to Salzburg. Time 10:35.

August 24, Saturday
We arrived in Kitzbuhel, at 1:30 pm. We were advised not to take a nap because it would delay our adjustment to the time difference. We are staying at the Hotel Jagerwirt, a very quaint hotel. There is a small balcony off our room and the view is spectacular! We are sitting in a valley surrounded by the Alps…awesome! To help stay awake, we took a walk, the first of many, into town. It all seemed like a dream. I couldn't believe ...