Chapter 2 – Back to Basics and Moving On

OK, well the website will give you details like numbers of rooms etc but more basic information is always good. Rooms are excellent, doubles are singles put together and mattresses are excellent, as is the bed-making (Pauline is Queen of The Bedchambers and does fantastic hospital corners on the (crisp cotton) sheets. Not sure how she gets those on the inside angles of the mattresses which are pushed together……but I am going to follow her round and get tips). En suites have excellent (I use the word a lot, but that is because it’s the best word to use) showers – don’t you just hate a dribbly shower?!

The Gasthof proper is one side of the road and is owned by Ros and John. Besides the 22 bedrooms on 3 floors, it has a cellar space running the length of the building with a large garage space for bikes (cycles for guests’ use are hung there as well) which leads to a guest lounge with TV, then into a laundry area with all mod cons and a separate drying area which in turn leads into space which John and Ros use to hibernate in during the winter months. This place is BIG.

The whole thing is set on a plot of land with parking space for about 8 cars or lots of bikes at the front and a grassed garden area with patio/terrace area and a washing line off to one side.

Ros and John almost didn’t view this place because the agent’s description said something along the lines of “Gasthof with possible use of kitchen over the road” and, as zou do, they had visions of crossing the road and asking a little old woman if they could make a cup of tea on her stove. Fortunately they were passing anyway so stopped off for a look.

Unsurprisingly, they not only liked it but made such a hit with the owner (Adolf) that he offered to rent them the “kitchen”. This turned out to be the whole of the ground floor of the building immediately opposite and has a large reception area with big dining/bar area and residents’ snug (for those old enough to remember such a thing or to have seen early Coronation Street with Ena, Martha and Minnie – Google it the rest of zou!) big kitchen, prep room with store room off, further prep room, freezer/storage room and two walk-in cold rooms. And a terrace along the front for those idle moments at the beginning and end of the day when you are planning the day or recovering from it.

And did I mention the stunning scenerz?!

There are two small shops in the village/hamlet and a bank with a magic money machine (ATM to younger readers). If you want to do a bit more shopping than that, Gmund is about 5 minutes by motorised transport or a 15 minute czcle ride. It’s an old medieval town (small!) with bits of the old wall leading to the local castle which looks incredibly shabby on the outside but apparently has a stunning wedding venue – there is a heart-shaped flower bed outside the castle wall and the names of the lucky couples are displayed on a large banner at the top of that on The Day. Gmünd has a chemist, doctor, couple of tourist-type shops, clothes shop, 4 small supermarkets (apparently their size throughout Austria is standardised – not come across a big one yet), a jewellery shop, couple of clothes shops and bars where you can sit out and watch the world go by. Worth a stroll around the back streets just for the buildings.

And there is no such thing as a cycle lock because no-one takes your bike if you park it up and leave it for hours. Not sure how the Austrians achieve this because, as far as I know, they don’t subscribe to chopping hands off for theft. But if they could bottle whatever it is, they would make a fortune!

If you want more shopping than Gmünd provides, then Spittal is about 30 minutes away by motorised transport and I have no intention of trying to cycle it, so no idea how long that would take. The route is very bendy and scenic and Ros says that the café outside the hotel by the central park in Spittal does some of the best cakes in Austria. Now signed off for driving there, so will investigate, purely in a spirit of scientific research, and let you know.

And moving on………didn’t tell you about the end of last week because not quite sure how it was all going to pan out. But now that I have nowt but good news to report……Mark, one of the two lads from Northern Ireland came off his bike on Friday and first news was that he had broken some vertebrae and done some ligament damage to one of his ankles. Airlifted out to the hospital at Klagenfurt and awaiting tests.

His friend Andy was, as you can imagine, a bit upset by all this but Ros and John were brilliant when he came back from the police station that afternoon. Andy was all for biking to the hospital to see Mark, but it was made very clear to him that he was going to do no such thing. Ros drove him there, sorted things out using her impeccable German, brought him back and all but tucked him into bed.

Mark was a bit out of it on morphine and flat on his back but not much in the way of prognosis at that point, although the consensus was that the ankle might be more of a problem to heal than the back. Fortunately, his parents were in Germany for a Moto GP event and were able to fly here quite easily.

Keith, our Lone Ranger, went to hospital with Andy the next day and Mark was considerably better – off the morphine and bored with staring at the ceiling, although apparently well-able to appreciate the various nursing staff’s attributes. Monday’s visit by a consultant resulted in him being allowed up, with a brace and his foot in a plaster caste.

Keith, bless his cotton socks, took Andy under his wing and they set off for the UK together – Andy having got here simply by following his best mate Mark who had the satnav, maps and knowhow! I hope Adele liked her present, Keith, and, if you are reading this, I found thimbles in Gmünd so next year you can get one of those for her, if she doesn’t come and choose her own. And if Andy’s parents are reading this, your son is a credit to you – a lovely young man, who kept his head and dealt with a tough situation with great presence of mind. I did ask him to tell you that, but I doubt if he has!

Mark and his parents arrived here yesterday to wait for Mark’s next check-up tomorrow. Mark is motoring around well on his crutches and is looking forward to getting back on his bike which Ros and John collected on their low-loader. So all’s well that ends well and Mark is one very lucky lad – and another credit to his parents.

Mike and Ali have gone off to Italy for a few days (I hope the canals are not too smelly guys!) w
e have been joined by Phil and Wayne and are now a small select band until the next influx.

Oh yes, and Ros had a lovely email from the Gang of Four to say they had got home safely, thanking us for a fantastic week and that brilliant though the roads and scenery in Austria were, it took a super team like ours to make a good holiday great. We love you too guys! It reminded Ros and myself so much of appreciative Warwickshire is of its employees. And Steve, just for the record, the facebook message Ros sent you was not as I worded it – she missed out “typing” – not deliberatelz I am sure.

Enough already for today. For those of you into War & Peace as a way of passing time, there will be more of this in the dazs that follow. In the meantime you will all be pleased to know that the sun is still shining like a good ‘un, the beer has not run out, John’s cooking is still in a class of its own, and all is well in this world.

PS: Almost forgot the local village fete on Sunday! Brass bands, beer tents, strong-men contests involving saws and logs, stalls selling local products, including some fabulous soaps in lovely shapes made with essential oils, home-made schnapps in beautifully packaged bottles and large flat doughnuts dusted with icing sugar and with jam spooned into the middle – made to order while you watched. Tried two just to make sure the first one was not a fluke (it wasn’t!). Then by way of working off some of that, attempted the climbing wall. Ros has a picture of that. I am saying no more except that I loathe heights and I blame it all on the samples of schnapps which were pressed upon us earlier in the proceedings.