In the shadow of the Zugsplitz

We’ve spending 10 days in the Tirol in a town called Ehrwald 'next' to the Zugsplitz. If you don’t know, the Zugsplitz is the highest mountain in Germany direct on the boarder to Austria. Ehrwald is on the Austrian side. H’s niece B works in the Wellness dept. of a hotel in Ehrwald, and as we hadn’t seen her in ages we thought we would combine a visit and a long week in the mountains. The weather is lovely and the view superb (right is the view from the hotel patio).

The air at 1.000 meters has taken a couple of days to get use too. I slept most of the first day after a 6 ½ hour drive of 650 km. On the second day, as the weather was clear, we used the chairlift to the top of the Zugsplitz to take in the panorama (2.900 m).
On arriving I ran up a few steps towards the viewing platform and nearly had a blackout! I just forgot how high we were!
After recovering from my dizzy spell we went out onto the platform to enjoy the view. The horizon was a little hazy but the panorama was still spectacular (see picture right).

This was the first time in years that we have had a holiday longer than a week. It was long overdue, even with getting sun burnt and walking my heels raw. We have decided to try each year to spend time in the Austrian mountains (Nordic walking) and on the Dutch coast (kite flying), we need the change of air, even if it is rarefied, from time to time.

We where seriously considering going to Britain this summer for our holidays, but I can never really plan in advance a longer trip aboard, it’s the commitment to a channel crossing or Euro-tunnel on a certain day and time that’s problematic as well as the cost.
Gallivanting around Europe is easier than crossing over or under the wet patch. This time is took two weeks “working at home”, with almost daily telephone/on-line contact with the office, before we could make a last minute “jump” to here.
I had a letter from my mad aunt P. Her own prefix, not mine. She has just moved in with K. They have bought a farm in Pembrokeshire overlooking the Preseli mountains, looks wild, this is the area where the blue stones of Stonehenge were dug up...
I 'Goggled' the farm. It’s in the middle of nowhere!
They have 4 horses, 4 sheep, 3 dogs and 3 cats between them 4 company,
I have just got to see this..
[Ed: You could count the number of animals on Google Earth! Now that resolution!]
No, of course not! They were listed in the letter!
It seems the rarefied air here has got to you too!