St Wolfgang, Austria

July 2005

Photos © & report courtesy Trevor & Jenny Donohue

Great, superb, wet, even wetter, hot, even hotter, spectacular, etc, etc. The list of adjectives for describing the rally could go on and on. Our marshals Tony and Cyndy, Paul (Thermidor) and Carol had worked their socks off to organise this rally together with help from the site owners, Matthias and his family.

We arrived on the Friday before the start of the rally in pouring rain to this lovely site right on the banks of the lake Wolfgangsee. It could only get better we thought, and it did. Saturday was good and Sunday was even better, starting with a full English breakfast cooked by our marshals and their intrepid band of “volunteers”. Our tables by the lake overlooked the lovely view with the backdrop of ice-capped mountains. The day got hotter and hotter as anyone seeing the photo of “Thermidor” (Paul Roper) will understand.

Unfortunately the weather changed overnight, but the tempest forecast for the evening went somewhere else and the rain we did have, stopped in time for Mike Howarth’s superb firework display for his 50th birthday. Thank you Mike. There were several celebrations featured during the rally – 100th rally (Merv and Sue), wedding anniversaries and more birthdays. Names too numerous to mention – besides which I might have forgotten one or two in the alcoholic haze that tends to surround these events.

The weather blew hot and cold, but rarely totally halted any planned event, just slightly altered some. Even the walk round Salzburg was basically rain free. We had two coach trips, each one headed by our excellent Austrian guide Helga, who seemed to have answers for everything she was asked. The trip to the salt mine – whilst we did not learn much about the mining of salt itself – gave us some interesting information about its uses. It would appear that salt is the forerunner to “Viagra”- but I won’t go into that!

I described the rally as “wet, even wetter”, well, when you are surrounded by mountains you have to expect rain occasionally. Unfortunately during the second week it really rained. It was rain “that pours down like string” as described in a poem by Nikolaus Lenau about Bad Ischl. I would describe it as stair rods, but I think his description is prettier. Various rivers broke their banks and many lakes did the same. Ours did not escape this fate and a small stream behind the campsite decided to divert down the road along which we and many other Swifters were parked. A few groundsheets were floating but we all survived. The worst affected was Keith and Janet Ratcliff, but Keith’s resourcefulness came to the fore and he found some flagstones on site to create a walkway from the caravan door to outside the awning.

The rally started to wind down on the Thursday in glorious weather and with the most superb buffet dinner cooked by the site’s chef Stephan. However, I think everyone would agree that nothing could outdo the sight of Keith Ratcliff in full Austrian national costume. Starting with the hat, shirt, leidenhosen, down to the shoes, he had the lot. It was a wonderful sight, one I will not forget. Thank you Keith.

And so it got hotter, typical of course to have to strike camp with the sweat pouring off you, but very nice for those who had taken the opportunity to get their awnings down a day or two earlier when it was a little cooler and they could all sit back and sunbathe whilst we dripped.

Austria is a lovely country, and the area around Salzburg is beautiful and spectacular, but an area where weather can control your trips out. No point in going up cable cars or cog railways in rain and cloud, but oh so different in the sun, although the sights of the many waterfalls which appeared during this wet period were still beautiful to see.

Thank you Tony, Cyndy, Paul and Carol for all your hard work. We had a wonderful time.

Jenny and Trevor Donohue

Click on the image to enlarge

Firework pics from Mike Howarth