Day 4 - Taking bikes up a ski lift that was not a ski lift

 It was a misty start to the day at the campsite, but it gradually disappeared and became a warm pleasant day.


First off, a trip up a ski lift with our bikes, followed by a visit to a wild bird centre, and a ride down the switchback road into town. As it turned out when we got to the top, the bird centre was back down at the bottom, so the order of thing changed.

One of the gondolas on the ski lift is adapted to carry four bikes, and the bikes hang underneath the gondola from the rear wheels. Given that electric bikes are rather heavy I was a little concerned that my rear wheel quick release mechanism could take the load, and removed the battery. Giles and Linda couldn't do this but it turned out not to be a problem. Giles and I loaded the bikes and sat in gthe gondola in front (so we could get the bikes off quickly), and Linda sat in the gondola behind with their pannier bags. The ride was very smooth, and apparently the bikes didn't move at all.

The view from the top was excellent, with a little bank of mist still apparent in the distance.



It was then back down the steep switchback road to the wild bird centre. This was just outside town, but set deep into the heavily wooded valley sides. You need to do a bit of track walking to get to the area where they fly the birds, but the setting up there was great.

The Meister and his female partner positioned themselves so that the birds flew very low over the audience's heads, and that was a really different experience. They obviously knew what they were doing, but the Meister set one vulture type bird off to his partner and she wasn't ready for it, so the vulture landed on her neck instead of the glove. This actually drew blood, but she gamely carried on.







At the bottom of the track on the way out was a family of Mongooses, (or is it Mongeese?). They could see the eagles above them when they were being flown, so were showing the regulation on guard poses.


The whole experience was excellent, and very enjoyable.

 We bought some excellent looking meat from a very swish supermarket close to the site for an evening BBQ, and spent the afternoon just talking, playing the ukulele, and discussing the world with everyone passing by. Of course, they all spoke excellent English (being mainly Dutch and Belgian), but I did get to use my limited German to arrange a table in a small Hof /restaurant (that was off the tourist areas) for Sunday lunch. This should be good.

Tomorrow's travel take us half way to Berlin, to a Stellplatz (think French Aire) in a small town called Alsfeld, and we have had the great news that all the campsites booked at larger cities are outside the emission free zones. Happy days.


 

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