WE WERE SO glad to arrive at Tenda Camping that we didn’t much care what it offered as long as it had a patch of grass big enough for a Sprite, and somewhere to have a shower.

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Tenda Camping was a site for sore eyes after a late arrival. The bar was open too

 

As a result, we were delighted to find it offered all manner of posh things including a pool, games room, seasonal pitches, mini-golf and a very nice looking beer garden restaurant. Even better, the latter was still trading when we arrived so we carefully abandoned car and van on pitch and trotted off in search of dinner. We both got a very agreeable meal (pork schnitzel in different forms) and a couple of groβe biers to wash it all down. 

 

Warning signs

On returning to the caravan, some way from the bar in Area 14, we noticed we’d been joined by a couple of other latecomers. An Dutch couple towing a Knaus with a Discovery II were over the way and a German-registered SEA motorcaravan were now sharing our field and shortly after, they were sharing our rather disappointing night’s sleep. Area 14 was so far from the rest of the site, it actually sat alongside the main road and was a bit noisy. No matter. Traffic quietens down in the evening and we tired enough to sleep through most things.

 

Not tired enough to sleep through roadworks it appeared though. At about midnight, a couple of eight-leggers pulled up and started running away tarmac stripped from the old road surface. This went on well into the early hours and the chaps were so conscientious, they started work again at just after 6am. We were up and about by 7.30am. The Dutch couple had already gone and the German chap was sat in the doorway of his van in his jim-jams with a sleep-deprived mad-eye stare and a determined drag on his cigarette that suggested he was plotting to do some damage.

 

Expensive business

This disturbance had its good and bad sides. On the bad, obviously we had managed about 45mins sleep combined. Pretty bad with a day on the autobahn in prospect. On the plus side though, we wanted an early start and we were up, showered and ready for the road before the streets were aired as a result. A further bad side however was delivered at reception. A bill for €27 for one night of noisy camping, half-a-mile from the bar and in a uncut field seemed a bit rich. We’d only been there 14 hours.

 

Still, there is no arguing once you’ve stayed the night. Our Camping Card got us no discount (high season had begun three days earlier in this part of the world) and reception was shut when we pitched up, so we never asked anyone. It was our own fault.

I was tempted to run off for a quick Chemical Peel in the Wellness Centre to get my money’s worth, but like any decent British chap, I tried to suppress a grimace, said ‘danke’ with an English accent and trundled  four miles back to the motorway practising German swear words for future use.

 

Site unseen

Our driving day was actually very short as we only wanted to make up the shortfall in distance from the previous day to get to Salzburg. We planned to spend a full day looking around, but decided that one afternoon would do, seeing as our schedule had already slipped by this point.

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Panorama Camping in Salzburg has incredible views over the city and the Alps

 

Bad traffic meant that we arrived in Salzburg by about midday but pulling into Panorama Camping, we both gasped. All the pitches had the same fabulous views of Salzburg. In case that wasn’t impressive enough, there were a handful of Alps looming menacingly over the top.

 

It was very hot and very sunny so we set up the van on the middle terrace of the site and rewarded ourselves with a frosty half-litre of Stiegl to cool down. Both Mrs Donnelly and I agreed that we’d never had such a view from a caravan window before and it seemed a shame to rush off. So with that, the decision was made to order another halb-liter and just absorb what must be one of the best caravan site locations in northern Europe.

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The view from our pitch shot on a very shaky iPhone video camera

 

 

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