Saturday 29 May Nauders

Have just had the best nights sleep I have had in ages and am feeling good this morning.
Am pleased to see the breakfast is the buffet we were expecting!
One of the advantages of a long first day is that today is relatively easy as we have already come a long way.
We leave the hotel at 09:00 and are soon driving the very pretty A6 motorway towards Manheim before following the route to Stuttgart.
It is a nice sunny morning and not too busy with traffic. We make good progress and pass Stuttgart before stopping at a service area where some of the TT boys are.
From here we drive towards Ulm and then south towards Kempten and Fussen. I haven't been this way for a couple of years and am not sure if the motorway at Kempten has been completed yet. I have a choice of going to Lindau and Bregenz on Lake Constance and then along to Landeck and Nauders or continue on the A7 and either take the country route from where the motorway ends or maybe the motorway is finished.
It is finished! And it takes us straight to the small tunnel with Austria on the other side. This is a real bonus and has saved a good 20/30 minutes driving.
Once in Austria we are off the motorway as we climb up and over the Fern Pass, along with our TT friends, and have a short stop before arriving in Nauders at 17:30.
It is always a pleasure coming to Nauders and the Hotel Hochland and I am warmly greeted by Linda, Patricia and Charly.
I came here at the beginning of April (Easter week) for a weeks ski-ing with the girls and the hotel closed the day after we left. Today is the first day the hotel has opened!
We had a great holiday and ski-ing in Nauders has always been an ambition of mine.
The food here is very good with a five course meal each evening and even though we have only just arrived we still have a choice of four main courses and two desserts.
It doesn't take long to unload folk and cases and soon everybody is in their rooms.
We all meet up again at 18:45 for a welcome drink at which Charly explains a little about the hotel in his ever improving English.
Dinner is at 19:00 and apart from another couple we seem to be the only guests. With a full complement of staff we are afforded extra special service!

Brain has also gone away today with the twinning association fromPortsmouth to Duisberg in Germany. He took them away last year and they are pleased that he is driving again this year.
I know he enjoyed it last year but I also know he would rather be in Nauders!
He has just been off work for four weeks with a slipped disc so is eager to be back working. And a week in Germany is never too much of a hardship.