 1 Friday 25 June, 2010 When we got to Voderriss on the way back, Jenni said that the place with the wooden houses that Claus' brother had recommended was just 25 kms from here. Let us go see it, there would be no climbing and very little walking. Seemed like a good idea so off to Eng we went. |
 2 Friday 25 June, 2010 Eng (or Eng ALm) is at the end of a narrow valley in the Austrian Alps. Eng means narrow, tight, cramped in German. |
 3 Friday 25 June, 2010 We park the car and walk a hundred metres to the village. |
 4 Friday 25 June, 2010 It looks OK but it is not quite as we imagined. The flag is the State Flag of Tyrol with the Tyrolean coat of arms added to the centre. |
 5 Friday 25 June, 2010 It is a remarkably beautiful and tranquil spot. |
 6 Friday 25 June, 2010 Jenni spotted a sign that showed us Eng Alm, a village full of wooden houses in the style of the Tyrolian villages of a few hundred years ago. It was a 1 km walk to get there - groan. |
 7 Friday 25 June, 2010 Even though there was a dirt road into Eng Alm, normal tourist traffic was banned. We did not come this far to turn back, so we decided to walk into the village. |
 8 Friday 25 June, 2010 The surrounding Alps were breathtaking. They belong to the Karwendel mountain chain, are part of the Northern Limestone Alps and are largely located on Tyrolean territory. |
 9 Friday 25 June, 2010 The mountains in the Karwendel chain mainly consist of limestone, a sedimentary rock, and dolomite. |
 10 Friday 25 June, 2010 Austria is one of the wealthiest countries on the planet as these campervans show. The scene is very similar to those found in US National Parks. See the barbecue and the gas bottle? |
 11 Friday 25 June, 2010 We walk towards Eng Alm and cross the bridge over the dry river bed. |
 12 Friday 25 June, 2010 In the distance we see the wooden houses. I do not remember ever being to a more idyllic place than right here, at this spot on the bridge. |
 13 Friday 25 June, 2010 Here is a big surprise: the cows had been called to come home, which they did at their own pace. They reminded me of cats but much more cooperative. |
 14 Friday 25 June, 2010 The delightful little village of Eng comes into view. It is 1227 metres above sea level. |
 15 Friday 25 June, 2010 This was a magical moment. Each cow was fitted with a cow-bell that filled the valley with the tinkle of their bells as they strolled casually back to their barns. Jenni took a lot of video, mainly to record the music. |
 16 Friday 25 June, 2010 About now, our feet no longer hurt and I do not notice my ankle at all. |
 17 Friday 25 June, 2010 I have pondered over this picture for a long time. The middle layer is a sedimentary layer, which probably formed when there was a Tethys Ocean, and is mainly limestone. The top is possibly from the African continent when the two plates collided but the sandy stuff at the bottom is the result of the crumbly top layer weathering away. Fascinating. |
 18 Friday 25 June, 2010 It also appears to me that this valley was shaped by glaciation that ended only 10,000 years ago. |
 19 Friday 25 June, 2010 A bronze sword found in this area indicates that humans have been here since the Bronze Age thousands of years BCE. The village is closed during the winter months because of the danger of avalanches. |
 20 Friday 25 June, 2010 Ancient documents show that people settled in this valley about 1000 years ago. The first written record dates from 1523 and Eng has been settled continuously since then. |
 21 Friday 25 June, 2010 If we had come earlier or later in the day, we would have missed an experience we have never had before or likely to have in the future. The song of these cow-bells was joy to our Australian ears. |
 22 Friday 25 June, 2010 This building is typical of those in the village. The residence at the front faces SE and the barn is behind it. The rotting combination of hay, cow pee and poo was on the nose a little. |
 23 Friday 25 June, 2010 A small chapel is situated beside this all-wood house. |
 24 Friday 25 June, 2010 It is called the Alm kapelle and dates from about 1700. Church services and weddings still occasionally take place in the chapel. |
 25 Friday 25 June, 2010 Each cow knows its own barn (mostly) and moves towards it. |
 26 Friday 25 June, 2010 This one walks inside ready to be milked. |
 27 Friday 25 June, 2010 As does this one. It looks like the original stone structure has been added to with the extra room and roof on the left side. Is that an outside dunny on the right? |
 28 Friday 25 June, 2010 This one has to be shooed away. There are no barns over this side. |
 29 Friday 25 June, 2010 This is a tourist hotel. It seems to me that people staying at the hotel are the only others permitted to bring cars into the area. |
 30 Friday 25 June, 2010 Zimmer means that there are rooms to rent. |
 31 Friday 25 June, 2010 The village has permanent water, electricity and communications connected but it is all hidden to preserve its character. I can imagine how parked cars and satellite dishes would ruin the ambience of this place. |
 32 Friday 25 June, 2010 The sign says to the Chapel. The buildings on this side do not have barns attached. Presumably this is so that humans can have the warmer sunny side facing the sun. |
 33 Friday 25 June, 2010 The amount of firewood, neatly stacked is a feature of every house in the village. |
 34 Friday 25 June, 2010 A restaurant of more modern construction exists at the top end of the village. |
 35 Friday 25 June, 2010 We were not hungry, nor did we feel like coffee, but sitting in the sunshine here would have been very nice. As an aside, restaurant prices in Germany and Austria are not too bad, generally cheaper than our own. |
 36 Friday 25 June, 2010 This was cute. A nanny goat and her kid were knee-deep in pasture. |
 37 Friday 25 June, 2010 Goat's milk can be used to make cheese. If not, they are headed to a dinner table. |
 38 Friday 25 June, 2010 They had their own little wooden barn. |
 39 Friday 25 June, 2010 We are actually walking in a loop up one side, across the top and then down the the other side. Our feet still do not hurt at all. |
 40 Friday 25 June, 2010 This was my attempt at artistic expression. The hotel opposite does indeed have a satelite dish but it is very well hidden. |
 41 Friday 25 June, 2010 They look extremely healthy and well fed. The one on the left is singing, "Freude! Freude! Freude, schöner Götterfunken" over and over. Dumb cow, that's all it knows. |
 42 Friday 25 June, 2010 A cheese factory was built in 1883 and rebuilt in 1995. In 2006 it was equipped with a cheese-making machine with the finished product sold in the tourist shop nearby. |
 43 Friday 25 June, 2010 We walk down the other side back to our car via a short stop at the tourist shop to buy some things we did not need. |
 44 Friday 25 June, 2010 The trees are maple and some are said to be 500 years old. |
 45 Friday 25 June, 2010 These are all the farmers' residences and each one has cows in a barn behind it. The farmers must become used to the pong and not notice it. |
 46 Friday 25 June, 2010 This part of the country is very religious. Actively religious that is. |
 47 Friday 25 June, 2010 On the way back, I notice that my ankle is starting to hurt again. But what a wonderous, beautiful place this is. |
 48 Friday 25 June, 2010 When we got back to the car, my ankle was so swollen that Jenni commandeered the car keys and drove us back to the guest house. It was worth every painful step though. Next stop: A day of rest in Bad Tolz |
