No 16 - Take A Trip to The Achensee In Austria

This is probably one of my longest held ambitions - dating back as far as primary school when I first discovered Elinor Brent-Dyer's Chalet School stories. If you are unfamiliar with her work I don't suggest you wade in now; there are loads of the books (of increasingly diminishing quality) and most of the main characters are decidedly tiresome from an adult perspective. Just to give you a taste, the main character, Joey Bettany, begins the series as the frail younger sister of the founder and first headmistress of said school and ends it as the mother of 11 children (one set of triplets and two sets of twins plus stray singles) and guardian to an assortment of orphans. She is a respected writer, sings like an angel, swims like Rebecca Adlington, dispenses advice to all and sundry at the drop of a hat, and has the ability to adjust her clothing like a Frenchwoman (no, I never worked out what this means either). The singing is important because, in Chalet land, health is very important. The school is partnered by a TB sanatorium. Every female character worth her salt  (including Joey and her sister, the headmistress) marries a doctor, usually after they have been plucked from peril. There is a lot of peril - but it is ok, they either get rescued by one of these handy doctors or a kindly cowherd (but no one ever marries them). And, where medical science fails, singing to an invalid is an infallible cure for most known ailments.Also drinking milk and going to bed early. I may sound cynical, but for many of us who discovered the Chalet School in our formative years, these books are as addictive as crack and I retain an inexplicable passion for them to this day.

You may be wondering what this has to do with my trip to the Achensee. Well, the first dozen or so of the books are set at the fictitious Tiern See in the Austrian Tirol in a little village called Briesau. There is lots and lots of detail, which eventually enabled clever readers to identify their real life counterparts. Ever since I discovered that Briesau is really Pertisau I have hankered to go there, hence the inclusion of this trip on my Bucket List. And so, when it came to choosing a holiday to mark my half-century, there was really no competition. And although Philip is immune to the charms of the Chalet School he is very keen on doing strenuous things in the great outdoors, so he didn't take much persuading.

We flew to Salzburg on the 21st August at silly o'clock - although Charlotte had, once again, nobly offered to chauffeur us. However, the early start meant we arrived in Pertisau in time for a (latish) lunch. I was ridiculously excited for my first view of the Tiern See (oh all right then, the Achensee) and by the time we had checked into the Hotel Post - recommended by several people, but mainly chosen by me because it actually appears in the books - I was almost overcome by the view from our balcony. Seriously, I had a big lump in my throat.

It looked exactly how I had always imagined it. The photo doesn't do justice to the colour of the lake which is a dark turquoise, crystal clear, and supposedly clean enough to drink. The hotel was excellent  and our room was huge and just on the second floor, which meant not too many stairs to negotiate after the gargantuan meals. As well as great food, good accommodation and a fab location, it also had a "wellness suite" with free sauna, jacuzzi, pools etc. plus a range of spa treatments.

We bought an Erlebnis Card, costing just under £50 each, which gave us 7 days access to the local boats, buses, cable cars, train and museums, and we definitely got our money's worth.It didn't take us long to realise we would be consuming thousands of calories per day, making a spot of damage limitation essential. It turned out to be an energetic holiday.

That first afternoon we took the Karwendel cable car to have a little mosey around higher up. I am not entirely comfortable with heights, but it wasn't too terrifying and I did eventually manage to open my eyes and enjoy the view, although I retained an iron grip on my seat. The next day I was even braver and went up the Rofanseilbahn - a bigger, scarier cable car although I was so hemmed in by fellow travellers that I couldn't actually see the view. We did one of the most popular hikes in the area - to the Dalfaz-Alm. It was an amazing walk, with spectacular views and although the local tourist board rated it as "easy" it was pretty vertiginous in sections (later in the week we did some "moderately difficult" walks which I didn't find as alarming). I was also very excited to meet cows wearing real cow bells.

The west side of the lake is only accessible by footpath, and it is another gorgeous walk. I was particularly keen to do this one as it features in the books on several occasions, being famous for a landmark called the Dripping Rock. I was therefore very excited to be dripped on by the Dripping Rock, although the tin roof erected to stop the drips eroding the path isn't exactly picturesque.

This was one of the paths marked "moderately difficult" as the path is narrow and is a sheer drop to the lake. I think my level of vertigo largely depends on how dangerous things feel - up on the Dalfaz Alm I was convinced I would plummet to certain death if I fell off, whereas here the prospect of falling into the lake didn't seem too terrifying. We spent most days alternately walking and using the big lake boats, but on the Saturday we decided to borrow some of the free bikes from the hotel and explore slightly further afield. I haven't ridden a bike for yonks so I was a little trepidacious but it appears that it is just like riding a bike, and after wobbling round the car park for about five minutes and trying to remember what gears are actually for, I was well away and it was so much fun that I am going to try and carry on at home. I was a touch saddle sore by the end of the day, although a swim in the lake helped. The water temperature is famously bracing, but we swam at the shallow Seespitz end and having holidayed extensively in the UK I can report it is no colder than the average bucket and spade seaside.

 That night the weather took a turn for the worse, so we spent Sunday visiting a museum and taking a trip on the little mountain railway which has been running since 188-something and has apparently never broken down. It was once a vital means of transport for locals and visitors alike, bringing people and goods up to area but now it is a  tourist attraction and hugely popular. The one downside is the fact that it travels down to Jenbach, which is not much of a place. There are a couple of Chalet School associations but Philip was pretty unimpressed. Good cakes at the station were a bonus, although we were surprised that the cafe had no restriction on smokers - surprising how quickly we have grown to take non-smoking indoors for granted.The little train was fab though.

On Monday we climbed an actual mountain called the Feil-kopf. We didn't make it right to the top because, in best Elinor Brent-Dyer tradition the cloud started to descend, and we felt it would be unwise to rely on a passing doctor or herder coming to our rescue, even though I assured Philip that we would be offered respite and smoky milk and a bed of hay in a mountain hut.  We had done all the difficult bit though, so I still felt very impressed with myself. And we did meet an extremely cute goat.

For our last full day we went to Innsbruck, which was gorgeous. We saw the House with Golden Roof and the Hofkirche with its amazing statues (including some by Durer) and ate Sacher-torte at the Sacher Cafe. I thought it was a touch underwhelming compared to my own Devil's Food Cake (she sa modestly) but not bad. The architecture was lovely and, even though it was August, the crowds were surprisingly small.

And then it was all over. There are lots of other places to visit on my Official List, but I will be very sad if I don't manage a return visit to the Achensee before I am 60. Even without the Chalet School connection it would still have been an amazing holiday.