Away again

Hi there, all

It's that rare thing, a Wandering Pom blog post - and, as usual, it's to warn you that I will be away for a while. In fact, it probably feels as if I've already been away: I'm aware that I've been commenting and otherwise in touch with many "regulars" rather less often than is usual, and than I would like. It's been a combination of a fair amount of real-world stuff to deal with (including my usual detailed holiday planning) and feeling somewhat tired and unmotivated. So a break is probably a good idea anyway.

I'll be away from tomorrow (Saturday 23 July) for ten days, mostly in Austria. The plan goes like this (with apologies to German-speaking readers; I've chosen English-language placenames for the convenience of the majority of readers):
- Sat 23: fly to Germany; overnight in Munich
- Sun 24: head east; overnight in Linz (Austria)
- Mon 25: circular day-trip through the Alps south of Linz and Salzburg
- Tue 26: head east again, very roughly following the Danube
- Wed 27: day out on narrow-gauge tourist railways around Gmund (near the Czech border)
- Thu 28: ride on a "draisine" (roughly, a bicycle on rail wheels) on a disused rail line; overnight in Vienna
- Fri 29: day out to the edge of the Alps, southwest of Vienna
- Sat 30: eastwards once more, probably via Lake Balaton; overnight in Budapest
- Sun 31: probably circular day-trip, to be decided
- Mon 1 Aug: westwards (!) over land to Bratislava, then fly back from there

As usual for me, most of this travelling will be by rail, and I expect to explore some more unfamiliar corners of central Europe's rail network. meanwhile, I need to finish my packing, so I'll bid you "Auf wiedersehen"!

Take care

Mark