The best drive in the Alps?

We picked our route out of Slovenia and into Austria so that we wouldn't drive on the motorway, which would require a vignette (ten day minimum). That's not as bad as in Switzerland, which require one to be bought that lasts a year; there's no short stay vignette available. If you read the Swiss website there's a load of b&/#¥***>\xs written about how the law doesn't provide for shorter term tickets. Also I think that the Swiss one runs until early winter, so you need another one if you were to drive there to ski after driving in the summer. That's just plain annoying.

Those craggy mountains in Kransjka Gora were beautiful to see in the clear blue morning sky; it's another place to think about coming back to for a mountain holiday (this one was not a walking holiday). We headed north over the Wurzen pass, a mere 1,073m and then drove west along a wide valley until we were almost at Lienz.

There are various routes north from here to the Tyrol with at least three of them using tunnels for the highest parts. We chose the interesting sounding Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse because on our very detailed Austrian map book it looked a very interesting road, not least the fact that it goes close to the Grossglockner mountain. This is the highest in Austria at 3,797m. In the Alps, anything over 3,000m has snow and ice interest all year round, so we were hoping for good views.

Well what can I say? This road is unbelievable. First of all it's only open during the day, secondly, it has pay booths at both ends and it costs €35 to drive over and thirdly it is stupendous.

There's a teasing view of snow as you make your way up towards the hairpins.

That's the mountain in the distance...

The road climbs higher and higher, but the gradient and the hairpins are as nothing compared to the stress of watching out for bikers. There were hundreds, probably because it was Saturday but it might also be because the Hairy Bikers have featured this route on one of their programmes, although what their appeal is outside of the UK I'm not sure. Having said that, I flicked on the TV back in Sarajevo and there was Jamie Oliver. Oh the wonders of satellites and daytime TV.

The biker's licence plates indicated a real mix of nationalities. There were bikes from Germany, Italy, Czech Republic and Austria of course. It's obviously a competition to get up and down in the style of their choosing. Some used touring style, but most were racing and getting their knees close to the tarmac.

So there were a few distractions, but taking a nineteen year old Land Rover up over 2,000m has its own stresses and I was a little worried about the cooling system and the effect of high altitude (low pressure) on the water hoses and joints. I shouldn't have worried; it was fine.

Near the top, there's a turnoff left which according to the map, is a yellow road and that can mean anything. The quantity and size of vehicles coming down indicated that there was nothing to worry about. This is a spur road, Gletscherstrasse, that gets you nearer to the mountain and its glacier than I could have imagined.

There's even a multi storey car park and this is the view from it.

Eagle-eyed glacier lovers will note that there's a huge glacier in this photo but a lot of it is covered in moraine, all the way from top right down to the meltwater lake at the middle bottom.

There are several higher 'hanging' glaciers too.

This is the altitude. Not bad for a road is it?

These are some of the bikes, almost as many as in Matlock Bath on a Saturday afternoon. Via Gelia and the Cat and Fiddle just aren't the same though, are they? They are so proud of them and have them perfectly lined-up. I can see the appeal.

When you return to the main road (and you have to go downhill to get to it), there's still an almighty climb to the pass and the hairpins are just stacked one above the other. Again it's 'watch out for bikers time' as they like to overtake on the hairpins just as much as they do on the straight.

So that's the top, 2,504m on a major route and in a 110 300TDi Station Wagon. Pause for applause!!

All we had to do was get down the other side. Now before the trip started, had invested in new brake calipers and discs all round and the front are vented discs but it's a long long way down and the Landy is heavy; no way did I want brake fade. I don't think that really happens any more but as we have had a trouble-free motoring holiday (and we had just flipped through 5,000 miles), I wasn't going to be rushed.

So we dropped into the Tyrol and to an area of Austria we visited with Jo & Charlie some years ago. Kitzbühel is as beautiful as ever and we camped just north, before St Johann, at Camping Michelnhof.

This is what Austrians do well; it's a campsite that caters for winter stays (motorhomes and caravans). The facilities are amazing, just what you need after a day's skiing.

What I liked about the place was that the farming family who live there, love Land Rover Defenders and they couldn't wait to look at ours, having spotted us driving up the road. They have just invested in a brand new Defender 90 because they know that 2015 is the final year of production.

The best bit however, is the view in the morning light, of the Wilder Kaiser mountain range right in front of the Landy...Those peaks are all 2,300m+ and they look fantastic, as well as eminently walkable with a scramble at the tops maybe.

The tour of the Balkans and Greece was therefore completed with a surprise addition of this marvellous drive over a beautiful alpine pass. I don't know what sights the bikers saw before they got to the lookout, but we enjoyed every minute of the ascent and decent. We were blessed with terrific visibility and it really was a fantastic last sightseeing day.

All that remains now is a drive across Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium, to the channel ports and an overnight stop at our favourite campsite at a Manoir just east of Boulogne. We hope to be there on Wednesday 15th July.