Car – Again 7 8 08

It’s an early start as we have to have the car at the garage by 8am so we set off at 7.30. The mechanic is waiting and they kindly lend us a car, think it was the garage owners car. It was a fiat which is crap but beggers can’t be choosers! It’s odd switching from a right hand drive car on the wrong side of the road to a left hand drive on the right side of the road, we decide not to drive too far just in case! We just drove back to the room and had breakfast

We walked the dogs up the high street for their business then went back to the room and headed off to Landeck where the garage is, we wanted to have a look round. We parked in the car park and walked on to the main street, had a coffee and a strawberry tart them wandered up the street for a while.

Landeck mains street.

We drove back to the garage just about 12.30, the car was to be ready at 12.00. It was parked outside so that was a good sign. The bill was waiting for us, that was not a good sign ,it was a kick in the pants off 500 euros, it seems an awful lot for brake pads and discs but we have no choice – it needed done. I asked for the old ones so that we can take them back to the garage that fitted them in Feb to see if we can reclaim some money for them. The really annoying thing is that the noise that was our concern is still there. I’ve since then done some research on the web and it seems like it might be a worn wheel bearing, we’ll get it checked when we get back.

We drove back and had a lunch then went up Galtzig cable car with the dogs to do a short walk round by a mountain lake at the top, we’re meeting Helen for coffee at 4pm.

This is the really fancy car, normally cable cars have to start at a high level – obviously at the same height as the cables, that involves lots of stairs to get people to the stat point, not easy with Ski boots, skis and poles. This car is the only one in the world that starts at ground level then pivots the cabin up over 2 huge wheels to the right height before sending it onto the cables. It shoots slightly downhill using gravity then when it reaches the cables, 2 arms clamp round the wire, which is constantly moving, to then get pulled up the hill.

So, just for Jutewallah, more working parts in a cable car.

Dan spotted a dog below on the path.

We walked round the top towards the lake, we could hear Marmotts whistling the danger signal to their pals that the dogs were around. These are quite cute animals, about the size of a large rabbit. The blob in the middle of the pic below, on the rock is one, not a great shot, I’m missing my zoom lens.

Their oil is used to relieve aches and pains, apparently it is very good.

  They even have a stuffed one in the chemist window.

Marmots are generally large ground squirrels. Those most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Alps, Carpathians, Tatra, and Pyrenees in Europe, the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada in the United States, and Northern Canada. However, the groundhog is also properly called a marmot, while the similarly-sized but more social prairie dog is not classified in the genus Marmota but in the related genus Cynomys.

Marmots typically live in burrows, and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social, and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed.

Some historians suggest that marmots, rather than rats, were the primary carriers of the Bubonic plague or yersinia pestis during several historic outbreaks.[1]Through this they are credited with a death toll of over a billion, making them second only to the malarial mosquito as a killer of humans.

The name marmot comes from French marmotte, from Old French marmotan, marmontaine, from Old Franco-Provençal, from Low Latin mures montani "mountain mouse", from Latin mures monti, from Classical Latin mures alpini "Alps mouse".

Marmots mainly eat greens. They eat many types of grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots and flowers.

We saw the Valluga 1 cable car the one I was on yesterday going over, it’s a huge height from the ground.

Ben went under an electric cable to have a pee in the grass, his ear touched the wire and he let out a loud yell and ran further into the field, then he ran back towards us and the cable, I had to shout at him to stop then get him underneath the cable – it was not pleasant.

We met Helen and made arrangements to meet for the Austrian night, we’ve been before, it involves men in leather shorts slapping their thighs and dancing, not very exciting but it might make a good blog entry.

I decided on a swim so headed off just as the rain was coming along, the pool was full of screaming kids so I only stayed half an hour. There was a thunder storm and the dogs were frightened so I elected to stay in and let Susan go to the Austrian night.

Helen in her Austrian gear, apparently she’s wearing her “sheep dog bra”, rounds them up and points them in the right direction.