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08:53: Up at about 07:30 and into the shower. I’ve registered — it’s €15.50 per night here in the campsite. I slept reasonably well with the earplugs in, even though my pitch wasn’t that flat. I think my body is getting used to the abuse. Thankfully there don’t seem to be biting insects here so my many bites will get a chance to heal.
I’m here to buy maps, post old maps home, wash some clothes (I put on “clean” clothes this morning; how on earth will I get clothes dry in this Irish weather?) and do some sightseeing. The latter is lowest priority.
09:06:00
10:52: Clothes washed, clothes line attached to the tent and shrubbery. The sun has come out. My phone will be charged in 20 minutes so I’m having a second breakfast and a cup of tea. and a read. I’m not feeling very resourceful today, rather I’m going through the motions. I don’t think I want to stay here any longer than it takes to buy maps, plan my route and dry my clothes.
11:25: Checking on my drying clothes, then heading into town.
11:29: 30% chance of rain from 14:00 I’ll take the risk. Stuff’s not dry yet. Some days I just run out of puff and run on empty. Today is one of those days. Push on. I know what I have to do.
Breakfast was €8.50 (Two bread rolls, jam and butter twice, €2.50 for tea. I used my own teabag.)
12:10: €9.19 to send three maps.
13:07:44
13:20: €30 on maps between here and Villach. It looks like two weeks of walking, and it’s the backbone of the Alps, not the Villach to Jesnice leg, which I originally thought. I’m going to the tourist office to chat with them about crossing the Alps solo.
13:33:45
13:37: Salzburg is awful. Pure tack. I can’t bring myself to get into it. Heading back to the tourist office at Hauptbahnhof.
13:43: The rain has started. Heading to the campsite to rescue my clothes.
13:57: Missed my chance. Stepped off the bus into a fucking downpour.
14:09:00
14:18: Sun’s out again. Heading back into town. No point faffing about with wet gear now. I didn’t bother to walk into the campsite, I just sheltered under the canopy of the closed tobacco shop and then took the bus-after-next back into town. I’m really not feeling it for Salzburg.
14:44: Back at central station. Tourist office are no help in pointing me a t mountain safety associations. I’ve found tourist offices to be consistently rubbish for anything outside the narrow band of “here are the local attractions and here’s how you get there”. Now I’m having a salad and chips for €8.20. The Turkish shops here, judging by this one, are the same kind of low grade scummy eatery as in France.1
15:23: Heading back to the campsite to plan my journey to Villach.
17:14:00 
18:44:00
19:04:40
19:34: I spent the rest of the afternoon in the café area next to reception, planning my route south. I’ve only planned it as far as Sankt Johan which is I think two days walking. South of there is a gap on my 1:50,000 scale map mosaic. I’ll either buy more maps in Sankt Johan or head east onto terrain for which I have maps. Maybe I won’t need maps. There have been days on which I’ve barely had to refer to them; on others, I couldn’t have done a fraction of a day’s walk without them. You only know after the fact.
So I’ll stay another day to do some sightseeing. Unfortunately the weather continues to look really shit for the next ten days. Right now it’s like this:
The Turkish restaurants in Germany were mostly pleasant; either set up as fast-food places with bright lights and plastic chairs, or a little more family restaurant style, with more comfortable chairs, table service by well dressed staff and the same bight lights. The food was consistently good.↩
