Visit to Leogang

The "Beard Olympiad" was held in Leogang, near Salzburg in Austria, on the weekend 20^th to 22^nd May. Mike and Mary Solomons went a day early, spending the extra time in Salzburg. It rained.

Ted Sedman and Rod Littlewood flew to Munich and drove from there. Rod’s satellite navigation system had been programmed to take the shortest route, not the fastest one, and a female voice kept telling us to turn off the motorway. Rod was quite rude to her! We eventually reached Leogang at about 10:30 p.m. and it was completely deserted with no sign of our hotel, but we eventually caught sight of two bearded gentlemen who were able to point us in the right direction. When we got to the hotel everything was closed down and there were no restaurants open in the village. Krimmler Falls Rod sent a text message to a friend saying:- "This is a one horse town and we can’t get anything to eat". Back came the reply:- "Eat the horse"!

Friday dawned bright and clear, with wonderful views of mountains, and, having met up with lots of old friends we were taken on a coach trip through some glorious scenery. (Rod provided entertainment, taking calls on his mobile from patients who thought he was in his clinic in England. He explained to us that he always kept his appointments diary with him as it was the most essential item for his business.) Lunch was taken by a spectacular waterfall at the Krimmler Falls, and tea in Kitzbuhel an interesting old town. After dinner in our hotel it was off to the enormous marquee to drink beer to the accompaniment of a German band.

Saturday was the day of the competition and we were joined for the day by Fabrizio Cocchiarella, a recently joined member of the Handlebar Club. Fabrizio had arranged to visit a friend who lived nearby, for the weekend. He has the great advantage of speaking Italian, and did a great job enabling us to talk to Italian friends with whom we had had great difficulty communicating in the past. Rod entered the competition in the "English" category, Ted in "Chinese", and Mike in the very competitive "Imperial". Ted was the most successful, coming second - but that was probably because there were only three entries in his class! And the evening finished in traditional fashion with more beers.

Preparing for the parade Sunday morning was Church Parade. There were three bands, and parties from each of the local villages, each group in their own colourful traditional costumes. We of course marched behind the Leogangers. After the open-air service we marched back again, but somehow we got waylaid by a bar. Afterwards Rod, Mike and Mary went up a ski lift and enjoyed the views, while Ted had a meeting concerning the World Beard and Moustache Association. Then, before driving back to Munich, we were invited to the home of Fritz, one of the Austrian contestants, where he had a fascinating collection of old saws and other wood-working tools, some dating back to the 1700's. He also smoked his own fish, brewed his own beer and made wine from his home-grown grapes. And he had a wonderful view over Zell am See.

We just made it to Munich in time for the flight back and arrived home tired but happy - until Ted unpacked and found that he had somehow got Rod’s appointments diary in his luggage. So the holiday ended with a meeting at a bus stop just off the M3 at about midnight.