Alta Via 1 (part of) hike, Italy

Another wonderful hike, with unexpectedly spectacular scenery. I’d seen pictures but nothing prepares you for the real thing. It was such a contrast here on Alta Via 1, in the Dolomiti Bellunesi of northeastern Italy, to last week in Austria, in part because of the paleness of the limestone rock, the unusual shapes of the mountain peaks and the closed in feel as I hiked high above the tiny valleys. There weren’t the expanses of tussocky hillsides and the jangling cows/sheep, and there weren’t the frequent gushing creeks. The atmosphere was of great quietness and the weather was perfect. In this I was rather fortunate because during my two days break in Lienz and travelling to Belluno it had snowed heavily in the Dolomites and some of the Alta Via 1 was impassable.

Monday August 27

I took the bus from Belluno to the walk start at an isolated bus stop called La Pissa. Actually this is the walk finish, as I was hiking in the opposite direction to the way the route is described, but this suited me as it meant I didn’t have to decide how far I would hike just yet; my route guide had all the bale-out points. It was hard to find the trail, the only disadvantage I found (over my three days) to hiking in my direction.

I had a long climb in beech forest with occasional views, and with these views I soon realised the extraordinary nature of these Dolomite mountains. They are such odd shapes, so abruptly steep sided, and so dry. No cows, very few huts, no streams and few meadows. After a while I reached a rifugio in a clearing and then I climbed to a pass (just marked by a tiny shrine to St Francis), now out of the forest. I reached the Rifugio Pian de Fontana where I had thought I might stay, but decided to continue on to the next rifugio (where I had a booking anyway) as it was such a beautiful day, not a cloud in the blue sky and only early afternoon.

The afternoon's hike was one of the best I have ever done. I had a steady climb up the valley on grass and scree with scree slopes all around. The rock is pale here so the whole feel was of lightness and airiness. It was a long and arduous climb with several 'lips' that I mistook for the pass into the next valley. I was passing small patches of snow.

When I reached the pass I was confronted with an unbelievable view of mountain peaks of all sorts of shapes and plenty of snow, both on the peaks and on my trail. There were snow stripes across the more bare mountainsides and it was altogether almost a lunar landscape. 

I hiked carefully along the trail with several snowy interludes which slowed me a little. I crossed many scree gullies, all dry, and could see Rifugio Pramperet on a grassy hillside from far away. The final descent in low pine forest was easy and quick.

The hut was busy and the food was good, with tagliatelle alla Gorgonzola for entree. It must have been German night because the main was frankfurters and dessert was strudel, but I took the vegetarian main option of pieces of tangy cheese, mushrooms and a slab of polenta. Later the owner, also called Giulia, offered me a Grappa and had a chat with me so I could practise my Italian.

Tuesday

Another day of perfect weather. I felt tired right from the start and took it easy. I started with a long descent, which meant I would have a climb later. I meandered in and out of forest, passed lots of hikers and went over a pass. On the far side were long stretches of trail over scree and craggy mountains close to hand. Then I came down through forest and had a couple of kilometres on the road, ending near two rifugios with full car parks and jangling cows outside.

The last forty minutes was on a gravel path climbing sharply. I couldn’t imagine why the path was so busy until I realised people were going up to the rifugio for lunch.

At the top I came upon Rifugio Carestiato quite suddenly. It occupied the entire hilltop, which is to say that the actual hilltop was only big enough for the rifugio - you couldn’t even stand at the same height as the building to take a level photo. The setting was incredible: the place was surrounded in every, and I mean every, direction by high mountain peaks, mostly bare rock and vertical sided. I hadn’t booked but they found me a bed in the annex. 

I had lunch of gnocchi al ragu on the terrace of the rifugio and spent the afternoon strolling around and reading in various scenic spots. At dinner I shared a table with a French woman who was an ultra runner: a win-win as I got to speak French and enjoy the topics. After dinner I sat outside and in the half darkness the mountain outlines made an amazing silhouette against the blue-black sky.

Wednesday

Another chance to admire the amazing 360 degree view from the hilltop hut:

Then I set out, a bit among the scraggy dwarf pines and then out onto the scree to traverse those enormous mountains, their peaks towering above. The mountains were so close to my right and the steep drop down to the valley was so close to my left. In some places the scree path was slippery and I fell once, and ran down one short slope fully out of control.

After hiking through one bowl where I seemed to be completely enclosed I reached a pass and then entered another bowl. Just magnificent, and I was grateful to the hikers at Pramperet who had suggested I stay the night at Rifugio Carestiato and then hike on the next day. Those steep sided bowls with impossibly high sides of limestone and scattered forest were something else.

I had stretches in forest but most of my morning was out in the open on the scree. The last few slopes had creeks trickling down, almost the first running water I’d seen here. Then I joined a dirt road, just before Rifugio Vazzoler, for my descent to the village of Listolade. The dirt turned to tarmac after a kilometre or so. I had not had high hopes of this road but it was a surprise: it was alongside a creek the whole way, passing waterfalls. All the way down I could still see high mountains all around.

I arrived in Listolade and checked the bus times. I just had time for a cappuccino and to use the toilet before catching the bus back to Belluno.

Adlerweg, East Tirol, Austria hike

A wonderful hike, eight days and about 100 kilometres on the Adlerweg in Austria's Eastern Tirol. The main part of the Adlerweg in Western Tirol makes the shape of an eagle in flight when plotted on a map, and my little stretch in Eastern Tirol is either a baby eagle or the prey, or an afterthought. Either way, it follows the Venediger and Grosglockner mountain ranges, mostly in the Hohe Tauern National Park.

I went into this fairly blind as it had been hard to get good information, but I thought what I had from the Tirol.com website would be good enough to get me through. And it was. The hike turned out better than I had expected. Mainly because there was so much climbing, and by golly I love to walk uphill.

Saturday 18 August

Despite initial fears, and a lot of email enquiries which didn’t get good results, it turned out to be easy to get to the trail start in the Virgental at Ströden, an hour out of Lienz on the bus. I filled my water bottles from one of the now familiar water troughs and set out, following a creek, going in and out of light forest and could very soon see a glacier ahead and craggy peaks. There were a couple of timber sheds and some cows. Soon I had left all the other people who‘d got off the bus behind. At a huge confluence of creeks there were lots more cows and after this I had a long climb to above 2700 metres. It felt hard. At the top I sat and ate lunch (a roll snaffled surreptitiously from my breakfast, something I was going to do all week) with sheep nearby.

There followed a descent to my hut for the night, Johannishütte, but I remained above the tree line around 2100 metres. I was just disappointed to see a road through the valley leading to the hut. But to compensate there was another glacier and lots of waterfalls.

At the hut I sat on the busy sundeck drinking a Radler. But once the sun went behind the mountains it got cool quickly and everyone went inside. It surprised me every afternoon how people didn’t sit outside for long. Dinner included pork in sweet pepper sauce and a sweet dumpling for dessert which the girls at the table next to me absolutely frothed over. I slept in a small dormitory.

Sunday

I couldn’t do the prescribed route because the trail over that alpine pass was closed. I don’t know why but it had clearly been closed for a while. So my day was a bit shorter than anticipated, although quite long enough. I started by climbing for an hour and a half, luckily in the shade, to Zopatscharte at 2958 metres. The last part I found the going hard, due to the altitude I guess. The views were amazing including hundreds of peaks, glaciers and a little lake.

The descent to Eisseehütte was hard at first and I rested by a wide creek. After the hut the trail contoured on grassy slopes for ages with long views down to villages in the valley. In one direction the mountainsides were bare scree and in the other they were forested. The cows had recently been along the trail and had pooed all along it. I knew that a climb was coming, but in the meantime the trail crossed numerous cirques. Finally the trail went up to a tiny opening in the line of peaks; I sat for a while on the grass looking at the new valley below, then zigzagged down steeply on the far side.

From here on I could see my destination hut, Bonn-Matreierhütte. It looked closer than it was and also not as far above me as it was. This seemed to be a problem with hiking towards these more remote huts: you could see them a long way ahead and the arrival was always deceptive. But I got there after a long uphill slog. There was no road access, just a telpher line for supplies. I ended up alone in my 6-bed room for the night.

Monday

This was a long day. It was cold when I left the hut, with a climb to another small notch-like pass and then a much longer climb on scree. Once I went through the notch it was windy and I put on rain jacket and beanie. The next valley was vast and spectacular and I spent hours in it, contouring high above another river and crossing multiple creeks (which were more like waterfalls). I had some sheep on my path and one time I really surprised them, they darted away so suddenly that I was spooked.

Badenerhütte was another hut at the top of a long climb that took longer to reach than I expected. The altitude got to me and I stopped to eat my lunch on the way up, but after that break I felt a million dollars. It was very hot and still. I had been intending to stay there but I decided to continue on, so I popped into the hut and told them this; I also wanted to check that they thought I would have time to reach the next hut. Two women eating lunch in the hut had a laugh at my bad German.

What followed was among the best parts of the hike. I could see that I would have to climb up to a very obvious saddle to exit the valley, and that was fine as it was gradual and the valley was wonderful. There were loads of little wildflowers in purple, yellow and white and I saw my first edelweiss. 

 At the saddle, where I was surprised to pass several hikers (surprised as I hadn’t seen anyone for ages) I came to a pass, Löbentörl, and on the other side the view was just staggering: two huge glaciers and scree for ever. I stood there awestruck.

The descent was great, too. The magnificent views never stopped and I saw a couple of huts across on other mountainsides. At first I was on scree, I crossed a small patch of snow, then a long grassy ridge and then grassy slopes, with the second glacier seemingly at my elbow. I passed a blue lake where someone was actually swimming.

I was getting quite tired and it was still hot. I sat down and finished my lunch (I had snaffled two sets of bread and cheese today) and then had a final very long and very steep descent on hundreds of steps. I passed a huge waterfall. As I descended I became worried that the place I was heading for might not have accommodation as the signage didn’t always have the bed symbol; also I could see what I thought was my destination and it looked too small to have rooms.

But I got down into the valley and realised I could not yet see the hut I was aiming for, Venedigerhaus, as it was a further kilometre down a dirt road. I continued on and it turned out to be more of a large pub with lots of folk drinking on the terrace. I went in and asked if they had a bed for me; the barman said he thought they were full, which was a disappointment to me as I was exhausted and didn’t want to walk another hour to the next place. But then the owner appeared, asked if I was a student, and said they had a dormitory. I ended up with a single room; it was really grotty but it had a bed. I had a drink on the terrace with a view of that glacier, then ate dinner (schnitzel) inside the pub with an awful lot of flies for company.

Tuesday

There was a big hiking group staying at Venedigerhaus which explained why the barman thought they were full. Because of this crowd the food ran out quickly at breakfast so it was good I got there early to grab both breakfast and lunch. I hiked on a trail alongside the river towards the next accommodation place, Matreier Tauernhaus, and realised I had gone a bit wrong the day before, adding some extra distance.

At Matreier Tauernhaus I could have caught a bus into Matrei, as my route notes suggested, but I chose to hike there instead. I did not actually know how far it was, it could have been between ten and twenty kilometres. There was a hiking signpost to Matrei so I decided it would be safe to follow it (but it did not tell the distance).

Early on the trail followed the river, rising and falling. I stopped to photograph some cows standing across 'my' path and one of them licked my elbow as I did this. Then I found myself on a succession of farm roads, passing farmhouses and seeing farmers in the fields. It was hot work on long straight stretches of road. I kept hoping to see Matrei but it was elusive.

At a hamlet called Gruben the signs sent me into the forest and the trail rose steadily. I was heading in the right direction but very concerned with all the climbing as Matrei is most definitely in a valley. I crossed several streams cascading down the hillsides and saw no one. Finally I came to an opening in the forest and - joy of joys - I could see Matrei far below. I mean really far below. I took a gamble on a steeply descending path and ate my lunch in the shade by a little shrine. 

This path ended at someone's property, still high above the town, and luckily an old man was working on his grass so I asked him the way down. He showed me, but I soon decided to take a short cut across a field. The man yelled at me so I went back to the road. Once I felt he would be out of my earshot I went back to a cross country route, which worked well apart from having to get over a barbed wire fence. I got to the road into Matrei and made it to my hotel. It was only 2.30 but I had walked enough. The town was deserted and hot. 

I don’t think I was ever lost or away from the real route, but I should have checked the distance before setting out!

Wednesday

My route notes said the hike continued from Glanz, a hamlet outside Matrei, but I had to get there first. It was a six kilometre uphill walk on a sealed road with lots of hairpins, passing houses and then fields. I could see across the Matrei basin where I had been walking yesterday.

The actual hike started in larch forest with a steep climb. Then I went through meadows, where the eponymous edelweiss in Edelweiss Meadow were sadly past their prime. I reached a mountain restaurant in a lovely setting, and then walked past sheep, cows, goats and a few horses. After crossing a creek I had a big climb beside one of those waterways that I couldn’t decide whether to call creek or waterfall. I was on tussock grass and surrounded by mountains whose peaks were in cloud. I stopped a couple of times and once a hiker passed me; after that I watched his progress up the slope.

The hut, Südetendeutschehütte, was on a cliff edge with a telpher line and a nice deck that nobody used. I had ascended over 2200 metres for the day. The owners were Nepalis and I sat chatting with them for a while while they made momos (gyoza). However when dinner came I was given a plate of ham and mashed potato and only selected folk got the momos. There was no salad or dessert, so altogether a substandard meal compared with the other huts.

For some pleasant reason people wanted to chat to me here (in German, which was fine by me) but one woman gave me a real grilling. It’s always women, it seems, who are amazed that I’m alone. The hut was busy and I was starting to work out that a lot of the visitors are not hiking very far or for much of the day.

Thursday

I did two silly things today. The first was that straight from the hut I followed a sign to a 'Glocknerblick' but didn’t know when I had reached it so continued scrambling on scree long after I should have turned back. That just wasted time but I had nice views of glaciers, peaks and such. Of course, dummo.

Then I turned to my proper work for the day and went over the Graditzkögel pass. At the top I saw  the Grossglockner (Austria's highest mountain) when the clouds parted for a while. I was lucky because the clouds came in for good very soon after. There followed a long relaxing descent on tussock grass with many creek crossings. My route notes had said to watch out for a tricky unbridged creek but there was a brand new bridge when I got there. 

As I came down close to the Dorfertal and my destination hut Kalser Tauernhaus I saw a sign to Schwarzsee. Thinking this was a lake mentioned in my route notes as a good side trip I decided to go there instead of going to the hut first. Big mistake. The trail climbed and climbed with no sign of a lake and no other hikers. I kept thinking I would just go up to the next crag. After 45 minutes I saw the lake, not on the trail but far below. And it would have been a much easier hike from the hut in the valley. When I got to the hut and looked at the map I saw that it was Dorfsee, not Schwarzsee. Then I looked at my notes and saw that they talked about Dorfsee. Schwarzsee was three hours away!

At night there was a big storm and a power cut. The hut people gave us schnapps to make up for the inconvenience.

Friday

This morning I made my surreptitious lunch so quickly that I had already made a jam sandwich, thinking that jam was all I was getting, before the waitress brought me a plate of cheese and salami. 

I had a flat hour through the Dorfertal under cloudy skies and then a steep climb to an inn. Then I came all the way back down on a road. Then I went all the way back up and more, on a hairpin trail in the forest. I emerged in a steep sided gorge above the tree line.

At the end of the gorge I turned onto a grassy hillside following a sign to my destination, Stüdlhütte. The trailed climbed as it contoured the valley and I walked steadily. I only stopped briefly when the sun came out for long enough for me to put on sunblock (and then went back in again for the day). After yesterday's silliness I had studied my route notes carefully, but now my trail didn’t seem to match the description. I became a bit concerned even while I could see plenty of evidence of other hikers having been here. Then I saw a group of hikers ahead of me and I felt better.

And then all of a sudden there was the hut in front of me. I was gobsmacked, and very pleased. When I went back and reread my notes they still didn’t make sense. Those other hikers, it turned out, were climbing up a crag. I went inside to tell the hut people I was hiking further. The guy told me, astonishingly, that I had to pay €6 in compensation for booking and then not staying. This was ridiculous, as they had never confirmed my booking, and anyway with no wifi or cell service I had no way of cancelling other than in person. I could have made a run for it, but he ungraciously let me off.

The weather was closing in. This hut is the closest I would have got to the Grossglockner, but I did not see it. I had a brief glimpse of the big glacier on its face and that was all. Apparently I was fortunate to get that much today.

I followed a sign towards Lucknerhütte. It was a gradual descent and after a short time I could already see the hut below. This wasn’t the route in my notes but it would have been a waste of time to do that route as I would not have seen anything, and I managed to avoid the rain by taking a quicker trail.

This hut was a dream. It was very busy when I arrived but soon everyone cleared out as the weather worsened (there was road access not far away). It had a lovely deck where I sat nursing a Radler until the rain became too heavy. I had a 4-bed dorm room to myself and the showers were free. And wifi. The restaurant was cosy and the half board meal included schnitzel cordon bleu and crepes with ice cream. And a complimentary schnapps. Everyone was so friendly and put up with my poor German.

Saturday

The hut was surrounded by low cloud when I got up, which lifted a bit from time to time. I had breakfast, marvelled again at how nice this hut was, and left when there was a break in the weather. I hiked down to the next hut on a trail for twenty minutes by the river (the official end of my Adlerweg hike), then decided to continue to the village of Kals on the road. I wasn’t taking any chances with random hiking trails today and going wrong, as the rain was definitely on the way and the buses from Kals to Lienz were only every three hours so I wanted to be sure to get the midday one.

The road into Kals was nice but I couldn’t see much because of the low clouds. All downhill at a gentle grade and almost no cars. Two drivers offered me a lift. When I stepped off the road for a toilet break I slipped down the embankment, my first fall on the hike. Close to Kals I ventured off the road to try to shorten the distance a bit but I ended up going cross country through fields and my legs and feet got soaked from the wet grass.

I reached Kals in good time and for something to do I bought my dinner at the supermarket (the only place open in this very sleepy village, but boy was it busy) and got the bus. It was raining almost all the time I was in the village. And then in almost no time I was back in Lienz.

Allgäu Panorama Marathon, Sonthofen, Germany

This German trail marathon was just drop dead gorgeous from start to finish. I regretted from the first kilometre that I had decided not to bring my phone so I couldn’t take any photos. There again I would have spent so much time taking photos that I might have forgotten to keep running. This was also a rare occasion when the race turned out to be a little less difficult than I had anticipated when I signed up.

We had a loop from Sonthofen, climbing into the mountains to the west, following the range for a while, descending through some villages and then running alongside several (I think) rivers back into town. All along the route were cows with huge noisy cowbells; every time I heard the bells I thought I was coming to a bunch of spectators since in France the spectators always jangled them at the aid stations, but the cows were not paying any attention to us, to the extent that in some places they were standing on the trail. They tended to look a bit bemused and continue swishing their tail at flies.

Rain had been forecast for the afternoon but I threw caution to the wind and did not bring a jacket, and the rain never came. We had perfect blue skies and mid twenties.

We started to climb at the third kilometre and went intermittently into forest. It was a great sight when we could look down into the valley, see the green mountains all around and to see the line of runners ahead. There were a few steeper climbs, and some single track with tree roots but the going was not hard. I did not regret leaving my hiking poles behind. We were on skiing terrain and passed several runs with chairlifts.

At 13 km we reached the highest point at 1660 metres, the Weiherkopf, top of a cable car with a fabulous view, and shortly after an aid station. I messed around at the aid station and when I wanted to leave I could not see which way to go; there seemed no options other than going back the way I’d come. The problem, I eventually realised, was that a group of cows were sitting on the onward trail so I could not see the sign and nor could I see the runners leaving ahead of me. 

There followed the most spectacular kilometres of the trail: mountain vistas, snaking line of runners, tiny settlements and blue sky. We might have been peeking into Austria. We had some steep descents and I was pleased to find that the Germans did not take these especially fast, and another peak to crest. At 17 - 18 km we descended to the main aid station for the race, with a buffet and loads of spectators. I found some delicious cake with almonds and had to go back for a second helping. And then I had to walk rather than run so that I could eat it.

After a bit of undulating we embarked on a really long descent on a sealed country road with hairpin after hairpin and lots of cattle grids. We passed isolated houses/guesthouses and there was a river far below the high wall of limestone peaks, which we eventually reached. Lots of runners passed me, but I regarded this stretch as effort-free kilometres and did not rush. I ended up not being able to see anyone and I was worried I had missed a turn but then just before 30 km there was a small aid station. I was keen by then to replenish my sunblock but the aid station didn’t have any (a first in my experience of races in hot weather) and I was reprimanded for not bringing my own, but the marshal found me a cyclist who had some.

The remainder of the course was fairly flat. We were no longer in skiing terrain but rather in the populated parts of the valley. There were rivers, some quite dried up, a bit of forest, a couple of villages. Soon I started passing all the runners who has passed me on the long downhill; many were walking. I felt good. Well, hot and tired but overall good. The final long eight kilometres along the river coming into Sonthofen were a bit of a slog in the midday heat and not as beautiful as the rest of the route, but in any other race such a riverside trail would have been a highlight; I had been spoilt on the earlier sections. 

Sophie was there at the finish line. I finished in 5:19, faster than I had anticipated from my review of previous results. Funnily enough I had only seen one other female runner in the last twenty kilometres (whom I had passed near the finish), but the winner of my age group had been the woman to finish immediately before me, eleven minutes earlier.

The swag at this race was possibly better than usual: a backpack, a waist pouch, nice socks. Noticeably no ill-fitting shirt and no junk. At the finish line we had that German favourite: alcohol-free beer. There were also little slices of pizza and a lot of plums. 

Lechweg, Austria hike

The Lechweg promised to be a great hike: 125 kilometres alongside the Lech River in the Austrian Tirol from its start at Formarinsee near Lech (Austria) on its journey to Füssen (Germany). Europe was still in the grip of its heatwave but at least things were cooler in the mountains. There was even rain on the forecast. We were spreading the distance over seven days, starting with shorter days of around thirteen kilometres and building up to 25 kilometres for the final day's leap into Füssen.

Lech is quite a happening place. Lots of festivals, women wearing dirndles and plenty of outdoor bars with views of the mountains and the cable cars/chairlifts. I passed the afternoon before we started by hiking up something high while Sophie came on the train from Cologne.

Friday 3 August

The hike officially starts at Formarinsee; the idea is to take the bus from Lech to the lake and hike back to Lech for the first stage. We decided to hike from Lech to the lake, linger as long as we liked by the lake with no time pressure and then return to Lech by bus. This proved fortuitous as the hike does not officially include the lovely hike around the lake which we were able to enjoy at leisure with a dip in the water too.

We climbed out of Lech, after first going wrong as we had trouble finding the start in town. We were soon to see that the trail is exceedingly well marked with signs and "L" painted on trees. The trail was partly in forest, passing an outdoor swimming pool, and then came out onto the open mountainside. The river was little more than a trickle and we crossed it several times on small bridges. The landscape was beyond pretty but the sun was beating down as we made our way steadily uphill on the earth and rock paths. We were truly in the mountains, hearing the occasional cowbell and seeing no buildings until the lake, and as expected we crossed paths with many hikers going in the opposite direction.

At the lake we elected to go around in a loop which took us past a large walkers' hut high above the lake, a rough track on the way out and a smooth gravel road on the return. The lake was a lovely azure blue in a green hollow. We went down to the edge and sat with our feet in the water, coolish but not freezing with lots of tiny fish. 

Saturday

We headed out from Lech again, this time towards Warth. The first part was along the side of a mountain and again hot due to being exposed, but parts of the hike were in forest later on. The tone for the early days was set: cute little villages (all amazingly tidy), expanses of bright green mountainside, cows with large bells (sometimes sitting on the path) and nice wooden bridges. We reached the village of Warth at what was obviously lunchtime for the locals as the metzgerei was jam packed; we continued on as we were put off by the sight of so much meat. Instead we had a modest picnic in the village centre by a very welcome drinking water trough.

Our destination was Lechleiten, a one street village where we stayed in a gästehaus with a great view from the balcony over Warth and the mountains all around us.

Sunday

From Lechleiten we had a similar day walking to Steeg, going through or passing above villages. The river was already quite a bit wider and we remained at around 1400 metres in altitude, often climbing and descending. The villages had pretty churches, sometimes with the typical onion domes and sometimes a simple slender tower. We couldn’t understand how each village looked so pristine.

In Steeg we lingered by the water trough and Sophie picked lots of unripe (I thought) apples. Then we crossed the river and followed it onward. We came to a gorgeous waterfall where we sat for a while and then looked at a small bathing area with strict signs about how to acclimatize to the cold water. We didn’t think it was far to our hotel, but we seemed to be on the wrong bank of the river with no sign of any bridges. So we soldiered on and to our great delight our hotel was just adjacent to the next bridge.

I was so full of beans I went for a short run in the hot afternoon sun to have a look at the next door village of Hägerau. Then we had apfel strudel (Sophie) and topfen strudel (me). It got very windy in the evening and we saw a young deer poking around the cars parked by the roadside.

Monday

We did some extra kilometres today. We walked to Holzgau, another cute village with a lively centre, and then started our ascent to the famous suspension bridge, Austria's highest and longest footbridge. It was an impressive sight looking up at it, but we followed the wrong trail (a trail for walkers with fear of heights) and didn’t reach it. So we had to backtrack to Holzgau and take the correct trail. The bridge certainly felt high as we looked down but we had trouble working out why it was built at all.

The trail continued undulating, much of the time in forest, and we saw several other hikers we had seen on earlier days. There were a few villages before we came down into Bach, like the four house village of Seesumpf with a little chapel. Our nicest stop was at the base of a chairlift (which was actually running). As we were about to leave Bach the heavens opened so we did the obvious, we sheltered in the church. 

Then we continued on to Elbigenalp. This was a big village with more than one supermarket and we had to leave the Lechweg to reach our accommodation. We ended up crossing a long meadow mainly populated by very bitey large flies that would not stop attacking us quite painfully.

We stayed at the house of a family where the daughter had won a gold medal at the Calgary Winter Olympics. They had the Olympic rings above the front door. In the evening it rained heavily for a while.

Tuesday

From Elbigenalp we had several more villages. At one point we panicked slightly because it appeared as if we were walking back into Bach, as the church in Häselgehr and its positioning looked so similar to where we had sheltered.

We passed above a succession of villages, in the forest and on farm roads. So many churches. So many perfect houses with flowers on the balcony. So much green grass. Full of weeds, though. We paused to eat lunch at Vorderhornbach, where the main street was being dug up, and then had a problem finding a rubbish bin. Late in the day we almost went wrong when we unintentionally doubled back on ourselves and started going the way we had come.

We ended up in Stanzach. The church is famous but we couldn’t go inside as it was being vacuumed, so we sat outside. We had a balcony at our hotel with a great view, and the main thing was very expansive grassy flat land which did not appear to be being used; it looked very odd, but we decided the sheep that lived there must have been temporarily away.

Wednesday

This was the least enjoyable day by some way. Our walking was virtually all flat and it was warm, even though most of the day was cloudy. We had a little time in forest and long stretches beside the (now very wide) river, with a few bridge crossings, then a lot of time well away from the river. We had a long trek around the perimeter of Weissenbach before being finally allowed into the village centre. We passed a large lake that was very popular.

We came into one village, Reiden, just ahead of a large group of cyclists who parked their bikes in front of someone's garage to go and have lunch; almost instantly the owner needed to drive out so he virtually flung the bikes out of his way.

At one point we saw a light plane shooting rapidly into the air then dropping a parachute but without a passenger. This happened several times. Later we passed the airfield but we were still mystified.

We came to Holz, then walked along a small stream in the forest towards Wängle. Wängle proved to be part of a large conurbation and it was strange to see so many cars and hear so much noise. Our room was right opposite the church; fortunately the church bells didn’t ring between 10pm and 6.30am.

Thursday

The last day was very nice and we saw lots of different things. We climbed to a small chapel in a clearing high above Wängle. Then we came to the smallish Frauensee, a very picturesque alpine lake. 

Our next highlight was a bench swing by another small lake. We sat and watched the ducks. Then we climbed in green forest and passed ruins from old fortifications (star-shaped, apparently) where the view over the countryside was extensive, and continued downward into deciduous forest. My phone alerted me that we had crossed into Germany. Eventually we got our first glimpse of the lake Alpsee. We were so excited to also get sightings of the castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Our path took us almost around the lake, close to the edge mostly, but we could only see the castles at a big distance.

We crossed into the basin of another lake, Schwansee, and hiked high above it. Reptiles sighted: one long snake and one black frog. We felt we were getting close to our final destination but there were tricks in store. One time we saw a sign that said Füssen 25 minutes, but a while later we saw a sign saying Füssen 50 minutes. With the help of other hikers we worked out that there was a short cut available. However, fear not, we took the longer option with another steepish climb, this time up the Kalvarienberg. At the top was a huge modern shrine (all along the hike there had been small traditional shrines) and then on the way down we passed numerous stations of the cross. Animal sighted: one squirrel. We had a great view over the red rooftops of Füssen.

From here it was a straight shot to the Lechfall, the official end of our hike. The Lechfall was not quite as we expected as it is an artificial waterfall, but the gorge was pretty. We just had one more kilometre to take us into Füssen and the end of the hike, beer and cake.