Zillertal: Stilluptal, Gasthaus Wasserfall to Kasseller Hütte

 I managed to call a number last night and arrange a minibus to take us up to the start of our walk this morning, as cars aren’t allowed beyond a certain point. Gratified that it worked out. Cloudy and a bit rainy for most of the walk today, until later on when we descended back down to the valley. Lots of gleamingly well-tended dairy cows, lots of cataracts and a river in full spate full of rust-coloured rocks. The rock colour is due to the presence of iron ore. The hut we walked up to was a delight, really warm and cosy and with excellent food and drinks and a log-burning stove to hang our damp stuff by. 

25 years today since 9/11.

Zillertal: Ramsberg to Mayrhofen

The forecast today was for rain, but in the end we were lucky as the rain didn’t start till late afternoon. There was just a lot of cloud and mist at times. We had a steady ascent along wide tracks for the first half, and a path zigzagging down through pine forest for the second half. Not much else to report from today, other than that I bought a train ticket for 8 people from Mayrhofen back to Ramsau, went to the loo and came back to unexpectedly find that everyone else had got on the train (which we’d thought was going later) and it was leaving. I didn’t feel I could get on as Rob was still in the loo and I didn’t want him to return only to find us all gone without him, so off they went without their ticket. Cathy had very kindly also got off the train to support me, so when Rob came back the three of us got on the bus (which fortunately was free!)

Zillertal: Alpengasthaus Breitlarner to Berliner Hütte

Up at 7 as usual, time for leisurely breakfast and sandwich-making before setting off at 8.30. Bright sunshine with not a cloud to be seen. Wide, drivable tracks today for most of the route through the valley, and we passed several pretty restaurants. As on every other day, I was soon coated in a mixture of suncream and gritty dust. Glad to have trail runners on as it got quite hot later in the day. The landscape was stunning, sheer, jagged rock faces rearing up on either side, cataracts with waterfalls, lush green meadows with grazing cows and their clanking bells. After a few hours we arrived at our desk station, the venerable Berliner Hütte, built in the late 1800s and with space for 180 people. The interiors are magnificent, replete with dark oak panelling, chandeliers and huge rooms with high ceilings. A special place with a very long history. It sits below a (now sadly reduced) glacier and at the centre of a network of trails. A forceful river rushes past. A few of our group were ambushed by a pair of charming local pigs who had to be sternly deterred from eating stuff from people’s rucksacks in a rather jolly manner. We stayed there quite a while before setting off to retrace our steps. Half hour drive back and I was straight into making dinner for 14. A bit stressful and I was worried my chicken would be rubbery, but it turned out fine in the end and several people had seconds.  I didn’t sit down for those couple of hours but I had dinner ready by 7.15 rather than the usual 8 o’clock, which I think everyone appreciated. It’s a very long wait when you’re tired and hungry! By the time we sat down to eat I was boiling hot and not really very hungry. After dinner we all looked at the Ibex photo competition entries together and voted, which was fun. Now finally to bed at last. Heavy rain forecast for tomorrow, which is timely. Possibly rain and cloud also on Thursday

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Zillertal: Arbeskopf to Gipfelkreuz Arbiskopf

More glorious weather today. An easier walk, although I opted to join the group that was going to walk faster and go further - Clive, Emma, Rob and I. Not too much of the really steep stuff we had yesterday, which was good as it meant we could rest those muscles a bit. I got a couple of cramps yesterday (right inner thigh and left outer ankle, randomly) and the muscles are still tight. 

Actually really gorgeous views today and a fair bit of level walking, but also towards the end some slightly scary ridge walking. Clive told us about someone he knew who fell over, rolled down a grassy slope laughing, and dropped off the edge of the slope to his death. Reminded us to try and turn vertical to the slope and try to grab on with hands. *sweating*

We all joined up towards the end for a drink in the sunshine. 

Zillertal: Ahornbahn to Ahornspitze

Arrived on Saturday to reside in a houseful of people, walking five days (with Wednesday off) and returning on Saturday. We’re in the Austrian Alps, more specifically the Zillertal. Lovely area with lots of jagged, parallel mountain ridges all around. 

Today we went up on the Ahorn cable car and did a load of very steep paths and some scrambling at the top. Slightly scary drops at the summit, with metal ropes to hold onto. Quite a few other walkers as it was Sunday. 

GR52: Sospel to Menton and home

13.5 miles, 1600m ascent and 1900m descent

We were up for an excellent breakfast at 7. I used the outdoor shower in the morning and forgot to take my towel with me 😆 Very rustic, sprinting through the bushes.We got a lift back down to town and colllected Michelle, and started the long climb up to the Colla Bassa. Not too hard and mostly in pine forest, so we had shade for the best part of the day. Some nice paths and much greener than previous days. I wore Louise’s knee brace just in case. Had to carry plenty of water. I had nearly 3 litres which lasted me fine, in fact I had a bit left at the end. We fell into step with a group of seven middle-aged Frenchmen at one point. Members of a running club who also hike together. Too fast for us though!

Towards about 2 o’clock we started to glimpse the coast, but only intermittently because, very fortunately for us, it was a bit cloudy (and at times we were actually in the cloud). This made the temperature much more bearable. The descent from Plan de Lion seemed endless, and got hotter and hotter - it was over 30 degrees in Menton and the “feels like” temperature was higher than that. The bit on tarmac and concrete under the flyover and through the outskirts of town was particularly boiling. Good that we’d all brought plenty of water and electrolytes. We said a fond farewell to Michelle, who was getting a 2-hour train to Finale for the next bit of her holiday, and marched ourselves along the hot sea front to our hotel. Walked into blissful aircon, wringing wet and red in the face. We’ll try not to mention the pong. We immediately changed into our cozzies and went for a dip just across from the hotel. Water quite warm. Sun low, quite a few people on the beach. Then, a shower (bliss) and out for drink and dinner. Ravioli with delicious burrata.  All slept badly because the aircon was so noisy. But today we had a lovely time - another swim at 7 (with the beach almost to ourselves and the morning sun coming up over the hill and illuminating the old town opposite). Then out for a breakfast of coffee, croissant etc in the old town (quite hot by now) and a look in the cathedral before all going our separate ways for a couple of hours. I had a look round a few shops and then bought myself some stuff for lunch. Then off to the airport. Elizabeth flew off to Switzerland while we made our way to a delayed flight to Gatwick. I’m seated between Esther (thank God) and a huge, sweaty bloke who is overflowing towards me and snoring. On his iPad a programme about the Irish Mafia is playing unwatched. I looked over and someone was putting a hammer under a pillow. He has put the armrest between us up, so I’ll get up to get my AirPods and put it down when I return. Fingers crossed. Later: they’ve moved me to a spare seat. Lucky Esther’s got earphones with her!

V sweaty

Welcome cloud

GR52: Sospel

I decided to take the day off as my knees were twingeing on the downward slopes and day 6 was due to involve a lot of descent. So after a perfunctory breakfast, Louise and I were driven down to the nearest small town by her local taxi driver from the previous day, Jean-Pierre. Nice chap. He called ahead to the bus people for us (it only costs two Euro!). There were no free spaces on th imminent departure but we could get the next one, between 11.30 and 12. We’d been waiting there for literally one minute when an oldish guy drew up in his car and Louise said she’d stuck out her thumb to hitch. He took us all the way to Sospel, which was obviously brilliant. It was already hot there (not yet 9.30) but the market was in operation, including a very nice covered food market with delicious cheeses, honey, fruit etc. we shared some crispy, salty socca (chick pea flour pancake) and then wandered around a bit and I sat in the church for a while. It was cool and peaceful. Then we found a park with a picnic bench to sit at in the shade for lunch and a chat for a few hours before going down to sit by the river, read our books and have an ice cream while we waited for the others to arrive. We could see hikers appearing on the other side of the river and eventually they turned up, all very sweaty, at about 5 o’clock. Said farewell to Michelle for the evening and got our lift up to our accommodation for the night, in Jenny’s eco-camp place. She was odd and neurotic but served us up some excellent food. The shack/tent arrangement was rather unexpected and there were a lot of mozzies.