25 kilometres 850m ascent 1270 descent 9 hrs.
Today was another wet one. It either rains all the time in Bavaria or just rains all the time when I'm here; it's wetter than Wales.
The first night in a hut was OK. The food was good, the shower was good and although Christine said the two other guys in the room snored I didn't hear them so I must have got some sleep.
Leaving the hut was hard. The rain just kept pouring down, and setting off in such conditions felt wrong. Because we had such a long day ahead of us we either had to stay all day or go - we didn't have time to see if the weather was going to improve.
The first couple of hours were tough, a steep 400m climb up to a pass and an even steeper 700m descent down into the valley the other side. The path was muddy and the slippery roots of trees made it treacherous. We passed some other walkers on their way to Venice and passing walkers always cheers Christine up.
If the weather had been good it would have been a gorgeous walk as the valley with the alpine stream gushing down over rocks was very beautiful. Towards the bottom there were some huge waterfalls and despite the rain I pulled my camera out of my bag. So much rain, at least the water features are good.
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| Lots of water for the waterfall near Lainlalm |
We stopped for an unanticipated coffee at Jachenau- my wet waterproofs have started to smell a bit agricultural but the locals seem used to it and didn't object to the debris we left in their nice clean restaurant.
Crossing the fields in the flat valley bottom a pair of army ponchos approached us, moving at speed through the rain. Under the ponchos, laden down with huge packs, were a couple of German guys who were on a wild camping trek. Their arrival changed our luck and for the new two hours we walked in sunshine with them through forest and meadow over a ridge to Vorderiss. They were great company, very direct in a German sort of way as we chatted about everything from hiking, beer and football to local varieties of cattle.
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| A German poncho escort |
The views south from the top of the ridge above Vorderiss were amazing. The river (the Isar again) meanders its way around a wide gravel filled bottom in a way reminiscent of valleys we have trekked along in the Himalayas.
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| River Isar |
After a steep descent to Vorderiss we said goodbye to our new German friends. The rain was falling heavily again and because the gasthof at Vorderiss was full we had a grim 10km road side walk to get to the next accommodation at Hinteriss.
Hinteriss is the gateway to the Karwendel National Park and the Hotel Post has everything a wet hiker needs including a well equipped drying room. We spent the evening chatting to another couple of German men, brothers on a hiking trip - one of whom was a trauma professor in a teaching hospital and amongst other things attempted to defend the honour of the NHS.
Hinteriss is in Austria where all of our accommodation (the next 6 nights) is at altitude and in huts. Hopefully the weather will get better.
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