Monday 18th July Unterjoch to Fussen

Big news today is that I met up with Roger and Sue, friends from London, and they're going to be walking with me for the next few days. They walked up from Fussen to Falkenstein and I met them there for lunch. Really great to see familiar faces.

I know it's not my fault but can't help feeling slightly guilty that I haven't been able to arrange better weather for them. Today was cold, damp, and of course the views were restricted. Outlook for the next few days is not brilliant.

Their arrival also means new shoes and socks, for the time being at least the smell of damp dogs has been banished.

After the climbs of the last three days today was a much easier walk. Turned out that my gasthof was about 15 minutes outside of Unterjoch so the day started with a short walk along the side of a stream to the village. Unterjoch by the way looks nice and has lots of places in it to stay; must be some sort of winter resort.

Unterjoch

After a gentle uphill climb to Scheidbachalpe, the route takes you down to a river which you follow through a valley all the way to Pfronten/Ried. A very easy walk and changing into and out of waterproofs was the only challenge.

Vils

Pfronten is a polycentric settlement and deciding which centre to choose was a challenge. After a couple of false starts I found the right one, found a sign with a map, and I was on the E4 up to Falkenstein. After such a gentle day the climb up to Falkenstein was savage, not helped by a phone call from Roger half way up when my phone buried deep in my waterproofs. Anyway meeting them in the restuarant at the top was a real reward.

Falkenstein

Nice walk down to Fussen mainly through trees. The border between Germany and Austria is very convoluted around here and we were constantly crossing from one country to the other and changing footpath signing systems as we did. Lovely lake just before we got to
Fussen.

With Sue

27 kilometre walk and a guess a climb of about of 600 metres but with more descent. Roger seems to think he walked about 26 kilometres up to Falkenstein and back (with 1500 metres of climb) but my guide (which I now have), says 20 - I think I'll keep quiet about this - don't want to discourage him.

Fussen is a picture postcard town and it's two fairy tale castles are a huge tourist attraction. Roger and Sue went round them yesterday and were not impressed with the crowd herding techniques. Good news as far as I'm concerned, have an excuse to give the tour a miss. Resting up today and then two nights in mountain huts.

Sunday 17th of July Sonthofen to Unterjoch

It sounds a bit like a schoolboy excuse but I do have German guide to the Maximillianweg I just don't have it with me. Couldn't find a shop with a local map yesterday and couldn't get on the internet to research the route last night. There were lots of E4 signs taking me to Sonthofen but none taking me through it. I somehow had to sniff my way to the E4.

From a schematic at the hotel I knew that the route went high up on the north side of the valley running east out of Sonthofen and that it had to cross the only bridge over the river in the same valley. So the first thing I did was find the river and then, walking alongside it, find the bridge. Sure enough at the bridge, at Binswagen, there were lots of footpath signs although none mentioned the E4 or Unterjoch. Worse still heading through Binswagen I couldn't work out which paths to follow.

Decided to follow the road up the side of the valley on the basis that the footpath would have to cross it at some point and, after 20 minutes, just as I was about to give up on this strategy I got to Walten, found the route and, better still a map. Took a picture of map and used that to navigate my way to Unterjoch.

Desperate navigation measures

Not a long walk but quite a tough one involving a steady 900 metre climb up to the highest point at the Tiefenbacher Eck and the weather, which was nice and sunny at the start, was obviously getting worse. Messing about in Sontofen meant that it was getting onto 10 before I was really on the route. So by the time I could see back across the valley to yesterday's walk it was already getting cloudy.

Back to Sonthofen

Saw signs firstly to Breiten and then Bildstockle and followed them. The signs were not exactly thick on the ground and at one point had walked at least 500 metres without anything confirming I was on the right route. Went past a lovely church in miniature just before Breiten.

Mini church

Bildstockle turns out to be a giant cross. On the map the path goes from solid red to a line of red dashes and sure enough on the ground the convention changes as well. Initially an E4 sign points you to Tiefenbacher Eck but then I had blue poles, blue blobs on trees and occasional blue cross to follow. You could also make out the path although after you got to Tiefenbacher Eck itself, which encouragingly had an E4 sign, the path became very indistinct. Worse still the blue dashes then decided to distribute themselves either side of an electric fence which I discovered was live. The weather was getting worse.

Eventually got to a sign, with red and white markings, pointing me to Unterjoch. Great joy. An hour later, at about 2, was in the very nice and very reasonably priced Gasthof am Buchl. It was raining heavily by 2.30.

By the way I should get the guide book, new socks and new shoes tomorrow. Just like the last two times I replaced my shoes the sole of the right shoe cracked once it knew it was no longer needed.

Saturday 16th of July Staufnerhaus to Sonthofen

For once got my timing right. Walked along a brilliant ridge in perfect weather and with absolutely great views. Today was definitely a contender for the best walk so far. Had originally planned to go from Lingenau to Gunzesried, and as it turns out that would have been a really tough 11 hour walk and I would also have been doing it yesterday when the weather wasn't nearly as good as today.

I thought I had done all the hard work yesterday but today was a tougher walk. Didn't have my GPS on but I expect that it involved at least 1500 metres of climb and even more descent. It was a ridge walk but there were five significant climbs along it as well as some smaller ones. Basically it's a sandstone ridge, with rock very similar to the conglomerate I came across at Monserrat. It forms the northern flank of Alps and and after it everything drops away very steeply into vast expanse of Germany. To the south there is a valley and then the much high Lechtal Alps.

Got away at about 7.30 with first climb up the Hochgrat right outside the door of the hut. It was perfect morning and the views were just great and it actually stayed clear all day with none of usual heat haze gathering to obscure everything. Was able to see much of the route I walked with Christine last year in particular the scary ridge on the Hoher Freschen which we climbed just as the sun was setting on the first day. It's the mountain in the middle distance and the ridge running up the front is clearly visible.

Hoher Freschen in the middle distance

Not sure which were my favourite views, the views south across the valley to the higher Alps or the views east and west along the ridge

Lechtal Alps

East along the Ridge

Just to prove I was really there a self portrait at the top of Rindalphorn. No hat today and my huge forehead got a bit burnt.

Rindalphorn

As the walk progress it got busier and every sort of walker was out. Really nice to see so many young people walking, lots of women, and a bit scary, lots of people carrying babies on those backpack things. Did it myself when Hannah was a baby but it now looks a bit mad. I didn't actually see anyone carrying a baby up the ladder on the optional last peak.

Fire escape

Got down to Gunzesried at about 2, had something to eat and decided to walk down to Sonthofen to make tomorrow's walk a bit shorter (the weather is apparently changing again). Wanted to buy a map but couldn't even find the town centre and spent the last 90 minutes or so trying to work out where the E4 leaves heading east. Think I have but will do a bit more research later on the Internet. Staying in a nice not too expensive Gasthof on the east side of Sonthofen.

Friday 15th of July Lingenau to Staufnerhaus

Because I'm two days ahead of schedule I'm putting in a couple of short days, today and tomorrow, and staying at the Staufnerhaus, a hut run by the German Alpine Association. It's very much like the refuges I stayed in while crossing the Pyrenees and along the Jura Howenweg but because it's now in the walking season and on a Friday it's full. I'm sleeping in the dormitory, at the end of a giant bunk bed which sleeps thirteen people on each level. The end spot is a prime one but maybe the management have heard about the imminent arrival of a smelly Englishman. Fortunately footwear is not allowed in the sleeping area.

The really good thing about staying here is that I start a spectacular ridge walk tomorrow almost from the doorstep. The hut is at 1600 metres and after climbing a couple of hundred metres to a peak called Hochgrat and, if the weather is good, could get to enjoy a twelve kilometre ridge walk, including a little climb up to another peak called Rindalphorn, before dropping down to Sonthofen. Walking 5 and half hours today and climbing in total about 1200 metres I've basically done all the hard work for two days of walking.

I don't have a GPS trail on my IPod for the German or Austrian stretch of the E4. While I'm pretty sure I could have got across Switzerland just using the signs it's a lot harder here. Even with a map it's confusing and around any sort of settlement the density of routes is so great that you constantly have to check against the map to see where you are. I think the local trails have yellow markings and the national trails red ones but there seems to be a lot of national trails. So I'm currently walking on the northern variant of the E4, the alternative to the tougher slower southern Alpine variant. I'm also on the local higher variant of the northern variant of the E4, which at the moment is also the Alpenweg 04 and the Maximillianweg. I'm also from time to time sharing the route with the Via Alpina, another set of long distance trails. No wander it can get a bit complicated on the ground.

Anyway I got here, it's not raining although it's not very warm either.

The next village along the valley from Lingenau is Hittisau but instead of going along the valley the route takes you up it's side through the trees before dropping down again. Nice view down to Lingenau.

Lingenau

Hittisau is another place with lots accommodation and I guess I could have stayed there yesterday if I was trying to get to Sonthofen today.

Hittisau

The walk then takes you up the lovely Lecknerta Valley, past the Leckner See, and here you can either stick with the lower E4 variant in the valley or head up the side to the ridge and Staufnerhaus for a walk along the top.

Leckner See

On the way up to the Stuafnerhaus you cross the border into Germany marked with a scruffy sign.



Arrived at the hut at about 2.30. Accommodation to Austrian Alpine Club Members (like me) costs 8 euros which means that tonight is the first time I've been within budget since leaving France.

Staufnerhaus

PS

There are definitely people staying the night up here on the mountain who are not walkers, have come up the chair lift to have a special night sleeping in a dormitory, takes all sorts.

PPS

Interesting night in the dorm. I will try and describe it for those people who have never done it.

Your sleeping with a mixed group of people, men, women, children, different ages, different physical shapes, all confined to a fairly small space. A lot of people are in walking groups and know each other so there is a lot of noisy whispering until things settle down. There is little point in going to bed early, unless your an amazingly sound sleeper, as the last people to come up, although they try to be quite, will, alcohol fuelled, still wake you up.

You should try not to look but a mixed group of people going to bed is not a pretty site. Huge lager cultivated bellies, rolls of sagging white flesh, spindly legs - stuff of imminent nightmares.

And then the noise of sleep, snoring, farting, grunting and shuffling. If you want to get back to nature then share a room with thirty other people.

Thought I never would but actually had a good night's sleep. Sleep to about 5, awoke just as it was starting to get light, and listened to the symphony. Not like the dawn chorus, more base tones.

Thursday 14th July Bregenz to Lingenau

If you read yesterday's diary entry you will know that I wasn't exactly looking forward to today's walk. Well as usual I survived and after going without anything to eat last night I more than made amends tonight.

It did rain all night and was raining this morning but the weather gradually got better as the day went on. Not exactly sunny but only occasional showers. The ground and grass however were very wet and with the shoes I'm wearing you might as well put your foot in a bucket of water as walk through wet grass as your feet will get instantly soaked either way.

Today's first drama was that I couldn't find my hat. This is a sentimental blow as that hat has come a long way and would definitely have taken centre stage in a limited range of walking memorabilia. Not sure where I could have left it but yesterday it was smelling and I know that on several occasions I ripped it off my head as I became aware of the fact. Suspect it's feelings were hurt and on one of these occasions it decided to make itself scarce.

After leaving Bregenz the walk takes you towards Wolfurt. Went right into Wolfurt to get some money and food and was disappointed not to see any of the amazing posters which had been outside the Wolford Outlet shop yesterday.

After Wolfurt the route leaves the suburbs and climbs up a fairly step ridge before heading down to the town of Albershwende. The top of the ridge gave views back over Lake Constance, but although the steady rain had stopped at this point the weather prevented you seeing much.

Perhaps the most dramatic sights were the waterfalls from the small mountain streams which, after all this rain, were very noisy.

Albershwende is quite a big town, huge church, had accommodation and lots of places to eat. Was tempted to stop as I wasn't sure whether the place I had got booked this evening did evening meals. Instead I found a nice bench just beyond town, had two bananas and four Snickers. The Snickers were in a multi-pack and having lost my hat I was worried that loose Snickers might also go astray.

The Austrian signing system is essentially the same as the Swiss, although they use a lighter shade of yellow. As in Switzerland you often get multiple choice as there can be more than one way to get to the same place. I definitely went the long way to Lingenau heading downhill and along the side of the Bregenzerach (which flows back to Bregenz and along the side of which I had walked first thing this morning). This was actually a nice walk made even better by a whole series of installations. My favourite was the pencil but there were lots to choose from.

Bregenzerach

Dropped my pencil

Got to Lingenau at about 4. Very reassuring sign proving that I am on the E4 (and the E5 and the 04, the long-distance Alpine trail). The Gasthof Walderhof Christine booked for me was brilliant, huge portions of food and everyone very friendly and helpful.

Good if I knew what they meant

Wednesday July 13th Rhieneck to Bregenz

Being playing chess against my IPad and frankly it's a lot better than me. The fact that it doesn't need time to think is so unnerving, it just seems to pile on the problems and every time you solve one you seem to create two more.

That's what's been happening with the walk today. What was supposed to be a short and fairly dull sort of walk across a feature called the Rheindelta turned out to be a real pain and the day just got worse.

It's really raining, the worst day's weather so far by far, even worse than the day I came down from Canigou, or the day in the Gorge d'Ardeche. Was drizzling when I set of from Rhieneck and then it started to really pour down and rained all the way to Bregenz. Stopped for a few minutes just as I was arriving and then started again. Heavy rain interspersed with heavier thunder rain. Weather forcast is not good for at least three days.

The rain really started as I crossed the border. There is a dedicated covered bridge for the walk and the cycle trail and the border is marked in the middle. I hung around under cover for a bit hoping that the rain would ease. A light came on the video camera at the end of the bridge which felt a bit sinister so when the thunder rain eased to heavy rain I moved off.

The border

Border bridge

The trail basically followed the "coastline" and then cut inland to cross a huge drain which has clearly been built to reclaim the delta. Crossing the drain at Fusbach you're then invited to follow the coast around again but I declined the invitation and took the direct route through the suburb of Hard (I kid you not, there is another smaller suburb called Rain). It was a miserable walk redeemed only by the amazing posters for the Wolford outlet shop.

Bregenz by the way is quite a big place. Last time I came here it was by train and it's a lot bigger on foot. It has an amazing outdoor opera house which features huge sets that are floated on the lake. The rain actually stopped for a few minutes, long enough to let me have a look at the current offering - it's a production of Andre Chenier.

Open air opera house

Having tried two hotels, including the Ibis, and found them fully booked I started to worry. I went to Tourist Information and after a search on their system they were able to confirm that things were pretty choker. They started exploring options in the suburbs (including Hard but not Rain) and I started to worry that I could be making life difficult for myself for tomorrow. I suggested they try looking for a two person room and sure enough there was a place. I think the young lady who was doing the search was getting a bit fed up at this point so I didn't press too hard on the details, also my damp hat was smelling which made me feel a bit self conscious.

I then did one sensible thing but failed to do two others. I went and bought a map from a bookshop. My request for a map caused a lot of interest and in particular they tried to find a reference to the E4 long-distance walk on the Internet. My blog came up and I was able to show them what I was doing, they were very impressed.

The two things I failed to do was buy some food and get some more cash. The Gasthof I'm staying at doesn't do food, is way out of town, doesn't accept cards and doesn't have Internet. The slight upside is that I hadn't got around to eating my lunch and there was enough to stop me starving. The Gasthof also turned out to be way out of town in the right direction.

So what to do about tomorrow. Haven't booked anything and after today's experience that might not be sensible. The weather forcast for tomorrow is just as bad. If I was in a nice place the obvious thing would be to hunker down, but I'm not, I'm staying in a dump.

Without access to the internet, booking is a bit of a challenge so I sent Christine a text, fortunately she was about and she sorted it all out. I have a place in a Gasthof in Lingenau. Looks like I'm walking tomorrow.

As well as getting humiliated at chess by my IPad I'm using it to catch up on my reading. I've just re-read Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. Given the books ending, and the sound of rain hammering against the sky-light in the room I'm staying in, I'm glad I'm currently on higher ground.

Tuesday July 12th Romanshorn to Rhieneck

Last day's walking in Switzerland, over the border into Austria first thing in the morning. 16 days from one side to the other, not too bad.

Today was exactly the same as yesterday. Flat walking along the side of the lake. Looking at my fairly limited collection of pictures for the day, one of the many things they fail to capture is the mass of semi-naked bodies I was stepping over as I walked along. Not sure if my motives would have been properly understood so I kept my camera to myself.

The other thing they miss are the number of bikes. There are several long distance cycle trails around here, one seems to take you down the Rhine, and when you share the trail with one of these routes the bikes are literally flying past you all the time. I guess this is also the start of the holiday season, it took me three attempts to find a hotel that wasn't booked up.

The walk itself was not that much to write home about, very hot, lots of hard surfaces and my feet were again sore as I finished. It is amazing what a difference the surface makes, I was knackered after walking on the flat for 7 hours which on the face of it should have been an easy day.

Left Romanshorn at about 9. Actually had a brilliant nights sleep despite the proximately to the station. Dodgy breakfast, centre piece of the spread was a large bowl of rotting bananas surrounded by squadrons of tiny flies on guard duty. Romanshorn got better as you left it.

Romanshorn, better looking back

Just like yesterday the walk then took you through a series of resorts, Arbon, Steinach and Rorschach. Just past Rorshach, which was the largest resort, maybe at Staad, there was a huge railways works where the very same trains that have been flying past me on the local line for the last few days are built. The Swiss clearly don't let the Germans build their trains.

Marina

Staad

Bregenz, where I go tomorrow is at the eastern end of Lake Constance. To get to it however you have to cross the Rhine again (flowing into rather than out of Lake Constance). This involved an annoying walk south, and I think I have to go a bit further south tomorrow, before heading north east to Bregenz. The Rhine forms the border with Austria. Looked very slow moving and muddy today. Not sure what that post is doing, dodgy composition or what, I blame the heat.

The old Rhine River