Tuesday 9th Modlingerhutte to Hesse Hutte

Great news, today it didn't rain, well didn't rain much, and we were able to walk all the way without wearing waterproofs. The weather is still not settled however and, from the shelter of Hess Hutte, we have just watched a hail storm lash it's way across the mountainside.

Really nice walk, very civilised and not too far, 7 hours, about 20 kilometres with 1,000 metres of climb. Unless we get lost there shouldn't be any more of the 10 hour days we did last week. We left Modlingerhutte at 8.15 and were having beer, fried potatoes, saur kraut and sausage in Hesse Hutte by 3.15.

Must say we are getting into hutte accommodation. The food is plentiful and there is a good atmosphere. Washing facilities are variable (no hot water tonight), but it seems less important when everyone is in the same boat. Based on my experience, if you avoid Friday's and Saturday's the huttes are never more than a third full and at that level of occupancy even a dormitory is tolerable. The best thing about them is the location - on the route, in the mountains and often dramatically positioned on a ridge or under a cliff.

Modlingerhutte had a nice location but it's special feature was its cakes and puddings. I am becoming a strudel expert and this was one of the best, all the extra bits (almonds, raisins etc) and a supersized portion - excellent.

Modlingerhutte

The walk itself was in three parts: a steep knee testing walk down to Johnsbach; a gentle climb up the Johnsbach valley, mostly alongside a river, and then a long climb up a side valley to Hesse Hutte.

The highlight of the descent were the increasingly dramatic views of Grosser Odstein on the northern side of the Johnsbach valley. Initially it was surrounded by swirling clouds but for a short time these cleared giving visibility of the whole mountain.

Hochtor

Stopped for a coffee in Johnsbach at the Donner Gasthof; we would have stayed there last night if we had made it down from Modlingerhutte and it looked like it would have been an excellent choice.

The early part of the walk from the valley bottom up to Hesse Hutte went through meadows and we saw our first ever alpine bull. Roger and Sue of course saw one a couple of weeks ago and I must admit I was slightly sceptical. Anyway our bull was munching grass about half a metre from the path and didn't even look up as we worked quietly past him.

Friendly Bull

We enjoyed the walk up to Hesse Hutte. A steady climb, steep in places but a good path. The huge cliffs, initially beneath Grosser Odstein and the Hochtor summits, were somber, even slightly sinister, but definitely gave you the feeling of being out in the wild.

Above Hesse Hutte

Any sense of isolation was completely shattered when we got the Hutte. It felt like the crowd of Austrian walkers had been enjoying the bar all day and we were just a bit suspicious of their attempt to persuade us to have the mountain goat soup which they claimed to be the special. As already mentioned, we chose sausage, fried potatoes and saur kraut and very good it was too.

My camera by the way is completely useless, I'm now using Christine's. The challenge will be to recharge the battery.

Sunday 7th August Spital am Pyhrn to Admont

Elementary school boy navigation error almost too embarrassing to mention both undermined team moral and froze communications for a significant part of today's walk. No problem finding the 01 markings in the middle of Spital am Pyhrn and only had to choose the direction of travel, only two choices and I made the wrong one. Marginal defence was that the guidebook definitely implied that you travel south out of the town. Unfortunately if I had looked at the previous day's schedule in the guidebook I would also have been able to work out that Wurzeralm, the destination on the sign, was on the route heading west, away from Budapest rather than towards it. But why would I bother to look at a schedule I wasn't going to walk?

Anyway we walked 3 kilometres along a hot road in the wrong direction before I finally accepted the fact we were going the wrong way. I was of course very apologetic but my mood darkened when my co-walker insisted that she knew all along we were going wrong.

The two way sulk continued all the way back to the village, all the way up to the Bosruck Hutte (not significantly relieved by wurst and kraut) all the way to Rohrauer Hutte, and only started to melt going down the other side when the clouds blackened and rain began to fall. A huge thunder storm brought the team back together when we had to agree where to find shelter.

Going down the other side was the highlight of the walk. The route takes you over a pass and down the west side of Halle Mauern, a group of mountains which were spectacular in shape and colour. The cloud only added to the drama swirling around the gaps between the mini-summits.

Over the pass at Pyhrgasatteri

Of course the thunder storm signalled yet another deterioration in the weather as another depression tracks across the Alps. The weather pattern round here seems to be two or three days rain followed by a couple of days sun and then two or three days rain again. The locals are describing this summer as a wash out.

Anyway made it to Admont, through the rain, by 4 o'clock. Has a fine church surrounded by a splendid baroque monastery containing a museum and the largest monastery library in the world. It is in an incredibly important building and is why people visit Admont. We looked inside the gate and then pressed on to find the gasthof to get dried out.

Medical update: Christine's knee remains sore but has stood up to 30 kilometres and a climb and descent of around 700 metres so reports of it's demise may be exaggerated.

Took the picture below out of the bedroom window after an enormous dinner.

After the storm from Admot

Monday 8th August Admont to Modlingerhutte

The original plan was to walk from Admont all the way through to Hesshutte, an ambitious 10 hour walk. We had already worked out that a sensible bail out option was Johnsbach, slipping a day on the schedule, but given today's weather going even that far proved too miserable a prospect. It started raining heavily 30 minutes after we began and never let up, really heavy rain, couldn't see a thing and we got wetter and wetter. Having taken brief shelter at the Oberst-Kinkler Hutte at around 1pm (no food on a Monday), we found the warmth of the Modlingerhutte just too welcoming and decided to call it a day when we got there at 3.15pm.

As we were in cloud most of the day it is hard to describe the scenery. We started out up a road and then through trees from Admont with a steady but relentless uphill gradient. Crossing a road we continued up on a badly way marked path and at around 11am arrived at a small new sportshutte at a winter ski place where we had soup and bought a much needed local map. Good to know you actually are on the right path, especially when you can't see anything.

Then back out into the driving rain, steeper uphill now on a long twisting woodland climb up to the Oberst Kinkler Hutte where we scrounged a cup of coffee. The young woman serving looked surprised when we said we were going on to the Modlingerhutte Hutte and wished us luck. We later found out why.

After our non lunch we proceeded up to a col and then down a steep and slippery forest road for quite a way, catching tantalising brief glimpses of the Admonter Reichenstein ridge and face above us to the north. It was very wet underfoot and our feet were soaked, mine as per usual and Christine's despite her Gortex boots.

At the bottom we arrived at a raging torrent and a broken weir with no obvious way across, the water running so high. What to do. I walked up and down the bank a bit to try and find a safe way over but no luck. Christine was threatening to jump over and that looked dangerous. Eventually I eased myself out on my bottom on a broken trunk that had been part of the original weir, to end up dangling off the end above the torrent but still a metre from the other side. I removed my pack and threw it over and then, praying, pushed myself off. Made it. Then Christine gave me her pack and followed my lead, with me able to catch her on the drop. A hairy but satisfying moment. I tried to record the crossing place on my camera but had for once kept it inside my jacket pocket (not waterproof) rather than, as I usually do, in my shorts under my leggings. It is now defunct.

Our path continued but narrowed and steepened uphill again, sometimes in the open and sometimes through steep banks of conifers where it was so dark it seemed like night time. The rain was still beating down hard as ever and we could see virtually nothing. At last we arrived, after a steep pull up, at the Modlingerhutte. It felt like the Israelites arriving at the promised land, flowing with beer, noodles, jagermeister, sausage and above all warm and dry. We decided to stay here the night and Christine proceeded to consume a vast plate of holzfallernockerl.


PS from Christine: thank you Juan for praying for my knee : it's worked and I have gone through the last three days with no real problem.

Saturday 6th August Habernau to Spital a.Pyhrn

So today was a transfer day from the E4 walking the Weitwanderweg 04 to the E4 walking the Weitwanderweg 01, the higher Alpine variant of the E4. Now I'm in Austria I've realised that my approach to the transfer was really clumsy and that if I had done it yesterday when the two routes got close to each other then I could have reached the alpine variant in a couple of hours or so. As it was I waited for them to diverge and then caught a train down the valley from Steyrling to Spital a.Pyhrn.

The good news is that Christine's knee is holding up. It seems to work going up, on the flat and can cope with gentle descents. Trouble is we are in the Alps and gentle descents are few and far between. We have looked at the rest of the itinerary and compared to what we have been doing I think we will be staying high longer so perhaps will have fewer descents. We are going to see how things go tomorrow, the first tough walk for a couple of days and then see - fingers crossed.

Normally, today's walk would have been pleasant but in the middle of the Alps it was just a bit dull. A 24 kilometre walk from west to east first along one valley next to a river and then, after crossing a ridge, along another valley next to river. The trees were great, the noise from the river was lovely, but it wasn't quite what you hope for when walking in Austria. One thing, after lots of rain in the night and despite forecast rain for today, the weather was good, sunny and warm.

Climbing up to Ring

Along the Steyrling

Stopped mid morning at the Almtaler Haus where Christine bought what she thought were two bars of homemade fudge/nougat which, on sampling later, turned out to be soap. She was very cross.

Didn't stop again - apart from a quick sandwich and the customary immersion of Christine's feet in icy river water - until early afternoon when we had tea and strudel at a bar in Steyrling. I was fed up because the sign said it would take an hour and half to walk to the train station (although the fact that there was a station at all was a small miracle). In the end it took only 30 minutes, and a train came just 15 minutes later.

Lovely mountains around the town but Spital a.Pyhrn itself appears to be a bit of a dump. Will be glad to get walking in the morning and get my teeth into the Alpine variant of the E4.

Friday August 5. Ebensee to Habernau

Guest blog by Christine
After days of up and downs, today was a doodle. Quite a long doodle but relatively painless.

We made the most of what the Hotel Post had to offer at breakfast and left around 8.15am hardly able to move. The trail took us up past waterfalls and then on along southerly stretch on a forest road, peaceful but a little dull. The weather was hot and humid so the shade from trees was welcome.

Going up the steep bit past the waterfall I noticed my left knee really hurt. I was behind John so he didn't see me hobbling up. It got worse as the day went on.

To the east of Ebensee

Footpaths everywhere

Anyway, we got to a beautiful unspoilt shallow lake at Offensee around 12.30 and I went for a swim. Gorgeous. We ate our lunch then set off again.

Offensee

We knew we had to go up, out of the valley and over the watershed into the next one, but found ourselves following a steep bed of uphill scree which seemed to have been dumped by storm water earlier in the year. It reminded me of the high mountain valleys of Nepal. We lost the red and white signs for a bit but John managed to sniff them out and we were back on the main path, climbing steeply up (me hobbling), to cross the top and then descend a long but gentle forest road to Almsee. We stopped at the charming Deutsche Haus for tea and cake overlooking Almsee, the shallowest lake in Austria surrounded by towering mountain peaks.

Alamsee

Suitably fortified we proceeded down the road to our hotel (very posh) at Habernau.
A 32 kilometre day, but relatively civilised.

So my knee is dodgy. John is questioning whether or not it's safe for me to continue with the last 8 or 9 days of Alpine walking when I'm saying I can go up but not (fast) down. Have gone through the rest of the itinerary and it may not be as bad as what we've already done. Going to give it another day and then see.

Thursday 4th of August Riederhutte to Ebensee

The original plan for today was to walk 40k to Alamsee but was suspecting that this was far too ambitous. The return of wet weather after a three day respite was the final excuse needed.

Actually we didn't get up this morning until 9. Slightly disturbed night in the Riederhutte dormitory. After yesterday's walk Christine and I were in bed by 10 but the other two people in dormitory were on the snapps until much later and when they came to bed were whispering and much besides. All in favour of young love but a bit much in the dormitory, and admonishments had to be administered.

It was seriously raining this morning but the view was that the weather would improve by mid-day. We decided to hang around and Christine helped the staff peel apples for a giant apple strudel. It's a strange existence for the staff of the hutte stuck up on top of a mountain with periods of intense activity, when the weather brings out the walkers, and dead time when it's raining.

We finally ventured out in our gortexes at about 12. My plan was that if we could get to Feuerkogel then a cable car ride down to Ebensee would be in order. The rain did lighten around 1 but you still couldn't see a thing.

In the rain above Ebensee

It was Christine who, after a nice bowl of goulash soup, wanted to march down the hill rather than take the cable car, and she was absolutely convinced she knew the way. After going up and down the same bit of path three times the cable car was again looking attractive. We were at the top of a series of ski runs and the footpaths signs were chaotic.

Eventually we struck off down the hill vaguely in the right direction and although not entirely confident of the route we managed to find our way. Arrived at Ebensee once more in the rain, but the sun also trying to get through so we enjoyed a lovely rainbow.

Rainbow above Ebensee

We found the Hotel Post, a traditional family run place with great food and good Austrian wine. Bags have been emptied and everything is spread out to dry.

Wednesday August 3rd Weissenbach to Riederhutte

We think we may have done a tougher walk but at the moment we can't quite remember when. For once the numbers definitely don't tell the story, although they give a clue. 2,000 plus metres of ascent and 10 hours on your feet indicate a big day but it was the non-stop grinding nature of the terrain which made today mega.

Christine woke up with one eye virtually closed, the result of the bee sting from a couple of days ago. Didn't actually slow her down but I was getting sideways looks as Austrian's assumed a domestic incident.

Actually Christine was on top form. The signs said 4 hours 30 minutes to Hochleckenhaus and she was determined to beat the time. Better still there were lots of Austrians making the early morning climb and this meant only one thing, someone to chase and overtake. Firstly a couple, then a single woman, and then the ultimate scalp, three young men.

Attersee

Up and up we went, along ridges with amazing views of Lake Attersee then up again. The first major summit was Brennerin, at 1700 metres, 1300 metres above Weissenbach. Started to get a bit worried that this was no ordinary walk when we looked at the signs after the Brennerin. Despite being the fastest people on the mountain we were only just on schedule. Still 90 minutes to Hockleckenhaus and although no longer climbing the going was really tough, two horrible gullies to cross, but it wasn't just the up and downs that made the going slow, it was the broken terrain.

Climbing up to Brennerin

Back to Attersee

On Brennerin

At last we got to the hut at Hockleckenhaus and collapsed on a bench and ate. We were on schedule but had consumed huge amounts of energy. The good news I was hoping for didn't materialise. I had hoped that at least we were half way but no, another five hours to go and that seemed subject to maintaining our mad morning pace. Reider Hutte seemed like a long way away, and we seriously considered calling it quits and staying at Hockleckenhaus.

Christine however wanted to press on, doing nothing all afternoon was too boring. We left the hutte at 2, stuffed with food and fully rehydrated. It was hot and clear but I was worried about the weather. The forecast was rain by mid afternoon.

The tough walking continued but after an initial climb, a sharp drop into a valley, and then a 600 metre pull we were at the top of Grunalmkogel which at 1821 metres was the highest point of the day. It was only 4.30 and it felt like we were making good time. Trouble was, as the forecast had predicted, the clouds were now descending and the prospect of a summer thunder storm on top of a mountain kept the pressure on.

Things then started to slow down. The climb down from Grunalmkogel was really tough. Incised limestone and the extent of drop meant we were scrambling for much of time. It took the best part of an hour to descend 300 metres.

Struggling down Grunalmkogel

Hard work

I had promised Christine that the last bit would be easier but lacked the evidence to back my theory. It couldn't be harder but in it's own way was just as bad. An exposed path set into a limestone cliff and huge drops. Not a time for looking down or even up.

Fortunately this didn't last long and we soon walking along the side of a valley and gently climbing up to what we hoped was the hutte. The signs however were still not telling us how far we had to go, the light was fading, and it looked increasingly like rain. At 6.45pm we heard a helicopter, rounded a final corner, and there was the hutte taking it's bi-monthly aerial delivery.

Special beer drop

So a really tough walk, challenging but all the time the scenery was amazing.

It's hard for people, who inevitably have not got the level of fitness I have built up over many months, to click quickly into my pace of walking and indeed the schedule I have set myself. I thought Christine was just amazing today and was very proud of her.

Christine adds: what a tough day. Am exhausted and feet and knees are killing me. The best thing about the last 11 hours was hearing the helicopter and knowing we must be getting near the Reider Hutte. Tomorrow is supposed to be a lot easier and we're hoping we don't get rain; there was a sharp shower this evening just after we arrived here and it's still cloudy.