Bad For Good: Part 1

By late February, Christmas is something of a distant memory – or at least it should be. But if you are anything like us then there may well be some unwelcome reminders of the festivities still lingering – namely, those few extra pounds that the best-of-resolutions has resolutely failed to shift.

And although spring is not far away, the short days and long nights, grey skies and cold make it appear a very long way off. It can be hard to get motivated to even go outside, let alone walk for hours, when it’s pouring with rain or sleeting horizontally, so a break from such seasonal blues is really welcome.

In recent years, we have taken to having a winter holiday in the Alps. Pick the right time, and there are some quite good deals to be had on skiing packages.

Bad Hofgastein

Not that we have any real intention of skiing, mind. It’s just that we get a base in the mountains for a week and a chance to walk, relax, catch up on reading, enjoy some local hospitality and re-charge the batteries for a while – something of a detox prior to the busier spring and summer months, and a chance to boost fitness again.

This year we plumped for Bad Hofgastein, a small town in the Gastein valley that lies roughly due south of Salzburg. It’s quite a well-known skiing area, and there are some good summer paths in the area such as sections of the Salzburger Almenweg and excursions to the adjacent summits.

We had barely crossed the threshold of our chosen accommodation before being asked if we would mind swapping to another hotel – they had overbooked.

“It’s nice”, they said, “a bigger room, with a south-facing balcony”.

“A free upgrade”, we thought? Oh, go on, then …..

Hotel Das Gastein, Bad Hofgastein

Das Gastein is indeed a nice hotel. Having settled in briefly, we went for a quick orientation tour of the town, picking up lunches, maps and timetables as we went – all we needed, in fact, for the next day’s walk. It was a warm, sunny afternoon – great for relaxing, and a good omen, we hoped as we pored over the maps, for the week to come.

Day 1 – Bad Hofgastein to Angertal skistation and on to Bad Gastein

10.50 miles

After a gloriously sunny afternoon yesterday, Sunday morning dawned under a swathe of cloud. Setting off just before 9.00am, we briefly followed the river before setting off across the valley and climbing the hillside towards Angertal.

Weitmoser Schlossl, Hundsdorf

Our aim had been to follow one of the marked winter walking paths described in the leaflet we had collected yesterday. But due to the lack of snow, more paths were available than expected, and we ended up on clear, well-signed but wrong paths out of Hundsdorf.

A plethora of paths, but are we on the right one?

In the words of The Waterboys, we went “too high, too far, too soon”. No matter, though: traversing the hillside, we worked our way into the Angertal, spying a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a flock of Greenfinches as we did so.

Looking back to Bad Hofgastein

Once the gradient had lessened, the going was easy, and it wasn’t too long before we hit the road on the way in to the Skizentrum Angertal, a hub for downhillers in this high valley, surrounded by a cluster of 2000 meter peaks.

The ski station is typical of its kind – busy, with impersonal canteen-style service and lots of stiff-booted skiers clumping around. We stopped for drinks and contemplated our next move.

Drinks at the Skizentrum Angertal

The instructions in the winter walking leaflet were scant but apparently clear: follow the ski run before turning for Hartlgut. However, we soon found out that didn’t mean the ski run with all the skiers coming down it. No, it meant the other ski run – the one with no skiers. Or ski tracks ....

Not to worry. Having been angered in Angertal for a while, we back-tracked a little way and finally intuited the right route.

A quiet place for lunch in the woods

Shortly afterwards, we found a handy bench for our lunch. Sitting in the quiet of the woods, away from other folks and suitably replete, suddenly all was well with the world again.

The Erzherzog-Johann-Promenade

Icicles!

Continuing downhill, we reached the Jausenstation Hartlgut and picked up the Erzherzog-Johann-Promenade, a contour path that led towards Bad Gastein with some nice glimpses across the valley. After another brief stop for food and drink, we made a final short descent into the town and caught the bus back to Bad Hofgastein.

Main street, Bad Gastein

It wasn’t late – only mid-afternoon, in fact – but part of our holiday plan was to have some time for rest and relaxation, something we both desperately needed. As well as all the usual early-year stuff to contend with, such as a busy work schedule for each of us, we’d sadly lost my father in January.

In what would become our regular afternoon and evening schedule, we read, relaxed, played Scrabble and went for dinner, then took a short stroll round town afterwards to help the meal settle.

Floodlit curling

Day 2 – Bad Hofgastein to Klammstein

10.50 miles

After the nice but slightly off-piste route of yesterday, we decided to tackle something a bit more straightforward today. The skies were a bit clearer, the cloud a shade higher, and the weather promised well, but all we wanted a simple route that was easy to find and obvious to follow, with a re-invigorating source of cake at the half-way point.

So, we set off through town on the riverside path, heading north beside the Gasteiner Ache, essentially just following the valley. Beyond the town, we crossed the main road and continued past the villages of Wieden and Breitenburg on the riverside path. A dipper, defending its territory, chuntered at us as we walked past, but otherwise it was quiet and peaceful as the sun renewed its effort to break through the cloud.

Looking back towards the town and the head of the valley

Re-crossing the main road, we then picked up what must have been the old road through the valley, following beside the main route but much quieter and far less busy. This was gentle walking on clear paths, tracks, lanes and cycle routes – all free of snow at these lower levels. Bad Hofgastein stands at approx. 850m above sea level, so for much of the winter can expect snowy conditions down in the valley. Not this week, though: snow was confined to higher altitudes.

Reedy pond and nature reserve

We stopped briefly to look inside a small chapel in Harbach, then carried on towards Dorfgastein. As we approached the town there was a short nature trail explaining the geology and natural history of the area, and we sat beside a reedy pond for a quick coffee stop.

Skies brightening

Insect hotel

By the time we reached Dorfgastein, we were getting a bit peckish. The town is a nice little place, smaller and less cosmopolitan than the other two towns, with some older buildings on display.

We pottered along the main street until we found the Information centre. Next door, a bakery tempted us inside for kaffe und kuchen (apricot pasty and a blueberry slice) which was a bit unnecessary but very nice!

Moving on, we followed a back road on the west side of the valley towards Klammstein. As with this morning’s walk, the paths and countryside were nothing special, but it was enough to just be outside in the fresh air, clearing the mind and getting a bit of exercise.

Klammstein gorge

Approaching Klammstein, we could see the castle on its steep-sided rocky promontory. The valley here is very narrow and gorge-like, and the castle located thus to guard access to it. It certainly commanded a great view, and would have been easy to defend against unwanted invaders. The castle is open on some days and houses a museum, but was closed today – unwanted invaders now kept at bay by locked gates and entry fees.

Having passed beneath the castle – quite literally, by foot tunnel – we called it a day for walking and caught the 13.52 bus back to Bad Hofgastein in time for another afternoon and evening of R&R.