Day 3 – Grune Baum to Prossau and
back to Bad Gastein
10.00 miles
By now, we were getting the geography of the valley
and the transport options a little clearer in our minds. There are lots of ski
buses, which walkers aren’t able to use, but also a good service bus timetable,
with major routes running along the length of the valley and side services from
each of the main towns.
The service buses are half price using the Gastein
Card (which is free from hotels) which made most journeys about €1.20 (about
£1.00). This is good value: there is a walkers’ pass available covering all
buses and ski lifts, but its €89 per person, and unless you intend to use the
lifts a minimum of 4 times return, it doesn’t pay off (although it might do in
the summer – there looks to be plenty of walking in the area). So, we would
recommend pay-as-you-go as the most cost-effective way of paying for
transport during the ski season.
Anyway, we caught the 9.15am bus to Bas Gastein and
had a quick look around some gear shops before catching a connecting service to
Grune Baum at the entrance of the Kotschachtal valley.
Grune Baum |
Looking along the Kotschachtal valley |
It was immediately clear that it was much quieter
here. Once past the stop for the Graukogel lift there is no skiing in the
valley, and for the first time we got a real sense of peace and quiet.
Following the track through the valley |
We followed a wide track through the steep-sided
valley, with wooded slopes to either side and occasional glimpses of the higher
summits beyond. Before long, we passed into the Hohe Tauern Nation Park –
Austria’s largest National Park, and home to its highest mountain, the
Grossglockner, only a few miles away as the crow flies, but hours away by road.
Entering the Hohe Tauern National Park |
Rain had been forecast, but pretty much kept off all
day. In fact, there was sunshine from time to time, and with the relatively
warm temperatures, it felt at times more spring-like than wintery.
Sunshine and snow, a winning combination |
Shadow on the snow |
After a gentle climb of around an hour and a half, we
reached the Alpenhaus Prossau. Rather surprisingly, we found it open. Inside,
temptation was put in front of us in the form of a naughty-looking menu and a lovely
smell of baking.
Alpenhaus Prossau |
We resisted, but only for a few seconds. Then our
will-power melted as quickly as the ice cream on two delicious helpings of hot strudel (complete with
whipped cream, vanilla sauce and a shot of liqueur for that
extra-warming touch). Glorious! Well, it was
Shrove Tuesday, and it would have been disrespectful not to celebrate it. In
fact, I seem to remember hearing that there’s an EU directive compelling foreign visitors to eat cake/pastries/puddings* on Shrove Tuesday in Europe – it’s
the law! (* delight as applicable).
Suitably fortified, we headed back towards Grune Baum
on what was now a much busier track. The sun was out and the snow melting as we
reached the village. After a brief coffee stop, we picked up the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Promenade
back towards Bad Gastein, which offered level walking and good views over the
valley and town.
View down the Gastein Valley from the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Promenade |
About 100m before the stop we saw a bus pull away. Not
to worry, though: they are frequent enough, so we caught the next one and were
soon back in Bad Hofgastein.
Waterfall in Bad Gastein |
Shrove tide is time for celebration in Austria, and as
we made our way back to the hotel we were confronted with the sight of clowns
playing brass band music. Not people fooling around with tubas, you understand, but actual big-haired,
baggy-trousered, badly-made-up creepy clowns, with all the proper instruments, and trombones.
Sadly, or maybe not so sadly for the Coulrophobics
amongst you, we were too stunned and disconcerted to take any pictures of this weird phenomenon.
Day 4 – Around Bad Gastein
9.25 miles
And then this …..
Early morning, March 1st. White Rabbit! |
We awoke this morning to find it had snowed overnight.
Not much, but it did now look a lot more like the winter wonderland we had hoped for.
Our option was to stay close to Bad Gastein and wander
to some of the nearby points, eschewing the need to compete for bus seats
and valuable oxygen with the newly excited skiing crowd.
The new snow would only last so long. With the
temperature firmly stuck at a balmy “above zero” figure, even as we set off,
the trees were beginning to shed lumps of wet snow on our heads.
Bad Hofgastein in the snow |
The first part of our plan was to walk from the town
centre up the east side of the valley, making our way via paths and minor roads
to a vantage point over the town from where great views were to be had.
On the path towards the Cafe Sonnberg |
On reaching the road, we turned south and followed it
to an old water-driven flour mill and nearby communal oven.
What appeared to be a communal oven |
Although we could
only see inside through the gaps in the wooden walls, it gave a good insight
into how the mill operated using variable water flow to adjust the speed of the
wheel.
Rauchberg Muhle |
Useless, old millstone, plus the thing that used to turn the wheat into flour |
The waterwheel speed could be adjusted by how much water was directed to it |
The road beyond the mill was closed. Had we been able
to continue, we could have joined the Gasteiner Hohenweg that runs to Bad
Gastein. So we turned back, retracing our steps to the Café Sonnberg and
following the road upwards.
Beyond the Annencafe, the road was again closed, so we
decided to pop in for a coffee before making our way down to Bad Hofgastein
again on largely the same paths as before.
Heading back down into town, with sunshine breaking through |
The clock struck midday as we reached level ground
again and sauntered through the streets on the north side of town. A quick stop
for lunch things at the Hofer supermarket (Aldi equivalent in Austria) proved
interesting, then we walked on to cut through some houses and eventually pick
up the riverside path.
We stopped for a quick bite. Our current sandwich of
choice is cheese and ham, the choice of cheese this time being some of the most
>ahem< “robust” we had ever bought! We had to consign the remainder to outside
on the balcony.
View from the second lunch stop in Weiden |
However, even it couldn’t deter the cold wind that had
decided to scythe through the valley at that particular moment, so we hurried
on. Doubling back on ourselves, we turned for home through the small village of
Wieden, where we stopped for the rest of our lunch – this time, in warm sunshine.
Crossing the Gasteiner Ache on the way back into town |
It was then just a half hour or so back to the hotel,
taking a slightly roundabout way through town on the way, before settling in
for our evening routine.
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