Day One
 |
| Hintere Prossau |
 |
| Getting cold feet |
The first full day in Bad Hofgastein and the sun shone from a clear blue sky. Up early to get fresh bread from Billa. As a special treat we had Dachstein Brot, a still warm triangular loaf with carrots included.
 |
| Kotschachbach |
A good day for a bike ride to Prossau. Up the valley by the River to Bad Bruck and then climbed the forest road to Gruner Baum. Followed the Kotschachtal to Prossau. The Cafe was open but resisted the temptation to stop. Parked the bike and walked further up the valley to Hintere Prossau where the waterfalls plummet off the mountains. Had a paddle in the ice cold river. Wandered back through the forest to the bike and rolled back to Bad Hofgastein via the bike route through Gadauern. Much hotter now, must be mid thirties. Late lunch on the balcony with TW.
Weather a bit unsettled in the afternoon, we pedalled along to the Badesee and then M-Preis to buy dinner.
Dinner on the balcony cooked in the trusty electric wok. After Dinner a stroll into town. Sat and listened to the Kur Orchestra outside in the Alpen Arena. One or two personnel changes from last year. The rather elderly and somewhat portly Piano Player replaced by a Lady.
 |
| Making a splash |
 |
| Waterfalls at Hintera Prossau |
Day Two
 |
| Schlossalm Cable Car - spot the chap on top |
 |
| Valley view in June |
 |
| Getting close to Kitzstein |
 |
| Little House in the meadow |
Set off on the bikes to the Schlossalm lift. Bought Ski Amade Summer lift passes. Normally we just buy the local pass, 85 Euros, but as we have the car we splashed out 130 Euros for the regional pass. Headed up on the train and then the cable car to the Kleine Scharte. Walked down in the warm sunshine to the Aeroplan with TW and then down the Toboggan Run (on foot of course) to town. Mighty hot. Lunch on the Balcony followed by a snooze. Time to do some washing in the shared machine downstairs in the basement. Did four loads during the evening, good job there is a lift as the leg muscles stiffening up. Walking downhill certainly finds muscles that other pursuits do not reach.
Day Three
Weather forecast confounded as it was a lovely morning. I headed off on my favourite route via the river and then up to Bad Gastein on the bike route. Through Bad Gastein and on to the Johann Promenade to Angertal and then up to the Baerstein Alm for lunch with TW. Cloud building, could be a wet descent! Not raining when I passed the Fundneralm so no excuse to stop. Started to pour down just before town. Nicely soaked when I arrived home. First rain since we left UK. Drove to the Garden Centre and bought Geraniums for the Balcony. Bit of a planting session then a massive electric storm passed through. Still banging and crashing and moving furniture upstairs after midnight.
Day Four
 |
| The Amoseralm above Unterberg |
 |
| Butterfly on a chive |
 |
| Looking North |
 |
| Valley view of Dorfgastein |
Taking advantage of the car we drove down to Unterberg just below Dorfgastein. Walked up to the Amoserlam.
 |
| Don't feed the bears |
TW had not been there at all before and I had only been there on the bike. Had an Almdudler and some bread and ham (Speckjause). The waitress was Columbian which caused a bit of confusion as first she brought us bread and cheese and then we had to share a single portion. Oh well, we had a drink in Unterberg. TW had a non-alcoholic weiss beer, I had the standard variety so no more driving for me. We stopped at Billa on the way home to pick up water and Dinner. Had to buy a new headset so TW could Skype TMIL. Very stormy so we were late getting to the Kur Concert. Big party at the Palace Tennishalle but too expensive for us.
Day Five
 |
| Cows en route |
The weather looked a bit uncertain today so we stayed close to home. The Eastern side of the valley has no skiing so is quite heavily forested. There is a good, but quite hard, bike route up to the Rastotzenalm at 1740m. The route goes directly up from behind the Church 830m and has the advantage that if the weather turns thundery it just a matter of turning around and whizzing back down. There was no need for that today and I got to the top for my beer break OK. A couple of Austrians were also cycling up but I managed to stay in front for the 900m climb. Parts of the route are quite rocky so it was nice to have the Scott out here this year. The only setback was when TW phoned to ask me the computer password! The food looked good at the Alm, quite a limited menu of course. The Gamskarkogelhutte right at the top of the mountain (2467m) was still closed. It looked a bit cold and snowy up there..It did try and rain on the descent so was a bit cool as I plummeted back down to the village.
 |
| This is a lift to take provisions to the Gamskarkogelhutte |
 |
| Drinking buddy - Sharing my table at the Rastotzenalm |
 |
| A rocky road - The route down |
 |
| A quiet location for the Rastotzenalm |
 |
| The pooch at the Rastotzenalm |
Had a good lunch at home including some TW carrot soup. Needed a snooze before heading to the shops. Had a very good dinner at the Berglift Restaurant.
Comments
Post a Comment