Take a hat

Grossarl - visiting the neighbours The mountain village of Grossarl is over the mountain to the East in the next valley.  We often ski over there from Dorfgastein in Winter. This was Summer and it takes about an hour to drive over there in the car. We first have to go to St Johann and then double-back on a winding road via Alpendorf. A lot of big new hotels have been built near the ski slopes in recent years but away from them is a pleasant village centre. Our walk today took us up the Elmau valley to a nice modern Hotel for lunch, the Lammwirt. We should really have put the bikes on the car and headed up to an Alm but this was a bit of a last minute decision. That is, we took the wrong turning! We were actually heading for Dienten. The Ellmau valley looking West. Straight ahead over the hills to Gastein  It really was pleasantly rural with distant cowbells jangling on the surrounding hills. We had a good lunch at the Lammwirt alongside local extended families. As it was end

A new Hut on a cold wet October day. Cow of the day in Dorfgastein  It was a pretty cold 0ne today so I decided to stay low. The KogerAlm is right at the end of the valley but is only at 1400m. To get there it's nice cruise on ECO down to Dorfgastein and then a left turn under the Road and Railway to Underberg. Through Underberg and join a signposted route around the right flank of the mountain. It's quite a rough track and fairly steep. There is a turning off left to the Amoser Alm, another hut worth visiting, but I carried on up my trail. There's a good aerial view of the stone quarry across the road on the right. It looks like they are creating a marble staircase for a giant! Low cloud on this cool October day It's a pretty deserted area but I passed another hut that looks like an Alm but it is now just for private hire. I think that is where I cycled before. I needed to wind upwards for a few more turns before reaching the top of the hill and coasting down

Current thoughts on electric assisted cycling in Gastein Heading for  the BiberAlm How did I end up with an e-bike? I have been riding my bikes in Gastein for around 14 years on various trips and I never tire of it. A thousand metre climb from the valley bottom up to a mountain hut for a friendly greeting and a cold beer and cake is a very simple pleasure. Over the last few years I have seen the growth in the use of e-bikes and watched them speed past me as I climb on my MTB. TW has had pedal assist for several years and we often cycled together, she whizzed up the hills as I huffed and puffed. Her having an e-bike meant we could ride together to some of our favourite places like the Baerstein Alm, the FundnerAlm, the Himmelwand, Hauseben and the Hauserbauer in Dorfgastein. Ignoring the cost, I suppose I resisted buying one because hill climbing is the thing I do best and probably the thing that keeps me fit. Then, on our June visit to Gastein, I hired an e-mtb for a day, b