Day: |
038 |
Date: |
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
|
Start: |
Blons
|
Finish: |
Biberacher Hutte
|
Daily
Kilometres: |
21.9
|
Total
Kilometres: |
920.4
|
Weather: |
Mostly sunny, humid and very warm
|
Accommodation: |
Biberacher Hutte
|
Nutrition: |
Fruit, yoghurt, rolls and jam for breakfast; two filled rolls for
lunch; soup, schnitzel and potato salad, and cake for dinner.
|
Aches: |
None
|
Pictures: |
Here |
GPS Track: |
Here |
Journal: |
I was late to bed, but still managed to get up in time for the
6:30am breakfast and checked out at 7:30am. With perfect
timing, that was when the supermarket opened, and I stocked up on a
few things and bought a couple of fresh rolls for lunch. I
then wandered down to the bus stop and had to wait until 8:10am for
a bus back to Thuringen, where after a short bit of confusion about
where I needed to be to get the bus back to Blons, I again timed it
perfectly, just finding the bus stop as a bus arrived (not another
one for 90 minutes) and was back in Blons in time to start hiking by
9am.
It was already quite warm again and the early couple of
kilometres was not that pleasant as the trail was narrow, overgrown
and up and down, and seemed to go to great lengths to avoid joining
the road which paralleled it just up the hill. However,
further on it improved and followed the fast-flowing Lutz River
upstream for sometime before climbing up to the small village of
Buchboden. Most of the hiking along the river had been in the
forest and relatively flat, so the heat had not been an issue, but
once past Buchboden the trail climbed very steeply through farmland
and then forest, and I was drenched in sweat, and being regularly
bitten by the very annoying Austrian version of the March fly.
I stopped just past a stream crossing in the forest for lunch
and had a wash and rinsed out my T-shirt for a bit of heat relief.
There was a bit more cloud in the afternoon but it was still very
warm as I continued to climb past the treeline and into the high
alpine pastures. My path then left the farmland behind and the
trail became quite technical as it climbed up to around 2000m and
crossed numerous streams and patches of snow. The latter
weren't that dangerous, but they made the trail difficult to follow
and were slow going.
I finally reached Biberacher Hutte, my
destination, soon after 5pm. It's my first Austrian Alpine Hut
and I'm not sure of all the rules yet. It had a shower, but I
discovered it was cold water straight from the snow, so very
refreshing. There are a few other hiking groups in residence,
and everything is very jolly. The proprietress tells me that
part of my route tomorrow is closed by snow, but there are some
alternative routes so I should be OK, but it's still not a good omen
for the track ahead.
At dinner time I was invited to join the
large hiking group (14) who are members of a chapter of the Swiss
Alpine Club who regularly do midweek hiking trips. A few of
them spoke good English and I chatted for a while after dinner.
Feeling tired, I went to bed about 9pm, but could hear them all
signing songs downstairs in the dining room.
|
|
ADVENTURE LIST
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Hume & Hovell Walking Track
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Via Alpina
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Australian Alps Walking
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Land's End to John O'Groats
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Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
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Australia Tip to Top MTB
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Three Peaks Race
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Appalachian Trail
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|