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Journal: |
At breakfast, the New Zealand woman working at the hotel told me
it was going to be a hot day, and she wasn't wrong. I could
feel the sun warm on my back as I set out soon after 9am for the
initial slow climb up through the Finsingbach River valley to
Rastkogel Hutte (2117m). The walking was fairly easy and the
gradual ascent went quite quickly. An Austrian I met on his
way down, explained to me that I wouldn't be sweating as much if I
was wearing a light-coloured T-shirt like the dry one he was
wearing. I didn't bother pointing out that he was walking
downhill with a pack weighing 3kg, while I was walking uphill with a
pack weighing 15kg. I think that if our roles had been
reversed, so would have been the relative dampness of our T-shirts.
I don't think colour is a big deal, but a dark T-shirt certainly
does a better job of hiding the wear and tear of an everyday hiker.
I reached the Hutte soon after 11am and, as I was scheduled to
have a break, I bought a very over-priced and not-particularly-cold
Coke. I suspected this would happen and told myself "I told
you so!". You could see a long way from the Hutte, but the
views were marred a little by the haze. The descent from the
Hutte into Sidental was on rural tracks through pasture and very
exposed to the sun. Did I mention the flies? By the time
I reached the Siden River at Mosl, I was ready for lunch and found a
picnic table in the sun, but next to a very cold spring, which I
used to dowse my head and wash down my legs before quickly eating my
muesli bars. I couldn't really complain about the heat or
flies, because I passed several families (multiple generations) out
manually raking up the hay in their fields on this hot sunny
Saturday.
From Mosl, the track climbed steadily again and
entered a conifer forest which provided some relief from the sun,
but it didn't last long because I soon joined a quiet sealed road,
unprotected by the trees, to climb still further. Again the
views to the east were good, but hazy. At about 1600m, I left
the road to follow a steep single track down into a forested valley
and then joined a mountain-bike route for some distance that would
have been exciting riding. At the stream crossing to get to
the other side of the valley, the only chance of not getting my feet
wet was to take a large step from a rock to a narrow log projecting
part-way across the stream and about 0.5 metres above it. I
decided that if all went well, I could make it, but lost my balance
half-way along the log and had to jump into the stream.
Fortunately, I landed well on both feet, even with the weight of the
pack, and was able to quickly wade out. At least my feet were
cool now, and it could have been worse.
From the stream
crossing, there was a steep and slippery ascent made more
interesting for me at one point when I looked up to find a
mountain-biker descending directly at me. He showed great
skill in stopping on the steep loose rocks and had a laugh about my
involuntary yell when I first saw him. My route continued to
climb through pleasant conifer forest on a pine-needle-covered
trail, although it was quite up-and-down making for slow progress
and plenty of sweat. I finally emerged into civilization at a
junction of two gondola lifts taking people from the valley far
below to the peak above. I had decided to treat myself to a
Coke and ice-cream if there was a kiosk there, but there were only
restaurants. There were a lot of people out enjoying the sun,
gondola rides, restaurants and spectacular views, and I did think,
in passing, how nice it might be to catch a gondola down the
mountain instead of the 1000m descent I was about to embark on.
However, the temptation was momentary and I started off down the
mountain for my last leg of the day to Finkenberg, which I could see
in the valley far below.
As happened several times during the
day, trail marking was occasionally deficient, but I coped and
eventually arrived in Finkenburg, after passing a couple of
beautiful waterfalls en route, just at the time a wedding emerged
from the village church. I presented a bit of a contrast to
the wedding guests as I wended my way through their midst. The
village seemed to be a resort and busy and the first hotel I tried
was full. I turned up the main road in the direction the Via
Alpina route took and passed a few more hotels that looked quite
expensive. I also saw a sign indicating a Spar supermarket was
further up the road and, since, if it was open it was likely to be
closing at 6pm (in 20 minutes time) and tomorrow was Sunday, I
decided to go there first and buy some drink, muesli bars and
chocolate to replenish my supplies. I eventually found it,
about 800m further up a steep hill, underneath a hotel advertising
132 rooms. I went into the supermarket, bought my stuff, and
then went to the hotel. Full! I packed my groceries away
and walked to a Hotel-Pension I had seen a short distance away and
they had a room and I checked in. After a shower and clothes
washing I enjoyed the four-course meal included with my package and
then caught the last hour of the European Athletics Champs on TV.
There's some kind of traditional music festival on in town this
weekend, so I was lucky to get a room.
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