Saturday, 7 July 2012

Welsberg

Durrenstein Hutte

33.3

1358.5

Partly sunny and warm

Durrenstein Hutte

Yoghurt, bread rolls, cheese, ham and jam for breakfast; muesli bars and chocolate for lunch; vegetable soup, boiled pork, dumplings and sauerkraut, and apple strudel for dinner

None

I was woken early by the sound of mountain-bikers leaving from the Gasthaus and other nearby Gasthaus's for the big race (I later heard there were 5,000 mountain-bikers entered in the event), but went back to sleep and was woken by my alarm at 6:30am.  After a very big breakfast, I hit the road soon after 8am and left town via the tourist office on the off-chance I could use their wi-fi from outside and download a couple of podcasts onto my iPhone.  Unsuccessful.

The first couple of hours walking promised to be easy as it followed a bike path round to the village of Schmieden through green pastures and pine forests.  I was making good time until I lost the path where it entered the grounds of a new boutique dairy. Either accidentally or deliberately, they had erased all signage relating to the path on the property and I messed around for 45 minutes until I finally regained a recognisable path by bush-bashing my way steeply uphill through a pine forest.  It was annoying wasting time early on what looked like being a long day.

After Schmieden, there was some kind of construction going along which had closed the path used by the Via Alpina and I had to walk along the verge of a quite busy road as it climbed through a picturesque valley.  Finally, the detour ended and the Via Alpina followed a beautiful winding white gravel path uphill through a pine forest to the shores of Pragser Wildsee which was a very popular tourist spot.  It was easy to see why, with the clear green waters of the lake back-dropped by the sheer white rock walls of the craggy Dolomites.  I followed a path around the left side of the lake, joining hundreds of hikers doing a lap of the lake.  I silently cursed when they dawdled along taking the whole path, but it was clearly quite an expedition for some.  All along the way were very tempting photo spots and people were sunbathing on the white fine stone beaches.

At the far end of the lake I turned off the popular path and began the serious climb up into the Dolomites, passing a film crew getting ready to film something early on.  The climb was steep and relentless over white stony ground which was very glary.  It was also sunny and warm and I was sweating profusely though still frequently catching other hikers from behind on the long ascent,  I had a brief lunch on a bench providing fantastic views back to the lake far below, before moving into the high valleys which were mostly bare white rock with some stunted conifers.  The rock was often stratified and strangely eroded and it was like walking through a sculpture garden in parts.  I continued climbing up through a bare rocky ravine to finally reach a pass just above Seekofel Hutte (2327m) from where the full vista of the Dolomites was revealed with spectacular jagged mountains rising from a barren rocky landscape near and far.  It was impossible to do the scene justice with a camera.

From the Hutte, I left the crowds behind and followed a series of high rocky ridges, providing superb views all of the way, to the north-east.  Then the path crossed a tough rocky landscape that was like continually climbing over small walls for a kilometre which was slow and tiring.  I reached a better path and began the last leg of the day -past some high pastures and then along a spectacular narrow balcony trail, far above the valley below.  At one point I starteled a very large eagle which took flight from just in front of me.  I reached Hohlensteintal much later than I had hoped and tried two small remote hotels there, without luck, before walking another half hour to Durrenstein Hutte where I arrived about 6:40pm.  I got the last bed in the whole Hutte, and am sharing a ten-bunk dorm with an Italian family of nine!  Should be interesting.  I paid for dinner, bed and breakfast, and was directed to the table for half-board people which I shared with two German and one Belgian couple, all of whom spoke good English, and we had a pleasant chat.  The older German couple are doing the Via Alpina, two weeks at a time, heading in the opposite direction.  Today was a lot longer than expected, mainly because of inaccuracies in the guidebook, and I'm hoping for a shorter day tomorrow.