Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Wirthaus Starhand

Thorl-Maglern

19.9

1537.3

Mostly sunny and cool to warm

Gastehaus Neuwirth, Thorl-Maglern

Rolls and cheese and ham and jam for breakfast; muesli bars and chocolate for lunch; soup, salad, schnitzel and potatoes for dinner.

None

I had a nice long sleep and went down for breakfast at 7am.  Lili, the Austrian girl, was also there (the only other guest last night) and, since she was also walking to Thorl-Maglern today, we decided to travel together.  It was to be her last day today as Thorl-Maglern marks the eastern end of the Karnischer Hoheweg (Highway) hiking trail which the Via Alpina has been following for the last week.

We left at 8am on a cool sunny morning and spent the first hour hiking gradually uphill through pine forest until we reached Feistritzer Alm, another small hamlet of holiday log cabins, this one on a beautiful grassy saddle.  From there, for a while, we hiked near a (grand)mother and (grand)daughter and chatted with them as we walked along the grassy ridge which still marked the border between Austria and Italy.

The Via Alpina followed the border for the remainder of the day and passed through a mixture of high mountain pastures and quiet shady pine forests.  Lili (28), who had recently completed a degree in Sociology and was starting work shortly, and I discussed the relative merits of Capitalism and Socialism as well as the joys of long-distance hiking and learned a bit about each other's lives and countries.  Fortunately, her English was very good and it made a nice change for me being able to have real conversations of substance instead of my usual monosyllabic exchanges in broken German.  There was one long climb after our break for lunch in a forest clearing, followed by a long and steep descent through a pine forest to the village of Thorn-Maglern.  All day, we had many excellent views into Austria and ahead to Slovenia.  Thorn-Maglern lay on the border in a valley which was a main transport route between Austria and Italy, carrying a main road, a freeway, and a rail-line.  The trail emerged on the main road next to a guesthouse and I decided to get a room there, while Lili, who was getting a train home to Salzburg tomorrow from the nearby town of Arnoldstein, decided to keep walking to there.  We said our farewells and exchanged addresses.  The Karnischer Hoheweg was her first solo multi-day hike but I don't think it will be her last.  She clearly enjoyed the experience.

Tomorrow I will reach Slovenia and turn south for the last leg of my journey to the Adriatic.