AA Day 12

We had a rest day in Seeboden during which we didn’t do very much at all.  Christine posted some postcards and we stocked up on our supplies of fruit and nuts.  Then we went and relaxed by the swimming pool at the hotel.  Someone had commented that tomorrow’s walk was tough; 21kms and 1600m of ascent, but you could cut part of it by using the local taxi service.  Given the heat we decided this was a good idea, so arranged a pickup and confirmed it by phone.  (The best laid plans of mice and men….). 

Yesterday and today we had our best breakfast in Austria.  A huge range of fruit juices, cereals, breads, fruit, cold meats, cured fish, cheeses, eggs cooked to order, and cake.  We left the hotel and stood at the pick up point.  No taxi.  After 15 minutes we phoned; “we don’t have any reservation for you, you can have a taxi at 12:30”.  We went back into the hotel and spoke to the manager, who turned out to be the owner of the hotel.  He phoned the taxi company, then came off the phone and said he would drive us.  This was great news, and as he took us up the mountain Gerhard told us he was a member of the mountain rescue team.  During the COVID years they had over a metre of snow in the valley, last year it was about 50cm.  We reached the end of the road, glad that we had got a lift rather than tramping up the road in the heat.  The route took us along forest tracks, finally reaching another hutte, with several cars parked at it.  We were now above the tree line and made rapid progress to the top of the Tschiernock (2088m) with fantastic views in all directions.  The 3000m peaks to the NW where we had come from, and lower to the SE, but still ridge after ridge going into the distance.  The route went along the crest for a few kilometres, before we finally dropped down to the hutte for the night.  There are incredible views to the lake below us, with mountains disappearing into the haze.  We sat outside for dinner, with an old man playing the accordion, and his pal singing along.  The forecast for tomorrow is rain, so we plan on an earlier start to try and get down to the valley before the weather deteriorates.