Wednesday 7 June 2017

Berliner Hut

I have no words left to describe how beautiful the scenery is here in Austria. 
Today we caught a bus to the start of our walk up to the Berliner Hut. It was about a 9 kilometre walk with an incline of over 800 metres, meaning that it was quite an effort. 
The weather was incredible and there was hardly anyone else about, apart from three cute donkeys and lots of cows. 
We reached the Hut - pic 4 - after about two and a half hours and stopped for a beer. It was built about 150 years ago, is a national monument and the only way to reach it is on foot. 
So far so very good, but then we decided to hike another 500 vertical metres to the Schwarzsee Lake. It was a long, hard climb and it had snowed overnight, so towards the top we were hiking through deep snowdrifts. 
Worryingly there was no footsteps to follow and the path markers were often hidden from view. 
We reached the top but could not get to the lake as it was completely covered by snow, so we did not know where the edge was and didn't want to fall in to it by accident. 
We had planned to walk around it and back down to the road on a different, much shorter footpath, but we could not find the path either. 
By then the weather was closing in, it suddenly got very cold and then started to snow. 
Reluctantly we had to go back the way we came, which was much further than we had planned. 
It was a long trek back but we made it safely, and I got a badge from my fitbit watch as it is the first time that I have ever walked more than 40,000 steps in one day! 
Feeling a bit tired now. 

2 comments:

  1. Be careful in the hills the weather can change quickly don't take any risks it's not worth it

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  2. Yes, I think we will from now on. Notice that we did turn back though, so we must be getting a bit older and wiser.

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