KAT WALK day I
The farmhouse in Scheffsnoth (Lofer) was located perfectly. Just outside the village center on a nice side of town where the evening sun would brighten the house before nightfall. I enjoyed the view for the last evening before moving to Hopfgarten.
The next day I entered my new location in the navigation system of the car and of I went.
When arriving in St.Johann in Tirol I had some bad traffic but I still arrived early at the hotel.
My room is wasn’t ready yet so I went for a short walk through town and visited the church. Like I always do I lit a candle in memory of my family and for a safe travel.
After I dropped my things in the room when ready I drove to the end station of my tour in 6 days. I asked the owner if I could park the car there, which was no problem. Not even knowing that in the weekend to come over a 180 horsemen would have a competition there. I had something to eat after which I took a bus and train back to the hotel in Hopfgarten.
I had to wait about 45 minutes at the station for my train. Time to relax and write. It was nice just to sit here. At the station a friendly voice announced through the speaker that a train would be passing by on the platform where I was at. Very polite and informative and warning parents to guard their children. When the train was passing by I could clearly smell the iron of the wheels hitting the rails.
I know I am not Austrian. But I felt very comfortable here. Maybe because of the weather? Of doing nothing? Of doing something different seeing different places. It made me feel very relaxed.
The mountains are close but not claustrophobic. I know I am seeing all these places and the landscaping for the first time but it feels like home. A nice feeling.
I can see a lot of clouds forming a grey blanket in the sky, covering the mountains tops. There is no longer a need for sunglasses, but fortunately it is still dry. Will the weather be like this the next week? Sunny in the morning but cloudy or thunderstorms in the afternoon?
Next stop St.Johann in Tirol. A place that I am crossing for the 3rd time today. But every time faster.
This morning on my way to the hotel from which I would start my tour the day after, I had quite a delay due to roadworks. So when coming back this way towards the hotel where I parked my car (end station of the tour) I knew exactly what was going on and took a detour through town. Faster, much faster.
Now I am crossing it with the train back to Hopfgarten. It won’t get faster than this with the train.
On my way back it started raining like it hadn’t before in the days I was there. But when arriving back in Hopfgarten after conversation with a friendly conductor it dried up again. Perfect timing for me to walk from the station to the hotel.
When I arrived at the hotel, it started raining so I did not feel like going out again. I just sat in my room downloading a local weather app.
A shower and of to dinner below in the “stube”. It was good but being alone here was a disadvantage. The lady of the house had placed my right in front of the door. Bad place the sit.
After dinner I took another glas of red wine to my room. Watched Invictus on tv and afterwards went to sleep.
I slept ok, waking up too early again. I am all showered, packed and ready to go but have to wait till 8:00 for breakfast. Too late. I want to leave at 7:00 if possible. But no. Unless I leave without a breakfast and that is not going to happen.
I am opening my window to look outside and see the sun coming out from behind the mountains and the clouds. There are still some low hanging clouds but perhaps gone by the time I am going up the mountain.
At 7:30 I went down to see what was there and noticed that breakfast was almost set up completely. I could start anyway the lady told me. So I did.
After a good breakfast I made a roll to take with me for lunch. Afterwards, it seemed to be a good idea as there was nothing on the way here to Kelchsau. No restaurant nothing.
It was a nice walk with here and there some nice climbs. But over all good to do. I saw some nice farm houses. I really enjoyed being outside again walking. Physically being busy. Something I never do while sitting in my office typing away. No need to think much here.
Even the route was signed out quite well. To my surprise. The KAT walk organizers had placed stickers on the already present signs. So together with the general description it was easy to find my way.
It was so nice to have areas of sun alternating with areas of shade. I saw some beautiful streams cutting their way through the mountain guarded by the large tall trees in the beautiful green.
I saw the colors in the sky changing from nice open blue and bright to various colours of grey. I arrived early at the hotel and was shown my room. Nice and cozy but I think it wasn’t used for a long time. The water coming from the tap wasn’t what I had expected. Let’s say the color wasn’t or better said, it had color. I will not drink it but will tap water from a well outside. That is the problem often with single rooms, they aren’t used as much as doubles.
After a drink outside in the garden I took a rest for an hour. Better. Give my legs some rest and then go outside.
On google maps I saw that there was a grocery close by. Arriving there, the word grocery was indeed ok. It was a very small store with a very very very limited variety of food and other items.
I bought some nectarines and some nuts. The nuts must have been in the shop for ages. But the expiry date is still 2 months away. So should be ok to eat. I guess they are happy they sold some, as the price in the register was about 30 cents cheaper than the label said.
When back at the hotel I chatted with some friends and watched the news about Formula One. I called my dad for a quick update and I then went for dinner.
I still have to experience proper Austrian cuisine. My god how difficult can it be to make a nice snitzel and salad.
The salad was in a super small bowl. Call it a very small soup bowl. And had a cup with dressing that would drown the salad completely. The snitzel, although I had asked and was confirmed it was cooked fresh, was nothing more than a deep fried piece of what they call meat. Fries were from the children’s menu as was the dessert. That was to complete the joke.
Not even half a spoon of iced ice cream smuddered with cream. Not even a children’s menu desert. If I was to serve this to my 4 year old nephew he would laugh and ask where the ice would be.
