Day 7: Erlacher Haus – Radenthein

Today was our last day in the Nockberge (Nocky Mountains 😅). I’m so gonna miss the solitude, the wonderful vegetation and the amazing mountain air up here. Going back down into the valley will be rather a shock, and just by thinking of having to go back to Vienna by the end of this week I could gag… 🙊

But there was still today left and since we had some time we wanted to do one last summit just around the corner. So we packed our things and headed off to the Arkerkopf at 1970m which is kind of the backyard mountain of the Erlacher Haus:

But first the view from our room the last two days:

No wonder that we don’t want to trade this for people, traffic and concrete, right?!

The sun was already out and it promised to become a fine day.

The way up to the Arkerkopf was easy and didn’t take very long but the view was breathtaking!

This is really the most underestimated summit of all the Nockberge together! There wasn’t even a signpost marking the Arkerkopf.

We were all alone up here although we stayed there easily one hour and sat in the morning sun.

Then we hiked back via the Oswalder Bockhütte and back to the Erlacher Haus from which we finally started our descent to Radenthein on the well-known AAT path.

It was just lovely! The weather was great, the hike easy and we encountered very few people. In fact, during our whole time in the Nockberge we met more cows than humans!

At the Petodnighütte we stopped for a drink and the famous Kaiserschmarrn from the innkeeper, the Lederhosenwirtin Karin.

Full and happy we continued on, with one last – sad – glance to where we came from:

Soon we arrived at the next hut, the Aichholzer Hütte where we also stopped, for coffee and Reindling. Well, we did have time. 😜

Then the path led to the wonderful Mühlweg which we already knew and cherished from the AAT. It was a great way through the forest beside a stream and shaded from the hot sun.

There were a lot of old and renovated mills and places to make a break, to have a BBQ or to just have fun. We surely did. 😎

There were also lovely wooden carved statues of well-known fairy tales:

All too soon we were down in the civilisation again, and the next 3km on concrete, 1 of which on the street. Well, wasn’t that sobering?

Down in Radenthein we went shopping to have something for breakfast the next day and some stuff for the next 2-3 days of hiking because our food provisions were nearly diminished.

Then we waited for the bus to Villach. During the wait Mr SPORK had another one of his missions:

We arrived after a 50 minutes drive in Villach. The drive was quite nice, we saw some beautiful villages and lakes on the way. Villach however was even more sobering. Honestly, how can I survive Vienna again when I felt like getting a rash just sitting at the bus terminal in Villach and taking in the traffic noise and bad smells?!

Another bus to Warmbad Villach and 15 minutes of walk and we arrived at our accommodation for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll be going upwards again, Baumgartner Höhe above the castle Finkenstein awaits!

Some figures:

  • 17km
  • 480m up
  • 1400m down
  • Highest point: 1.970m (Arkerkopf)
  • Fog: NONE!!!
  • Highest point: 1970m

 

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