Day 8: Villach – Baumgartnerhof

The apartment in Villach was quite nice and calm and we slept until the alarm clock went off. Since there was no breakfast available we had bought a little snack in Radenthein…

There were tea and coffee making facilities in the apartment so we had everything for a quick breakfast at hand. At 8 a.m. we headed off to Baumgartner Höhe above the castle Finkenstein.

First we passed a few houses and one of them had very inventive “sculptures” in the garden:

At first we had to reach the starting point of the trail but the way was really nice through the forest. It was already rather warm and very humid and we sweated after a few metres. So we were glad for the shade the trees provided.

The path led straight to the Kurpark in Warmbad Villach where the starting point of one AAT stage was.

A few patients of the health resort were already up and doing some exercises the the park outside the hotel.

From there we hiked straight to the Gail.

There were hardly any people around, and we hiked along the Gail for 2km. Compared to the fresh and cool air in the Nockberge it was so hot and humid that breathing felt heavy. I’m definitely more the mountain child than the summer-in-the-city-girl!

After leaving the path along the Gail we walked 1km through some tiny village before we headed up and into the woods again. Cool, blessing shade!

After a few more kilometres we stopped at a wayside cross since we had time enough and wanted to enjoy the quiet of the forest. Until three elderly ladies came loudly panting up from some beaten forest track, each of them a wicker basket in their hands. But there were no mushrooms to be found as one of them told us before they continued down again.

We stayed a few minutes longer not wanting to start sweating again. 😜

Then we decided to leave the actual AAT track which would lead to the Finkensteiner Moor and would likely be exposed to a lot of sun and rather find our way down to Faak through the forest. A marked track led us through the shade of the forest and on the way we also passed a lovely stud farm and had a great view to the mountains on the other side.

On the way down to Faak we passed a nice church with an even cooler tree outside:

We arrived way before midday in Faak and passed a Spar where we decided to buy something for a small lunch since there was a rather nice sitting possibility outside under a tree near a water fountain. So there we sat and ate our yogurt, ice cream and crisps – we were totally in the long distance hiking groove again.

And well, we probably didn’t smell too good either and didn’t want to bother fine noses. 😜

Then we decided to hike the rest of the way up to the Baumgartner Höhe because, let’s be honest, it’s always nicer on a top!

We already knew the way from our AAT. It was not very long but steep and mainly through a forest.

On the way up we had a nice view on the castle Finkenstein:

Shortly after 1 p.m. we arrived at the Baumgartnerhof.

The rest of the day we spent with eating (long distance hiker groove anyone? 😂) and checking out the surrounding.

The AAT info point:

View from our room down on Finkenstein and the Faaker See:

The Mittagskogel in the distance:

And of course there were sheep:

So we conclude with wiser words than ours this day:

Some figures:

  • 18km
  • 820m up
  • 430m down
  • Sheep: very pretty ones!
  • Food: probably too much for such a comfortable hike 😜
  • Memories of our AAT 2017: many! ❤

2 thoughts on “Day 8: Villach – Baumgartnerhof”

    1. Die haben wir gemeinsam mit AAT Wanderstöcken, Anstecknadeln und einer Urkunde fürs Absolvieren aller österreichischen Etappen bekommen. 😉 Haben immer die Punkte in der AAT-eigenen App abgehakt.

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