We slept very good this night (there was no noise anywhere!) and had a very nice breakfast together with Anna whom we had met at Danielsberg the day before and who is also hiking a part of the AAT.
Today I decided to take the antibiotics because my hand was still swollen from the damn horse fly bite. I couldn’t remember if and when I’ve ever taken antibiotics before and was quite unsure how my body might react but it wasn’t very bad. My stomach just felt uncomfortable for a while but it got better.
At 9 o’clock we started today’s tour again.
First we passed the small villages Unterkolbnitz and Oberkolbitz and crossed the Möll. On this way we also saw the Verbund Reißeck power plant and passed the Möllstausee.
After passing Mühldorf we started the ascent to the Barbarossa gorge which was definitely the highlight for today! What a pity that it was such a short part of today’s hike. It was comfortably cool in the shade of the forest near the water. And the story of King Barbarossa and his men was funny to read on our way up.
After the gorge and a short walk through the forest we came onto a 4×4 path slowly winding uphill. Not very thrilling but ok. Some time later the path led into an asphalt street and we passed small villages again. At an inn in Göriach we stopped for drinks and cake because we got quite hungry. 😉
Then the street continued a very boring way up and we thought we would never find our accomodation for tonight, the inn Kolmwirt.
One funny thing on this boring part of the path: Austria sometimes IS Australia:
Our room at the Kolmwirt was basic but ok and the whole floor has shared WC and shower (1 WC and 2 showers for 5 rooms). It was definitely no real comfort up here. If it wasn’t for the wonderful view from the terrace and our balcony we would have wondered why this stage of the trail even ends here. The food was good though! We sat with Anna who arrived shortly after us for quite a while on the terrace and chatted.
With today we have left the Mölltal and will be hiking towards the Drau valley. So far we have hiked 170km, there were quite some hard parts but most of the way was beautiful with a lot of hiking through the forests, on alpine pastures and with some gorgeous views!
Some figures for today:
- 22km
- 770m up
- 470m down
- Hiking time: 4h 7m