The Pension Alte Mühle was really nice, we slept well and the breakfast was great for vegetarians. We were a bit sorry to leave because Gmünd is really a pretty town!
We set off quite stresslessly because today’s route was easy and the weather forecast stable.
At first there were 3 km of asphalt road but it wasn’t too bad because there were nearly no cars on the street. Then we came to a wooden path which was wonderfully shaded because it already started to be quite hot this day.
The only uncharming thing was the noise from the motorway A10 down in the valley for the next 8 or so kilometres because the track itself was very nice to hike!
After leaving the forest we came through some small villages but still the way was pretty and easy to walk.
At around midday we came to the castle Burg Sommeregg which is very good preserved and holds Europe’s largest torture museum. First we ate something at the castle’s tavern (Buchteln and chocolate cake) and then we had a view down from the lookout plattform.
Afterwards we went to see the museum which was really disturbing but also very interesting. Especially the people from the middle ages had quite a lot of fantasy concerning the torturing methods.
When leaving the castle we stumbled over Martin who just came along the way, too. We chatted shortly before we continued our last 2-3 km to Seeboden. Again it was very easy to walk on nice paths until we reached Seeboden.
The town itself is quite pretty, the buildings are mainly very good maintained but it’s awfully touristic. We had a hard time to find our accomodation and walked 2-3 km up the hill until we finally got there. It was nearly at the end of Seeboden on the hill. It was hot, we were tired and found the building closed. On the entrance it said that the reception is only occupied from 3 p.m. It was 2 p.m. So I called the owner who told me that they won’t be there for at least 30-40 minutes but we should climb over the small fence and hop into the pool.
No need to tell me twice. It was the best feeling to get into the cold water after hiking in the heat!!!
Around 40 minutes later the owners came along and let us to our room which is very nice refurbished with a small balcony.
Then we jumped into the pool again before we got ready to go down into the town again. But then dark clouds flocked together and we heard thunderstorm. We hurried along the Seepromenade but no shops anywhere. So we turned back to the main street, found a supermarket and after shopping made it just in time to the restaurant Ofenloch before the rain started. We ate a lot and the waiter was quite sceptical if two portions of garlic bread weren’t too much as appetiser but man, did we prove him wrong. 😂
On our way back we didn’t have any luck and got into some hard rain. So we were quite happy when we were back again.
In the evening there were incredible large amounts of rain and heavy thunderstorms for hours.
Some figures for today:
- 17km
- 450m up
- 460m down
- Hiking time: 3h 45m