This night again we slept like dead. It was so quiet up here, and even the Polish kids that were obviously here on summer camp with their counselors were not to be heard after 9 p.m.
We awoke to a gorgeous view:
After we heard some people going downstairs for breakfast before 8 a.m we assumed that it must be ready so we – always hungry 😂 – went downstairs, too. Wow, that was one flood bolting at the buffet!!! I was just stunned and grabbed some healthy muesli that the kids probably didn’t like because there was much of it still there. Many grabbed rolls, filled them with ham and cheese and packed them away obviously for lunch later. Tea was in one large samowar (only black tea), and it took me a while to figure this out. The attentive hotel employee who managed the breakfast buffet then asked us in broken German whether we would like some eggs. We ordered boiled eggs but I had the feeling he didn’t understand us fully. 😉
We hadn’t even sat down yet when suddenly all kids were leaving the room and everything was totally quiet at once. Then the employee removed the big tea samowar, brought new plates of food, cake, yogurts, and then it dawned to us! The kids were obviously having breakfast before all the others and for the “normal” guests better things were being served. Instead of the black tea samowar a smaller one with hot water and a tea box was put on the table. And our eggs weren’t boiled but scrambled and at least 3 eggs for each but really delicious! Except ours only one other table in the large room was occupied by an Austrian family who also had some difficulties at ordering boiled eggs. 😉 The view was great and we ate much longer and more than planned.
Full and happy we headed off again. It was rather cool but the air was great! Since our hotel was much off the original route we had to get back to the trail by ascending about 250m in 3km. We already knew the first short part from yesterday’s search for food and it was a beautiful path through the forest and we even saw a deer passing by. I suppose there aren’t many people using this path – we at least met no one – and so we enjoyed the start of today’s hike in this awesome morning mood in the mountains!
After a while, hiking up the route to find the AAT trail, we met the AAT hiker from the Alte Point, Christian, who had said that he would stay at the Gipfelhaus. We all were very surprised and we told him that we’re just coming up from our hotel and that he definitely must be on the wrong track! We convinced him that there were no trail marks below and so he got back with us together up the route. Finally, at the Feuerberg hotel resort we joined the regular AAT trail again.
After the resort we descended through the forest on a wonderful path. I wanted to read some stories on the first part of the way down (it was called the “philosopher’s path”), and so Christian went ahead.
The way down was fully through the forest for the best part of the whole route and it was such a joy hiking it! 💗 The utterly peaceful silence, the gorgeous smell of the forest… I wished it would never end!
Somewhere along the way we also met the girls from Upper Austria and chatted a little before we continued. They were flashed by the view from our hotel. 😉
This was one pretty place with the broken hut and the cows lying relaxed in the grass:
After about 2 hours hiking along this great track we got out of the forest to a lovely bench (it says: “When life gives you lemons make lemonade of them.”):
From there we had a great view down on the Ossiacher See:
Afterwards we passed some farm houses and the track led further down. At “Kathrin’s Buschenschank” we stopped and drank something and ate Reindling (famous Carinthian cake made from yeast dough with nuts and raisins).
It was there where we found this cool large frame and had to make pictures:
But then unfortunately an asphalt road began again. 😒 It was long and boring hiking down this road for 2km but this was really the only annoying part of today. After the descent we crossed a street and passed a few nice houses like the following:
Then we entered the Bleistätter Moor – one great wetlands area under nature conservancy with birds and a lot of other wildlife. It is really one beautiful and very calm spot and, one time, we heard a whole army of frogs croaking very loudly. 😉
After leaving the Moor we had to walk on a pedestrian lane next to the street for a few 100 metres until the path led into the forest again. There we hiked 40 minutes again a little up and down before we finally descended to Ossiach.
We found our accomodation, Gasthof zur Post, very quickly. The lady at the reception desk was very friendly and we even got some clothes washed for free!
After showering and looking human and not “wanderlike” again we headed to find something to eat. And found the perfect spot, the Naturgasthof Schlosswirt. The menu was fantastic and there was a wide selection for vegetarians and vegans, too! I chose herbal spinach with a fried egg and roast potatoes and Felix ate pancake filled with spinach and mangold and a great herbal sauce. Afterwards we had Marillen- and Topfenstrudel and coffee. We then wandered around a bit, checked the prices of the lido for tomorrow and did some shopping.
Tomorrow we’ll have a rest day. My parents will be coming to Ossiach and we are able to refill our provisions and other stuff for the second half of our journey.
I can’t believe we’re already halfway through the whole trail!!! It’s so easy to get used to this simple wonderful life of hiking, eating and sleeping. It’s so tempting to imagine of continuing just like this… 😉
Some figures for today:
- 21,3km
- 490m up
- 1660m down
- Hiking time: 5h 4m