Day 21 – from Ossiach to Velden

After breakfast we headed off again. The hotel Gasthof zur Post was really nice, spacious rooms, very friendly staff and we’ll be ever greatful for having our clothes washed. 😉

At first we had the same way like when arriving in Ossiach. It wasn’t even 8.30 a.m. and already very hot!

30 minutes later, after crossing the street, we started upwards again. Very, very soon we entered the Schluchtweg (gorge way), an incredible steep path up through the forest near some stream with small waterfalls, mainly over large boulders without any real path. It would have been nice… wouldn’t we be carrying large backpacks on our back and having to crawl up nearly on all fours because of the steep ascent. Sometimes I didn’t even manage to get up one large boulder on my own and Felix had to drag me upwards a bit. And man, did we sweat! The stream wasn’t the only thing running down in this gorge. 😂 I don’t know whether I’ve ever sweated that much on the trail so far.

Once there was a passage where we hardly could fit through with our backpacks! I’m not sure whether the designers of the trail even thought of people carrying their backpack along when they routed through this gorge.

Anyway, after nearly an hour it got better, not so steep anymore and better to hike. Somewhere along this part through the forest we met an elderly woman who was quite surprised to see us with our large backpacks and asked what we long distance hikers were doing here. We told here that we were hiking the AAT. She looked rather shocked and asked us if the trail really was going along this route. 😉 Well, we aren’t obviously the only ones that thought the route quite strange concerning this gorge.

A bit later we reached the Tauernteich, one beautiful secluded spot with a pretty lake in the middle of the forest. There were only a few people fishing. We decided to make a short break and watched the fish in the lake and the ducks.

When we wanted to continue we met two girls from Maria Saal and near Hochosterwitz who were standing at the crossroad and debating the signposts. When we came along they asked if we were hiking the AAT and then they joined us for the way. It turned out that they also were hiking a part of the AAT and had started in Arriach two days ago. Being more or less locals they have no problem doing the trail in parts anytime and decided to do Arriach – Velden as first part.

We had a really nice time together hiking a surprisingly beautiful route through the forest on an easy terrain.

In Köstenberg where the path changed into an asphalt road for 1,5km we stopped at an inn for something to drink before we continued on. After passing Köstenberg the way led into the forest once again, and it was so nice and comfortable to hike that, as a matter of fact, we – because of chatting all the time 😉 – missed the Hohenwart ruins! A few 100 metres later we met an elderly couple who were also looking for the ruins and it was then that we realised we must have missed them. Obviously they weren’t very exciting. 😉

The path continued through the forest for some time before we were again on an asphalt road. Thankfully, it was only for 1km or so, and then we walked a nice path over the meadows passing some pretty houses before we reached the Saisser See.

You could swim there for free, and it was really a nice spot. No big public bath or anything but quite charming!

After the Saisser See a well frequented road began which we had to walk for 1km. At least we had a pedestrian lane. 😉 Somewhere along the way there was a great panoramic view down to the Wörthersee:

Well, we couldn’t resist to make some touristic pictures. 😉

After the short part of asphalt road (which already was a bit annoying) the way led onto a small hiking path over the meadow and we wondered whether this already was the “Teufelsschlucht”, a ravine beside a stream. Would have been disappointing but it wasn’t the Teufelsschlucht which we later realised. 😉

We passed under the motorway, the unsexiest bit of the way today. 😂

But then we really reached the Teufelsschlucht which was in fact rather beautiful. Every few metres there were signs on some yoga poses and with explanation. I think this was called “mindful hiking”.

And then suddenly we arrived quite in the middle of Velden where our ways parted. Thanks to our two companions on this way it was a very entertaining hike, and we really had a lot of fun!

We quickly checked the AAT information point, did some shopping and then went to find our accomodation, the Pension Regia. It’s a small house at the East end of Velden but the room is ok! Not big but it had everything we need including a fridge.

After showering we went back to the “action part” of Velden where we ate at the Gasthof zur Post which was definitely not cheap (but then again, nothing is in Velden!) but good! And the espresso was excellent!

Later we met with our friend Angela who came all the way from Vienna via Klagenfurt and together we sat next to the Wörthersee until the sun had gone down. It was such a lot of fun and we enjoyed it very much to have Angela visiting!

Side note: the icecream in Velden is really very good!!!

Some figures for today:

• 19,3km
• 680m up
• 760m down
• Hiking time: 4h 6m