Wednesday 26th June: Weather: 15°C to 33°C: Blue skies sunny and hot
Lech to St Anton via Formarinsee: 16k: 7.00am to 1pm: 6hrs with 1 x 30m break, Bus to Lech: Bus to St Anton
Accommodation: Ferienwohnungen Falch Simone Ing. Gomperz - Weg 30, St Anton
Following Lech River to its source
Breakfast at 9am
A perfect day in the alps
Track beside Lech River
Lots of day hikers coming down
400 metres of snow to cross
Lech River just a trickle at source
Ice covered, Formarinsee
Tasting the icy cold Formarinsee
Final destination Formarinsee
A beer waiting for bus to St Anton
A spectacular 15k walk up to the source of the Lech River at the Formarinsee to finish our hike in Austria. A wonderful way to end our 21 day hike of 360k. A perfect day with sunny blue skies, we make an early start in anticipation of a hot day. And hot it was. The temperature in the bus back from Formarinsee to Lech was 34°C. The walk was just amazing with only a 500 metre gradual ascent following the Lech River through forests and meadows as the river become smaller and narrower, almost just a babbling brook near it’s source at the Formarinsee.
Awake at 6am and a bit of a rush to get going early to beat the predicted heatwave. Just a cup of tea before leaving at 7am on a coolish morning. It’s 1.5k down into the village of Lech, and the backerei is already open and smells good so we buy a croissant filled with hazelnut paste and some other vanilla custard pastry. Following the hiking signs to the Formarinsee, we’re soon following a track through meadows to the River Lech. We can also see the Post bus on the other side of the valley full of tourists visiting the Formarinsee.
It’s already warming up and at 9am, we’re looking for a seat in the shade to have breakfast. The path is strewn with viewing seats so it wasn’t hard to find a good shaded one. Breakfast of fresh backerie pastries with coffee and cream. Then away again walking beside the clean bluish water rushing beside us, giving off a cool blast of air every now and then.
At 11am, we reach the restaurant where we had been told we’d need to walk up the road for the rest of the way as the Lech track was closed with tree fall and snow. For 3k we follow the road, glad when it passed through shaded pine trees.The views both up and back down the valley are amazing alpine postcard scenery. We reach a point where the track crosses the road, and find streams of tourists walking back down the official Lech Trail. They’d caught the bus up and were walking back down and told us the track ahead was OK except for a large 400 metre stretch on the snow that was walkable, so we switched from the road to the track.
Continuing to ascend up a stony often washed out snow covered path, at midday we reach a puddle of bubbling water which has oozed out from the bottom of the Lake to be the start the Lech River. A bit of a climb and we’re at the bus stop at the top, then walk another 1k down to the beautiful still ice covered Formarinsee, sitting in a crater like well surrounded by snow covered alps. Such a beautiful setting but no shade and it’s already 30°C so back to the bus stop to have lunch in the shelter shed to wait for the 1.42pm bus back down to Lech. Walking up in the cool of the morning then getting the bus back was a far better option than getting the bus up and walking back in the heat of the day.
The bus arrives on time, and dozens of tourists who have just come for a visit to the lake, pile back in. It’s 34°C sitting in an un-airconditioned bus back to Lech and we’re glad to get out. We hope the next bus to St Anton is better. The SPAR supermarket is open and we plan to buy dinner for the night closer to the bus departure time as everything will melt if we buy stuff too early. At 3.30pm, we trot over and load up our bags with beers, ham, butter, cheeses, tomatoes and bread and wait at the bus stop celebrating the end of our walk with one of our cold beers.
The 92 bus arrives on time and thankfully the aircon is working. The trip down to St Anton is through many tunnels and avalanche covers and with so much snow still around, it’s obvious why we couldn’t do the Lechtal Mountains walk. Still our Lech River walk turned out to be fantastic. The bus arrives at St Anton station at 4.45pm and we still have another 2k to walk to our apartment Ferienwohnungen Falch Simone further along the valley. It’s a hot walk up and we have to wait a while for Simone to arrive. The apartment is perfect with.a view over St Anton, and soon w’re having another cold beer or three with dinner of ham and salad. An early night after a wonderful day.