Sunday 23nd June: Weather: 15°C to 25°C: Overcast and morning cool then warm sunny afternoon
Stanzach to Bach: 23k: 8.30am to 3.30pm: 7hrs with 2 x 30min breaks
Accommodation: Gasthaus Hauser Bach
Leaving Stanzach on L for Lech Trail
Across meadows to Vorderhornbach
Martinau village and church steeple
Winding highway up Lechtal Valley
Alpine scenery all around
Bridge over the River Lech
Morning tea near the River Lech
Kayakers on the River Lech
Grunau village across meadows
I spy an Mpreis open on a Sunday
Lech River bridge crossing
Elbigenalp village alpine setting
Lunchtime view twirling hay
And lunchtime view to River Lech
Highlights today were walking 23k in the upper narrow part of the Lechtal valley in an alpine setting with high alps closing in on both sides. The Lech River instead of being a wide and streaming in all directions across gravel beds, is now a narrow raging torrent. Being Sunday, there were so many day hikers following the Lech River Trail or bikers following the Tirol bike Trail. We switched from one to the other. A memorable moment was discovering why there’s acres of meadows but mostly the cows are still in the barns. Apparently they’re always kept in the barns like battery chickens, and fed fresh cut meadow grass in summer and hay from the hay barns in winter.
Awake at 6am with plenty of time to shower, pack and plan our stop at the petrol station near Haselgehr today - the only place with a shop that’s open on a Sunday. Breakfast is at 8am and we’re there early. The buffet spread is wonderful, with cheeses, hams, muesli, yoghurt but only white bread rolls. The room is full of over 70’s relishing the breakfast buffet and all dressed for a days hiking or ebiking.
It’s 15°C when we leave at 8.30am with overcast skies. We’re anticipating a very warm to hot day, so we stride out to make some good time while it’s cool. The Lech Valley suddenly narrows, with side valleys entering from both sides. The small village of Vorderhornbach looks beautiful set against the snow capped German alps in the distance. Passing two more little villages, Martinau and Elmen, we come across many day hikers and so many ebikes. Ian likes the ebike idea and we have a friendly discussion about next year!!
Just past Elmen at 10.30am, we stop for a cup of coffee, then towards Haselgehr, the valley narrowing even more and the Lech Rover running even faster. There’s several foot bridges crisscrossing from side to side and we have the choice of the bitumened Tirol Bike Path or the gravelled Lech Trail walking path, both very well graded. By 12pm we’re walking through Haselgehr to the Guttmann Petrol station where we know there’s a mini Mpreis shop. And it is open as google said it would be on a Sunday when everything else is closed. We don’t need much - just a few sausages to cook in our apartment at Gasthaus Hauser tonight, and most importantly 3 x beers! A beer before dinner. After re-arranging our back packs to fit all the beer, we head off to find a spot for lunch. Ian is smiling.
Along the bike track, there’s a table and chairs down in a hollow near the raging Lech River where we sit and have lunch of bread butter and cheese with a hot cup of tea. There’s views to Elbigenalp across the meadow where a farmer is twirling the cut hay. We now understand why there’s no cows in the fields. They’re kept in the barns and fed fresh cut grass in summer and dried hay in winter. A small farming family in Austria only needs 15 cows to comfortably survive. They breed Fleckvieh cows - good for meat and good for dairy, and make a living by selling the milk for .42 euro per litre (70 cents AUD per litre) compared to the about 40 cents per litre that Australian dairy farmers receive. The Austrian farmers also make their own cheese which they sell at markets a few days a week. Just an interesting bit of info we learned!
An hour later at 3pm we’re in the busy village of Bach. There’s many hikers going and coming in all directions and we notice there’s at least 15 guest houses in this small village. Clearly a centre for day hikes. Our Gasthaus Hauser is about 1k further on through the town, and on the way there’s rock climbers scrambling up a 20 metre wall - amateurs compared to Alex Honnold’s free solo climb of the 1100 metre El Capitan in Yosemite! Gotta start somewhere! A bit further on and there’s a cluster of houses and guest houses above a meadow, and a local points us in teh direction of Gastehaus Hauser, our home for the night.
We’re met at the door by Carolin and again, we are so impressed by this apartment - kitchen lounge, dining table, big bed and ensuite. First thing is to stash our haul from teh supermarket in the fridge and put the beers in the freezer. Then a shower, lots of washing and time to sort photos. The pre-dinner beer is icy cold. Followed by dinner of sausage and bacon cooked in the frypan with spring onion and capsicum, served with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Surely my pack is getting lighter.
We spend a few hours after dinner checking out our next stop in Steeg, and pin pointing the local supermarkets.
Interesting bridges across Lech River
Bach Village: Old Church New Bridge
Rock climbing near Bach
Balcony view Gasthaus Hauser