One of the big draws back (absolutely not a drawback) to Austria for me was my lengthy list of unaccomplished hikes. Whilst here in the depths of lockdown two years ago, unable to travel further afield, I satisfied my itchy feet by ticking off every Stadtwanderweg, pacing the pavements in all weathers and religiously lapping Stadtpark, Burggarten and the Augarten.
What a joy to be here now, rail pass in hand, and have the freedom to walk where I please!
Autumn was dramatically ushered in this year by a hiking trip to Semmering - a fond favourite both for the spectacular route and for it being home to one notorious 'Apfelfrau' - backstory here: https://tortoisetravelling.wixsite.com/mysite/single-post/ya-update-4-culture-continues
Having completed the Bahnwanderweg either too quickly or too slowly, we had the choice between a two-hour wait or a further hefty stretch to Klamm station. Full of the joys, we chose the latter. On realising that we might in fact make an earlier train however, we confidently concluded that google maps' calculation of 2 hours, could actually be completed in 45 minutes. And with that, we ran...only to arrive at the top of the path leading down to the platform as our train swooshed away. The breeze from its speedy departure on our exhausted, puce faces is the only silver lining I can think of.
Next stop: Lilienfeld. This 15 kilometre loop was 90% vertical ascension/scramble. I suppose the chair lifts and ski signs were a bit of a give-away, as was the fact that every other person we later encountered had taken the lift up for a stroll on the gentle pastures at the top. Not us! Oh no.
Fun fact: Muckenkogel (the mountain we climbed) was the location of the first ever ski race - proof that going down it, not up, is much more sensible!
There will hopefully be lots more autumnal hikes to come before my lips turn blue and snow shoes are, once more, all the rage!
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