A Walk In The Rain & A Rainbow

It was raining so hard this morning, really hard. Betsy kept watching the radar and we knew it would lighten up a little at noon. We got our walking kit together and then went down to breakfast. This is a great hotel and breakfast did not disappoint. I always like finding salmon on the breakfast buffet and Betsy ordered some eggs. We also had some yogurt and, of course, cheese and ham, though that’s not how those items are described here.

We prepared for the rain and set off for the 7-mile walk to St. Gilgen.

It was raining and windy, but we put our heads down and walked through town toward our path. We knew we had to go over Mt. Falkenstein (and I was right to think of it as Frankenstein). The company we are using, Natural Adventures, did a great job with the directions today. We really appreciate that photos of significant intersections, etc. are included. Out of town, we turned right, uphill.

The paved path gave way to a nice forest path and we started our climb. The views were already beautiful.

This is our seventh walking holiday and I know I always say something was hard, but honestly, this climb was the steepest for the longest time – ever. It was tough, even for Betsy with her strong legs from all the step climbing in Nashville. It was not the “easy to moderate” walk the company described. With that said, it was still great. We were huffing and puffing, yes, but also it felt good to be able to walk such a steep incline. And it felt especially great to get to the top.

A highlight of this walk is reaching a church that’s built into the rock face. It’s such a sweet church just up on the hillside. Those who make a religious pilgrimage or those like us who cross the steep mountain are encouraged to go inside and ring the church bell. It felt like a celebration.

Time to descend toward the lake. In some ways, going downhill is harder than going uphill, especially when it is so steep. We used our walking sticks to keep us steady on the mostly gravel path.

Because this is a pilgrim walk there are Stations of the Cross all along the trail and also some shrines and small chapels. One of the shrines was surrounded by carefully placed stacks of stones. This stacking of stones at shrines dates back to an ancient tradition of people repenting for their sins by carrying large rocks to deposit near chapels. The stacking of stones is now a worldwide custom seen in graveyards, along beaches, etc. The first time we remember seeing stone stacks was on a trip to Gloucester, Mass. when we walked along the rocky beach at Cape Ann. The stacks we saw today were impressive and we each added a stone of our own atop a stack.

It was a pretty path down.

Betsy spotted something interesting moving in the grass, black with bright yellow markings. We looked it up later and learned it is a fire salamander. It was big and slow, but we still didn’t want to get too close.

Back down to the lake and ready for a walk around it to St. Gilgen. The path around the lake was fantastic. There were markers along the way providing history of the area and the lake itself was crystal clear and a beautiful shade of blue/green.

St. Gilgen is another really beautiful village. There weren’t many people about and a lot of the businesses were closed. Clearly we’re here during off season.

We spotted a church. We are drawn to churches like bees to honey because they are so interesting and always have such great architecture. This one had a cemetery attached and it was a lot like the one we saw in Salzburg. Families keep the graves like mini-gardens with such beautiful flowers.

We saw a rainbow across the lake on the mountainside. The colors were beautiful.

The ferry back to St. Wolfgang was an hour or so away, so we waited in a small local bar. The owner Josef was so nice and gave us directions to the ferry station when it was time. It was clear the customers knew each other and some even brought their dogs inside while they visited.

Ferries run on the lake all day from town to town. This was the first time we rode on one and it was very nice. They sell drinks and snacks and have two viewing areas.

We saw a Japanese restaurant when we first arrived in St. Wolfgang and decided we wanted to have dinner there. It was an excellent choice. The miso soup, gyoza and chicken fried rice were all delicious.

It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow, but we’re going to bundle up and plan for the day to be just as wonderful as today.