Dear Readers, one thing about a holiday in Obergurgl is that the weather is never boring. Yesterday it poured with rain all night. This morning the clouds lifted, then came down again, and rain is forecast for this afternoon. So, we decided to have an easy day today, and took the bus into the nearby village of Sölden for a little trot along the river.

By the time it gets to Sölden, the river is known as the Oztaler Ache – it has picked up the river Gurgl (what a wonderfully onomatopoeic name!), for which Obergurgl and Hochgurgl were named, and has also been joined by the Venter Ache, the river that rises in the neighbouring valley. So, by now, it is a substantial glacial river, and clearly isn’t even at full flood yet.

All the glacial till in the river makes it less attractive to animals than rivers that are formed in other ways, but it does have a lot of biodiversity along the riverbanks, including this splendid shield bug sitting on a birch leaf. I’m not sure of the species, but judging by the long legs this is a Formula One model :-).

And look at this very friendly little bird!

It’s a Black Redstart, newly emerged from the nest and very friendly – it flew along in front of us for several hundred metres, maybe hoping that we’d disturb some unwitting insect.

And as we walked along, the sky started to clear…

We thought about going up in the Gaislachkogl lift, but as there were thunderstorms predicted for Sōlden, we thought we’d leave it. We were once stuck at the top of a mountain for four hours waiting for a storm to pass.

Gondolas on the Gaislachkogl lift…

And then it was time to pick up something for lunch and head home. The Backerei in Obergurgl is currently closed, which is heart-breaking as it was our regular stop for an early morning cappuccino or to bag a nice fresh roll to munch beside a mountain stream. Alas indeed. But at least our favourite coffee shop in Sōlden is still open, and has renovated the toilets with some rather striking wallpaper. Whaddya think of this? It was textured, and reminds me a bit of feathers, or pangolin scales. Even my husband (not renowned for his attention to interior decor) noticed it.