View from the Hohe Mut (2675 metres)

Well, Readers, we awoke this morning to see the peaks round about powdered with snow, so clearly there was nothing for it but to jump on a cable car and head up for a look. Past experience should have taught us that there’s not actually that much to see when the clouds are still so low, but nonetheless there’s something about heading up through the mist with the wind whistling round the gondola that makes for an invigorating start to the day.

The Hohe Mut Alm

Anyway, with the conditions worsening we decided that that was quite enough of that, and so we headed back down – at the village level it was cold, windy and wet but not yet under snow.

View from the cable car on the way back down.

We got back into Obergurgl, and headed out across the local meadow. En route we passed a man wearing a Tyrolean hat with a feather in it. He was driving a teeny-tiny earth mover, and was accompanied by two men with shovels. Readers, they were filling in the (very insubstantial) potholes on the path. Anyhow, I was soon doing some flower spotting again. I’ve seen this vetch in several places – it looks very like Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca) to me, but isn’t in my Alpine plant book. Maybe it isn’t ‘Alpine’ enough.

Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca)

I always admire the extreme water-resistance of the leaves of Lady’s Mantle – this is known as the ‘lotus effect’, or ultrahydrophobicity, and means that the water droplets that gather on the leaves pick up the tiniest particles of dirt or other contaminants, hence helping to keep the leaves clean. I wrote a bit more about this phenomenon here.

Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla sp)

We saw three or four of these thrushes – they’re looking pretty Mistle-thrushy to me, and they were having a great time picking up insects and pecking for worms. In the background a Blackca was singing – I’d never noticed before how it has little spells of sounding like a Great Tit (teecher-teecher) before heading off on a whole different riff.

Mistle thrush (probably)

One thing that you’ll see all over the Alps are shrines – sometimes for specific people, sometimes in honour of a particular saint, sometimes at the site of an accident. People here in Obergurgl still often go to church on Sunday, especially the older people, and then meet up in the Pic-Nic for a quick schnapps before heading home for lunch.

This is one of my favourite clovers – Alsike Clover (Trifolium hybridum). It’s not a hybrid, but Linnaeus thought it was a cross between red and white clover, hence the name. It’s very pretty with its pink and white petals.

Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum)

Here’s the view back to the village – you can just make out the snow on the peak at the end of the valley, as the clouds close in.

We walk past the edge of rhe Arolla Forest (we’ll take the walk up on a more suitable day), but all the Alpenroses have already finished – it’s been extremely hot in the village (not this week, clearly) and I suppose that’s brought the flowering forward. I did spot this lovely Campanula though: I think it’s Bearded Bellflower (Campanula barbata), which is only found above 1,100 metres.

Bearded Bellflower (Campanula barbata)

We pop along to see if anyone is training on the Via Ferrata, but as it’s raining horizontally by now there’s no one dangling or climbing. 

And so we head home for an early lunch and possibly a snooze. We have a very nice bathroom here, and yesterday I had my first bath for two years (before you start imagining a cloud of flies above my head, I have been having showers). Since I broke my leg I’ve been a bit worried about getting in and out of a bath tub, but it was no problem at all, and I think the hot water definitely helps with my neuropathy. Hooray! Another small victory achieved.