Dear Reader, it’s fair to say that all didn’t go quite as planned for our trip to Obergurgl yesterday – our plane diverted from Innsbruck to Munich due to an engine fault, and so we spent a lot of time sitting around waiting for our holiday company to pick us up and take us all the way to the far west of Austria. We’d booked our holiday with Inghams, who did an amazing job of not only getting us to our various Austrian resorts, but also getting the people who were trying to get home to Gatwick onto a plane that was now leaving from Munich.

No prizes to Easyjet, however, who basically marooned everybody at Munich and told them to find their own way to Innsbruck. They said they would reimburse ‘reasonable expenses’ but many people had small children, or mobility issues. One person was quoted 700 euros for a taxi from Munich to Innsbruck. I know Easyjet is a budget airline, but this seems pretty shoddy to me.

Anyhow! We arrived at the lovely Hotel Olympia at 10 p.m. – our taxi driver did the run from Innsbruck airport, which normally takes about 90 minutes, in just over an hour. In the dark. Just as well I’m not an anxious passenger. And today we popped out into the village to make sure that everything was still where it should be.

The church, the ‘Gurgl Carat’ conference centre and the statue celebrating the crash-landing of the Piccard Balloon out on the glacier are all still there.

 

The Edelweiss and Gurgl Hotel doesn’t look very open (yet) and the lift to the Hohe Mut Alm is closed until the 15th July, as mentioned previously. But the meadows are still looking splendid, so off we go…

 

The Melancholy Thistles are not open down in the valley yet…

…but they are on the south-facing slopes higher up

…and some of them even have rose chafer beetles burrowing into them for the pollen…you can just see this beetle’s shiny bottom sticking out of the flower.

Looking back towards the Hangerer, the highest peak in the locality. Lots of snow high up too…

This plant is French sorrel – I’d not come across it before. I’ll have to have a nibble next time I’m passing.

And we spotted our first marmots of the season, making their dens very close to the path. Obergurgl is very quiet this year, and we’re quite early, so they aren’t as shy as usual.

There are some Highland Cattle in the fields. Lots of the farmers around Obergurgl keep small numbers of unusual breeds of cattle: the Alpine Blue cows are often seen, but I’ve spotted Belted Galloways and Dexters on previous visits.

.Such a beautiful day, and the view certainly beats the one at Munich airport.

There are lots of butterflies about, including this fine Small Tortoiseshell…

And then we get to the Frog Pond, where this little kiosk has sprung up in the past few years.

I can understand the chamois…

..but isn’t that a North American bighorn sheep?

Anyhow, the tadpoles are doing very nicely.

On we go. I’m looking for orchids, but I only find this one…

But this plant was also new to me…it’s Sainfoin, or ‘holy hay’, which is known to tackle intestinal worms when ingested by cows and other ruminants. A very fine plant indeed!

I was a bit puzzled by this patch of Sweet William, but apparently it is native to the Alps – it seems unlikely that it could have just popped up from a garden in such a wild spot, so far from any gardens, so maybe this is what the wild plant looks like. Stunning!

And finally, how about this Alpine poppy? Not quite sure which species, but I’ve only ever seen it growing in one corner of the meadow close to the Hochgurgl lift car park, proof, if any was needed, that it’s worth looking out for plants wherever you go. They are always surprising!