Dear Readers, when it’s a wet, misty day where visibility is at a premium, we always seem to find somewhere high up so we can gaze out into the clouds and see approximately nothing. And so it was that today we decided to take a trip to the Tiefenbach Glacier, on the second- highest paved road in Europe (2,830 metres at its highest point). The highest, in case you’re interested, is the Veleta, which is a dead end road to Granada in Spain. Hah! This road has numerous hair-pin bends and practically no barriers, so there is a lot of tooth-gritting involved if you’re sitting on the right-hand side.

And look at this tiny chapel! This is the Saint Bernhard Chapel, situated next to the Rettenbach Glacier. When I first visited Obergurgl back in 1997, there was a single-person chair lift that operated above this glacier, and I remember it being a spectacular though terrifying ride. These days, the Rettenbach gondola is open in August, and the Tieffenbach gondola is open in July, so on we went.

St Bernhard Chapel

Rettenbach Glacier

You then travel through the highest mountain tunnel in Europe and emerge onto, well, a car park. With an ancient lift system crossing some exhausted-looking ski slopes.

In the tunnel…..

There are a whole bunch of solar panels (though not much sun around today), a cafe in the round building to the left, and to the right there’s some ice with a blanket over it – there’s a lot of ‘ice duvets’ on the slopes up here. 

The gondolas here are of the old-fashioned kind where it’s easy to brain yourself, as indeed I did on the way back down. They are also the slowest gondolas in the whole of the Oetzal Valley. But it’s all an adventure, so off we pop….

When we’re near the top the wind starts to blow a hooley (as my Scottish pal would say), and there’s a lot of groaning, both from the lift and from me. My husband is much more copacetic. When we get out we can’t see anything below us, and the gondolas just disappear into the mist.

I take a few steps and nearly get blown over, whereas my husband goes out onto the viewing platform, shown below when we here in much warmer conditions in 2023 – Readers, I can’t even see the blooming thing. I wonder if he’ll get blown off and I’ll never see him again.

The viewing platform in better conditions

But somehow he survives, and back down we go, missing the 11.35 bus by exactly 30 seconds. Not that I’m bitter.

Anyhow, a cup of tea in the round hutty thing (called ‘Snow Beach’ in case you’re ever at the Tieffenbach Glacier) and then it’s the midday bus and back down to Solden.

Once we’re down, we hot-foot it off to the Öetzal Bäck in Solden. I had promised a photo of the baked goods, but they are particular about people taking photos of their cakes, so here are two that I sneaked. Highly, highly recommended.

The weather is supposed to improve for our last two days, and so tomorrow, if all goes well, we will be off to the Timmelsjoch Pass (a mere 2474 metres high, pah) and we will walk down to the Sahnestuberl for yet more cake (and probably to apply some Compeeds to our blisters). Wish us luck!

Snow Blowers

Dear Readers, of all the walks that we do on this holiday (or at least were likely to do this time), this seemingly gentle little walk from the Hochgurgl Middle Station back to Obergurgl is the one that makes me most nervous. There is a tremendous amount of downhill, much of it on rocky, dodgy paths, and so it is one of those trips where I hope I won’t trip. However, I remind myself that most of my recent falls have been domestic ones – falling down stairs, tripping over a kerb – rather than on uneven ground where I have to concentrate on my balance. I find that literally lowering my concentration from my head to somewhere around my belly button usually helps.

Onwards!

We pass the row of snowblowers that always greet us on this walk – I’ve never been here in winter, but I assume that they redistribute the snow for all those eager skiers.

And some things never change – this guy has been here for at least twenty years, and very menacing he looks too.

We pass though ‘the boggy bit’, which this year has been pretty much dried up following the very warm spell before we got here.

There are lots of ‘baby’ Arolla pine trees here, planted by Nutcrackers, the local corvids – they act to spread the forest by planting pine kernels for future eating, in much the same way as jays spread acorns, and hence help to ‘plant’ oak forests

We come to a very dodgy downhill bit, so I stop to take a picture of this lovely Bearded Bellflower (Campanula barbata). It’s only when i get home that I realise that there’s a Black Vanilla Orchid in the background (the little purple guy)

On we go….

If we carried on we’d enter the Konigsjoch, one of those valleys which involves a relentless climb. We’ve done it in previous years when there have been snow patches, and finding the path can be treacherous. There’s an old customs hut at the top, where smugglers from Italy used to sneak past (and no doubt smugglers from Austria in the opposite direction). But it feels a bit too much for this trip, so we start looking for the planks of wood that enable us to cross the river and get to the other side. One year they were washed away in a storm. That was fun. But this year, the bridge is in place, and so we are soon safely on the other side.

Now it’s a long and relentless downhill back to Obergurgl, via the forest. We stop for a banana and some water, and I notice this lovely lemon-yellow plant, emerging from under a dead pine tree. This is Alpine Hawkweed (Hieracium alpinum), and I love how furry the buds and leaves are, maybe as a protection against the harsh climate.

And if you look closely at the heads of this Spiniest Thistle (Cirsium spinosissimum) you’ll see that it’s home to several big fat Rose Chafer Beetles. Such a treat! I love how they’re all tucked up in the middle of the thistle flower. This is a truly ugly plant (to my eyes) but it attracts a whole lot of unconventional pollinators.

We head on through the forest, past some larch trees…

…and we are almost at the bottom when we are accosted by goats. We had a similar incident back in 2023, but this year the whole herd was laying across a path up to a bridge that we wanted to cross. I started to move through them, but they thought we were driving them, so instead of letting us walk through they started to climb ahead of us. Then the Billy, who was possessed of very impressive horns, started to eat my jacket and give me a tentative nudge, as if seeing how much I’d put up with. Well, readers, we decided that discretion was the better part of valour – as I’d been keeping vertical for all this time, it seemed impetuous to allow myself to be butted into the undergrowth so close to home. So, we reversed engines to take an alternative, more boring path, only to have the goats follow us excitedly for a couple of hundred metres.

They really are very fine animals, but an 89 year-old lady who was here last week, and who was walking on her own, was nearly knocked over by these guys. I’m not sure what the answer is, but it’s good to be aware.

All the way along the path we’d been seeing signs for the Glacier Trail Run, which starts this Friday and involves up to 900 keen runners taking on the mountains and paths around Obergurgl. The most extreme race starts at 2 a.m. on Saturday, and involves a run of 62km. Yikes! From Thursday we’ll have a longer walk to catch any bus that we want to get, but it will really change this sleepy valley for a few days. Very exciting! Though I’m glad we’re walking these paths now, and not after 900 pairs of spiked running shoes have thundered through the Alpenroses.

And finally, up in the lift to the Hohe Mut, for an Almdudler. I’m sure this would really take off if it was marketed in the UK, it’s just the thing after a long walk.

And a couple were getting married at the Hut – you can have one of the chairlift gondolas covered in lace and draped with roses for your ascent. This couple (she in white, he in a very fine pale green suit) stopped for photos on the saddle of the Hohe Mut. I loved that they had their dog with them too.

Dear Readers, with a rainy, stormy day forecast we decided to take things easy today, but we were treated to some lovely views of one of the fledgling kestrels this morning. Apparently one of the youngsters landed on the hotel owner’s car yesterday, and only flew off when she started the engine. The parents seem to be spending less and less time with the fledglings, so they’ll probably soon be off, hunting for their own food.

Before we got the bus, we had a quick trot around the meadow, just to keep the leg muscles in working order, and I was very impressed by the sheer variety of flying insects on the Melancholy Thistles – flies, bumblebees and all manner of bugs and beetles turn up on them. I’m still waiting for my first Rose Chafer Beetle, but fingers crossed one will arrive before I go home.

And then it was off down to Langenfeld, through the driving rain. First stop was the Backerei – we used to have one in Obergurgl, but it was apparently closed all last winter and is closed now. I’m heartbroken! But getting staff is a real problem everywhere, and so the nearest place for baked goods is in Solden. This place does the most delicious rolls and cakes.

And then off to admire the church, dedicated to St Katherine of Alexandria. It was originally built in 1303, but the current building dates back to 1518. It’s what I think of as a typical Oetzal Valley church – tall red spire, whitewashed walls with paintings, beautifully kept graveyard with wrought iron headstones around the outside. The tower is the tallest in the valley.

The interior is highly baroque, and rather different from the rather more austere interior of ‘our’ church in Obergurgl. Interesting there are what look like relics, but I can find nothing online to give me any details, and if there was a leaflet showing the history of the church anywhere, I must have missed it.

The church seems to be a very active one: It had a sign, in several languages, saying that it was open during all weathers, and that refreshment is available – this would have been very useful a few weeks ago when it was very hot (hah!). But our bus was on the way, and so we headed home. There’s plenty to do and see here, even when the weather isn’t good enough for ambitious walking.

Newly fledged Kestrel

Dear Readers, I have never seen as many interesting animals and plants in Obergurgl as I have this past week – it has been such a pleasure. Two kestrels nest under the eaves of the hotel, and this morning one of the fledglings (there are two) was flapping about on the balcony. I.opened the curtains a crack to see what was going on, and the kestrel took one horrified look and flew off to the roof of the hotel opposite.

There have been adult kestrels here for as long as I’ve been coming to the hotel, so since at least 2004. However, I’ve never been here at fledging time before. The two babies wait patiently for their mother to bring them some food, from behind some bird-prevention spikes, which are clearly not working, and were originally put up before the current owners took over the hotel. However, as kestrels are protected here in Austria, they can’t now disturb the birds and remove them.

Young kestrels on the nest.

Still, they will soon be off and learning to fend for themselves. It’s wonderful to see the adults quartering the grassy areas all around the village, and looking for mice. Interestingly, they seem to prefer to sit on the top of a tree rather than hover. If I can get a photo of an adult, I’ll share it with you.

In other news, the meadow was cut yesterday, and I heard a strange call early in the evening – it was a Ring Ouzel, picking up beakfuls of freshly-exposed worms and feeding them to its fledglings.

I thought I’d share a picture of the breakfast room here at the Hotel Olympia – in addition to having kestrels for entertainment, I really like that it’s retained that Tirolean ‘vibe’ without all the heavy wood that makes some hotels here feel so dark and heavy. I love the upholstery, and the curtains (and the view, of course)

Anyhow, after our long walk yesterday, and with the risk of heavy rain and thunderstorms this afternoon, we took ourselves off to Solden to do a little bit of shopping and do a bit of easy walking. And look what I found! Only two more Vivaporous Lizards. Actually there were three, but one scooted away. They look pretty pregnant to me. Could there soon be the patter of tiny lizard claws?

Anyhow, we decided to pop up the Giggijoch Lift – this was, for a long time, the poor cousin to the Gaislachkoglbahn, but it has had a serious makeover. Gone are the old-fashioned gondolas, where anyone over 5 ft 10 inches risked braining themselves every time they went in and out. It’s all very high-tech now. And the views from the top are breath-taking.

What was even more breath-taking (for me at least) was the sight of a pair of Alpine Choughs chuckling and tumbling over the lift station before disappearing over the mountains. This time, they were close enough for me to definitively identify them, and it really lifted my heart. These birds should have been here all along, it’s ideal habitat for them, but to have seen them twice makes me very happy. Fingers crossed by the end of the holiday I’ll be able to get a photo for you all. But just in case I don’t, here’s a short video of a flock of choughs in the Swiss Alps. I love the whoop at the start – that’s just what I did when I saw them yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Fa0eB3SV_qw

Incidentally, if you’re ever in Solden, the restaurant at the Giggijoch lift was offering homemade lemonade with a bit of grapefruit in it and some summer berries, and a tiramisu brownie. You’ve heard it here first!

Looking towards the Gaisbergferner Glacier

Dear Readers, of all the walks that we do in Obergurgl, this is the one that gives the most reward for effort – there’s a steep, steep climb up into the valley, and then obviously a steep, steep climb down on the way out. But once you’re in the valley, you walk through a lush green bog full of cotton grass and follow the path beside the rushing glacial river. There are rarely many people here, even though, at the beginning, you can see the gondolas for the Hohe Mut Alm overhead. Soon, all you can hear is rushing water and the whistling of marmots. It’s definitely worth the 135 bpm heart rate, and the aching legs!

There are still a few Alpenroses in flower here – it’s a notoriously chilly valley, the wind whistles down from the glacier, and so the plants are not quite as advanced as in other places.

There are some handy stone slabs, and the occasional wooden board, for crossing the boggy bit.

And it’s interesting how the plants also differ from the Rotmoos Valley that we were in a few days ago. There were no gentians there, but plenty in flower here. These are Alpine Gentian (Gentian nivalis), but no photo ever fully does justice to their colour, the purest blue I’ve ever seen.

The air here is so pure that it must be a lichen-lover’s delight. If only I knew a bit more about them!

And here’s a lovely thing – this is a tiny Black Vanilla Orchid (Gymnadenia rhellicani), such a sweet little plant. I nearly always find it alongside a path, quietly getting on with its life.

And this, my friends, is Alpine French Honeysuckle (Hedysarum hedysaroides), a completely new plant to me, Also known as Alpine Sanfoin, it’s not a honeysuckle at all, but a member of the Bean family (Fabaceae). Alpine meadows are absolutely full of ‘beans’, and I imagine that the fact that they ‘fix’ nitrogen in the soil is one reason for the extraordinary richness of what is otherwise a difficult habitat – short flowering season, lots of exposure, thin soils, snow cover and unpredictable amounts of water.

And while this lovely plant looks very much like our Fox and Cubs, I have a strong suspicion that it’s actually Golden Hawksbeard (Crepis aurea).

The path flattens out along by the river. In some parts it’s rocky, in others sandy, and in one place it’s quite badly eroded, which makes for a fun-packed ten seconds as we try to avoid falling into the stream.

And here’s another ‘bean’ – this is Brown Clover (Trifolium badium), though at this time of year it’s more yellow than brown.

At one point, we hear all the marmots on both sides of the valley whistling, and look up to see a flock of birds passing overhead – they look remarkably like Alpine Chough from a distance, and the way that they’re tumbling and rolling makes me think that I might be right. I’ve never seen Chough in these mountains, so maybe they’re just passing through. No photos, sadly, but here’s what they look like. Sadly, there aren’t that many botanists or ornithologists here, but I’ve just thought of one person I can ask, to see if they’ve been sighted before. Fingers crossed! They can be found all over the Alps, and are the most acrobatic and entertaining birds.

Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) Photo byBy D4m1en – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67051243

Anyhow, by now it’s time for a banana and a swig of water, and a sit on a convenient stone. The glacier itself is a fair way up the valley, and we usually content ourselves with an unobstructed view. Plus, last year, as I’ve mentioned already, I didn’t think that I’d ever get here again, so I am well ‘choughed’ (see what I did there?). Plus it’s getting warm and I feel the need for a nice Almdudler.

View towards the glacier

And here’s a last new flower – this is Alpine Milk Vetch (Astrogalus alpinus), yet another ‘bean’ and a rather pretty pale lavender one at that. 

And then it’s a long trudge back down to the middle-station lift, to sit in the Pic Nic and watch the world go by before heading back for a nice hot bath. What a lovely day!

Pathway to the Arolla Pine Forest in Obergurgl

Dear Readers, after quite a stiff walk yesterday (18,100 steps, maximum heart rate 135 bpm) we decided to take it a bit easier today, and so we went for a walk through the Arolla Pine Forest here. This is a very interesting habitat – in spite of a fire in 1880, there are trees here that are over 400 years old, and some of them are real characters!

The path winds up and down, and with lots of stones and tree roots in the way it’s a good chance to practice my balance skills and increase my confidence. Plus I always have John to lean on if it’s a particularly tricky jump down. But then, we got to a turn in the path and we saw this…

We soon realised that the Alpine cows were intent on coming down the path that we wanted to walk up. They looked at us. We looked at them. There was no way that I was going to sneak past half a ton of frisky cow on a narrow pathway, so we walked back to the nearest seat and passing place, and waited for the cows to come past, which they did, at their own pace.

What I found interesting was that as each cow came past, she sniffed me, then John and then proceeded on her way. I love cows. They seem to have the right attitude to life, somehow. And here’s a somewhat impromptu video of the encounter…

Anyway, after a few minutes the cows had passed on, and I huffed and puffed my way back up the trail again, stopping to take a few plant photos en route..Any excuse to get my breath back! Here’s some Bladder Campion….

Bladder Campion (silene vulgaris)

And I do believe this is a lousewort, in particular Long-Beaked Yellow Lousewort (Pedicularis tuberosa). These are interesting plants which are hemi-parasitic – they have some chlorophyll of their own, but they also penetrate the roots of other plants, in order to extract nutrients. They get their name from the belief that if animals ate lousewort, they would get lice.

Long-Beaked Yellow Lousewort (Pedicularis tuberosa)

These little star-like flowers belong to Rock Campion (Atocion rupestre), which grows up to 2,900 metres. A tough little plant!

Rock Campion (Atocion rupestre)

And then we were on the home stretch. On the way back we met a young woman and her mum with a baby in a pram. Yikes! The path down really wasn’t suitable, being full of steep drops, tree roots, incalcitrant cattle, huge rocks etc etc. Alas, we spoke no German and they spoke no English, but it’s amazing what mime can do, and when last seen they were thinking about pushing uphill to the Schonweisse hut, where we were yesterday, which although steep at least has a paved path. Obergurgl is many things, but much of it is not accessible for prams, or wheelchairs for that matter, though the public transport is, and some of the cable cars are. But then, as we know, it’s often not until you care for someone who has mobility issues, or have them yourself, that you start to notice these things.

And here is just about the last Alpenrose in the forest. Some friends that we met yesterday said that it had been in the low 30s last week, too hot to walk, and clearly it’s the reason that so many of the early plants have already gone over. So, our friends have had the whole gamut, from high summer temperatures to snow.  A holiday here is always a gamble weathrwise, but on balance I’d rather have it too cold than too hot..

The last Alpenrose

Dear Readers, there have been times during the past year when I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see the Rotmoos valley again, but today, after a steepish climb, I was back! This is probably my favourite place in the whole area, and when we arrived, the Haflinger horses who had foals were being collected – they’re put out to pasture in the early part of the year, then taken in for a health check, vaccinations etc, and then released for the rest of the summer.

There is something very special about this valley – in the course of an hour you go through bog, alpine meadow and scree slope, and the plants change accordingly. Plus, it’s a wonderful place to at least hear marmots, but I wasn’t expecting this:

This marmot was so close to the path that I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t a rock. But in fact it was an adult marmot keeping watch. She wasn’t perturbed by us, as she didn’t whistle an alarm once. In fact, the main predator for marmots is the eagle, and occasionally a fox. And then we noticed that this marmot wasn’t alone…

There were at least three babies, who were even less cautious than their mother – one came to within ten feet of us. Marmots live in very complicated systems of tunnels and dens, so you never know where they’re going to pop up next.

Well, that would have been enough, but five minutes later there was another family:

This one also had several babies, and was also completely relaxed. You never know with marmots! Some years they keep their distance and are very wary, but other years they don’t seem to care about humans at all. A couple of years ago, I nearly trod on one who was dozing on a footpath (by accident obviously) and I’m not sure who was most surprised.

Anyhow, this was such a treat. It’s made the whole holiday worthwhile for me, and if it snows from now till when we come home I will still be happy.

And then there are the plants.. First up are the little red ‘wigs’ of the Alpine Avens, which is in the same family as our Herb Bennet, but has a rather more luxuriant seedhead.

Alpine Avens (Geum montanum)

I’m going to say that the plant below is Lifelong Saxifrage (Saxifraga paniculata). It was everywhere this year, I’ve never seen so much, and the hoverflies seemed to love it.

Lifelong Saxifrage (Saxifraga paniculata(

Saxifrages are extremely well adapted to mountain conditions, so there are lots. This one is Yellow Mountain Saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides)

And in case you were getting bored with the flowers, here’s a very fine Italian sheep – they come over the Alps from Italy in the spring, feed in the Alpine meadows and then go home again in the autumn. They always look like such characters and, as we had no food, they ignored us completely. Do not be fooled, though, one rustle of a lunch pack and you’ll suddenly become very popular….

I love the little squat willows that grow here – this tree is as big as it’s going to get. Lots of seeds, though!

This one is a bit of a puzzle, but I think it could be Fleischer’s Fireweed (Epilobium fleischeri) – it was discovered in 1825 by Herr Fleischer, just up the road in Solden, so I would be very chuffed if that’s what this turned out to be.

High altitude plants often grow very close to the ground – this red plant couldn’t have been more than 2 cm tall. It’s a sedum, probably Dark Stonecrop (Sedum atratum)

And finally, here’s a plant that looks familiar, but isn’t – this is Alpine Bistort, a close relative of Redshank, but found at an altitude of more than 1100 metres, in snow hollows and on stony ground. Who would think that this inoffensive little plant was a relative of Japanese Knotweed?

Alpine Bistort (Persicaria vivipara)

Well, by this stage my legs were aching a bit, and I was looking forward to some soup at the Schonweisse Hut at the mouth of the valley, but as we crossed a stream I found myself dreaming of seeing an Alpine Salamander. Well, I didn’t see one of those, but I did see this lovely lizard, only the second one I’ve ever seen in Austria. I think it might be the Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca carniolica),  which gives birth to live young. What a lovely way to end the walk!

I celebrated my first ‘proper’ Austrian walk with a bowl of soup and an Affogato – a single scoop of vanilla ice cream with warm espresso coffee. Just as every restaurant in Toronto was offering sticky toffee pudding when I was there in the spring, so every mountain hut and cafe in the Oest Valley seems to have an affogato on the menu. And I’m not complaining, it’s a tiny taste of something sweet and a caffeine kick up the backside all in one drink. And now for a hot bath and a nap.

Zwieselstein

Dear Readers, it snowed again overnight, so we decided to do a low-level walk from Zwieselstein, which is at the place where the Gurgl and Vent valleys meet, to Sölden. This is a relatively easy walk, but the first one on ‘proper’ mountain paths, so I was hoping to build up a bit of confidence. Plus, although short it is a lovely path alongside a raging river, studded with giant boulders and full of botanical interest, so let’s go! But first, we pause to admire the hotel on the right in the photo, which looks a little like something out of the Flintstones, and appears to be emerging out of a pile of local rock.

Every field around here contains several giant chunks of rock, which look as if they’re advancing, millimetre by millimetre, towards the river below.

Some of the boulders which are balanced on the riverbank are habitats in themselves, encrusted with everything from lichens and mosses to young willow trees.

And the river rushes on, milky-white. Just look at the size of some of those boulders!

I have never seen so many orchids as I have this year along this path. The leaves of this one make me think it’s a Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata) – although it’s growing in woodland here, it seems to generally prefer a damp habitat, and there’s something very rain-foresty about this habitat.

This was my prize plant today, though – a Martagon Lily (Lilium martagon). What a surprise to find it here! Also known as the Turk’s Cap Lily (because the flowers were thought to resemble a turban), this is one of those plants that I’m more familiar with in a garden, rather than growing wild.

Martagon Lily (Lilium martagon)

And here’s an old friend – this is the Woolly Cobweb Houseleek (Sempervivum arachnoideum ssp tormentum) – they grow where there is practically no soil, on sunny sites (this is an exposed rock way above Sölden).

Well, this is the highest point on the walk, so now we start our descent into the village.

As it’s been so wet, there are lots of these chaps about – I think this one is a Brown Soil Slug (Arion distinctus). I hope it got a move on, as the path is also frequented by (very polite) mountain bike riders, so the chance of getting squished by boot or bike wheel is relatively high.

And clearly Mr/s Slug hasn’t found this Alpine Strawberry yet – they’re amongst my favourite fruits, each tiny berry a pop of concentrated strawberry taste. If it hadn’t been for the precipitous drop just behind this plant I’d had had to have a taste.

And here’s one of my favourite gardens – the sculpture of the head is extraordinary, and I love the little snail next to the ‘temple’ on the left.

And finally, here’s a little robot, which I’m pretty sure was also mowing this extensive lawn when we were here two years ago. Look at it pottering about, dutifully doing its job! I don’t know if any of you out there have read any China Miéville science fiction, but I’m muchly reminded of ‘Perdido Street Station’, where all the little household robots rise up to take on the challenge of a much larger foe. Gawd help us if the Roombas and the lawnmowers ever get together. Anyhow, enjoy! What I liked was all the blackbirds and sparrows flying around and taking advantage of the exposed insects – you see a flock of them zoom past in the first video. I’m not sure that the lawn actually needs mowing at the moment, though? Is this a constant task, a bit like painting the Forth Bridge?

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.

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.