Bus to Heiligenblut

We'd intended to catch the 10:45 Postbus from Spittal to Heiligenblut, but we finished breakfast quickly enough that we thought we might be able to catch the 8:45. We hustled out of the pension and in toward town, and after running the final two blocks got to the bus just as the doors were closing. We were able to buy tickets on the bus itself.

The bus from Spittal only went as far as Winklern, so we had to cool our heels there for 45 minutes before catching a second one that took us to Heiligenblut.



Heiligenblut is a small tourist town glued to the steep sides of the alps. The bus dropped us off in town and we had to hoof it to our pension in the suburbs (i.e., cow pastures). Unfortunately, the road out of town was *not* pedestrian friendly -- a retaining wall on one side, guard rail and drop off on the other, and no shoulder or sidewalk. The photo below looks back down into town before the sidewalk evaporated.



We made it to the pension and found that there was a footpath into town, so after dropping our packs we headed out on a hike. The photo below looks back at the pension from the footpath.



On the way through town I noticed that Heiligenblut, too, has custom manhole covers. Not nearly as nice as Cesky Krumlov, but still better than a blank piece of steel. I'd never really noticed before, but maybe all cities have custom covers -- sort of like vanity plates for city utilities. Something to watch for in the future.



We headed up the valley behind town with a goal of having lunch at a trailside restaurant. Our host had described the trail as being "fairly flat", but the Austrians clearly don't use the phrase the same way you and I would. We managed the trail OK, but there were definitely some steep sections. At one point a shuttle bus dropped off four school kids in front of us, and they (and their large backpacks) were soon out of sight on the road above us. Could gravity be selective in Austria?

We had a late lunch at the restaurant, and while waiting for the food were able to watch some farmers collecting loose hay in the field next door. They used a power rake to pile up the hay at the bottom of the field, and then tossed it into a basket on the back of a tractor. Once the basket was full they closed it up and headed down the road. I didn't see how they loaded it into the barn, but it had to be fairly efficient as the tractor returned empty within a few minutes.







Our route back to the pension took us high up the valley wall (as if we weren't high enough already), through some woods, and then back into pasture lands. Near the peak of our wanderings we came across a small chapel overlooking the valley. The chapel was at the far edge of nowhere, but it was outfitted just like a tiny church -- replete with pews, stained glass windows, an alter, and burning candles. People clearly don't come here for services (do they?), so maybe it is just a place for the occasional hiker to stop and meditate or pray.





Not surprisingly, our route back was all downhill. We were following a narrow paved single lane road that steeply dropped through a series of switchbacks. The hiking trail followed the road through the straight sections, but took a shortcut from turn to turn through the switchbacks. You didn't quite need ropes through the shortcuts, but it was close. Per the Austrian trail rating system this was probably a "Gentle Incline".

At an open point we had a view down into Heiligenblut with our pension on the left side of the valley beyond (i.e., underneath the wispy clouds).



In the map below, Spittal is in the lower right with Heiligenblut in the upper left. Winklern is below Heiligenblut.


View 2009.09.24.location in a larger map

The next map is a track of our hike. The pension is in the lower right and we went through town and did a loop over on the left.


View 2009.09.24.track in a larger map