European Trip - Day 20

There was some rain and cloud in the morning, but it was forecast to clear up later so we decided to go up into the mountains again.

We caught the free bus to Serfaus and got single journey return tickets again, this time to the start of a path that goes to Fuglersee and Fugler mountain itself, which is just over 3000 metres.

We discovered the path we were on was called the Marmot Trail. As predicted the weather clear up somewhat, and the views were good.

We got to Fuglersee and had our lunch there.

From there we walked up to the nearby summit, Kitzkopfle at 2462 metres.

By this time we realised there wasn't enough time before the last cable car at 5pm to attempt to climb to the summit of Fugler, so we carried on a circular route of the Marmot Trail. It took us to where we had views into the next valley over. These paths were relatively quiet compared to the main part of the resort.

We descended to the cable car upper station, and found a bar open so we had a beer before catching the cable car back down.

According to the bus timetable we should have been able to catch the 4.20pm bus from the bottom of the cable car. But it turned out that it only came as far as the other side of town. We quickly walked to that bus stop, but missed it by a few minutes. It turns out the underground train in Serfaus is free and regular, if we'd known that we might have been able to use it to catch the bus. Never mind.

We did take it back to the top bus stop and had a beer in the sunshine while we waited for the next bus back to the camp site.

Back in Prutz we left Oscar in the van and went out into town to see a local band play, and had beer and a pretzel while we watched them.

We then went to a local takeaway and bought wiener schnitzel and chips and took it back to the van. It was a bit unsophisticated but very filling!

European Trip - Day 19

The weather forecast was to be cooler and wetter today, with possible thunderstorms, so we decided on a lower level walk. From Prutz we caught the bus up the bottom of the valley to the village of Tosens. From there we walked down the path on the left bank of the river.

It was raining to start with, but it didn't last long. The path was interesting, going through settlements, farmland and forests.

We saw some alpacas, and an old water mill.

We had our lunch on a rocky beach by the river.

Near the end was some kind of grotto.

We had decided to stay an additional night at the Prutz camp site, making a total of 5, so we needed to do some shopping. Prutz has a supermarket called Hofer, which is the same as Aldi with a different name. We walked there and carried the shopping back to the van.

Later we had a barbecue of chicken skewers, pepper, mushrooms and kartofel salad.

European Trip - Day 18

We had discovered that there's a Hikers Bus that takes you to areas in the mountains where the service buses don't go, and that they also facilitate one-way walks. So today we booked ourselves on one which picked us up in Prutz, took us to a mountain hut called Aifneralm and later pick us up at Falkaunsalm. The two are separated by a panorama trail.

We met the bus at the tourist office in Prutz. It was 6 euros per ticket. The bus was full, having picked up other hikers further up the valley.

It took us high up into the mountains on tracks with lots of hairpin bends. Eventually we arrived at Aifneralm which is at about 2000 metres.

We set off along the trail, we were first off and we didn't really see any of the others until the end of the day.

We could see up the valley to a glacier and mountain called Hintereisspitzen which sits on the border between Austria and Italy.

We could see were were approaching the final destination far too early for the return bus, so we carried on walking up above it for a few more kilometres. At one point we saw that a shape had been burned into the hillside, it must have been some kind of celebration or beacon or something.

Eventually we returned to Falkaunsalm to wait for the bus. The walk was 10 km with 520 metres of ascent.

We had some Radler to drink, and a portion of Apple Strudel each.

The bus arrived to take us back down. Back at the camp site we had showers, and later had a barbecue of marinated pork, sweet peppers, courgette and new potatoes.

European Trip - Day 17

It was sunny in the morning, thank goodness, though the rain had pooled in our sun canopy and collapsed it a bit. Shouldn't have left it out overnight. No damage done though.

We walked to the bus stop which is over a wooden bridge on the River Inn.

In the resort area in the upper part of the valley are three towns, which are often grouped together - Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis. Ladis, the lowest of the three, is the one we stayed in in 2013 on a Ramblers Holiday.

Today we caught a free bus up the Fiss, the middle town. We passed the hotel we stayed at in Ladis but it was unrecognisable, having been redeveloped into a "mountain resort".

From the bus stop in Fiss we walked up to the cable car station, and bought a return ticket for one journey. This cost 56 euros including 4 euros deposit on the passes.

We caught the cable car up. The cabins are individual so we didn't need to muzzle Oscar.

The top of the cable car is really only half way up to the top, at about 1800 metres. There's a big playground there with lots of family-based activities such as toboggans, playparks and zipwires.

From there we walked uphill, very steeply at first until we reached a panoramic path that was a bit more gentle.

The panorama path goes to the large Fisser Joch mountain hut and cable car station. We sat there for our lunch.

The views down the valley were good.

From there we walked up to the summit of Zwolferkopf at 2596 metres. From there you can see all around, including into the next valley over the back. There are also a few curios like a crystal cube, a viewing platform and a picture frame.

We went back down the panorama path, and carried on to the cable car station above Serfaus. The total distance of our walk was 13 km, with nearly 900 metres of ascent.

The restaurant was closed there so we caught the cable car down to the town.

In Serfaus we checked the bus timetable and decided we had enough time for a beer, so we went to the nearest hotel bar. Just after 5pm we remembered the deposit on our lift passes so went back to the cash desk to reclaim it but it was closed. It'll have to wait for another day.

We got the bus back to the camp site, and later for dinner we had a barbecue of bratwurst, courgette, pepper and new potatoes.