Saturday
26 July 1980 - diarist: Dave - Formarinsee to Bludenz
Nick, as usual, was
up very early and went outside the tent to prepare breakfast. I found that
eating breakfast outside was far easier than in a sleeping bag.
The other tent
got up in their usual slow and leisurely way, and took down their tent even more
slowly. [Due to lack of urgency on the part of the sun, in drying the tent, and
us, as we favoured lingering at this final high level site - M]
Because Ruaridh
was going his own way to join his parents in Germany, we gave him some bread and
cheese. Sometime after 9 am, we set off for Bludenz after a farewell picture
from RM's P in which Martin and Colin displayed their disgusting
handkerchiefs.
Martin soon left
the gang of four for a boy stop, the bran in our Home Mixed Super Muesli having
got to him in record time. We then set off over the snow (the last of the
holiday) and dropped below the 2000 metre mark for the last time. The sun
became very hot. It was then revealed by the Hike Planning Sub-committee that
we had a 600 metre climb to face, and that in our usual topsy-turvy fashion
this would be when the sun was at its hottest.
Dave and Colin
raced down a snow slope (no deep holes this time). We crossed a stream and
walked down into the valley, the sun getting hotter and hotter. Lots of photo
stops.
The view north west towards Lagutz
We came to a village,
which although it looked pleasant enough at present, is no doubt very tough
living here in winter. There were lots of stacks of logs in evidence. Nick saw
an old man with a very long pipe which impressed him. We then carried on down hill,
getting hotter all the time.
Lagutz
We found some
goats who didn't seem at all camera shy - many pictures for everyone. Colin
managed to induce one to feed from his hand and poo at the same time.
We continued on down
the hill. Dave decided that he was (as usual) hungry and concluded that we ought
to have dinner before we left the shade of a forest. Amazingly, the others
agreed to this very sensible suggestion. The only rational explanation of this
is that they had all been zapped by the sun. We stopped for about an hour,
having our bread and cheese and a brew. At this point a butterfly got attracted
to Dave's silly yellow hat and landed on it. It was assumed that it mistook the
hat for a flower and Dave was urged by Colin to do flower impressions whilst he
got his camera prepared. However, Colin's blunderings as he tried to get into a
good position frightened the butterfly away.
Waterfall near Garfulla
We set off again
past a strange wooden construction which Nick investigated at length and found
to be a triangulation station. We then reached the bottom of the valley and
crossed the stream, which at this point resembled Cheddar Gorge. We then set
off up the hill. Of course, at this point the sun was at its hottest, and
Martin began muttering about how foolish we had been taking the low route when
we could have done the high one. On the lower part of the climb the heat became
unbearable. This didn't seem to affect Nick, who charged off as usual. Dave of
course lagged behind. Fortunately a large slow-moving cloud now blotted out the
sun, and the rest of the climb was done in a relatively cool atmosphere.
We stopped for
water near the top, and it soon became obvious that Colin was suffering from
the heat. He had a towel draped around his neck and handkerchiefs on his head.
Martin seemed to be almost absolutely knackered. And so we started a very slow,
hot, sticky descent into Bludenz. On the way, Dave (charging on ahead) had a
sort of conversation with some (Austrians?) in German, English and sign
language. It appeared that they were making for the Freiburger Hutte. Considering
it had taken us seven hours and it was now 4 pm, I would have expected them to
look a little more concerned. Perhaps they knew a short cut? The high route?
A final view of the Lechtalalps from Tiefensee Sattel (1562m)
The path down
was a long series of hairpin bends with the occasional very steep path
cutting off the corners. It was a big effort to stop yourself going down too
fast. We had a rest half way down but completed the last section very quickly. After
a quick trog through a field we were in the town and soon found the campsite. The
proprietor was very helpful and directed us in English to our site.
The tents were
quickly put up in the familiar L-shape by Dave and Martin. We then went for a
wash. Most of the people in the washroom appeared to be English - they seemed a
rather smooth looking lot. They even had towels and flannels. After much
confusion involving the men's/women's washrooms and a rationing of shampoo, a
much cleaner group set off to the town to find out where the railway station was, and
to find somewhere to eat. Martin got worried about the restaurants closing and got
ratty with Nick and Colin who tended to dawdle a bit, looking in shop windows,
etc.
We eventually ate
at the first place we had looked at. In the hot evening it was pleasant to eat
outside with a couple of beers. We all had a soup - the fried pea soup was
unusual, and a meat course which was supposed to be typical Austrian but
appeared to be the English meat and two veg type. After the meal we went back
to the campsite, where there was more toilet identity confusion and Dave
discovered that ladies get proper toilets whilst he has to squat above a hole.
Anyway, I hope
this long and boring diary entry makes up for the supposedly inadequate
previous one!
Today's route - 20 km with 750 metres ascent
Sunday
27 July 1980 - diarist: Nick - Bludenz to Zurich
There were lots of thunderings and walkabouts in the night - for once this was
not the exclusive privilege of this diarist. Dave's tent luckily did not leak
this time during the resultant heavy rainstorm, despite the river which suddenly
appeared from beneath his rucksack at about 3:45 am. (Was this Martin's water
bottle leaking?) We wondered whether we might need to evacuate the tents in
favour of the nearby rusting hulk of a lorry, but were discouraged by a sudden
crash of thunder immediately overhead. At last, to sleep - very hot but cooling
after the gewittering.
We rose and
shone to 'Rise and Shine' orange juice quite lately at about 8:15. A second
wash in 24 hours was had by some, then off to the Bludenz bahnhof after calling
in at the shop for essential supplies (beer and lots of locally manufactured 'Suchard'
chocolate).
We had been
woken at about 7 o'clock by church bells ringing, accompanied by a local dog howling.
These had continued every 15 minutes and were still going when we left. The Austrians
appear to be very religious judging by the number of wayside shrines and
crucifixes, and on Sunday mornings they all dress up in their best togs just
like in the picture books.
In spite of Colin's
phrasebook, due to a misunderstanding I managed to buy return tickets at the
first attempt. This mistake was soon corrected, but rather painstakingly as each
ticket must be separately written out and stapled in its own little folder. The
cost was 208 schillings (£7) each. A quick 'ss tut mis leid' sorted things out. It
was established that we must change at Sargans.
Leaving Bludenz
The train was
late and full. We were stuck in between carriages and blocked the toilet with our
rucksacks. I was first accosted by Yugoslavians with interesting looking drinks,
and then went to talk to two young Swedes who were interrailing. The others
antisocially kept to themselves and 'read' the sports pages of my 'Der Bild'.
After putting
our watches back and changing at Sargans, we boarded an even more crowded train
to Zurich. This
train appeared to come from Italy.
Italian is a language of which I have absolutely no knowledge except 'pizza'
and 'spaghetti', so I had to resort to sign language when two middle-aged
Italian signoras asked whether we had arrived at Zurich, just five minutes after we had left Sargans.
Views were very
similar to those on our way out. The weather, however, was a lot hotter and
there were many sun worshippers on the shore of the Zurichsee.
On arriving at
the Zurich hauptbahnhof, Martin bought a Sunday Times,
from which we immediately discovered the weather in the UK had been
lousy. I then bought four 24-hour 'season' tickets for Zurich transport to save money (SF 3.50 each)
and we proceeded to the campsite via number 11 tram to Burkliplatz, then a
number 65 bus.
I surrendered my
passport in exchange for two numbered discs to be hung on the tents. These were
to be collected in the morning after 7:30 am.
A late lunch was
eventually gratefully eaten - bread, tomato, and an unnamed cheese, very good,
purchased respectively in Bludenz, Zurich
and Pettneu. I had earlier bought some juniper berries in Bludenz (rare in England but used
by Delia Smith) and now bought some salad herbs before catching a number 61 bus
back to Burkliplatz with the others.
It was
oppressively hot - I wished I had a clean t-shirt and shorts instead of scruffy hiking
shirt and breeches. A long walk around the list of restaurants from 'Hitchhiker's
Guide to Europe' proved that most were either
too expensive, closed on Sundays, or closed for the holidays - most
disappointing.
Back in Zurich
The distinctive Grossminster
was closed for renovation so we couldn't even look around that. The rest of the
gang showed their disapproval by looking in the many sex shops and watching the
Olympics in TV shop windows. The 'Oliver Twist' English type pub was soon
unfortunately discovered - colour TV on which the 10000 metres was watched. Very interesting
toilets here, the flushing was controlled by a photoelectric cell when the user
left the area.
A meal was had
at the Trattoria pizzeria Santa Lucia, where they again spoke Italian. A real
wood fired oven provoked Dave and Colin to eat pizzas, whereas Martin and I ate
pasta. All with side salads, followed by cappuccinos except for Dave who
was awkward (and thirsty) and had Orangina which was not as good as the genuine
French variety sampled in great quantity by me last year. An excellent meal
costing about £5 per head.
The hippie
movement cum folkies come out on Sunday night in Zurich. An earlier hurdy-gurdy group had been
replaced by a very competent band comprising pan pipes, drum, mandolin, guitar
and more, playing in a nearby square. I watched these and then joined the
others who were talent spotting outside a bar. (Censored
paragraph apart from reference to 'Dave had very dirty nails.')
Enjoyable
Mediterranean climate type evening was a suitable end to a very enjoyable
holiday. Full of variety, though I must admit to disappointment that we didn't
have hailstones, as every other sort of weather was apparent at some time or
other.
Colin now wanted
to sell a one-way ticket to Manchester
to a Swiss girl and fumbled furiously for his phrase book. Now back to the
campsite and tomorrow ... duty-free and finally ... w w work.
Monday 28 July 1980 - diarist: Martin - Zurich to work
No hassles or hiccups in our bus / tram /
train / taxi journey - all stops Zurich
to Crumpsall in Colin's case. Duty free maxima of wines and spirits duly
purchased. BAC 111 again. Total zap time for me 4½ hours, and then to work
after a most refreshing and enjoyable two weeks despite strange weather and 'schnee,
schnee, schnee' (Wurtemburger). Even the hero badge held out. Debts were
settled despite Dave's slow motion mini computer, and total cost of holiday
worked out at around £250 each.
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