Damüls

Our last day in Austria was Tuesday, 8 September. We wanted to mark it with a "Grande Finale" as our good-bye hike and chose the Damüls round tour we'd done three years ago. Click here if you want to read my post from back then and see the pictures.

It was once more a sunny and warm day at 29C/84F, but most of the hike was going to be at around 2,000 m above sea level, where it was going to be a bit cooler.

The view from our balcony at 7:42 that morning

To get to the start of the tour, we opted for the car; it is possible to reach Damüls by bus, but it would have involved changes with longish waits in between. 

From the parking lot, a funicular took us up to 1,800 m.

The path leads up and down several hills and covers two peaks rising above 2,000 m, the Hochblanken and Ragazer Blanken, not far apart. 

The landscape has many more features apart from the rugged peaks; there is also a water reservoir (man-made) and a natural lake further on. Alpine plants, some of them rare, line the way; there are butterflies and birds, and somewhere in the distance you nearly always hear cow bells, even though we didn't come close to their pastures this time.

As always, I found the uphill bits challenging, and some paths required me to use not just my feet but also my hands, they were so steep and rocky.

Naturally, the views made it all worth while, and the fresh air and sunshine felt so good.

O.K.'s shadow hovering over me as I use my hands to climb Ragazer Blanken :-D

We walked for about 3 hours and 45 minutes, climbed 500 m up and more than 800 down (which presented its own challenges). It truly was the grand final we had wanted!

I remembered this small private chapel from 2023.

Dinner at the hotel seemed even more delicious than usual, but maybe it was us knowing that we'd have to leave the next day after breakfast. An evening walk after the meal allowed us to take in the sunset and say "good-bye" to Bizau.

Diedamskopf

Our next-to-last day in Austria was Monday, 7 September.

Kanisfluh at 7:15 am from our balcony

Like the day before, we had blue skies to begin with, and at a high of 28C/82F it was almost too warm for anything strenuous. But we were going for a hike that would see us cross the 2,000 m threshold, and we rightly expected it to be somewhat cooler up there.

First, though, we had to get to the bottom of the mountain we wanted to climb and took the bus to Schoppernau, only a short-ish bus ride away. Above the village rises Diedamskopf, with its peak at 2,090 m above sea level. One can take the funicular or walk - we decided to walk up and take the funicular down.

Kanisfluh from the other side, just after leaving the last houses of Schoppernau behind on our way up Diedamskopf.

Our trusted booklet gave 3 1/2 hours for that hike, and 3 1/2 hours it were, steadily upwards for 11.5 km, covering a difference in height of 1.272 m - quite the achievement for me, although true alpinists will merely laugh at this.

As soon as we got off the bus I realised that I had not brought my sunglasses, but I knew my eyes would really suffer without any protection. A shop near the funicular sells all sorts of hiking gear, and I found this visor which really did the trick without making my head too warm and sweaty. I didn't mind looking daft - apart from my husband, few people saw me anyway :-D

At first we thought this was a chapel, but it was someone's private summer hut and not open.

The peak is in sight, but still quite a bit to go.

Most of the uphill I found surprisingly easy; the path wasn't too steep, and maybe it also showed that I had been going up and down mountains for a whole week. Only the last 20 % or so of the hike I found VERY hard, but once we were at the top, I soon recovered - how could I not, with such views!

We enjoyed our customary shandy at the outdoor bar by the funicular, took the funicular down to the village and there had an ice cream while waiting for the bus back to Bizau.

On the funicular

You won't be surprised to read that after dinner, we went for another sunset walk around the village :-)

Alberschwende, Brüggelekopf & a Concert

The day after the cows came home (by the way, I don't know whether the method of cow farming on different pastures over the summer and moving them back home for the winter is the origin of the phrase "...until the cows come home"), on Sunday 6 September, the village of Bizau held its annual village fête, called Kilbe in this area. 

It was set up on the square where the cows had come through on the Friday (the square having been cleaned up meticulously by the local firemen) right next to our hotel. We were going to have a look round later but wanted to make use of the beautiful sunny and warm day (27C) first.

Kanisfluh, about 7:15 am that morning from our balcony

A bus took us to Bezau and from there another one to Alberschwende, a place we had not visited before. There, a tour suggested in our booklet lead up to a peak called Brüggelekopf, promising great views.

Alberschwende

The views were indeed great, but the way up there was steep and the path not easy; I found it VERY exhausting and had to stop for breath a few times. We met few other people on the way up, and only a few more on the way down on a different path.

View from Brüggelekopf

On the way down

Back in Bizau, the Kilbe was in full swing, and before we went to the hotel, still in our hiking clothes we had a shandy there on the square and a stroll around the stalls. The locals were offering all sorts of products from their own honey, bread and cheese to home-crafted decorative objects, baby clothes and cosmetics. There was also plenty of food and drink on offer, but we only wanted the refreshing shandy, since another 4-course dinner was waiting for us later at the hotel.

Also, we were in for a special event: 

The nearest big city of this area, Dornbirn, has a big music school. Of the talented children and young musicians between 12 and 20, about 60 make up the Youth Sinfonical Orchestra. Every year, they meet for a week at the end of the summer holidays in Bizau, where they occupy the elementary school, practising all day every day. 

Since our hotel was right next to the school, we could hear them practising every afternoon when we returned from our hikes and sat on our balcony. 

Their practice week ends with a concert, held at the school's sports hall. Having heard them all week, we wanted to hear the full concert, too.

Showered and dressed appropriately for such an event, we found seats in the hall and were ready for the concert by 5:00 pm.

It was really good, the program covering various styles and eras of music, and we truly enjoyed the experience, donating generously (there were no fixed ticket prices, it was all based on donations).

Dinner was next, followed by our customary evening walk around the village to end a beautiful Sunday.