Richard Foley (richinud)

The day dawned bright enough, and we continued to be lucky with the weather. We started by heading up the hillside in the same region as on Sunday, but a tad more eastwards. The forestry trails opened out as we gained height and passed a small but amused mountain Gasthof in the higher raised valley. The path struck out in front of the nearby crags and Polly and Susi negotiated their away a flock of enormous brown and white mountain tigers, before turning sharply and ascending the steep slope behind.

A rather bemused looking group of French people leap-frogged past and alongside us on the steep trail, before we headed directly for the green and rocky summit. The views from the top of the Höhe Scheibe were truly magnificent. All around were alps and valleys and clouds and sunshine and forests, and we sat for a while, and enjoyed our lunch, and soaked it all up.

We headed west along the wide ridge, which descended into the first sporadic and then rapidly dark forest, route-finding becoming more uncertain as we weaved through the trees and broken valleys and short ridges. Finding the hut at the corner of the forestry track, exactly where expected was a minor relief, and we descended easily the rest of the way down the easy trail, and back to the hut for dinner and music.