When we checked into our wonderful B&B in the farming community near Söll, Austria we were visiting with the friendly woman at the front desk and asking her about hikes in the area. She suggested hiking to Alpengasthaus Stallhäusl which would take about an hour. That sounded good to us…
She gave us directions and told us the signs to follow so, after lunch, off we went. Fortunately we wore our hats and we brought some water because it was sunny and hot.
The hike started on the lane behind the B&B. We walked passed a riding stable and a barn where Haflinger horses are bred. We walked past cows with bells clanging around their necks grazing in the fields, and past chickens cackling near their cute coop with flowers blooming in it’s own little flower box. Then we started our ascent…we kept climbing and climbing and climbing, for a hour and 30 minutes, climbing up the mountain.
We did not expect this – the woman forgot to tell us this part – but the vistas were amazing, and we were hiking in the alps! We knew we were on the right trail by the signs.
The signs didn’t use distance for a gauge but used the number of minutes to the each destination…35 minutes to here, 5 minutes to there…it’s an interesting way of letting one know where you are.
Finally we made it to the top after stopping several times along the way to look out at the amazing views (and to catch our breath). We passed beautiful chapel tucked into the hillside (who goes there???)
We were hot and tired and thirsty when we arrived at our destination, the Alpengasthaus Stallhäusl. We sat outside on their sun terrace and ordered something cool to drink and said “Prost” (Cheers!) to toast our accomplishment, and cool down before hiking back to our B&B.
We decided to walk back on the road, complete with hairpin turns (that we wanted to roll down to make our journey shorter). Going down is not always so easy…but walking on pavement makes a big difference. It took less time to walk back to the B&B.
It was probably good we didn’t know ahead of time what kind of hike we were embarking on or we may not have chosen to do it…but we’re really glad we did!