The road less travelled...

Wednesday May 10
It wasn’t (fine). Well, it was fine enough to go around to the Dripping Rock, but not for me to consider going up one of the mountains, and I’m also still not feeling 100%, so I left those expeditions alone. Instead, at 9.30am I set off from the hotel to the Dripping Rock. It’s a gorgeous walk around the lake, and although the clouds blotted out the mountain peaks, it was at least not raining. With the grey sky, the Achensee looked more greenish than blue, but the reflections of the mountains in the water were magnificent. It took me about 45 mins to get there, but then I did dawdle a bit on the way. *g*

I had a good giggle when I got to the infamous loose shale, as, having rather warily crossed over the none-too-stable-looking path, I found a sign on the other side of it that said ‘use of this path is at your own risk’. Um, perhaps that belonged on the other side, where it was rather more dangerous? I was rather surprised to see that, along certain stretches of the path, the friable rock Jo mentions on occasion was very much in evidence and some parts of the path had fallen away into the lake. I also crossed what looked like a dry riverbed, but which also fit the description for the rift that forms on the path in Rivals.

The Dripping Rock part was actually interesting, as the path is dramatically narrow just there, and also wet, which is an almost sure-fire mixture for an accident. Oh, and the cliff up from the water to the path, as Jo says in Coming of Age, is very climbable just there. Not that I tried, but there were lots of striations in the rock that would be suitable for hands and feet. I was interested to see, though, that where the book describes one rock jutting out, from which the water falls, it now comes down the whole rock wall. The ‘roof’ over the path is also quite rusty and, I presume, will eventually have to be replaced.

My estimation is that the girls would be able to walk to the Rock and back in about an hour, as it took me about 45 mins each way and they would certainly walk faster than I do! Of course, for the purpose of a story, that could be reduced or lengthened as necessary.

After my walk to Dripping Rock, I headed back into Pertisau and had a lengthy stroll through the streets. It’s most annoying that the cable car up to the Bärenbadalm isn’t working yet, as by the time I got to the foot of the mountain, the clouds were starting to drift away. Instead, I might catch the bus to Feilkopf tomorrow if the weather’s clear. If not, I’ll go to Kufstein and the Jenbach museum. Hmm, decisions, decision…