Hiking in the Alps

We set off on Thursday, from Stuttgart, in the rain. We drove up to a place called Oberstdorf, in Bavaria, where it was still raining! Back when the trip was booked it was awesome weather but for some reason the German Weather Gods decided to make my first Hiking trip a really wet one.
So me, Philipp, his mum, little sister and his Oma got on the ski life up the mountain, all crossing our fingers that it wouldn't stop raining. It didn't! However, being out in the super fresh mountain air was such an amazing feeling, what a difference to Stuttgart Valley air!!! We set off for the Fiderer pass Hut, which was about 2 to 3 hours walk from the lift station. We were all pretty wet after about an hour but the landscape was so beautiful that it didn't matter too much.
The first half of the walk was great, not too many big hills, apart from the last one, which was rather steep and I only just made it up!! The only problem was that Philipp's shoes decided to kill themselves, both the soles fell off! Luckily the staff at the Hut knew what to do and they screwed them back on!! Literally!

Planning the route down the valley to the next sport shop, so Philipp could buy new shoes.

The next day (Friday) we set of in the snow/ice rain and after 10 minutes we were soaked and freezing! but I was feeling fairly confident because it was all down hill! Little did I know how much pain it would cause! Once we finally got to the bottom of the hill my legs were shaking like crazy and all I wanted to do was go home!
We went to the next village where Philipp and Oma got new shoes and Becci got a new rain Jacket, then we headed off back up the Mountain! I was still desperate to go home but everyone else wanted to carry on, so up we went! To add insult to injury, it started raining again. Despite the rain, it was actually quite a nice climb. nearing the end of the walk we came to what I can only describe as a cliff, it was soooo steep, like 70 degrees steep!! It took a while to get up it and Philipps 77 year old Grandma simply flew up it, she is fitter then me, no joke! But we made it and finally got to the Hut, the first hut to have a shower! Awesome! All in all, we had an altitude difference of over 1000 meters today!

A short break in the rain when my trousers could actually dry out a little bit.

Philipp with his brand spanking new hiking boots! And very happy about it!

On our very steep climb, no photo can do it justice, believe me!

Day three was lovely, great weather, no broken shoes, no 5 hour detour and we were all freshly showered! This was also the day when I realised that Hiking might be to my liking, the walk itself took about 7 hours but only because we had lots of breaks and lots more Photo breaks! Along the way someone, (another walker) had told me that in a valley up in the hills there was a little hut where a family was living for the summer, looking after a herd of cows and that one could stop and have a coffee there, with fresh milk! I was determined to stop! And it was well worth it because even though it was instant coffee, the milk made it taste Amazing. Seriously, the best coffee I'd had in days. The last stretch of the walk was soooo muddy because of the rain, we were so filthy by the time we arrived at the Rappensee hut, but it was worth it. We also had to walk through lots of cow pastures which was funny, because they all had bells around their necks so we always had music while we walked.

Part of our route, not half as bad as the day before, but difficult anyway.

We saw this young Groundhog/Woodchuck/Marmot along the way. (I'm not really sure which is the correct name in English!!)

Having a coffee break, well deserved I might add.

Look, Sunshine!!

My own personal Swiss chocolate advert.

My very delicious Goulash dinner and a massive shandy to wash it down!

The last day started with some sunshine but the rain quickly set in so we decided to head down the mountain and home. I was quite glad because my toe had started to hurt rather a lot and philipps knee was only getting worse. It rained for at least the first two hours of our 4 hour walk to the car but it wasn't half as bad as all the mud we encountered! Philipp and I also collected lots of plants on the way to see if we could grow them at home, so far none of them have died but its only a matter of time I think! I'm pretty sure Stuttgart air isn't the best thing for them! we finally arrived at the car very dirty, sweaty and tired but we all had a smile on our faces. In spite of all the rain, it hasn't put me off Hiking, lets just hope that next time we get better weather!
After we had changed out of our filthy clothes at the car, we stopped in a small Bavarian pub to have a coffee, I'll tell you what happened another day because its a story in itself. Right now I'm bored of typing and I'm off to visit a friend in Hospital.
Hope you enjoyed reading!

Our little group