Stage 10

The day dawned bright and sunny, but the weather forecast threatened rain showers later in the day so we started -- sadly -- early. Sadly, because the Hotel Schlossanger Alp is one of the best hotels we have ever stayed at. Not that it was one of the most expensive or luxurious, but everything was of high quality, the common areas were lovely and full of cosy corners and interesting things, the setting was charming, the rooms were decent sized with good bathrooms and sufficient furniture, the food was superb, and the personnel was clearly having an immense amount of fun working there. They even threw one of their own into a cauldron at the end of the evening (with, it should be unnecessary to add, the help of Russell :-).

We then descended into a valley and then began to climb the Breitenberg. We, that is, not including Lidia, who wisely chose to take the gondola, given that the day would be long, and the climb hot and boring.

A couple of hot and boring hours later, we met her at the top and headed for the Bad Kissinger hut. We had originally intended to go over the Aggenstein, but we decided that it would be better to conserve energy for the Jubilaeumssteig the following day, if the weather allowed us to attempt it.

As it turned out, however, we wouldn't have done the Aggenstein either way, because shortly after setting out from the Gondola Bergstation Lidia suffered a sudden and debilitating headache such as she had had only once or twice in her life before. Last time Russ and Dad recommended that she get a CAT scan (or MRI, I don't remember), and perhaps after this new experience she will actually do so.

So, we were presented with a bit of a dilemma: should we all wait, or just some of us, or should Lidia turn back or what? A complicating factor was that the likelihood of showers and thunderstorms was supposed to rise during the afternoon.

Lidia suggested that she and Richard stay to see if she would recover, while Sally, Russ and I continued. The logic being that the three of us needed to get to Tannheim on foot, while the two of them could either return to Munich directly or follow us and take the lift down from the Bad Kissinger Huette that I had seen on the map.

About 20 minutes later, looking back, Sally saw that Lidia and Richard were following us, so clearly she had recovered. Some short time later, at the Bad Kissinger Hut I discovered that it might be better if I learned how to read a map: the lift I had seen on the map was a lift for supplies, not people. And the clouds were closing in....

Luckily we had only a few sprinkles while going down to Tannheim, and Lidia had completely recovered, so the day turned out fine in the end.

Landhotel Hohenfels, where we stayed for the night, is also excellent -- a close second to the Schlossanger Alp.