A snowy walk to a hängebrücke

I had an awful night’s sleep for some reason, and was awake from 2 until about 5, reading for a bit then trying to sleep, numerous times. Thankfully, eventually I slept until 9 and, although I felt pretty rough first thing, I knew a walk in the fresh air would sort me out.

Still lying in our bed, we could hear scraping outside and, when John peaked outside, he wasn’t surprised to see the neighbours shovelling a couple of inches of snow off the cars and pavements, and a snow plough in the road.

When we’d had breakfast, we dressed warmly and pulled our winter hiking boots on before setting off to follow a walk through the foothills above the town. It had stopped snowing in the valley but the cloud was low so we expected to experience snowfall during our walk.

Everywhere was beautiful, especially the trees with snow clinging to their branches. We followed our route steadily up hill past Burg Arnholz to a pretty little lake called Kraftsee. The snow began to fall gently now as we headed across snowy fields and through the forest. I had to take care not to slip over on the steeper downhill sections, not only to spare my dignity, but to avoid smashing my camera!

I managed not to fall, but did end up with a cold shower when I grabbed a tree, dislodging the snow settled on its branches, which ended up falling down my neck and into my hood! Brrrrr!

Finally, we reached the highlight of the walk, a 150 metre long suspension bridge or hängebrücke over the River Sill. We had the bridge to ourselves and spent some time enjoying the views down to the water and snow capped rocks and trees in the gorge below us, and the surrounding hills, still shrouded in cloud.

Back in Matrei, we changed and headed to Gasthof Lamm, which our host had recommended for lunch. We enjoyed typical Tyrolean food, which was very delicious and very filling. Now we’re back at the apartment and the snow is still falling gently. It’s forecast to continue tomorrow so, rather than hiking, we’re planning to explore Innsbruck.