Eisernerz to Bruck

Five days further on and am at Bruck...not far from Leoben where Gill got her train 5 days ago, but properly here (having walked), rather than just on a day off to see Gill off. Unfortunately since then the weather has not been the best...has changed from just bad higher up to extremely bad at all levels!

I headed east from Eisenerz across the south side of the Hochschwab range, initially with some good views of the impressive limestone cliffs immediately above, but these soon disappearing unfortunately, leaidng to slow picking out the path in the mist where snow patches covered the markers. As the weather got worse my route followed lower routes, until I reached Seewiesen at the east end of the Hochschwab. My original idea had been to climb up from here to the east end of the plateau, and, ideally, gaze eastwards at dawn from a high bivvouac. However, by now the forecasted 130 km per hr wind with fresh snow down to 1200m was fully in evidence, so instead just took a rather misty photo from the baclony of the Seewiesen Gasthof and set off directly on my southward leg the following morning. Camping in the valley the following night tested out my tarp (10' square nylon sheet which is pitched using a walking pole at each end, not unlike a tent flysheet with open ends) in high winds, having to repitch it lower during the night. Back rather sore the following day proabably from grabbing at tarp edges as they blew away and crawling around under it very low pitched (for wind resistance). Therefore a rest day and resupply in Bruck, plus hot showers and ibuprofen, should avoid any problems.

Have covered 70 miles in about 4 days which is encouragingly close to the distances I will need to be covering, although not as much ascent or rough going yet as I will need to be capable of. Very encouragingly the fresh snow doesn't seem to have reached these hills, presumably being shielded by the higher mountians to the north and west. If feasible, I'm planning to follow the high (up to around 2000m) ridge of the Gleinalpe which runs directly southwest from here to rejoin the Via Alpina between Knittelfeld and Gaberl. From there on plan is to follwo the Via Alpina more closely, depending on weather conditions and degree of waymarking, we shall see...