In early September I revisited Slovakia and eastern Austria,staying in some of the same regions that I went to last year.
Here's a
link to the photo album.
After flying to Bratislava I went by train and bus to Stefanova,a small village on the north side of the Mala Fatra mountains and climbed Velky Rozutec an impressive limestone peak much loved by the locals.
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| Maly and Velky Rozsutec from Stefanova |
Originally I'd planned to walk across the mountains the next day but learnt that the way was blocked by severe landslides and the valley approach closed so I took the bus to Strecno via Zilina and walked up to chata pod Suchym a lovely mountain hut.
After staying the night I continued up to the the main ridge, then down to Vrutky and caught the train to Ruzomberok which I used as a base for trips to chata Magurka from Liptovska Luzna valley,and chata pod Borisovom from Liptovske Revuce.
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| Garden in Zelena dolina |
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| chata pod Borisovom redecorated since my visit last year |
For the second part of my trip I travelled back through Bratislava ,staying in Vienna before travelling on to Murzzuschlag to start a four day hut to hut walk in the Schneealpe and Rax mountains which are 2000 metre high limestone plateaus surrounded by steep cliffs.
Although it was 27 degrees C walking up to the first hut the weather deteriorated over the next couple of days so I had to adapt my plans and take a lower route on the second day to avoid a difficult protected scramble in the rain.
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| Schneealpe from Lohmgraben |
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| Raxkircherl |
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| Ottohaus through the Torl |
After walking down from the Ottohaus to Payerbach I was able to catch a regional double decker commuter train back to Vienna and then stayed in Bratislava on the final night before flying home.I'll probably do a similar Slovakia/eastern Austria trip again as there are so many variations of walks and huts to visit.
