We stopped at a bench seat at the 8 km mark with incredible views, unaware we still had 3 km to go thinking we will reach there really soon. We did see others who were along the way and there are some campgrounds. They are so rugged, dramatic yet pretty at the same time. I try to give everyone a good overview of each trail we do. Walking in them gave me a weird feeling knowing that many fought, lived and died here over the four years. She knew we were there and stood so very still like a frozen statue only here ears twitching around keeping open for sounds. Another hot hot day today. Just before reaching the bush land there was a caravan park where we got cold drinks to try and cool off. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Austria and hello Slovenia by way of a mountain pass over the Julian Alpes. With every turn as you wind your way up is just an ‘oh wow moment’ and you find yourself just wandering along with the feeling you may have stepped back to the medieval days. After watch my friends Lari and Hedley use theirs, and they swear by them , I thought I really should give it a go and yes I think it certainly is a handy addition to my hiking gear. Signage was there, then not, then back again. We pushed further than the guide book said as we are rapidly running out of time, we might even have to jump forward a bit more in the next few days just to get to the end in time. Well that is what the official Guide book said I would say – It was designed to be a pleasure trail, it isn’t easy to walk and goes through non-Alpine regions as well as Alpine. I’m in heaven. This trail was developed in partnership with Kärnten Werbung (Austria), Slovenian Tourist Board (Slovenia) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia Tourist Board (Italy). First up lets talk the climb. This is how the Alpe-Adria-Trail tastes - A culinary hiking trip. We really didn’t want to miss any of the stages but are finding accommodation hard to get as everything is booked out with it being their summer. We will see how I feel in the morning though, I might change my mind. There was the odd view through the forest that peaked through showing us where we had walked up from. In Austria the forests were more just the pine but here it is quite a mix of trees, maybe because we are not reaching heights like Austria and maybe because the soil and rocks look very different. When up on the Kolovrat ridge and look around you are looking at the battlefield of the Isonzo Front. Tomorrow we are deciding on what section to tackle with many summits ahead of us but the weather will predict whether we get to go higher. Funny enough again today whist walking around the village we saw another film production happening. A high point of between 1,800m and 2,200m is usual for Alpine sections of the route such as Nockberge, sometimes marginally higher (Stages 1 and 16). Come on really? ℹ️ alpe-adria-trail.com receives about 80 unique visitors per day, and it is ranked 2,228,941 in the world. Slovenian forests are so pretty. All along the way you were reminded of the history from this area with the remains from WW1. There was no furniture but we didn’t care, a night on the floor never killed anyone and with a raging storm outside we were really grateful. Day 15 Villach to Velden am Worthersee to Faaker See. Over the years we have gotten very good at just getting on with it. It just kept going, I started to think they were lying about the top where we would find a bar for lunch. The guy ums for a minute and says no there is nothing (he didn’t look) we said that they told us to walk in and speak to them and they will call around for us, he says who, we say you guys did. We arrived in Muggia and looked for our info point we find each day just to feel like we really made it then high tailed it to the water where we spend a few hours just soaking in the Adriatic Sea. Reading up on the area there is a lot of history here from World War One and when we cross tomorrow’s mountain pass and head into the Tiglavski National Park we will come across many monuments and signs of this history. We didn’t bring a tent and we didn’t win lotto so we have to look beyond some of the popular spots on the trail which means moving along a little more. We followed the stream up for the longest time, always having the rugged and dramatic chalk mountains looming over you. Then there is the ‘Pagan Girl’, this is a face of a girl that is naturally formed in the rock on the side of the mountain. Golden Autumn. We went through this pine forest that was mystical and silent. We have been getting frustrated more and more with this trail and although we are enjoying the countryside and the walk we are annoyed that we struggle to get anywhere to stay. By the time we found the public section we just wanting to keep moving as the sky was grumbling more and Mark was just done for the day. Good here other Aussies are out here. Grossglockner herself but of all the surrounding mountains and the valley below. The views of the Gerlitzen Alps and the glacial lake are beautiful. Lunch time we ate at a tourist farm that sat right on the borderline of Italy and Slovenia, so after lunch we stepped back over the border to Slovenia. Along the trail you’ll follow a mixture of paths and 4×4 tracks, with some sections of walking on asphalt roads inevitable; at times it shares the trail of other long-distance hiking routes, such as the Via Alpina. In fact what would have been a 22 km walk was something like a 50 plus km train and bus ride. Last night we stayed in a village called Kleindorf in a 4th generation Pension, Pension Maier. Day 22. Even if the comparison is a bit fuzzy, I still choose it for reasons of actuality: The Alpe-Adria-Trail collects awards like Mikaela Shiffrin and Marcel Hirscher gold medals in the Alpine Ski Sport. Today was another day of travel, this time not by plane but by trains, busses and automobile. Date of departure is 28th June 2018! It was just a very enchanting walk with the rushing of the stream going through the various water mills, the lushness of the surrounding forest, the many carved wooden fairy-tale characters. We do know it is summer here and school holidays but if they are promoting a distance hike like this and want people to walk it then they need to accommodate them at night. To say medium difficulty I’m not sure how, when one has to be scrambling on all fours with a pack and a cliff below not once but a few times and the signage well let’s say lack off. Around a 1,159 m climb, that should be fun . The walk now takes us around about way down to Muggia, the official end of the trail, and sadly keeps you away from the sea. Floating in the pool watching the storm pass around the town and having a cold beer. It was the strangest thing. This was challenging to say the least. The AAT is divided into 37 stages and has an alternate routing, the Circular Trail, that adds five stages (six additional stages less one skipped main stage). This is never really a wilderness hike in the true sense – the route has been chosen to make it fairly easy and accessible to all, with stages finishing where there is accommodation in the form of a pension, hotel or a mountain hut rather than charging off into the wilds completely. In Villach pick up your bike and head for Annenheim for a spin around Lake Ossiacher the 3rd larges lake in Carinthia. Day 14 Arriach to Gerlitzen Alpe – 16.5 km (all up). We talk to a few places and nothing, we also spoke to the tourist office in Trenta, their response was most places are fully booked out but if we walk the pass and come into the tourist office they will help us find something by ringing some places they know. We crossed borders again today, entering back into Italy where we will be staying for the rest of the journey. We had the chance to walk around and float around for hours through the very busy streets and canals (peek holiday season) till we just couldn’t do no more and found ourselves a lovely restaurant by the canal, had yummy food then made our way back to our hotel to pass out and rest ready for our journey up the Austria tomorrow. Grossglockner to the Adriatic coast and through the three central countries of the Alps-Adriatic area, Austria, Slovenia and Italy. It was quite impressive and for a while when walking over the pass I felt her eyes were watching over us. 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