Autumn in the Austrian Alps

September 2011 in the Austrian Alps

On arriving back in Austria from Spain and Portugal friends offered us the use of the Alpine cottage (or hutte) as they call it for 3 weeks while they where travelling through China, we agreed to in exchange for looking after their little dog called Fiona. The cottage is situated above the village of Sonntag in the Vorarlberg region. The area is called Stein at 1485 meters with a ski field at the door in winter. From the cottage we looked across the valley to a river and forest plus many farms. You can hear the cow bells during the day as the stock graze on the surrounding hills. It was picture post card scenery. While staying at Stein we took the opportunity to read plenty of books as there was no radio, TV or newspapers. We hike in the surrounding Alps most days doing one overnight trip through to the Freyberg Hut, which was a 6 hour walk. This was extremely special as the scenry was magnificent plus we got to see wild life and eat at one on the many little alpine huts that provide restaurant services and cold beer over the summers months for the hikers. The weather was amazing other than 2 days when we had light snow which of course delighted us no end and made everything look even more beautiful. The 3 weeks just flew by and before we knew it Albert and Bridget returned home. After helping Bridget celebrate her birthday 2 days after they arrived home we said our farewells and packed up Moggy and drove into the sun for our final adventure in Europe for 2011