Hohe Tauern, Austria

Day 3 - Sunday 17th June 2018

St Veit Village and Hamlets

At the turning for Bruggen, we turned left over the bridge sign posted St Leonhard and Feistritz,
where we parked in an open area on the gravel.

Jackie and Sue

We crossed back over the bridge into Bruggen and turned right into the village.

The path runs along the stream towards a waterfall. We followed path 23 for St. Veit.

After leaving Bruggen, we crossed over a vehicle bridge over a stream, and turned
left on to the "Panoramaweg Leben an Steilhang". The path was marked by a wooden
eagle and a yellow sign to St Veit on Path 23.

After about 40 minutes we came to a Y-junction with a red arrow on a rock indicating the direction.
We took the left fork up hill to join a grassy vehicle track after a short climb.

Turning right here led us into the small hamlet of Gassen.

Keeping left, we soon came to a sign post at 1564m pointing right on Track 23 to St. Veit.

We followed this to reach the last building in Gassen and a grassy junction leading
to another sign for St. Veit.

This path descends through fields over a stream and son joins a vehicle track. Turn left and follow the track to a hairpin. Just before this, a footpath branches off to the left with a yellow sign and some benches. Follow this over 2 wooden bridges crossing small waterfalls and ascend until joining a wider track.

On reaching a wooden bench and a crucifix we stopped for lunch. After that we kept
left and followed the track uphill.

On reaching the hamlet of Gritzen, we kept left and followed the tarmac road for St. Veit.

At another crucifix the road ascends to a signpost for the Panoramaweg; continue straight
on, staying on the tarmac road. Pass a white electricity building on the right opposite
the waterfall and continue straight on into the village of St. Veit.

Looking back at the hamlet of Gritzen

The church is straight ahead as you come into the village and is well wort a visit.

Vibrant poppies

On the opposite side of the road is Alpengasthof Pichler. Having seen very few people all day we were surprised to hear music and to come across the villagers dressed in traditional costume enjoying food and beer as they celebrated the "Kirchtagsfrühschoppen".

Sue and Jackie

Leaving Alpengasthof Pichler, the road drops down by the side of the church, where there are steps leading to a small path descending to the road. The first part of this path crossed steep open fields where the local people were raking hay into piles for an automatic collection machine. Hay is obviously a valuable commodity for the cattle in the winter.

The path bears right through a very nice wooded section, steep at first but it soon levels off until it reaches the chapel (Maria Heimsuchung Kirche) on the main road at Zotten.

Maria Heimsuchung Kirche

Over the road to the left is a bridge which leads to a footpath following the course of the river (Schwarzach Fluss) back to Bruggen and the car park. Nearby was the Defereggental Hotel & Resort; the Porsche car club seemed to be having a meet there, so we were treated to a stream of flashy Porsches on our return to Huben.