Wed 5 September - Gasthof Kohlern, Bozen

Today we have various options as to how we pass our time - we can just laze about at the hotel, borrow one of the hotel's free mountain bikes, descend by cable car down to Bolzano and see Otzi the Iceman or take a couple of cable cars and do a circular walk around Jenesien.

Alistair & I are not really the lazing about types, the hills around here are too steep to even think about cycling (unless you are very fit to get up the hills and have a death-wish re coming down)! We saw Otzi about ten years ago, when we last visited Bolzano & given that he's 5,300 years old, he's unlikely to have changed much! So Jenesien it is then.

Inntravel recommend an early start (in bold italics) so we think catching the 9:30 cable car from Kohlern to Bolzano should be fine. The walking notes say that the cable car costs €5 for Gashof Kohlern guests - I suggest if you are staying there that you don't mention this, as we got our return tickets for €4! We organise a taxi from the bottom over to the Jenesien valley station, but we haven't really considered that it's always rush hour in Bolzano and we get to the cable car station at 10:03. Unfortunately they run every hour or half hour, so we've 27 minutes to wait until the next one and it's 10:45 before we reach Jenesien itself. The walk is 5.5 hours long, the last cable car from Jenesien is at 18:30 and to Kohlern at 19:30 - we decide it should be do-able, even with an hour for lunch.

We start to follow the walking notes, but at the supermarket the description doesn't match up with what way marks we see, we use our initiative and find ourselves back on track. We follow some steps up to join a way marked path, but the notes say there is a wooden pole "Via Alpina" but there isn't. It's a really hot day, all the walking so far has been steeply uphill and tempers begin to get a bit frayed! There is no left & right turn as advertised, but there is a sign to the "Edelweiss" bar and so we follow that. Later, we come across two benches in a clearing & a Tarmac road a little further on and bingo we are back in business. It seems the signs or paths have changed a little since the walking notes were written.

There is an awful lot of uphill walking for the first half of the walk and it is quite strenuous. Past the Edelweiss (where we stop for a quick coca cola), the scenery though is lovely, all alpine meadows, larch trees and beautiful wild flowers. The route out is basically along the "1" or "E5" track and is quite straightforward. There are more three sided poles along the way featuring local fairy stories - some of which end quite bizarrely - we think they must have lost something in translation!

We arrive at the outer reaches of our walk, the cafe-restaurant at Langfenn, ahead of schedule by 15 minutes, which is just as well as the service isn't very quick. Unlike the rest of our walking so far, we have seen hoards of people on today's walk (mostly walking downhill in the opposite direction)! Those we haven't seen are here at the restaurant and we literally get the last table. We don't want to eat much, as it was another excellent four course meal at the Gasthof Kohlern last night and will be tonight, so we have what turns out to be a huge piece of apple cake and some drinks.

Although on the way to Langfenn we had very pretty scenery, the return journey is much more varied and interesting and we only see half a dozen people - although there are plenty sitting outside the Gschnofer Stall. We pass by, as it wasn't that long ago we stopped at Langfenn. We pass through forest, some meadows and walk along a tiny Tarmac lane, where we see four eagles, until we arrive at Gasthof Locher where we stop for another drink. We have about an hour & a half of walking left, so there are no worries regarding catching the last cable cars.

Past Locher we're into beautiful woodland, with a path that contours around. We find a slow worm basking in a sunny patch on the path, either that or a dangerous snake - in any case it quietly slithers into the undergrowth on our approach. There should be a wooden footbridge at a gully, but it's been washed away. Luckily there is very little water coming down the hillside, otherwise it could be difficult to cross. The forest is full of jays which we see and hear very regularly. Once past the gully we keep up a good pace and get back to Jenesien in time for the 16:30 cable car. Our taxi takes us speedily to the bottom of the Kohlern cable car and we just walk on it and away it goes - perfect timing.

It seems we've also timed the weather too, as once back in the Gasthof Kohlern we hear peals of thunder and the air is heavy with rain. A few moments later, the wind has got up, the rain is lashing down and there's a magnificent thunder storm!