Marktschellenberg - Schellenberger Eishöhle (ice cave)
At the pension there was a sign saying please not to take "padkos" (OK didn't say that exactly, but that was the jist) but if you wanted to make & take a roll just tell them and they would charge a nominal feel for that, which was only €1.80 for a brochen with whatever. So ... I did just that. Was still well well worth what it cost.
The plan for today was to do 2 things, I only ended up doing the 1st as it was very tough and I couldn't force my body to keep going and do the other. I did a walk to the Schellenberger Eishöhle (Ice Caves). Was a short flat walk to get to the start point then it went up hill big time. By the time I got to the highest point I had climbed about 1000m
Strava recorded route (looks like a little niggle with data heading up)
Distance: 13.42km
Moving Time: 3:56:04
Pace: 17:35/km
Elevation: 964m
Approximate location of ice cave (yellow mark) from my hotel (I gather from the hotel staff)
Schellenberger Eishöhle sign
Route to Toni-Lena-Hütte showing altitude
Whew what a hike, I was well tired by the top. Started with forest type roads then got more rocky and steeper. Got to the Toni-Lena-Hütte then was about 20 minutes more to the cave.
Gravel path uphill
Path
View
Mike and a rock
Toni-Lena-Hütte comes into view
Toni-Lena-Hütte from above
View, with cable car/alternate way up from another place
Cross
View
I could see my hotel, just, from the top, it puts into context how far/high I had walked.
Looking down in Marktshellenberg, my hotel is the red dot, walked from there
You can only go in with guide and the tours were on the hour, got there about 10 to the hour. The guide did the tour in German but gave me a bit of English on the side I managed to pick up decent bit of what was being said though. You needed a jacket (which I knew and had with me) and a hard hat which they provided, inside the cave it was 0°C - brrrr !!!
Jacket & hard hat ready for my cave trip
Down into the cave we go
Down into the cave we go, slippery ice
Inside the cave
Guide
Ice
Brrr 0°C
Lines in ice
Heading up/out
Ice
Ice cave
View
Beer at Toni-Lena-Hütte
Arty photo at Toni-Lena-Hütte
Rocky path down
Forest path back
On the way back down I started taking pics of flora & stuff.
Plants
Plants
Flower with bee
Butterfly
Plants with bee
Butterfly
Flowers
Near the bottom a couple was looking at something so stopped to see what it was, it was a snake feasting on a lizard for it's dinner.
Snake about 1-2m long
Schellenberger Turm
Once back in town I did a bit of a wander around town to take a few more photos. As I said I only did the 1 thing I had planned for the day, the other which was Almbach Gorge I decided not to do. It sounded similar to the walk I had done from Imst to Hoch-Imst. It was a bit further away than I thought anyway from signs I saw the next day.
Same dinner plan, just bigger and better (chowed inside as a bee was hassling me the day before)
The following day I had planned to go to Berchtesgaden/Eagles Nest. Weather was pretty cloudy and not great. I took the local bus to the Eagles Nest info center. Was super busy there, looked like it would be a bit of a wait for the bus to Eagles Nest, you also needed a mask (as it was back in Germany, I had forgotten to take with me so even from Markschellenberg to there I had to cover my nose/mouth in anyway I could, lucky they let me on and didn't moan). I also thought I'd rather spend the Euro on doing something better elsewhere. The weather started to look worse so I decided to laugh off the cost (which was pretty high) and effort vs reward in going to Eagles Nest. I headed back to Markschellenberg on the same bus combo as I used, but in reverse.
Sign
Map of area
Prices
Got back to the pension and collected my bags and stuff and decided it was a better plan to head to Salzburg.