Richard Foley (richinud)

Day 3. We woke after a wind blasted night to a calm and beautiful sunrise, the sun rising behind the steep rocky ridges of the Tauern mountains behind us, the night’s rain still sitting as fog in the valleys below. Packing up, we continue along the easy ridge, Miguel having some trouble skirting the bogs with his fashionable training shoes, until we reached a col and a route decision. We chose left and descended to a high alm where the farmer and his family provided refreshments for alpine walkers while milking their cows and making cheese throughout the summer. The children, (two boys), of the family came out and entertained us with some alpine squeeze-box music which was like something out of the alpine children’s tale “Heidi”. Several of us had a “Schluesselkas”, which was a fresh soft cheese mixed with some harder cheese, and served in a bowl with some heavy Austrian bread. To a townie like myself it looked at first terrible, but the taste was simply superb, a pungently flavoured mix of textures and sounds which melded with the scenery to produce an alpine idyll.

At this point we said a cheery goodbye to Conor and Anniki, they had other stories to cover and maybe we will meet again, in any case we had enjoyed our time together and wished them well, looking forward to seeing the results of their reportage. The rest of us set off down into the valley before heading back up towards the higher Tauern hills above. Walking along the road, and naked past the gasthof at the base of the hill, elicited a few cackles from the 15 or 20 people sitting around their beer and apple-strudel. We met a young girl carrying a ginger cat down the hill in her arms, and of course Polly became all tense and wanted to eat, or at least chase, it. Further up the road, we encountered a large family group with several children and a couple of dogs, having passed us with a friendly exchange of greetings, Roland and I laughed when we heard them guffaw loudly as they next passed by Brian, our very own real-life version of Ray Bradbury’s “tattooed man”, on his way up 100 metres below. By now, they were probably wondering what they would meet around the next corner.

We continued up the winding road, steadily gaining height for another hour or so before reaching the Suedwienerhuette, a superbly placed hut at one end of a raised valley between the higher peaks, run by the very friendly Schett family. Brian set up camp discreetly amongst the trees, and the rest of us moved into the hut, dog and all. We were all made very welcome here, even Polly who had immediately picked an argument with the resident, and until then very peaceful, dog. As afternoon exercise the rest of the team went up the summit behind the hut, possibly a good excuse to walk Polly a bit further, and after a short break I followed and joined them as they were descending. The effort to reach the easy peak was rewarded with a panoramic view of the surrounding peaks, valleys and ridges. We all ate in the hut that evening, and it was a pleasant change to have easy access to beer and spaghetti bolognese, all prepared by a friendly Nepalese cook who spends his spare time guiding walking tours around Everest base camp.

More info at: http://www.naktiv.net/newt/2011

This year’s Newt was based at a farmhouse in Leogang, Austria. The more than 20 people who came along this year enjoyed superb weather, varied walking, and a warm welcome from the locals and tourists we met. Our team this time was made up of people from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and New Zealand, professions ranged from Architect to Tourist Rep., Software Engineer to retired School Teacher, and Management Consultant to Electrical Engineer, etc., a mixed bag indeed, as usual. We also had a number of people from nearly every previous Newt year, so we were a proper crowd. Including: Doug ( 82 from New Zealand, http://sildenafilsamples.net owner), Jacques (APNEL), Sylvie (president APNEL), Bernard G. (secretary APNEL), Chris (the infamous South Bank art installation crasher), Roland (Dutch tour operator), Robert (our Biker), and Bernard B. (co-organiser of the London WNBRs).

I was particularly pleased to see Paul (CERN engineer) come along, as I wanted to hear more of his hilarious naked mother-in-law stories, Gianni (retired train engineer), whom I knew from the recent first succesful naked WNBR in Torino, and his wife Mira. Having along the core of the APNEL organisation, (working towards better acceptance of naked freedoms), their attendance most definitely swelled our ranks by association. Although the men outnumbered the women, which is also usual, this year we had three brave ladies to keep us company, and the conversations (more or less) polite.

Saturday June 30. I left the outskirts of the German city of Munich, with the Polly the collie and several boxes of groceries and my hiking gear in the car, and drove naked all the way to the Austrian town of Radstadt, in the Niedertauern region. I dressed to meet the hut proprietress who kindly drove ahead of me to show me the way to the Aualm hut, at the far end of a 7 kilometre forest track, almost above the tree line. Our hut nestled below the ridge and overlooked the splendid and dramatic looking Dachstein range to the south.

It was a hot sunny day and I settled in with Polly, taking in a short naked hike around the hut, and letting Polly chase sticks up and down the hill, watching as she gradually got muddier and muddier, having found a wet spot to dig in. I then prepared a bolognese for the evening meal, for those who were arriving early. Michael from Hamburg was the first to arrive in a shiny white car, now looking slightly dusty. I drove naked to town to pick up Ian, from the UK, from the train station, meeting Roland and the Dutch contingent, of Wilfried and Joop, half-way along the track. Gianni and Mira from Italy arrived amidst some confusion of directions.

Polly was very pleased to see Mira again as she’d brought a special squeaky pig toy for her. The fairly new hut extension, which could accommodate 20 people in bunk beds, was pleasant with good facilities and ample room for the projected numbers of approx. 18 people who had registered for this year’s NEWT. It was an active gasthof in the ski-season, sitting on the edge of the piste, and for the summer was rented to groups like ours. Renewing old friendships and chatting to new people took us into the evening on the mountainside hut.

Thursday July 05. After breakfast, we sat at the hut waiting a short while for the group to come together and then headed off up the piste past the Trinkeralm to join the main trail along the easy ridge above. As we passed the top of the ski-lift, a couple passed us with the usual friendly if mildly surprised greetings. We climbed steadily up the easy trail until we reached the end of the ridge and could look around at the stupendous view all around us. The Obertauern hills to the north and west, the Dachstein to the south, and the Schladmingertauern to the east. Quite spectacular. We started off again, and the group quickly split into 2 pieces based on the preferred speed of the participants, much to my dislike. I don’t mind splitting the group at the end of the day, but at the beginning this is all wrong, and this set me off into a bad mood, even though the walking was simply gorgeous. The puffy clouds scudded across the sky all the day, threatening a change in weather which fortunately never really materialized, the wind keeping us cool as the high altitude sun baked us from above on the bare and wide open ridge. Gianni and Mira, Joop and I, watched as the others left the summit ahead of us and walked along the easy ridge into the distance.

Once we reached the first summit cross, Mira and I stopped for a minor food break, and to soak up the view. Gianni went on ahead, leaving his wife behind, and Joop walked unsteadily along the ridge to join the others. After a while several of the lead group returned in drips and drabs. Sandro had fallen while walking and was sporting a bleeding and bandaged arm, and now Joop was returning also alone. As I watched, I could not believe my eyes as the lead group now disappeared around the end of the ridge ahead. I had to call Roland on my mobile handy and tell him to turn the entire group around immediately. Fortunately I could get through to him, and fortunately he was able to turn them all around. Roland told me later the group had multiple people all coming up with different ideas of what to do and where to go next. It sounded like a group of headless chickens, and was a yet another moot lesson for me on group dynamics in the hills. We reformed as a walking group and managed to stay more or less together, with some well timed help from Ian, who scuppered yet more separatist tendencies at an early stage. We retraced our steps along the easy ridge and had some pleasant walking with views ahead of the Dachstein range, before descending towards the Trinkeralm once more.

As we got to the top of the ski-lift, there was a rolling log on a wooden frame as a test of balancing, which David and I both succeeded in crossing. High spirits seemed to be the order of the day as Sandro started to climb up the metal frame of the ski-lift. Chris began pushing the huge concrete weight which was finely hanging from it’s steel cable, such that it tapped the metal structure with a clang with him standing directly beneath the counter-weight. I’m all for having a little fun, when we’re out and about, but this was causing me to question the rationality of our little group. I herded people as quickly as possible and we set off down the hill once more. The previous evening I’d approached the Trinkeralm with the proposal that the 18 of us might eat our dinner naked today, on their terrace if there were no other guests about, and the very friendly waitress, Katy, had said that would be fine. There was no-one else to be seen for miles and so Helmut and I approached the hut naked and in high spirits. Next we saw Katy hurrying out across the terrace towards us looking worried, and when we met her, with our naked group steadily descending behind us, she looked very apologetic, but apparently she’d asked permission of the owners, and they’d declined our proposal. I regard this as a failure of communication on my part, because I’d given them too much time to think about the idea. It seems spontaneity, (with “sure, why not?”), is more accommodating of nudity than the more advanced thinking of the “what if” variety. Every year we learn something new. We departed amicably enough and waved goodbye as we headed on down to our hut, just below the Gasthof. Later on we need some eggs for dinner, and Vittorio volunteered to walk back to the Trinkeralm to ask for some. Apparently Katy was still apologetic at her change of permission, which seemed to be out of her control, so we didn’t mind so much. The Dutch contingent brought out the bubbly again, and soon we had tables and benches on the terrace and were enjoying an early evening snack in the sunshine of our alpine hut.

It was nice to do such a good day’s hiking without having to contend with the long forestry track at each end. Admiring the view and throwing sticks for the seemingly never-tired Polly. Watching Polly fetch and carry the whole week long, David called her a one-trick dog. This raised my bile, (only a little), and caused me to respond by throwing the stick and getting Polly to “stay” where she was. Next, I called for Polly to “sit”, “stand” (on all fours), “lie down”, “sit, and so on, all in quick succession while keeping her on the spot. With only the verbal command holding her in place, for a short while, I then called “fetch” to release her to go get the stick. At this point the entire group applauded Polly, impressed with her ability to follow a wide range of commands so well. She’s a clever dog, as are many border-collies, and it’s a shame it’s so hard to find the time, and the skills, to teach her more activities.

Tuesday July 03. We started today with a smaller team, as it was raining, Sandro was tired, Bruce wanted to cook, and Mira and Gianni wanted to go shopping. We went into Radstadt and met Helmut and Conny, who’d driven down from Germany today, at the shops. I’d met them before at La Sabliere in France and was pleased they’d decided to join us for a couple of days hiking. The weather looked absolutely terrible, and they unsurprisingly backed off as we headed up the Tauern valley to our start point at the Vordergnadenalm. Having parked, some of us stripped off, and we all set off together walking along the flat road leading north towards the Sudwienerhütte. We exchanged greetings with a large and somewhat bemused looking group of youths as we passed the Gasthof and car park at the base of the hill, before turning up into the Hintergnadenalm valley. The trail now cut straight up the valley, across the easy zig-zags of the rough track.

As we gained height steadily, the weather seemed to be lightening, and the thick clouds rolled steadily behind the surrounding peaks and ridges. Moving through a group of lazy cattle was amusing, as neigher Polly or Draco were particularly impressed by the huge beasts. And both needed some encouragement to skirt these high alpine cud-chewers. Ian slipped on a greasy moss atop a log and landed heavily but with no serious injury. Without further event, we eventually arrived at the top of the valley, as it opens out into a high alpine pasture, where there were several small huts and converted farmhouses. The sun now began to shine through and blasted away the last wisps of cloud. The surrounding ridges were silhouetted sharply against the bright blue alpine sky. There was no-one around, but we slipped shorts and wraps on to enter the Sudwienerhütte terrace, as is our normal practice, and I then found the hut warden inside and asked him if it would be ok, as we were a naked hiking group, for us to be naked while we sit on his terrace outside. He blinked and said “sure, why not!” Roland, Robert and I recalled being here during the Newt 2010 tour. The proprieter came out and took our orders for drinks, and chatted in friendly manner with us about this slightly strange walking group sitting on his terrace. 16 naked guys, unfortunately no women with us on this stage, now ordered either a Weisbier, or a light (Helles) beer or, for some of us, an Apfelschörle – the latter a very refreshing apple juice mixed with fizzy water. While we soaked up the sun, the clouds flitted across our bright sky, and brought sudden and unexpected but light showers, making us dip under the terrace umbrellas and roof overhang for protection. Next a jeep drove up to the terrace gate, and I got up to hold the gate open for the lady driver. She took the sight of the naked man at the gate in her stride/drive, and gave a friendly wave as she drove through before she entered the hut. She clearly ran the place, and David suggested she was probably giving the hut warden, (probably her husband), a good ticking off for letting us all be naked on the terrace. The next thing we knew she came outside to bring us the couple of soups which had been ordered, and to take more orders and to deliver several refreshing milk/yoghurt fruit shakes. She did not blink, but took it all completely in her stride, so much for the ticking off, I thought. As it came time to leave, and we paid up, the warden came out and offered free postcards of the hut as mementos of our visit, as well as a cute card which, when posted, and stamped, and brought back by someone as evidence of posting, would entitle the holder to a free beer. A nice piece of advertising indeed, we thought. We made a group photo and a photo with each of the very friendly hut wardens, before heading off towards the hills to the west of the hut.

The trail zig-zagged up away from the Sudwienerhütte and climbed steadily up to a huge plateau running below the higher peaks which made up the serrated ridge to the north of us. Once we’d gained the higher ground, we stopped for a lunch break, and with difficulty trying to find a spot where there was no wind. The sporadic rain now lashed us as we struggled to remain comfortable, putting on clothes to keep from becoming chilled by the sharp wind. David slipped on some wet grass and landed heavily on his coccyx on the steep slope below. Serious damage was limited to pride, but it clearly hurt him all the same. We set off once more, and wound our way along the plateau, navigating between the brown and white cows at one end of the route, and following the easy trail between the bright white rocks and high alpine grasslands. The weather was still banging away with distant thunder threatening us as we walked under the ridge, but mostly remaining fairly clement. While the air was fresh, yet the alpine sky clothed us with sufficient warmth for our moderately high altitude hiking tour. We now passed the group of youngsters we’d seen at the beginning of the day, once more, this time in smaller groups as the straggled to keep up with one another. They seemed somewhat abashed to see us again, and I don’t suppose it did their high alpine adventure weekend much kudos to be out in the mountains and meeting a group of naked hikers on the same terrain. Hiking onwards under the high ridge to our right, we could look far down over the Tauern valley to our left, deep, dark and distant. As the plateau narrowed and the sharp ridges loomed ever higher, we came to the Wildsee, a high mountain lake, with fans of snow all around descending right to the water’s edge. David, Bernard, Michael, Pierre and Robert all dived in to the icy looking water for “refreshment”, much to the warm amusement of the rest of us. The sky began to turn darker once more, and the clouds began to swirl around the lower crags above. It was time to go. We turned south and began the descent towards the valley. Joop was, despite this being his second Newt, having some trouble with the terrain and the exposure, so we split into 2 groups, the faster group going on ahead down the easy trail, and a smaller group staying behind to look after Joop. There used to be a steep section with a metal ladder and a cable for support, but this seemed to have been either blasted away, or circumvented, as this time we just followed the steep trail down the mountainside. We reached the closed for renovation hotel complex at the Feleralm below as a somewhat bedraggled group, and spent a short while discussing possible descent routes.

As the route was unclear, we took the road down, and were soon joined by the “fast” group as they caught us up, having spent much time going fruitlessly up and down trying to find a way through the woods below. Descending together, we met Helmut and Conny on the road, briefly, before heading for the Johannesfall, a huge waterfall, which was a highly impressive plume of water, gushing straight outwards from the vertical 70m high rock wall of the river canyon. The spray filled the air, and covered us with a fine cool mist, as the wind blew the water around on it’s off-vertical descent onto the rocks below. Several of us went behind the water, with Polly scampering about making me a tad nervous above the steep drop. Leaving the waterfall, damp now, we rejoined the main trail to wander through the pleasant and easy-going landscape until we returned along the flat valley bottom. Chris saw a signpost which said 20 mins back to our cars, and took immediate exception to this as he thought the distance much shorter and could be covered in 10 minutes. Off he stormed ahead. The rest of us passed a running couple and a friendly group of car-walkers en-route, before reaching the parked cars at our starting point. Chris declared triumphantly he had taken only 12 minutes to cover the distance, and we declared triumphantly we had taken 18 minutes. I deemed both our results correct for different values of speed. Then it was back to the hut for dinner and a well earned rest.

More info at source: http://www.naktiv.net/newt/2012

Saturday July 07. We got up early for breakfast, packed, emptied the rooms, and moved everything out of the hut so we could start the “clean sweep” to leave the hut as we found it. The lads did a sterling job, and I think the place was, if anything, cleaner than when we arrived. The proprietress arrived as we were finishing up, and drove into the hut area with her cleaner lady as passenger, as several of us were still walking around naked. As she got out of the car she said with a smile, “have we arrived a little early?” She was clearly unconcerned with our (non-)attire, and proceeded to go through the last formalities of handing over the keys and final local tax payment collection in good humour. Asking us to recommend the hut to our friends, perhaps we might come again, and waving us a friendly goodbye, we took our leave reluctantly, as the comfortable hut had temporarily become a home from home for this singular week. Our car convoy snaked down the long forestry road for the last time towards the Bahnhof, before we all separated and began our various journeys, by plane, train and car, heading back home, or onto new horizons. We’d had a great week, been extremely fortunate with the weather and had enjoyed some good company. A superb weeks’ naked hiking tour for all of us to remember for many years to come. Just one last thing, if you wish to join any future trip, remember to call me “Beni” 😉

More info at source: http://www.naktiv.net/newt/2012

Friday July 06. We descended our track again and drove a short way up the main valley. We had a bit of juggling to do, as for this route I had to leave my car at the base of our lane, Gianni’s car in Forstau, and drive on to Mandling before Wilfried returned for Gianni so we could all start the hike together. Once we were all together, we headed off up the track into the forest to the south and west, stripping our clothes off as each became warm enough. It was an easy track and an unusual day for having limited views, as we were at such an low altitude and the trees were so thick. Nevertheless the walking was fine, and we maintained a reasonable pace to keep warm, as the air was cooling as the sky darkened slowly. We reached a col and had a nice view out across the tree-tops to distant peaks, and also found wild strawberries to eat amongst the bushes. Walking past a colourful hut in the forest soon had us all talking about Hansel and Gretel, and witches. We headed along the track until we came to a sudden clearing below a huge vertical crag. We could see climbing routes all over the steep rock, marked by bolts which had been drilled into the rock face. We stopped here for a lunch break, when Gianni and Mira, Joop and Ian, now left us for their car, and the rest of us continued up the smaller and now steeper trail which took us, after wending our way through various forest trails, to the top of the Predigstuhl. At the summit, a wide vista opened up for us, including a fine view of the Rossbrand ridge from the day before. We could see the sky darkening dramatically just to the east as the wind got up and pushed the clouds in our direction. The first thick drops of rain were touching us as we stopped only for photos, before departing with our tails between our legs. We descended fast towards the Seitenalm hotel, as the rain started, the air temperature dropping rapidly as we went. As we reached the valley, the group split, some to wait at the hotel to be picked up later, several foolhardy adventurers took the dogs on foot towards the long forestry track back up to the Aualm, and I drove the drivers back to their cars in Mandling. We then all returned to the hut for the last time. For a shower, dinner, a chat over the week, and to shake out our socks, ready for packing. After dinner Bernard called us together to discuss the finances. At the beginning of the week, we’d all put in 50 Euros and now there was some 150 left over. The consensus was to donate this to Steve Gough, perhaps for books, but for anything he chose. Next was a donation from the passengers of the week towards the drivers petrol, recognizing the extent of the driving up and down this long forestry track we’d had to do nearly every day. The gesture was welcome, but all of us, (as an exception I kept some back), unanimously donated this money, on Wilfried’s lead, also to Steve Gough, who now had approx. 270 Euros from the spontaneously generated NEWT 2012 funds. We all hope he is able to find a good use for it.

Friday started slowly with us losing one car, but finally gathering successfully at the Vordergnadenalm, some half an hours drive from our hut, where we could start the trail towards the valley ahead. We set off along the flat valley floor and remained dressed this time until we passed the Gasthof and car park at the Gnadenalm. As we entered the trees, most of us stripped off our clothing and continued naked, taking the zig-zagging forestry and farm road up the steep hill above. A pair of girls arrived in a car and parked before near us before getting out and herding their cows around the hill. They appeared to be checking the cows were ok, and moving them gently from one spot to another as if to keep them accustomed to their handling. I kept an eye on the clouds as they padded thickly across the steep rocky ridges above, but the weather was holding good for us. We approached the Südwienerhütte steadily. On a previous year, we’d been able to eat and drink naked on the terrace of this friendly Gasthof, but this time there were simply too many other people already sitting around, so we moved on to have lunch just beyond the Gasthof itself. After a short break, we set off, putting another couple of hundred metres of altitude behind us and finally arriving on the plateau. Now the sun was out, and we were able to meander pleasantly amongst the high rocks and grassy mounds of this stony paradise. The ridge to the south, sharply delineating the horizon high above us in the blue sky. The occasional group of cows chewed lazily as they watched us tramp peacefully past, neither group disturbing the other. We stopped for a while at a place where we had a particularly good view along the valley towards Radstadt, gazing deeply down to where our cars were parked far below. Walking on again, I encouraged Sandra to take the lead so that she could savour that unique experience of being naked in nature, and alone. We met a couple of people coming the other way, which gave Sandra her first experience of naked and clothed encounters too, so all in all we were covering quite a lot of ground with this tour. Stopping again by a small peak, Roberto and several others, including Polly of course, leapt at the opportunity to bag a quick summit.

Polly was now walking without her shoes, and although not being able to fetch sticks, (as nobody was throwing any), seemed to enjoy herself the extensive walking immensely all the same We continued on past several small snow fields before reaching the lake for a well deserved stop. Several people at once dived in as I looked on thinking it looked too cold for comfort. Dan appeared to shiver nearly uncontrollably, and began to look greyer than usual, when he came out, but seemed to recover once he’d pulled on some clothing and began moving again. Sandra said it was too cold, but then fell in anyway and had a quick swim. Andrea seemed impervious to the low temperature, although it seemed like a good idea to get everyone moving again, as the sun was hiding behind darkening clouds above us, and a slight breeze was not warming anyone. We turned and headed over the ridge, past the cross just below the crest, and descended steadily and steeply towards the Felseralm. Now we dressed quickly to pass the hotel, and walk down the tarmac towards the main road. Reaching the forest we could undress again, and we followed the trail down until we could skirt around the valley edge to get an immensely cool view of the Johanessfall from below and behind the jet of waterfall itself. We descended the now long but easy valley to rejoin the Gnadenalm route and wend our way along the plain road back to our parked cars. Returning for a late but well-earned dinner prepared and served by the hard-working kitchen helpers.

Wednesday saw us setting off directly from the hut and reversing the route through the forest. We undressed and the talk was easy, and the walking a breeze, as we started, unusually, by going downhill back to the now-dried-up lake below. Once there, we zig-zagged up using the forest roads through the trees on the other side of the valley, heading towards the ridge of the Roßbrand. As we were now one single large group again, our speed was of necessity a good deal slower than most would like, however this was a day when it was important to stay together as I had a prior arrangement to keep with a Gasthof later on. We continued uphill with the views becoming ever more expansive behind us, until we arrived at a large digging machine at the head of the forestry road, where we decided to stop for lunch. A couple of cows kept Andreas occupied, while the rest of us took amused photos, and ate our provisions quietly. We set off through the trees and found the main forestry track on the other side easily, following this to a small path which struck directly up towards the ridge above. We arrived there just as one small family were taking a break, and they probably felt a little outnumbered as the nearly forty naked people steadily arrived at the footpath junction. They waved in friendly fashion as they left, and although they were going the same way, rather than follow them too closely, we gave them a little time to have the mountainside to themselves.

Descending from the ridge we met several people, and found a store of edible berries by the side of the footpath. This slowed us down in the most pleasant way possible Finally we arrived at the Mandelberggut Gasthof, where I had arranged for us to be able to have a naked tea break. I went ahead to check everything was still ok, and then motioned for the group to join me on the terrace. The friendly staff made us very welcome by pushing several tables together, and serving us with beer and appleschorle and ice-cream. As several people were quite tired, and Polly’s feet were still not healed, we left a small group behind at the Gasthof, and the rest of us returned with some speed, through the forest trail back to the lake and then back to the hut. Sending a couple of cars back for those left behind caused some misunderstanding, but fortunately everyone arrived safely back at the hut.

Thursday started with Sandra, Horst and Andrea, all going for an early morning swim in the pool by hut. They were determined to enjoy their swim to the fullest so quite naturally they had their morning coffee in the pool as well! The days’ hike started off quite well, although the rain clouds were gathering ominously above the grey peaks behind the hut. However, soon after leaving I noticed that Polly had started to limp again, even though she had her new shoes on. It took me a short time to realize that the problem was the shoes, while protecting the pads of her paws, were also at the same time causing soreness on the top of her paws by sweating and rubbing. So I baled, and handed over the lead of the longer group to Bernard, returning to the hut to remove Polly’s shoes and to join the shorter group instead. The shorter group was just setting off under Clifford’s lead, and I was able to join at short notice. We set off along the same route, and under a light rain, and we had gone only a short way before Sandra slipped on the freshly soaked mud and grass, and firmly sprained her ankle. It was only a minor injury but it was sufficient to rule out any further hiking for the day, so we turned around and left the second group to their own devices. Taking the opportunity to enjoy a relaxing Apfelstrudel at the friendly Gasthof just across the road by the bridge, while waiting for the rain to stop. We took the road back to the hut, to make things easy, and settled in for another half-day of “R and R”.

As luck would have it, Conxita was taking the day out to do some quiet filming of her own, and wanted to interview the farmer (if he was willing), and ask him some questions about how he felt about the naked group renting his farmhouse. Although it was probably a bit bizarre for this alpine farmer, for me it was quite amusing to watch the naked Conxita, and her assistant Nelisa, film the clothed farmer going about his chores. I then helped to translate the German/English for the interview itself and, even if he thought we were a little strange, he was positively helpful and very courteous the entire time. To show my gratitude and as a token of our own goodwill, I gave him a copy of the “Naked Hiking” book as a gift. If nothing else, perhaps the book will provide some light entertainment and discussion value during the cold winters ahead.

The Saturday was a race to remove all of our things and to basically tidy the house before the main cleaners arrived. It took a couple of hours for people to depart in dribs and drabs, depending on who had to drive where, and who was able to offer lifts to those in the greatest need of getting to train stations. Then, finally, we packed up the last bits and pieces and the little white van, with the four of us and two dogs, left on our return drive to Munich.

It had been a wonderful tour, although with so many people some organisational factors had been an at times educational experience, overall the tour was an intensely pleasurable experience. The photos, and online blogs which various participants might write, will surely bring back many a pleasant memory, as well as to encourage others to do more of the same. Naked hiking, with good company and in gorgeous scenery, at it’s very best. Enjoy!

The Sunday began too slowly for some, with one half of the group heading off up the hill behind the hut for a morning hike around the local area. The rest of us waited until after lunch before trailing down to the river below, which we followed down the valley bottom. A little light rain kept us occupied, and half-dressed from time to time, inbetween negotiating the washed away and abandoned trail. It was with some difficulty that we made our way along the riverside, and we were forced to cross the river twice. For some reason, Mira did not want to get her shoes wet, so I carried her across, which was somewhat entertaining and somehow made the little expedition seem a bit more serious than it really was.

We arrived at the lake, expecting a swim, to find it empty of water because of repair works at the dam head. So we simply turned up the forest trail and walked back through the forest returning to the hut above in good time to pick up the last train arrivals in Schladming during the evening. Herbert volunteered to help with the pick-ups and it was good to not have to do the trip alone, as I was uncertain precisely how many people might make this particular train drop. Our arrival back at the hut was timed perfectly with the communal evening meal which Roland and Clarisse had fixed up, with some help from a few willing others.