Book review: Five Little Pigs

Another Christie / Poirot; I'd avoided reading this before, under the assumption it was five short stories, but no; the "pigs" are people. The title isn't desperately appropriate but never mind. For spoilers read on.

I managed to guess that Caroline was protecting Angela; indeed, towards the end that is rubbed in perhaps a little too much. And yet it seems rather unfair that it is only made clear at the end; the Governess's last revelation should have come much earlier. But I didn't get beyond that first step. And to be fair, that could have been the answer, though I suppose it would have been a bit flat. To get to the true answer you have to suppose that the conversation, reported 16 years later, is entirely accurate and can have two interpretations; and you have to decide that C and the Painter have made up and Elsa overheard; and all this seems a bit much to me; and there is, as Poirot says at the end, no positive evidence for this at all. The bit about Merry being sure it was a cat meaning the smell of valerian meaning that Angela had pinched that, not the poison, again seems a bit far-fetched sixteen years later. As usual, because the characters are all somewhat generic placeholders, I had a hard time remembering who they were and telling Pippin and Merry apart.

I do owe this book the observation of passion in painting; which I use to devastating effect in my art review. And yet, in the end, the book rather destroys that, in that the Painter's passion is merely for the painting, not the subject. I regret that, which I think is an error on La Christie's part.

GPS concatenation

If you're doing a multi-day walk, it is nice to see the whole thing on one GPS trace. Sadly Strava provides no facilities for doing this. But if you want to, here is one way. There are various online utilities that do similar but I found none of them compelling.

Firstly, it is convenient to export your track as a GPX (XML) file. When you edit that, you'll discover that each file is <header><trkpt>info</trkpt>(repeats)<trailer>. So one way to merge them is by hand: strip off all the headers, concatenate the files, then prepend a header, and postpend a trailer. This gets a bit tedious, especially with Windoze type utilities. So I wrote a Perl script to do it. This, in addition to doing the above, also:

* reduces the trace to one trackpoint per minute. I had my watch set to every-second recording, and the files from that are vast, and at walking pace once a minute is all you need.

* strips out the <extension> tags, because you don't need to see your heartrate or cadence at this scale.

* removes some linefeeds, for convenience.

One thing my Perl doesn't do, because I couldn't be bothered, is the last fiddly bit: Strava's algorithm to detect duplicate traces is very primitive: it flags anything that starts within a minute of any of your existing trace starts (I forget where I learnt this; not by guessing it myself I assure you). So, you need to delete a trackpoint or two from the start of the trace.

Here, for your <cough>edification</cough> is my Perl.

my $header = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <gpx xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1 http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1/gpx.xsd http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensionsv3.xsd http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtension/v1 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtensionv1.xsd" creator="StravaGPX" version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1" xmlns:gpxtpx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/TrackPointExtension/v1" xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3"> <trk> <name>William</name> <type>hiking</type> <trkseg>';

my $trailer = '</trkseg> </trk> </gpx>';

undef $/;                                                    # Ah, don't you just love Perl?
$contents = "";
while (my $file = shift) {

        print "Processing $file\n";
        open(my $fh, "<", "$file") or die "oh dear";
        $content = <$fh>;

        $content =~ s/^.*<trkseg>//ms;                       # Throw away "header"
        $content =~ s/<\/trkseg>.*//ms;                      # And "trailer"
        $content =~ s/<extensions>.*?<\/extensions>\n//msg;  # And extensions
        $content =~ s/\n\s+<ele/<ele/g;                      # And some line feeds
        $content =~ s/\n\s+<time/<time/g;                    # And some more
        $content =~ s/\n\s+<\/trkpt/<\/trkpt/g;              # And a few more

        $old_min = 0;
        for (split "\n", $content) {                         # Reduce to one per minute
                # 2025-08-27T07:03:36Z
                /<time>(.*)<\/time>/;
                my $time = $1;
                $time =~ /(\d{2}):\d{2}Z/;
                my $min = $1;
                if ($min != $old_min) {
                        $contents .= "$_\n";
                        $old_min = $min;
                }
        }
}

open(my $out, ">", "out.gpx") or die "oh dearie me";
print $out "$header $contents $trailer";

Charming I'm sure you agree. Non-native speakers are invited to guess what "undef $/" does.

Book review: the Decipherment of Linear B

By John Chadwick; see Goodreads. At last: a matter of some actual substance. This is a "popular" introduction to the subject, but written by one of those involved, and better still written when "popular" was not debased as it is today¹. I recommend it as a well-written introduction by someone who knows; I shall present it to my daughter for her birthday. Having checked on the Wiki Linear B page, it doesn't seem to be much out of date; perhaps because not much new in the way of tablets have been found since.

I vaguely knew the history of this, but only very vaguely. I learnt that there was a strong academic consensus that Linear B was most definitely not Greek, and in the usual way of things saying - or researching - otherwise was not going to do your academic career any good. Discovering exactly what it was - archaic Greek - depended on starting with a crypto kind of analysis: how many symbols are there, what are their frequencies, and in what positions? This revealed ~90 symbols (excluding the pictograms) which tells you it isn't pictographic (too few, you need thousands) and it isn't alphabetic (too many, you need ~30) and therefore it is syllabic. And the guess, which turns out right, is that there are symbols for vowels, and then symbols for consonant-plus-vowel, and then all the difficulty of how do you deal with successive consonants, and trailing consonants. The initial "key" was thinking that some of the repeatedly seen words were place-names around Knossos. The tablets are initially unfired clay, accidentally preserved by being fired when the palace burnt down. They are a year's administrative records: of chariot wheels, of sheep, of corn, of slaves, and the like. But only one year: the system, as guessed, was that last year's records would be pounded back into clay and re-used: who wants to know how many sheep there were last year? So, no continuous prose, which restricts the kind of guesswork you can do.

I think it is a great thing that our civilisation puts aside resources for activities such as this. It doesn't add anything productive to the world; it doesn't in a way greatly enhance our view of ancient civilisation, because the results are so fragmentary. But in the words of Robert Rathbun Wilson, "It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to help make it worth defending".

Notes

1. I recently saw, but to my slight regret did not buy, a hardback of a history of british philosophy from CUP, proudly marked as "Cheap Edition". Who would so label a book nowadays?

Book review: Herr Doktor Thorne

By Anthony "Warden" Trollope. And if you've read that, or another, you'll be thoroughly familiar with his style and mannerisms, and his types of characters. And if you enjoyed that, you'll likely like this too; I did.

In HDT, the central theme is how The Young Master can salvage the fortunes of the family ruined by the improvidence and incompetence of The Squire, by marrying Money. However, TYM is in love with a penniless woman - the ward, and nominally the niece, of the titular HDT - and she with him; their heartwarming constancy despite all obstacles will warm the cockles of your heart, and as the book itself does not hide from you, she is going to become wealthy by judicious slaughtering of a couple of parvenus¹.

Our Author, it barely needs to be said, is very much on the side of the gentlefolk, and on the maintenance of Ye Olde Wayes. The unacknowledged contradiction of the book is that YOW are blatantly unfit for the times³. As noted, OA manages to transfer money from the New to the Old, thereby saving his hero and heroine from the terrible fate of having to actually do something useful to earn a living², but I don't think he or his readers could possibly believe that would work as a general plan. Which means the general plan - apart from just running your estates into the ground and being foreclosed - must have been to marry money; and indeed just this happens to one of the spare genteel females as an aside.

Much of the book - that not taken up by the hero and ine mooning and vacillating - turns over the question of status, looking desperately for some acceptable solution, but without finding one. Status, obvs, comes from being gentlefolk - ideally aristocracy, but just respectable-since-time-out-of-mind squire will do. Those who have merely made money, or who have a large income, carry weight: they are not really respectable, but can become so if not too vulgar, or perhaps in the next generation. And signs of honour such as membership of parliament carry some weight too. Our heroine, by these definitions, is not gentle: her birth is at best obscure and in fact common and illegitimate; but because she has been brought up nicely, all her manners and habits are perfectly acceptable; and she can be brought into a polished drawing room without blush. So she is respectable, or not, according to whether it is convenient for her to be so, or not. At points, the book suggests that perhaps if you have lots of money, and a seat in parliament, that is good enough; but then reluctantly discards the idea.

Is there any virtue in this scheme? As presented by the author, there may be: the nice people are nice, and the sort of people you wouldn't mind dining with, and strolling round their extensive mortgaged grounds, except they are mostly intolerably narrow-minded and boring. Whereas the vulgar people say "d---" (obviously they cannot possibly say anything as offensive as "damn" in print in full) and drink themselves to death while dropping their aitches. But this is a thin basis for arranging the rewards of labour. It is stressed that the nice people, or at least some of them, are really very deeply fond of the countryside they are preserving; but this doesn't extend to giving up signs of honour - seats in parliament, a house in London for the season - that their means no longer stretch to. In the end it is all to obvious that it couldn't last.

Notes

1. Don't worry; she doesn't have to get tooled up; they are conveniently obliged to give themselves up to The Demon Drink.

2. Not that there is any obvious sign of either of them having any useful skills, beyond being able to sit a horse and make polite conversation. Laughably, TYM's main idea is "perhaps papa could lend me a farm"; but if papa has a spare farm, why isn't he making money off it? Why would OH make a better farmer than someone who has been doing it since he was old enough to hold a hoe?

3. Why? While our squire is incompetent, not every squire would have been. At a guess, the answer is inflation of living standards: the country as a whole is becoming richer, through manufacture; but the squire's produce off the land is worth no more now than in the past; thus he could continue with rustic oak furniture but if he wants the mahogany and rosewood products of Paris, more money is required. Seats in parliament, once cheap, are now expensive. And so on. Note that HDT was published in 1858 and may be taken to have been set then; the Corn Laws were repealled in 1849 but nothing of so sordid and commercial a nature is mentioned in the book; and Wiki intimates that the strongest effects may have been later.

Book review: Navola

By Paolo "Windup Girl" Bacigalupi. Sadly, not up to that. It is long and, as I suppose I should have guessed in this debased age, is but the first volume of some trilogy if I suppose it sells well. Despite all my whinges below I enjoyed perhaps the first third, and did after all finish the thing.

The setting is yer familiar Italian city-states era kind of place and time; think Children of Earth and Sky; at least, I think Italian, because there are lots of invented words that end in "i". And the loving depictions of the banking system fit what I picked up from Wolf Hall; and the interspersed "legends" of the gods seem very romanesque. Sufficiently so that perhaps it should have been set in a rather more real Italy; that might have offered enough constraint to provide some backbone to the tale; authors with complete freedom are apt, as here, to find their story flopping around the edges and in need of propping up.

I am also disappointed in the dragon's eye. The dragon could have been the best part of this; in many ways, despite its rather brief appearance, it still is. But that leaves the tale unbalanced: there is precisely one magical artifact in this world, and no hint of magic elsewhere, and yet no-one displays any interest in it as such; and it does so little in the book besides providing a convenient escape route for Our Hero at the end.

This Goodreads review tells me that it is a "masterpiece of storytelling worthy of comparison with many of the finest works of fantasy, stretching as far back as [redacted] finest. It is a historical fantastical epic replete with elegant world-building... that will introduce readers to an intoxicating blend of intrigue and horror". That is all drivel. It is instead rather formulatic; we have the cunning banker who outwits everyone and so on; we have an instantly recognisable cast of characters; the intrigue is kinda Dune-like, and I don't mean that as a compliment. As to the world-building; it is a long book without really anything to say, and so inevitably ends up full of world-building; it isn't as bad as Eye of the World though.

This one says it is "very gory and excessively sexually explicit". I don't think that is right either. There is one sex scene - somewhat jarring, and badly written - because it is necessary that OH gets off with Our Heroine before they are parted, but I think we could have been spared the details; and there is a little gore towards the end; but just like with the dragon, the book is so unbalanced in these respects. The sex scene is also deeply weird, because it occurs on OHi's nominal wedding night, and starts with OHi draped only in the flimsiest of bedwear, through which her alluring body can be glimpsed, and then she gets up, OH shuts his eyes for a moment, and suddenly she is dressed in her wedding outfit. Which he then rips off, obvs. But FFS, a wedding gown of that period is not a thing you get into or out of quickly, or indeed without a maid or seamstress to help you. I'm also doubtful about the absence of serving maids; but this is all of a piece: while nominally set way-back-when, all the attitudes are modern.

OH does seem desperately wet; and his loving father does seem blind to how useless he would be. Towards the end, one of his trusted-retainers-who-yet-betrayed-him patiently explains to him, and to us, that this is why he betrayed him. This explanation is necessary, because it isn't natural. The plot requires the betrayal and downfall of the house of whatever-they-are-called, because Our Author has run out of interesting things to say about banking houses, but the total failure of his father to anticipate any of it is quite inexplicable in view of his previous omniscience; I feel that better "intrigue" was required here.

Tirol 2025

Monday 25th August: we’re back from Sweden, indeed we got back on Saturday, but haven’t done a great deal. I went to the new Rainbow Rocket North yesterday, and can see it becoming the default; Mfd+J came round to dinner; and now I’m packing for tomorrow’s trip to Austria, with the declared aim of attempting the Grossglockner. Now that I’m in the stress of packing, and working out where to go, staying in the comfort of home which is after all quite comfortable seems rather appealing. To save you time, you can just look at all pix from this trip. Here's a composite trace for my route (GPS file). Compare 2023.

Tuesday 26th: sitting on the plane awaiting boarding to finish. Packed last night and as ever it is hard to fit all in so am wearing boots and trusting that axe, carrymat and crampons outside will free up space. Also I forgot my few food items. Last night also tried to work out where I’m going… it turns out that Salzburg to <grossglockner> is harder than you might think and harder than I thought. Expecting 2h bus to Zell then short bus to Fusch and probably hotel there. Wind turbines seen in the Thames estuary. By some miracle we land early, perhaps powered by the screams of infants, and I get my baggage and the 14:47 to Z, €15.30, an hour earlier than I expected. Outside it is 28 oC. Around the plain the hazy mountains, as I remembered. And so through various lovely limestone cliff and tree clad hill valleys to Z. I have a 1:30 wait for the next step so replenish lost food and buy supper: juice, joghurt, melon. And eat it by the See. Oh, and book pension in Fusch. Everything so far is delightfully clean and well presented. Bus to Fusch and to my pension which appears to cater mostly to Polish bikers and is fine. Shower, wub, charge. Note sun had left valley by 6. Pic: Zell looking S; I think we head leftish.

Wednesday 27th: [GPS] alarm 7 snooze:15 then watch Starship #10’s glorious success. With all the stupidity in the world there is hope. B’fast is good and varied, these Poles insist on it. Off 9, sky is cloudy which is good. I think there's a shuttle bus to the pass but I will walk as a good intro. Plus it should pretty. Flowers. Green hillsides. 10: a few km in on a bench overlooking the valley: it is pretty and well cared for. And they are still building. Ooh, and some sun: I’d better be off. A further rest on a providential bench at 2h then at 11:45 to Ferleiten in a little cafe on the far side from the road. 8.5 km in all well so far. My hostess doesn't really recognise “americano” but I have verlangt, schwartz which is just as good. Day now half cloudy, good. Fusch was 800m, now at 1100, lots to go. Actually I may be a little short of Ferleiten, in Judenbichlalm. A lovely waterfall ahead; but I'll be heading left behind the shoulder of trees.

15:00: Trauneralm. Glorious views to Wiesbachhorn on the R and my pass due S; GG is behind stuff. From a lovely valley walk the path has steepened; I have a bit more than 1000m to do; call it 3h; so I can have a nice rest and Radler here. Which turns out to mean, take it from the cooling trough. This may just be me, or meinfrau not wishing to speak to the weird furriner, but this is the first not-gemutlich place I’ve stopped at. Still headingl leftwards.

16:00: off up towards the unter pfandlscharte. 17: 1900. Below, a cowherd shouts at the recalcitrant to come home. Spread below me the green valley. 18: 2200. 400 to go and the rain has started; not too heavy yet but I have my coat on. 19:30: col 2663. A little later than planned but I think I can claim my 300 m per hour. Path exists all the way even if it is crummy in the “throat” (view up towards same). Rain eased off a way back but kept coat it is getting cool. Even thin gloves. 8:30: to bivvy at 2500: down from col, over stream (fill bottle) up to plateau / little lake at 8 then down. Light is fading but hillside is very bivvy friendly. By 9 I have tarp up, am in s’bag and have eaten and now these few words.

Thursday 28th: [GPS] the night went from smatterings of rain to quite windy so lots of waking up. But I survived fairly warm: 2x socks, leggings, black top and down jacket. Hope for sun but morn is grey windy chill.

Up past 7 off 7:30 meet first ascenders soon after. Down to Glocknerhaus Alpeinverein but sadly b’fast is over and they don't reopen till 11. Hmpf. So, off. Paths diverge: I had thought to go up to the Oberwalderhutte 2972 via the tourist tat but the day doesn't suit so settle for the safe and I hope easy Salmhutte. 9: over the dams in cloud - no pix - and stop for some yummy b’fast. 10:40: col at last (I think there was a valley-then-climb alt, but I missed the choice, just after the dam). Cloud persists with rare views across to Franz Josephs Haus etc. 12:20: to Salmhutte in gathering rain, but with views across valley (nb: pic is from tomorrow).

From col it is mostly “traverse” and you know what that means. Salmhutte turns out to be higher than I thought: 26xx not 24xx. Inside is warm so I am sitting with a cafe and recovering. Phone at 44% so charge from battery. What shall I do with the afternoon? Phone to 83%, battery to 71. We’re in the Nationalpark Hohe Tauern. I think M and I did something like Heiligenblut to Kals after Spittal to Lienz, oh so many years ago. Have booked night on halbpension, they didn't want to do no-dinner but that's fine. You can have the soup early, and I did. Wx continues poor and may well for the next few days says meinfrau; that may be a problem, we shall see. But she confirms that there's a route up to the ErzJ hutte (the map makes it look somewhat dodgy), if I have Steigeisen I think she said: ice steps. I have washed armpits, feet and crotch and switched to clean pants and socks and feel much cleaner (€5 for a shower was too much). And have eine glass haus rotwein. Dinner: I was disappointed by my kasespatzle until I realised that was just the salad. 7 pm. Alarm set on watch for 7 am. Bed soon.

Friday 29th: [GPS] up 7 slept well little snoring temp fine. Put phone on to charge when I notice you can. B’fast as usual now 7:30 what to do… sunshine at hutte! But thick grey clouds 300m above. Go up and get stuck in 2 o’clock rain in cloud? Or desc to… via GlorerH to Kals and try again via Studlhutte? Today's forecast comes in: it is better, less rain. I think I am bound to try going up. Somewhat above hut: old Salmhutte: placard; inside view; outside view. 3139 m after 1:30: decent, y’days rest good first day maybe a bit hard. View back down valley; the path is all fine to this point.

A little below a rescue box marked by pole with rope inside; after that path is harder, few cairns not painted, and partly crummy rock over retreating glacier. 2h: at top of rungs section ; that was atmospheric / scary; wet made gloves and hands cold; and it is longer than it looks; glad to get to top. Pic: the path is a bit poor from here; you go up the yukky scree; then there's a wire ladder than cables.

On far side not clear where to go until a clearing; but still I descended too much. And used new crampons for the first time. Ideally I’d have had nice snow instead of ice-hard glacier (really, it was clear glass-like often; probably scoured by the rain). They have a slight tendency to fall off, but I get used to them. After making what turns out to be a small hole in my right calf (detail). Little blood or pain. To top at 3h then just ridge - but airy in places, poles - to hut. Pic: from about my low point, with the cloud briefly clearer, able to see that I need to be higher up. Higher, with a bloke on the final slope coming down. From up there, looking back to the col; you can see a track; it would be much easier with more snow.

Now in Erzherzog-Johann-Hutte, as far as I can tell I’m the only guest; the guardian has kindly started one of those giant Austrian tiled fires.

Aha! Another party has arrived. Started 8:15 here 11:30 3:15 is book time so good; feeling better than yesterday. Outside is 100% cloud and windy but some sunshine; I might try going up around 2. 1:45: 100% cloud, and windy. No, let's wait for tomorrow when the forecast is… actually the guardian said less wind but since they have wifi and charge I can just check... bergfex.at/skiheiligenblut/wetter/prognose/ says kinda that (35 kmh at 2; they call that S5 and colour it red so maybe I should listen); less wind in the morning. Also I would have company which is a safety factor. Also: no free water, but on tap at €2.5 per litre. About 10+ others here now. I’ve paid my halbpension €76. 4: still cloud out. Sitting in the stove corner. Salad. Spinach dumplings. Consider what to do tomorrow pm: Lucknerhaus maybe. And so, reading DLS Clouds of Witness (still enjoyable tosh) to bed. Dortoir:

Saturday 30th: [GPS Glockner and to Kals] didn't sleep too well: left shoulder hurting a bit; some snuffling; and the corridor light. But wake up fine at 5:30, b’fast, various bustling about but I am in no hurry as usual. Under my right eye is puffy: am I getting old? There is an inch or so of snow.

6:40: off. Taking 2x sticks and axe hence big sack. Start off sans crampons. Have realised that they weren't quite tight yesterday, perhaps because of the slanty heel of my boots. So pull them in a notch. Spoiler: they go fine, even on mixed ground, but if strongly torqued will rotate at the toe. Wx is lovely: sun at hut, views down, soft new snow. Head… of course, around hut and up, following tracks, snow is good for that. After 15 mins get to Hofmanskees and put on crampons; could have done it at hut. Up easily to first ropes (but the rope itself is not fun; the alt I used for descent is no easier); leave a ski stick where others have, watch folk on the ropes and follow, with trepidation. It is steep, probably much easier snowless, now snow covers all holds. Pic: snow track up the Kees; rocks looking snowy.

Up, constantly considering how it would be to descend. Pass some ungenerous rungs, then we're on a ridge with spaced poles, for those with ropes to secure. Various parties are not far off. Get to the ridge-to-the-kleinglockner and finally decide to back off. I’ve kinda ground down my reserve of courage and am thinking of how it will all be to descend. Pix; watch folk on summit ridge-wall; don't even do pano as rotating would make me insecure. In arrears, realise that "just" ~5 m or rope and a harness and perhaps a sling or two would be all that I need to use the poles; but that's another day.

Down. This turns out better than feared though the ropes are icky; this is where my crampon turns. Down to snow slopes; easily to hut (wider view).

1:30 to high point; 2:30 overall. Hut: derobe: coffee. Sit for a bit; I’m not too tired but a rest is nice. Pic with hut sign. Sun! 10:50: start down (miss first 5 mins on gps). The Studlhutte route is straight down the ridge, cables; a bit treacherous underfoot as I eschew crampons.

Get onto snow with relief after an hour, and crampon up and toddle down. Now 1:45 in and resting at a fine prominence: I can see Studlhutte to the R on a saddle and straight ahead the valley turning green down to the Lucknerhaus.

1: Studlhutte (sign). We’re back in tourist land though that does mean a real coffee ordered from and brought to my table. Panel re routes. Switch to shoes. 2:30 (3:15 of walking): Lucknerhutte. Now there's a biscuit with my coffee and wifi. Dooown to Lhaus, which I don't actually visit. There's a bus to Kals but it leaves in an hour and walking will take… an hour. And be more interesting, so set off. We're in pine forest land now. Bits of trail but mostly gravel road. About 4:30 I remember this is rural Austria and shops may shut at noon on Saturday, or they did 30 years ago. But, the Kals one is open til 6. So buy my std juice, yog, bread, cheese; and get some salami sticks and apricot herz biccies, and a token banana. Now, where to stay? Saturday night isn't the bestest for a late booking; consider just walking on but have set my heart on a shower and bed. So, splash out €125 on Bergheimat which confuses me by not having its name up but that sorted, I’m in. Shower, wash socks and pants, settle down to eat. And watch IFSC Chamonix lead.

Sunday 31st: [GPS] up 6:50 off 8:20. Clear skies and forecast good for the next few days. B’fast fine if unexciting. Slept v well aah soft beds. Mme keen to impress on me that she is not taking the €2 tourist tax because I paid for a double room. My B+B is typically immaculate; though I am starting to find the massed ranks of flowers a mite oppressive.

Walk out of Kals to Grosdorf then onto track, initially on ski slope now woods. Kals is immaculately clean and tidy and every house has flower boxes and the frequent crucifixes are looked after. That, and the way the mown meadows sweep uninterrupted to the houses feels odd. As I was leaving, Grandma in her apron came in with a bowlful of carrots from the kitchen garden, cut out of the meadow. I'm heading for the Sudentendeutsche hutte. PPic: still climbing out of the valley. Below, the Kals campsite.

11:40: at 22xx with about 200m to the col, and taking a lunch break, having had a tea break a little earlier. The valley stretches below me, the hill shaded beyond, and beyond them the GG just peeks out, snow-dusted. 1:30: col. GG now clearly viz plus icefields W wards plus just barely the hutte.

400 m of up to “traverse” fairly gently I think. Someone has tucked a saint’s card into the signpost! 2:30: Durrenfeld 2691. Wonderful bowl, barren shale very slowly being colonised by pincushions, with an enormous anomalous boulder in the middle.

Climb it via the easy back face. Also, in a dry region where I was cursing self for failing to fill w’bottle, it has a little trickling stream (but actually there are others past the scharte and before the hutte). Would be lovely bivvi spot but I have miles to go before I sleep. 3:15 D’feldscharte 281x, cables on the far side, 4pm hutte, 2656. Lovely views.

In fact the whole day has been lovely, esp the Sudetendeutsche hohenweg section. Radler. Bit of phone charge. Swim! In their lake. In fact more of a plunge, it was chilly. But very refreshing. Pix: hutte reflected. Just before 6 go back a few 100 m around the corner which looks a nice spot. I feel a bit friendless to lose the humanity of the hutte.

Monday 1st September: [GPS] at 6 out for wee then up properly 6:40 and off just before 7. A beautiful clear morning but chill; pockets of frost in hollows and on a bit of my tarp the helmet was under. No point in waiting for sun; it is on the very top of the nearby peak and the far side of the valley but not here. Was cold overnight but slept ok.

Off! Past hutte and its still pond, a dog walker, then off on the Dr Karl Jursch weg. I’d hoped for sun at the Nussingscharte but no, so head on down. Finally 9:25 sun at Kessleralm. Choose this way not S to Steiner Alm because I guess it is pleasanter. But, it has no restaurant as I painfully discover… not on the descent, or in the valley, which seems a most untouristy one. Beehives. lso it has major earthworks going on: they are laying some huge pipes. But there is room for me to squeeze through.

And so to Gruben which is a pleasant 15-house farming hamlet, it even has a house advertising Zimmer but when I look at their terrace a guy in a tractor next door asks me what, and when I say essen? He says no. So, I sit in the shade in a lane and have lunch and watch two cats. And feel slightly betrayed. Well, the sign says 5 ½ hours (why did I pick the hut with the longest walkin in Austria?), its now 1, I can be there for dinner with luck, or a bit later maybe. The road / track up is a grind, and I stupidly reject an offer of a lift, but once I get to the path things are nicer; by the bridge at Steinsteg the valley is opening up, and I only have have 600 m to go, and I cast aside my despair and grind off the meters, arriving just ahead of time at 6:15. Spot the refuge:

There is no problem with dinner or bed; pancake soup (good) followed by beef with rice (meh) and then cake. And I get a coffee. Pay: €60 ish I think. Have a cold shower (ugh but too cheap to pay €3 for hot) and retire to matrazenlager at 8 having charged phone.

Tuesday 2nd: [GPS] overnight wind and rain, so a good night to be in. B’fast is a relaxed 7 so enjoy a lie in in comfort. Wx is mixed: there is sun on the hut; there are extensive views down, but up is distinctly cloudy.

I have a choice of down-n-round to Bonn-Mattreier, or up-n-over to Neue Prager. Or some slightly naughty over-the-glaciers which would have many choices. Badener is a nice old wooden hut (as was the Sudentendeutsche) and the people are friendly. 8:45: hmm wx is not improving now cloud at hut. 9: off to B-M. All very atmospheric.

Some excitingly steep grass to cross; 11:30 now at 24xx heading up to Galtenscharte 28xx. Signs warn of high rockfall danger. Or that's what I assume hohe steinschlaggefahr means. So far cloud is justifying my choice: occasional views down but never up. Nearly 12; 25xx; stop for 15 mins for a few dates and some chocolate etc. 1 pm: scharte 2871. There's a bit less cloud on the far side but not much less. The climb up is fine; cables for the last 200 m which I didn't use; and not obviously prone to stone fall though looseish shale because it slants. Views across, inc the hutte seen dimly over the far ridge.

1:50 Kalberscharte. Quite a nice circuit round a bowl mostly over boulder fields. Oh, the hutte is over yet another ridge… Anyway, to hutte (2750 m) a little after two, so that's about the requisite 5h. Sit, am served coffee with nice biscuit and apfelstudel.

When I look up it is raining. Hut has nice ceramic stove see pix; and is in the nice wood with modern extensions genre. Watch poor snail folk trogging up with poncos over themselves and sacs; snails indeed. French I think. Sit for about an hour then on! To the Eissee hut, about another 3h so I should make it for dinner. Pic: zig-zags up. 4:20: resting pleasantly under a big boulder overhang to shelter from the drippy rain. Got hailed on up the first scharte then break then rain; it is going to be one of those afternoons; hence no pix. And so it proves. Fortunately my raincoat is rainproof and my shorts and leggings are thin so don't care. After a bit my feet are wet but meh, they stay warm. And it turns out to be less than 3h to the Eissee hutte, good. 2521 m. After more ridges than seems plausible (Venediger hohenweg; actually rather pleasant even in the wx) the hut floats foggily out of the mist / rain / cloud; since dinner is at 6 it is just as well I’m early. Put wet kit into drying room; the shoes I was wearing, my boots which were outside on the back (not wet just damp) and gloves and hat. Extract s’bag etc from main sac in case, even though it seems dry in there. Talk (English, guiltily) with nice ~40s couple at my assigned table. Dinner is fried-cheese-dumpling soup, then spinat knodel with salat, then custardy thing. And I have a glass rotwein. Bed 8. Dorm pic taken tomorrow.

Wednesday 3rd: [GPS] b’fast 7, off 8:10. Light not yet at hut but it is a beautiful day. 20 mins later brief sun; 30 full. Up and around; 9:10 2770 looking down on a corner of the Eissee. Peaks have fresh snow down to perhaps 3000. Half hour rest+wub. 10:30: scharte: Wallhorntorl, 3044. I think "torl" is the local for pass. Very distant view of Defregger hut; but it will hide later.

View back up to col. 11:50: 2877: somewhere below the Glexenkopf; I’m pretty sure there's been some ice melt since my map. Descent from scharte was atmospheric - speaking of which noise of stone fall made me jump, but it echoes around the corner - north side, so frozen solid scree, and light snow, and cables. Get down a bit before realising I need crampons so go back a little to safe spot and put them on and descend, cautiously. Down, onto rubbish scree slopes but no markers, so guess. Across first gletscher to first rognon, cross that and desc to second gletscher and rest. Leave a few stones to mark crossing in case I need to return (unlikely) but anyway might go a different way if forced back. But ahead looks friendly (ha). 12:25: it was. Now relaxing on rock and wondering where the hut is; I’m at 2963, so is it. The thing towering above me ia is the Weißspitze 3309. Sample safe crevasse.

Hutte, 2962 m, 1pm. Signs. This was very much one of those routes where in retrospect it was fine, but at the time I was distinctly nervous about whether I should be risking it. Eventually find some cairns on the rocks (Thurs: looking up from below hut: I suspect I should have gone a bit higher and traversed more glacier) (en route: lovely little pools where the stream flows over glacially smoothed rocks; but it will be glacially cold too so skip) and then even later the Defregger hut, discretely tucked around a little shoulder. Register, coffee, cute stove, but will probably head up G Ven soon, being careful about crevasses.

1:39: and so I do. Sign says 3h, and say 2h down, I can just make dinner. Brief thought says take small sack and travel light; I take big gloves gaiters and w’proof trous but don't use them: I’m in shorts over leggings and orange coat, it is such a nice day. Burn up, relishing the light sack I can barely feel, initially up rock spur, at the top a sign and yet another poster warning about not going sans rope (perhaps I should point out that you should definitely take such warnings seriously, and obey them unless you know better), then down left a face with some ropes and rungs, then rubbish, then we're on the glacier put crampons on. There is a small amount of snow left and it holds a faint trace which I follow; as we go along this gets clearer. And so up. Pic taken in descent from quite near the summit, but it is nice so I'll insert it.

Pay close attention to glacier and crevasses; trace wiggles through traversing then up. Snow gets deeper but there are still crevasses; maybe 5 to stride over, and one dodgy enough that I balked and detoured around. Then nice snow slope which the trace takes easily, to a sort of plateau, with a big pole, where paths from other huts meet us. There's a rock peak at 3506 which helps with height: for some reason the gps map height is awol. And so, the top! Hurrah! Also, gorgeous.

Views all round in glorious sunshine and not too cold despite my perhaps underdressing. 2:20 from hut. I can see what I take for GG in the surprisingly distant distance.

And so down: just under 4h total. I didn't take any pix of the "interesting" crevasses, sadly; here's a not-very-interesting one. Now I sit smugly on a deck chair and write up, though it is a bit chill. Oh, and I didn't turn on signal at the summit; I thought it would detract from the moment. Dinner: ok but not up to Eissee or Badener quality. Bed: 2nd floor is “divided” up by rafters into various “rooms”; I have one in #4, and the luxury of the other vacant. This calls back memories of… where?

Thursday 4th: [GPS] sleep well up 6 slowish b’fast others on their way out. It is a fine morning for it; I am tempted to do again, or use as traverse, but that would be pushing my luck (later: I do slightly regret this choice; but maybe another time...). So it is time to go down. Sun to hut around 7:30 (it is well positioned for morning and evening; indeed good hut overall, lovely broad irregular floor boards and all that goes with that); sit outside in deck chair soaking it up. 8: off, reluctantly. Looking up to hut (distant; very distant). Views of y’day’s crossing, and - just- parties near the GV summit.

Gently greenly down, looking down on people plodding up.

10: Johannishutte 2122 m (wider). Coffee. Pleasant enough catering to day visitors and those on their way up to Defregger I guess. No signal. Trout.

I had planned to slog up and round to Essen-u-Rostocker but I now think I won't; instead an easy day down to the flesh pots of the valley. 12:30: Hinterbichl. A good walk down, managing to avoid the road mostly, partly by taking the track left across fields in the pic not the gravel road on the right with people on it. The upper quarry is just visible tucked into the valley.

Go over huge wash-out around upper quarry which is marked as path in map but at the lower quarry end is signed Stop - Falsch - Steinschlag, if you're heading up. Just as well I was going down… Pic: lower quarry.

In what I think is only cafe in HB, will go on to Pragraten in a bit. Mostly it is a working type agricultural village. I have just had a conversation in German! First I ordered a coffee+sachertorte, then when it turned out that had run out, I swapped to apfelstrudel nature. Remove tick from belly-button. There's a campsite (wider). And then down, via old but still working sawmill, by river, to P. It looks like there is some controversial re-introduce wolves scheme. Booking has found me Enzian for the night (room): €88+12. Run by Dutch I think. Shower. To MPreis for stuff and get carried away with melon and wine. Quiet a’noon reading+wub.

Friday 5th: [GPS] heading up to Bergerseehutte. Left about 8:30 after a crisis of where am I going? And how long am I staying out? No answers yet. 18xx still in forest overlooking Pragraten and can just about make out the Enzian (left, mid height, one back and left of the round roof; more distantly).

12: Bergerseehutte. Light rain for last 20 mins my own fault for stopping to play with streams; hut in cloud. Coffee <long pause; various people come in, usually wet, rain off and on> Heise Citron <long pause, less wet> well I suppose I must be going.

M. warns me of wx, though I don't understand the details and I presume I am seeing the same forecast as him, which is that the worst is over. Off 3:40, “contouring up”. After 10 mins it starts to look like wx and just for once I am sensible enough to put on w’proof trous before it gets bad. And so it does: hail. Pass one goat shed because I don't have the heart to displace the goats (those black n white ones) but 4:15 stop at a second, clean goatshit off bench and rest. Hail (now light snow) is ok but thunder, some close, is unnerving. Will give it 10 mins. And eat some bloody melon. This is my view for about half an hour or more.

Path is good and in better wx the panoramaweg would be splendid. Some view, towards the end. 5:50: to hut. Small, and at only 1900 m. Their Eng is as bad as my Deu but I communicate my desire for a bed and get one. Mme has a baby on her back. Quite quiet; 5 others in gaststube now. Free power in lager but no signal which is not surprising; I am looking across to the Johannis hutte valley. Plan was to sleep out tonight but it is cloud grey miserable and the valley is not naturally bivvish (one generally has a choice of deep dark moist valley bottoms, low down, with a side order of cows; or more appealling nice sunny shoulders high up, and therefore cold). Free hot shower! Wx continues poor: more rain. 7:30: at last the sky is clearing; there was sun on - it may have been - the GV; but cloud has filled the upper valley again. It comes clear just as the sun is only on the summit ridge; lovely. I get the luxury of a dorm to myself, with power socket, and choice of how far to open the window.

Saturday 6th: [GPS] b’fast 7 off 8:30. No sun at hut but it is going to be a glorious sunny day with all the peaks dusted with y’days snow. Here we're looking N to the Johannis hutte valley.

Sun 9; Michelstalscharte 2652 m 10:30. 3:20: Rote Lenke 2794. Pic: view up to RL (left hand, higher, side of the shark's fin).

Completely still; ahead, 200 m below, a lake and the Reichenberger hutte (closer). 12:30: hut. Big lake, nice snowy refl, interestingly the Gosleswand, which is uninteresting from the scharte, is an enormous tower from the hut. There are many places to go.

No wifi :-(. Order a hot lemon, which I have come to like, and a piece of carrot-nut cake. After, sit out, with trous on since a little wind has sprung up. As I sit the snow diminishes; I can compare to the pic I took 2h earlier. Off 2:30. Later: well, this is more pleasant than huddling in a goatshed against a snowstorm: lying back against a warm rock in the sun whiling away the afternoon. Having set off from the hut for Clarahutte I suddenly thought… well this doesn't seem quite right… things don't really fit together. So I reconfigured for St Jakob, 3h away. But overlooking that valley I can get signal and book my flight back (Thursday 11th) and so… well I can just sleep here I hope. Nice S facing spot with both E and W viz for the sun. I deserve a quiet afternoon.

Note that I'm using the new "rear stick" theory, which worked. Though that does make me think wouldn't it be nice to have a little flap to close the front and rear if it is windy?

Sunday 7th: [GPS] up 7 sun 7:30. Slept better thanks to “foot gloves”: I put my down inner gloves onto feet which helped keep my toes warm despite cold night: there was frost out. 10:20 / 2:30: down in St Jakob. Two excitements: I followed an “obvious” gravel road, increasingly overgrown, down the last bit, which seemed clear enough from the map, and passed a sport climbing crag, but I grew increasingly worried about its outlet… which turned out to be one of those giant concrete flood defense barriers (later: plaque about it). Fortunately I was able to wade the river and continue to town. Item two was earlier and may not have fully played out: an unlucky slip scratched my L shin badly and there is a mild swelling and a little pain. I plan to sit in this nice cafe (Knappenstube, in a big old bldg) for an hour or so and see how it develops. Wx: haze / thin cloud. Forecast: looking good today, Mon and Tues till eve; Weds rainy. 12:50: off, having visited church see pix. Also it has a free power outlet.

L shin fading I think. This valley doesn't terminate: there's a pass: hence bikers etc; more life. My chosen path to the Bruggeralm is shut by Works; I could just ignore that - it is Sunday - but realise I can be good and go up next valley… and then it turns out to have a ski lift… toy with myself at what price I’ll take it; €16 turns out to pass. And it would have been a long hot ascent; the sun has come out. 1:40: at top, Brunnalm. But their cafe ist geschlossen, boo. Heading up the Bruggeralm Bach, rest 2:25 for choc.

4pm: rest at 23xx. Out of the trees and shrubs and cowland and another 400 m to the pass Ochsenlenke. More rests; pass little lake; scharte 5:55; tired. But it has been a way. Sun just leaving the Falkommsee, 2632 (nice refl in Degenhornsee 2700 eralier).

But the col is now moved a few hundred m W. Descend, for quite a bit, then come into wider shallower valley with… three horses in it. Nice glossy ?roan? that come and say hello, then let me walk on. Come to head (Schrentebachboden) overlooking lower valley which looks a good place to stop; should get early sun. Check scrape on L shin: looks ok. Pic, looking back towards col, taken in tomorrow's morning sunshine.

Monday 8th: [GPS] sleep ok, up just after 7 with the sunlight of a clear day (bivvi), now sitting at the head of the valley having b’fast and looking down towards the Volkzeiner hutte somewhere in the shadow. Enjoy resting in morning sun.

8:30: off: goodbye horses. 9:30 down to Volkzeiner. All v quiet. Coffee+Kuche - raspberry - for an hour inc sneak charge. M. is alone, initially cleaning his pots, then setting out the tables.

10:30 off. View further down valley; and back where I've come from. Path uphill which I had slightly dreaded is surprisingly fine; faint clouds drift o’er the sun. Pause at little refurbed shed which has a nice veranda and bench, and nice weathered wood. 12: Leisacheralm 2330; closed chalet over cowshed with a cargo tele. Rest 1h. 1:50: Hoferalm 2392 now to head up to Joch. Weak signal, finally. Vilgrater Joch 2583 2:20. Views S to distant Dolomites. Up ridge of the Kugelspitze with some trepidation. But it turns out that we avoid the peak. So when across I go up the far ridge unladen. Nice views of both GG and GV. Then down (wrong but easy way) to Pumpersee 4pm. Refl.

Don't quite have the strength of mind to swim - the light is getting milky - but do have a wash. 4:40: down then up to Glaurihutte on the Geigensee; probably best seen in context in this pic.

Which turns out to be a charming 4-bunk (and more upstairs) bivvi hut with a woman called Annikki present. The terrain here - little lakes, humpy scraped rock - is good. Make myself some tomato soup. Nice now for some sphag au naturel and - gasp - a glass (or two) of white. There is a double gas stove, lighter, spare sugar salt etc; coffee filters but alas no coffee. Shall make some hot water. Talk with A; she quit her docu-film making job and is hiking to Venice.

Tuesday 9th: [GPS] up 7 and reaslise there is a tiny composting loo. A is up already and heads out soon after. Peace. It would be tempting to stay here but wx f’cast for pm is poor and tomorrow all rain so will go down. Tiny pattering noises in roof. Sweep floor, shut shutters and windows, turn off gas. Pack. Two day bods turn up - enterprisingly early of them - but aren't going in so lock door and hang up key. Farewell magical hut!

8:20: turn nose upwards towards Regenstein… oh hold on that's not where I meant to go. I meant Bockstein. Ho hum, correct, losing 50 m. To Hochegg scharte, 10. Broad views of lakes and cliffs and sun. 21: to Ochsensee, having taken a slight short cut. Col 11:30 signal f’cast looks ok today. 11:45: down far side a bit to see Arnsteiger Biwakschachel hut 2600. Tiny; one bed place, no amenities; partly under rock.

Back to col, along ridge, and start up B’stein. Boulders, crap, as usual. The last bit is a sort of split ridge or ravine; view up to summit cross from where that starts. 12:30: summit! (Proof: summit book, and following). Then I need to desc a bit (view back to ravine and ridge beyond),

pick up sack, “traverse” the S side, which is a right pain with no markings I can see but finally 1:15 to the far-side col (having, I am fairly sure, gone too low) and start of walking desc. Chased off by white sheep suckling two black lambs. 2: head of Zagoritzsee. Behind, B’stein is now wreathed in cloud. Have last of the cheese. This is kinda goodbye mountains; just a loong walkout to go.

2:40 road head. 3:15 Huberalm and light rain. The road (gravel/grass) feels eternal and I start to wonder why I chose this way (but at least it isn't sunny). No restos anywhere on the way. At 5, in Goriach (coming down into G I took a short cut on a lovely little path and got stuck behind a little herd of cows that had been called down), I look for supermarkets and find one in Ainet but its 45 mins away and shuts at 6. March on! And, arrive: juice jog cheese bread biscuits will make a fine supper. There's also a hotel so get a room; it all seems v quiet but it's a dull damp Tues eve in late summer so no surprise. Quiet eve catching up.

Wednesday 10th: unexciting b’fast in bedroom, but blaukase is nice. Walk in rain (hills wreathed in cloud, everything dripping) to stop (dry inside), catch 9:10 into Lienz €3. Now I'm back in interchangeable not individual land, but it cheerfully serves me coffee and a bun; awaiting 11:00 to Innsbruck. 10:15: finish refill coffee and may as well look around. The station is immaculate. Eisenbahn museum? It has steam trains! Ah, eisen = iron, its the iron road. Could have spent longer. There's a giant steam snow plough, a big steam loco, more engines, and lots of bits.

My cunning timing to catch bus is slightly upset by nice lady making me fill in guest book but I have spare anyway. The old engines make me think of time, of a slower and more lovely era. Musing: trains, buses, cars, walking. Bus is good. Route via Italy no border checks. 3:11: after heavy traffic we're more than an hour late and appear to be in some carpark on the Austrian side of the Brenner and possibly about to swap buses. The driver said <something> but the passenger response was mild so it can't be too bad I hope. The rain pours down. 3:30: another bus arrives. The poor driver has to swap baggage for a couple of fuckwits who didn't do it themselves. 3:40: off. This was all so dumb: 20 mins would have got us to Innsbruck (errm actually I am wrong about that…). 4: Oh, and we’re just passing the loop that would lead up to Stubaital, invisible in cloud.

4:50: hauptbahnhof. And it has stopped raining! 5:20: hotel via MPreis. Huge checkin queue so seat in cafe bar area and guzzle Austrian camembert. Room: fine.

My roommate has hung up his wet clothes and left, so we should get on well. Walk round evening Innsbruck inc Goldener Adler inc post-rain damp quiet bot garden. Back for coffee.

Thursday 11th: the man above me with the socks turns out to be a champion snorer. Up 7 buy b’fast, decent. Sit over coffee, up for a shower - our snorer is a decent guy and allows me first go - then to Spar for Lebkuchen for us, Mfd+J, and Ma; bus to airport; I’m about 2:30 early but there's little I could have done with that :30. Buses are every 15 mins €3 and the stop is near hotel. Usual dull security; the mad 50 m bus xfer to aircraft. Sun shines, hills have cloud on top.

And so on, via landing at Gatwick not Stansted, to home and M.