The Gadäwäg walk

We set the alarm early, the plan was to walk Xena early and then go up the mountain for a few hours skiing - we had hoped that after the rain in the village yesterday there would be some more snow on the top of the mountain, making skiing more appealing . However when we woke up and looked out there was no evidence of the peaks being any more covered with snow, and we could already see cars queuing for the car park and queues forming at the bottom lift. A friend reported later that it was indeed very busy up the mountain, I think because the snow is so poor at the moment many people are coming here to ski because although the snow is poor, it is better than many other places as the mountain staff do a great job of making snow for the pistes. We decided against skiing - the poor snow and busy slopes were just not that appealing. 

Instead we went for a long walk, the 'Gadäwäg walk' along the side of the mountain overlooking the village, passing many barns on the way. In this image you can see one of the barns we passed and the path. We wore hiking boots as no snow boots were necessary. In fact there has been reports of other resorts further down the Alps like Chamonix, closing some ski lifts and opening up cycle routes and hiking routes. The lack of snow this year has been quite extraordinary.

Tonight we were invited to some friends for dinner, they live here permanently and we usually see them when we are here. However this morning they texted to say they both have awful colds and flu and did not want to spread their germs so we should postpone the dinner until our next visit later this year in March (when, they tell us, King Charles is also coming here to ski!) On our walk we stopped off to give them some Waitrose mince pies, something they cannot buy here. We also bumped into other friends on our walk so it was good to see them too. 

The walk was over 2.5 hours, up and down, so a good walk. Xena loves the walks here, new smells and new doggies to meet. Yesterday we very unusually met up with two Hungarian Vizslas - the one owner, who is local, told us that you cannot buy them here unless they are for hunting purposes, the breeders control who they are sold to (they are very good gun dogs) so she had to go to Hungary to get her puppy. We came home for a late lunch and then Gavin had a zoom meeting while I relaxed. 

Another lazy night ahead now that the dinner is cancelled. Last night we started watching Stonehouse, it was unusual to see a real life husband and wife couple (Matthew MacFadyen and Keeley Hawes) acting as husband on wife on screen.