This month I made two trips I think. Right after the big rain, I made a hike in Kuchl/Golling near Salzburg. It was hike nr. 100 in the book "Kompass Wanderlust Österreich". It's a wonderful hike, impressive landscape, there are no technical challenges, but it is rather long and exhausting. I think my stepcouter conted approximately 35.000 steps, but one part of those steps was just in Salzburg Hauptbahnhof running around between the platforms. Anyway, the hike is considerably longer than stated in the book. The first third of the trail is pretty steep.

That day was very exhausting for me, mainly because of the chaos that happened at Salzburg Hauptbahnhof on the way back to Vienna. One train travelling from Munich to Budapest was delayed, and all other ÖBB trains were delayed too because they had to wait for it and then let it pass. Even the first Westbahn after the train from Munich was a bit delayed. Unfortunately I could not take the Westbahn because I already had a ticket for the ÖBB. For a long time it was not clear which was the first train to depart from Salzburg, the schedule kept changing. I did not want to take the first one because I thought that it would be crowded. But in the end I arrived home shortly before midnight. I never experienced something like this with the ÖBB, but I think on the Weststrecke this is not so rare because the trains from Germany are often delayed... Anyway, if you are going to or coming from St. Pölten, Linz or Salzburg, try to take the Westbahn because the ÖBB can be a catastrophe. Well, I arrived home not only exhausted, but also hungry and thirsty. I took a sandwich with me and ate it, I had 1 liter of water and bought 1/2 liter in Salzburg. I wanted to by some snacks from the machine on the platform but it was broken. And there was no restaurant on the train. I did make several short breakes during the hike but really there was no time to sit down at some Gasthaus.

Yesterday I made a hike in the Schneeberg region. I went from the Sebastianfall in Sonnleiten/Puchberg up to the Mamauwiese and back to Sonnleiten. It's a rather short hike, it's technically more challenging than the hike in Golling/Kuchl, but it's ok, so not really dangerous. The first part of the ascent is also quite uphill... After my journey to Corfu I realized that hiking in Austria is quite a bit more dangerous and exhausting than there... The landscape was not far as impressive as in Salzburg, nevertheless I was able to take some nice shots.

These are my plans for the next months: I am not sure yet, but maybe I should try my luck again and go to the Wasserlochklamm in Palfau, maybe there is more water in it now? There was a lot of water in the Golling waterfall, that was a few days after the big rain, but the Sebastianfall looked surprizingly "normal" - so apparently the big water is already gone? Then, in the beginning of July, I want to use my ÖBB Vorteilscard birthday ticket to go up to the Schafberg with my mum. After that, when the water is warm enough in the lakes, I would like to spend a few days either in Lunz am See, or in Großalm near the Langbathseen, but just for relaxing and swimming, with just one photo hike. Or maybe somewhere else, at some other lake. In August, as always, there are the fireworks in Budapest, and I think I also want to photograph the caves in Aggtelek. And I guess that will be it for this year, as far as the bigger photo projects are concerned. I mean in theory I could go to Tenerife again in November or so... but I think I like Greece better. Maybe Santorini, or Zakynthos next spring? Or maybe... it would be nice to photograph Rhodos town, for a change? I almost forgot: I should also go to the Waldviertel again, eventually.