Gorges and Cave

Vorderkaserklamm

We went back to the local village to see if we could book a canyoning or river rafting session for the next day.  There was nobody in reception.  So we waited.  And waited.  We finally saw a bell and rang it, and waited.  And waited.  Nobody came.  We rang the bell a few more times.  There were people sitting outside but still no personnel came.  We nearly gave up and left but someone appeared and said that the receptionist was out - he was not too sure of her booking system so we would have to wait for her to come back.  Why hadn't anyone told us earlier?!  If it was personnel sitting outside - why couldn't they get off their bums to at least tell us about the receptionist.  Anyway we waited some more and finally the receptionist came back from having dropped off a group of adventurers.  Looking at her booking system, all spaces were full for various expeditions tomorrow with spaces available for Saturday or next week.  We decided not to stay in the area until Saturday but rather continue our journey.

As we drove along we saw signs for gorges and a cave so we bought a ticket for all 3 and had a lovely time.  Fortunately we had arrived early at the first gorge (Vorderkaserklamm) so there weren't too many people around, and also it was still quite cool. The path was a circular walk to the top of the gorge and back down.  When we arrived back at the car park - it was getting full.

Lamprechtshöhle

The cave (Lamprechtshöhle) was a self-guided walk, beautiful in its own right despite there being no stalectites or stalegmites. It was quite a large open cave with the path steadily going upwards until we got to a very steep bit and lots of stairs to climb do the top.  The lit view from the top was beautiful.  There were one or two paths that were blocked off - probably for serious cavers - which was a pity becaue the whole cave system is very long.

Seisenbergklamm

We visited another gorge (Seisenbergklamm) which was also pretty.  It started off being quite an open valley, taking us past a former sawmill. Soon the gorge narrowed and the path took us over bridges, up and down stairs, along walkways...  It was lovely.  We got to the end of the gorge and decided not to take the other non-gorge route back to the car - the path looked as if it was mainly next to a road.  So we walked back through the gorge, having to turn sideways and draw in our breath when passing oncoming visitors.  Walkers who went through the gorge from the top would pay a fee at the end - which is the entrance that we came in by.

Back on the road we passed by a lake and managed to pick up dinner and also booked a room at a delightful guest house (Gästehaus Elisabeth) outside a ski-resort town which also hosted a hot spring/spa.  We have decided to stay for two nights here so that we can go to the spa and relax. The guest house owner is lovely and very friendly, and the place is really nice.

You can see more pictures in my facebook album via this link:   Gorges and Cave

Our route