The good news

Look, we are only 13 days in and I can already say without reservation that the one absolute certainty is the potential for good ... or goodness, or kindness (call it what you will) in people. We've already told you about being put up by complete strangers and really looked after. Well two days ago, I was on my way from St. Veit to Taxenbach. (Sepp had taken the high road over the mountains, and I had taken the low road along the river Salzach) and I had left the village of Lend a few miles behind me. I had maybe 4 miles left to go to my destination of Taxenbach when suddenly the road I was walking on simply stopped. All that was left was an extremely busy dual carriageway with no hard shoulder to walk along either legally or illegally. After a lot of pacing up and down, and head scratching and getting more and more p***** off. And then going back to the dual carriageway to have another look and finally accepting that you would need to have a death wish to venture out among the speeding cars and angry juggernauts, I had to concede defeat. Or did I ...? I eventually decided to retrace my steps and find a way to Taxenbach over the steep mountains, but how? There were no paths to be seen on Google maps. I knocked on the first door I came to and as it turned out, that door just happened to be the right door. It was opened by a certain Monika Persterer, who, after giving me a slice of pizza to buck me up a bit, guided me up the steep mountain behind her house through what was essentially a jungle. The 2-hour hike took us up to Embach, down to the bottom of the Kitzlochklamm and finally up again into Taxenbach. I had gone from being tired and frustrated to being completely knackered, but once again filled with a strong belief in human nature. Thank you Monika! - Eamonn