Keeping a low profile

Day 5: Stall to Kleindorf

Hours walked: 9:30 - 1:00

Kilometres walked: 10.1

Quote of the day: “ That was the first time I’ve touched a goat’s horn! It felt hard but like there were secret patterns on it!” - Tova

Jesuses seen: 6

After eating a lot of yogurt with blueberries, we headed out of our cosy apartment and were given a fond and happy farewell by its owner. The kids were pretty pleased to be diverging from the Alpe Adria Trail for the day, especially as the Trail climbed steeply into the mountains whereas we followed the Möll River through the valley. The reason for this detour was partly because none of the accommodations in Innerfragant were open yet, but also partly to preserve our sanity and the good cheer of the children. The Alpe Adria sometimes tries to achieve being both a mountain route and a route that hits towns every night, which makes for a lot of up and down. Like any good chiropractor, we’ve straightened and mended the route as we felt necessary. 

We were on a series of small roads which passed by family farms, which have farm animals, which we all enjoyed. At one point, a fiendish-looking goat came trotting towards us, horns lowered. We all cowered and Tamar hid Zadie behind her, but it turned out to be pretty friendly and soon we were feeding it grass. Sophia enthusiastically grabbed a large handful of stinging nettle, with painful and immediate consequences, and then Zadie, usually a faster learner, did exactly the same thing a minute later. Meanwhile, Aurora carefully and quietly picked tender shoots of grass and fed them to a woebegone white goat, while Tova did everything she could to convince the fiend goat to join us on the hike. 

Following our map, we decided to take a small forest trail to cut off a section of bike path. Like other bypass trails we’ve taken, it didn’t go that well. We bushwhacked through tall dewy grasses, stinging nettles and mushy streams. The highway mocked us from 300 metres away. After tramping through a few fields, our feet happily hit concrete again. 

We walked into the small town of Kleindorf early enough that we were all full of energy. “This feels like a rest day,” remarked Tamar. The kids didn’t agree. We had time to do laundry, we had time to play cards, we had time to go to the grocery store twice, we had time to go for 

an evening stroll, you get the idea. It was a good, easy day.