Kaskögerlweg Volcano Walk, Styria

It looks like a giant camel far off in the distance, the two matching humps over 40km away but still clearly visible from any number of elevated points around here. I’ve grown used to being surrounded by the Alps, but I hadn’t realised that those twin peaks, the Gleichenberg volcanoes, are the centre of a large volcanic region known as Vulkanland in south-eastern Styria. I certainly had no objection to setting off to explore the area with the Oldies… once I was reassured that the volcanoes are long extinct.

Of course, in typically Oldie fashion, the outing turned out to be completely different to what was planned. While they were already en-route, Her Ladyship, acting chief navigator and map reader, spotted a couple of places with ‘egg’ in the name near Gnas. As they were still on their Easter ‘egg’ hunt, they took an unplanned detour, and well, needless to say, we never made it to the Gleichenberg volcanoes that day.

The whole fiasco began when they pulled over at a Gasthaus to find the ‘egg’ they were looking for on the map (it turned out that we were actually sitting on it, but they only discovered that about a week later). His Lordship spotted a sign in the carpark for a volcanic crater and also a Museumslinde (a lime tree marking the geographical centre of Volcano Country), only 250m away. So off they went on foot to have a ‘quick look’.

The view of the nearer of the Gleichenberg humps was wonderful and the information boards about the volcanoes fascinating. I hadn’t known, for example, that these ‘twin peaks’ are just two of the over 40 volcanoes in the area. Wow, this used to be quite a hot spot!

I was highly annoyed, however, when I read that this corner of Styria used to be under the sea. Typical! The Oldies moved here too late for me to be able to enjoy the Styrian seaside! Ok, about 6 million years too late. But still.

His Lordship spotted a sign for the Kaskögerlweg and suggested we walk back to the car that way round, taking in the crater on the way. ‘Sure it’s just a short round; I think it’s only about fifteen minutes.’ So we walked on. And on. And on.

‘A short round, he said!’ ‘About fifteen minutes, he said!’ Her Ladyship’s grumbles grew in intensity as we progressed, and both His Lordship and I kept well clear of her growing fury. A good hour later, she spotted a sign indicating that the Kaskögerlweg was, in fact, a 3 to 3.5 hour walk. And our sandwiches and drinks were back in the car. At this stage, her stomach rumblings were almost drowning out her other growlings and grumblings.  I’d read that the last eruption had taken place two million years ago, but I greatly feared that a fresh eruption was about to be take place that day.

Luckily, the walk was totally enchanting and Her Ladyship couldn’t help but be soothed by the wonderful natural settings. I’ve never seen such a varied route. Once minute we were walking across the top of a ridge enjoying the panoramic views, the next, we were ambling along a bubbling stream close to the vineyards.

Soon after that, we found ourselves in a beautiful beech forest with a floor of wild flowers stretching as far as the eye could see.

The onion-domed clock tower of Poppendorf Castle popped up above the trees, and even Herself had no hesitation in taking a short detour off the route to have a closer look at the castle. What a lovely pad! On closer inspection, though, the poor old Schloss turned out to be in a rather poor state of repair. Last year’s Christmas tree and mistletoe at the entrance added to the sad look of the place. I think Her Ladyship was just sad about the fact that the castle tavern was closed.

Later, our path led towards what looked like a really cute holiday cottage with a thatched roof. It turned out to be an information centre set up by a local Beekeepers’ Association, complete with beehives, garden, and best of all, a self-service shop selling honey and of, course, drinks. I’m surprised Herself didn’t demolish the jar of honey they bought as a takeaway, but she seemed happy enough to get a few calories into her in the form of a beer.

After another section through a forest, we were back amongst the vineyards. Soon after that, we finally made it to the crater His Lordship had seen mentioned about five and a half hours previously.

Unlike the water-filled craters we had seen in São Jorge in the Azores, this one was dry and accessible. There was even a boardwalk along the inner walls and so we could examine the strata in detail. Like the rings on a tree representing each year of growth, each layer of tuff in the crater represents a volcanic eruption. Gosh, this volcano erupted over 50 times!

And today it’s a picnic area in the middle of a forest. Imagine, we could have had a picnic in the middle of a crater. If we’d had a picnic. Luckily, the car was now in striking distance and Her Ladyship somehow found a renewed burst of energy to get herself back to it. And to the rather stale but oh so welcome sandwiches.

What a day! Even Her Ladyship had to admit she was glad that they’d found this wonderful walk amongst the volcanoes. It might be a while, however, before she forgives His Lordship for giving her the hump.