Читать книгу The Adlerweg. The Eagle's Way across the Austrian Tyrol онлайн

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The path was conceived and implemented by the Tyrol regional tourist organisation, who named it the Eagle’s Way (adler being German for ‘eagle’) as, when overlaid on the map, its silhouette appears in the shape of an eagle, the outspread wings of which reach from one end of the Tyrol to the other, with Innsbruck, in the middle, as its head. The proud eagle is said to represent the feelings of freedom and independence, power and wisdom, grandeur and dignity, which you can experience by hiking the Eagle’s Way. Since the introduction of the main route, the project has grown as offshoots from the path have spread right across the Tyrol: the eagle has grown legs. There is even a separate ‘Eaglet’ path of eight stages in Ost Tirol. The complete Adlerweg network now includes 126 stages with a vertical rise of about 87,000m. This guide concentrates on the 23-stage main route, plus the six ‘easier’ variant stages and eight ‘harder’ Alpine high-level stages.

Hiking in the Tyrol would not be complete without Austria’s legendary hospitality and native cuisine. Since overnight accommodation in the form of serviced mountain hutten, inns, guesthouses or hotels can be found at the end of each day’s walk, all you will need to carry is a sheet sleeping bag. Everywhere along the way there are convenient places to eat and drink. These range from simple alpine pasture huts in the mountains, offering locally produced fare, to award-winning restaurants in the towns and valleys. Indeed the accommodation and refreshment opportunities are so well spaced that, with a little forward planning, it is possible to walk the whole route without once needing to take a picnic lunch. On most stages, frequent water fountains and springs provide a safe source of drinking water.