Green as far as the eye can see. Curved lawns looking like golf fairways, where no strand protrudes. Here and there, cows, placid ruminants encamped in the meadows of plenty. Large wooden chalets, often decorated with flowers, dot the decor, against a backdrop of forest mountains. And when the green disappears, the limestone rock prevails, like the Kanisfluh (2,044 m), totem cliff of the village of Au, south of Bregenzerwald, in Austria.
It floats an air of perfection along the winding roads and paths of this region of Vorarlberg, the most westerly of the country. Harmony of curves, maintenance of gardens… the country is renowned for the care given to the landscapes and the opulence of its farms. Mountain agriculture does not seem to suffer here from the same ills as certain Alpine or Pyrenean valleys, weakened by the isolation and fragmentation of farms.
This territory of 23 villages inspires calm. There is a strong temptation to head out into the open air to explore the countless perched hamlets, such as Au, Krumbach or Schwarzenberg. The beauty of the mountain pastures here is a powerful stimulus for walking. In the Bregenzerwald, more than 1,500 kilometers of trails are marked out, with around fifty circuits that can be done in the day, from the easy to the toughest.
Less tiring but just as spectacular, cable cars climb to the peaks. From Schoppernau, head for the Diedamskopf (2,090 m) to take in the southern peaks overlooking the region, the Grosser Widderstein (2,533 m), the Hochkünzelspitze (2,397 m), the Zitterklapfen (2,403 m)… Beyond the meadows, these rough and gullyed mountains blurred by a heat haze dominate other peaks and glacial valleys, where rare snowfields remain.
Mosses and small flowers
Walks with your nose in the air… or looking at your feet and the wild plants that abound. This is Katharina Moosbrugger’s specialty. This naturalist guide takes us to the Fohramoos, an extensive bog area above the village of Schwarzenberg. Behind a residual brown water pond, the mixed deciduous and softwood forest covers loose soil. Further on, a clearing shines in the light. Mosses and small flowers take advantage of this to grow in the spongy earth. Some are edible, others carnivorous, such as the round-leaved sundew. “In the spring, by sticking one’s ear to the bark of the birches, one hears the water rising in the trunks. If we make a hole, we can even drink it, it’s detox “assures the young woman.
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