Hiking Tour: “Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 Stage 4: From Ottenschlag to Spitz”

The North-South-Long-Distance trail (Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg, also known as the “05”) starts in the north of Austria at Nebelstein and ends in the south of Austria at Eibiswald. The trail is ~500km long, ~18 000m in ascent and the same amount in descent. The trail was initiated by Carl Hermann and officially established on the 25th September 1970. The trail is separated into 3 parts: the northern part from Nebelstein to Plankenstein via the Mühl- & Waldviertel and the Wachau, the middle part from Plankenstein to Trofaiach via the Ötscher, Hochschwab and Eisenerzer Reichenstein, and the southern part from Trofaiach to Eibiswald via the Pack and Koralpe. It normally takes 3 weeks to complete the entire trail.

Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 – Checkpoints

Ottenschlag: A stamp can be acquired either at the municipal office (Oberer Markt 22) or at Gasthof Michael Renner (Unterer Markt 21). Elsenreith: A stamp can be acquired at Gasthaus Liebner (Elsenreith 1) Trandorf (alternate checkpoint to Elsenreith): A stamp can be acquired at Café Tratscherl (Dorfplatz 9). Jauerling: A stamp can be acquired at the Turmstüberl (viewing platform) or the Naturparkhaus. Spitz an der Donau: A stamp can be acquired either at the Gasthof Goldenes Schiff (official stamp) or at the municipal office (Hauptstraße 15a).

Personal impressions:
Transportation:
I’ve planned to accomplish this stage as a single day-trip because of good public transport connections. I left early in Vienna (07:15 at Wien Westbahnhof) and arrived in Ottenschlag at 9:40. Also the bus service from Spitz an der Donau operates well and allows a quick travel back to Vienna.
I did the tour on a Friday to ensure that the restaurants for collecting the stamps are open. Other than indicated, the Café in Trandorf was closed, but luckily I collected my stamp already in Elsenreith.

The hike:
I’ve started the hike on a weekday (Friday) late in the morning (~ 10:00) as public transportation service allowed me a convenient arrival from Vienna. That would have allowed to collect the stamp at the municipal office in Ottenschlag, however, I had the stamp already from my previous trip so I directly started my hike towards Elsenreith.
Similar (or to be precise “even worse”) to the previous stage, the hike is mainly done on tarmac roads and exposed to sun, sometimes even on occupied main roads. I had the bad luck of very hot and humid weather which made this hike even more demanding. Again, similar to the previous stage, this stage was not really enjoyable. The only bright spot was the hike up to Jauerling and further to Spitz after passing Zeining, as the view from Jauerling and further the trail downwards compensates a bit the strains.
The first part from Ottenschlag towards Elsenreith is solely done on silent tarmac roads with rarely shadow. Thus it is a good idea to start early in the morning before it gets really hot.
I reached Elsenreith at 11:20. Luckily the kitchen in Gasthaus Liebner was already open, so I took the advantage of getting a tasty Goulash soup with a cold refreshing beer (or two) and also got the first stamp of this tour. Since I was the only guest at that time, I also had a very nice conversation with the owners, sharing some stories of fellow hikers on the trail. After saying good-bye and being thankful for the great service, I continued my hike to Trandorf.
Although optional, I tried to get the stamp of the alternate checkpoint in Trandorf but failed. In fact, there is only a single place where a stamp can be obtained, namely the Café Tratscherl which was closed. As I got stamp 8 already in Elsenreith, I did not waste time and continued my hike, again on exhausting, sun exposed tarmac roads.
After leaving Zeining the trail became much better. Finally I was hiking through a forest with shadow and moderate temperatures up to Jauerling (Checkpoint).
Since I arrived in good time at the Burgstockwiese with its viewing platform on top of the tower, I purchased a ticket and climbed up the tower to enjoy an amazing view from up there. However, I also recognized upcoming thunderstorms, thus after having a quick cold beer and collecting the stamp , I hurried up to get to Spitz an der Donau.
Because of approaching thunderstorms, I’ve skipped the planned break at the Naturparkhaus (but still took my time to have a glimpse towards the Danube) and continued descending down on the trail to Spitz an der Donau.
Shortly before arriving Spitz an der Donau, the first drops of rain were falling down, thus I also skipped the planned detour to the Hinterhaus ruin. But because of recent bad weather, the I was forced to do a small detour because the trail was closed down due to dangerous trail conditions.
I still managed to reach Gasthof Goldenes Schiff in time. At the moment I sat down, thunderstorm and heavy rain started. Since the Goldenes Schiff is anyway an official checkpoint, I used my time wisely, had dinner and collected my stamp .
After a delicious dinner and some more beer, I went to the ferry station from where the bus service starts back to Krems and then via train back to Vienna.