Blog Italy 2007 2009

Well here I am again with more tales of trekking troubles. This installment chronicles our trot across the Dolomites in Northern Italy. As usual it is not a simple route in one direction. Back in 2007 we drove to Sestri Levante on the west coast of Italy to walk the famous Cinque Terre. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinque_Terre). Having warmed up on this coastal path we headed for Bolzano (Bozen) in the Alto Adige (Sud Tyrol). This region of Italy (Due south of Innsbruck in Austria) used to be part of Austria until the end of the First World War when it was awarded to Italy as a prize for siding with the winners. It is a very attractive area both in terms of scenery and lifestyle. The people seem to have struck and envious balance between Austrian efficiency and Italian food and they are very welcoming to boot. The main language is still German but most people under 30 speak embarrassingly good English. We had read good things about Bolzano and we calculated that we could walk to the Slovenian border (east) in about 10days which fitted our schedule perfectly. We spent a day exploring Bolzano and getting the necessary maps and I would recommend a visit to this town and the surrounding area where you can find vineyards in the valley and apple orchards on the mountain sides. We arranged to leave the car at the hotel and set off on 16th October for a short 16km first day to Fie or Vols, all the towns here have two names, the Italian version and the German option. I managed a 'navigational' (error) within a few km of the start. In true Austrian style Bolzano has lots of bike paths (unlike the rest of Italy). One of these went 10km north in the valley bottom and then a mountain trail led steeply up to our target village. I opted for a gentler traverse across the mountain leaving the bike path after 5km. This route proved to be a dead end and we had to go back to the river and plan B. We arrived late in the village but still in time for a copious dinner. The next day we managed an early start targeting Ortisei (St Ulrich) about 22km away. After a steep climb to the Lago de Fie

We dropped down to Sius (Seis) which is another fairy tale village with great coffee and apple strudel. The ski lift here is still running in mid October and plenty of hikers are using it to get to the high ridge. There seem to be lots of tourists about both on the trails and in the villages, the season is certainly longer than the French Alps. The route takes us past the hilltop church of St Valentine.

Which, yet again is straight out of a fairy tale. The other side of the hill is hiding the village of Castelrotto (Kastelruth) and the outskirts hold a wonderful Panini stop with the most enthusiastic cafe owner we have ever encountered. The Panini was well timed as we have to climb to 1500mts over the Passo Pinai to get to Ortisei.

This village appears to be the wood carving centre of the universe. Everywhere you look there are little workshops turning out wooden figures of animals, skiers, climbers, etc. etc. Kim quickly realises that she will have to ship the shopping hoard home as I am certainly not adding any more weight to my pack, which already contains a vast collection of her cosmetics. The next day we target Corvara which only has one name because it is out of the Alto Adige and into Italy proper. It's about 25Km but with the 2100mt Passo Gardena en route. More beautiful villages and scenery only marred slightly by the on and off rain. We were off road most of the day and only came onto the main road at St Christina to look for food. Only minutes after we picked up the road the most extraordinary bit of serendipity happened. A camper van passed us and pulled up abruptly. Out jumped Gertrude, (an Austrian friend we met on the Chemin de St Jaques in Spain) with partner Thomas in hot pursuit. The chance of meeting like this must have been millions to one.

Thomas and Gerti had been trekking in the Otztal area of Austria and they were on their way home. We couldn’t have planned to meet like, such luck made me want to buy a lottery ticket! After we had caught up on each other’s adventures we pushed on up to the mountain pass. Fortunately the rain stopped but at 2100mts it was pretty cold. Down in growing dusk to Corvara where we were lucky to find the only hotel open. We were officially out of the Alto Adige and back to crumbling Italian antiquity.

Next day we targeted the (allegedly) posh ski village of Cortina at 33km from Corvara it demanded a reasonably early start. Having done a few of these treks we know that the time it takes to cover a certain distance can be calculated quite accurately; 4km per hour is our rule of thumb and it's amazing how constant that speed is. It's only very difficult terrain or steep climbs that slow you significantly. There is a calculation which adds so many minutes per 100mts of ascent but it's a bit complicated for me so I just add a few hours on if there seems to be a big hill in the way. So 33km should take just over 8hrs but you need a break of at least an hour so 33km is a 9hr day (or 10 it there are any hills in the way), which demands a 9am start if you are to arrive before dark. Given that there were two passes over 2100mts en route we inevitably arrived after dark. The route was spectacular though and the weather was kind. Unfortunately the people were not. We began to get out first indication that outside the Alto Adige the inhabitants of the Dolomites were not too friendly. Cortina fitted this mould too. I am quoting directly from my diary here, "Cortina, posh but everyone miserable, tourist info. a waste of time." Having said that the scenery was classic 'Dolomites', pastures fir trees topped off by soaring sheer rock faces.

A late start in Cortina because, despite the miserable shop assistants Kim insisted on touring the fashion outlets, I used the time to stock up on maps for the next few days. Despite the late start we made it to Auronzo di Cadre a healthy 32km from Cortina. The route was scenic enough but nothing much to say about the village. Next morning things livened up, the Fiat 500 rally is in town. Fiat has just launched their new 500 and they appear to be touring the country with the original version to drum up interest.

Out of town by road but quickly on to trail towards the Passo Ciadins. Near the pass the trail was blocked by a fresh landslide and we spent an hour in the woods looking for an alternative. Eventually we found a higher longer route which avoided a complete back-track. The village of Stefano offered a coffee stop but still another 8km to our destination of Sappada. Here we find a very helpful waiter who called around to find a hotel, again the only one open at this time of the year. I am sorry I didn't get his name and the name of the cafe, he deserves a special mention as helpful people are rare in these parts. We woke up to snow in Sappada but by the time we got under way it had stopped. The weather was still dull and that didn't help the fact that we had to lose 700mts of precious altitude (from 1200mts) before we climbed back up to our destination at 950mts. For some strange reason going down then up in the day seems more depressing than going over a pass then down to the final destination. Up and over the pass and down to the destination seems to fit with the natural order of things. The unnatural mood wasn't helped by the Hotel Albergue in Ravascietto which yet again was the only game in town. The next day we lost more altitude but that was recompensed by the changing scenery, below 800mts the beech forests take over from pine and at this time of the year the colours are spectacular. Our trail route took us to a ford in the river at Paluzza which Kim baulked at crossing, fortunately a jogger came running by and executed a perfect crossing using the secret stones know only to locals but now disclosed to us. The crossing was still in debate and I had to cross with my pack then come back for Kim's. She decided that if she was going to fall in she didn't want her pack to get wet!

I must say I wouldn't want to do it in when the snow melts. We reached our target village of Paularo by 4pm and decide to drop the packs and knock off 4km of tomorrow’s route. The rules of engagement allow for this provided the taxi (next day) drops you at the spot where you walked to. Walking without a pack is after days of weighing an extra 10kg is like floating on air, I think weight watchers should try it to show their fatties what losing a few kg will feel like. Our hotel in Paularo deserves a mention though you will only find yourself in Paularo by accident. The Abergo Regina della Alpi, run by Mum and Daughter team Michela & Menean. Things are looking up on the miserableness front, these two are very pleased to see us and fix a slap up stew for the evening meal. It has to be said that we are getting near to Austria and Slovinia so perhaps there is a psychological effect. It was good to get a few kms knocked off the following day because we still had all of 36km to cover after the taxi dropped us at yesterday's marker point. We also had to cross the Passo del Cason at 1500mts and it started to snow at 1200.

Eventually we make Pontebra and a well earned Panini stop, here the tourist office were the antithesis of Cortina and couldn't be helpful enough, they booked a hotel for us in Malborghetto which was still 12km away fortunately we discover and old disused railway that looks like it takes us there. The maps for Italy are a bit haphazard with three different private companies vying for business. Ironically the worse of the three is an Austrian outfit called Kompass, but they have the best geographic coverage, the better map is produced by Tabacco an Italian company but they have limited coverage. Fortunately today we are on a Tabbaco map and the old rail line shows up, it helps us avoid a road tunnel that would not have been much fun to share with the Italian drivers. Next day we calculate only 24km to the border of Slovinia with the town of Tarviso en route, we devise a plan to go to Tarviso, check out accommodation, drop the packs and take a taxi to the border then walk back to town. The old railway becomes more and more useable and from the village of Camporosso it is a fully fledged tarmac cycle path. Tarviso boasts ski slopes and it is obviously trying to improve it's all round tourist appeal. Tarviso also has more than one hotel so Kim has to do a tour to see which one comes up to spec. This wastes time but allows me to sit in the bar. Eventually we set off 'packless' to the border in the taxi. The driver speaks some English but I don't think he ever managed to understand what we were doing; driving to the border and walking back seemed very odd. Had Slovenia still been part of communist Yugoslavia I'm sure he would have thought we were spies.

The trusty railway track was in the process of being upgraded to cycle status so we used that to get back to town. 272 Km in 10days not too bad an average. The following day we took the train via Venice back to Bolzano which took all day and seemed very inactive compared to the previous 10! Now leap forward to September 2009 when we decided to do the next leg, Bolzano to the French border near Courmayeur (east to west) the completion of this leg would bag the crossing of the whole of northern Italy. Again we concocted a devious plan to get started. Friends Andrew and Vicky from the UK (avid readers will know them from the star role they played in the England walk) wanted to do some motor touring in Europe in their two seater. So they drove to our place in Combloux France and we all took our car to Bolzano. Andrew and Vicky spent a day with us in Bolzano then left us to walk back while they drove back via Innsbruck and the Italian lakes. Remarkably for such a complicated plan everything went to schedule and we all arrived in Bolzano on the 23rd of September. The next day was spent collecting maps and visiting the Otzi mummy museum. Once again Andrew and Vicky bag the best support team prize. Thanks you two. Otzi is the mummy that climbers found in a glacier near the Austrian border and he is wonderfully presented in the museum along with his possessions and other mummies to keep him company. Check out http://www.iceman.it/ for more information. Bolzano really is worth a visit and not just to see Otzi and his friends. After we said our goodbyes to Andrew and Vicky we set off at 11:30 in fine weather targeting Malasco over the Mendel pass at 22km this seemed achievable. Of course what I hadn't calculated was the 1000mts of altitude between Bolzano and the pass.

The west of Bolzano is less attractive than the east and like any large city it has it's slummy bits, but we were soon out of the suburbs and into the village of Frangan walking through vines and apple orchards and admiring the handmade barrel workshop,

still blissfully unaware of the climb ahead. For all my map reading experience I still tend to ignore contour lines, I quite like the Swiss maps as they have shaded mountain relief which tends to shout 'look out big hill here' with more intensity than most. Our primary route choice was over the road pass but I spotted a more direct route over the Passo Forcolno which seemed to have a good way-marked route and it went straight to our destination. It was 100mts higher than the road pass but it looked like it was worth a try. Due to our late start it was already 3:30 and one of the markers indicated 2hrs 30mins to the pass, we still had 5km after the pass but we decided to go for it. The route up bordered on mountaineering with some sections cabled (via ferrata) to help with security. Fortunately the trail was well maintained and eventually led to the pass. Attempting this climb on the first day was a little ambitious and we were feeling the effort, still with 5km to go to destination we set a good pace through the woodland for about 3km then came to a clearing with a beautiful sight. Alpine meadows at 1300mts with the hotel Falchetto right in the middle.

This new hotel is in the strangest of places but who were we to question their logic. They were open and had a room. We noticed the coach outside and soon found that our dinner partners were the local mentally challenged. We have noticed on all of our walks that we appear to have an affinity for the same places as the institutional outings. We probably fit in the same category. The evening was pleasant with occasional bursts of song and no one complained when I dribbled food on the table cloth. During the night the heavens opened and it rained like nonstop for 8hrs, by morning though the sun was out again and we set off to shoot for Revo a more modest 18km away. At the first village of Samonico we realise that people are speaking Italian not German so we are out of the Alto Adige already. We are also out of the tourist area, into apple country and it's harvest season. Everyone and his dog (literally) are out picking apples and little tractors trundle around trailers bulging with ripe fruit.

Once again we notice that in real Italy (not Austrian Italy) the people get more miserable. Around this point our miserableness rating system (MRS) started to develop, it's a bit confusing for two reasons, one it sounds like an antibiotic resistant bug and two an MRS of 10 is very miserable but an MRS of 1 is very happy. A bit counter intuitive really. There are few people walking on the trail (they are all picking apples) but the ones we see studiously ignore us. The etiquette of acknowledging fellow walkers is interesting and complex but it usually follows (UK Switzerland France, Belgium, Germany) that outside built up areas one says 'hello', or whatever is the local equivalent to anyone you pass on route. Not here! Ignoring your fellow traveler appeared to be the norm. OK in areas were walking for pleasure is not common (like this one) we may look strange and I (though not Kim) may look like I'm homeless, but surely a jaunty 'Bonjourno' is not out of the question? There was another odd observation about this time. We noticed that most houses had high fences and security cameras despite being in the middle of nowhere. Our village in France has virtually no fences and certainly no cameras and we didn't remember seeing this level of security in the Alto Adige. Indications of high crime or just more insight into the frightened psyche of the locals? In the village of Dambel the cafe only offers drinks no food but the owner is quite pleasant (MRS 3/4) and plies us with tourist information. He doubles as the tourist office (quite a good idea really) but there's not much a tourist would want to see. Without any prompting from us he appologises for the locals calling them 'farmers who are only bothered about apples'. He speaks French so I assume he's not from the area. Whilst sipping a cappuccino, I notice in one of his brochures a reference to the 'Parco Fluvial Novella' and track it down on the map. It's a good route choice for our destination and promises spectacular gorges. Although the village is only about 1km from the north entrance to the gorges there is no indication that it exists (other than in the brochure). We set off through the apple orchards in search of the entrance. After a bit of searching we find a new sign board and a small picnic area. Things are looking up and the start of the trail is well made and even has fencing to stop you falling into the gorges. Given the steep side of the valley the trail obviously took some preparation and is not an improved ancient route but a brand new footpath especially for the tourists. The whole thing is cut into sheer cliffs and has shiny new fencing; it must have cost a fortune in European tourism subsidy. About 1km into the gorges and the inevitable has happened a recent landslide has taken out about 300mts of trail and there's no way through. Obviously the bureaucrat in Brussels who approved the money didn't think of that.

Fortunately there is an alternative but it involves a 3km back track to the village of Cloz where Panini awaits us. On to our target of Revo where we find a helpful local lady who wants to show us the B&B. We have learned to be a bit wary of locals claiming to know good accommodation addresses as they are usually related to the owner and their opinion of the quality is biased. Not so on this occasion and we are please to meet Daniela (MRS 1) who has just opened the apartment B&B. Daniela is everything you expect Italians to be bubbly, excitable and well dressed, but that's because she comes from Milan! She is apologetic about going out this evening and can't cook for us, but she shows us where the local Co-Op is and we set off to get provisions. The apartment has a kitchen and I draw the short straw on the cooking contest. The next morning Daniela provided the best breakfast of the whole trip with homemade bread and a plum tart! Wonderful weather still but we have to take a lot of road to get to Male as it lies on the other side of two major rivers. On the other side of the River Noce we manage to pick up a great cycle route which takes us off road for the final 10km to Male. We are heading towards ski country and this area is obviously making an effort to attract the tourists. The river valley is open and pleasant surrounded by spectacular mountains and the river is well suited to kayaking and trout fishing. Male is not a bad little place and they are having a mountain bike festival which seems to have drawn the crowds. The stunts are quite spectacular.

The hotel is passable (just) and we find a pizzeria that serves from 6:30 with cheery waitresses (MRS 2/3), obviously we are back on the tourist trail. The next day we plan to push on towards the Passo Tonale a mountain pass and ski area, with a fall short hotel called Chalet al Foss en route. The riverside cycle route from Male continued for 10km, we passed the village of Dimaro which is has a new ski lift to access the Madonna di Campaglio ski area to our south, Madonna di C is supposed to be very attractive but unfortunately not on our route. The sleepy town of Pellizzano was a pleasant stop and a pleasant cafe lady (MRS 3) makes us a late Panini. There seems to be a trend developing, the Italians who are exposed to (in fact depend on) tourism can be quite nice but the ones that don't make up for it with high MRS scores. We lose the bike route after Pellizzano and the terrain gets tougher not helped too much by my route choice. The fall short Chalet al Foss is looking like a good option. It's amazingly full this time with two coach loads of German tourists and a lot of road works teams who must be preparing the access roads for the forthcoming season. (not a bad reception here MRS 3/4). This hotel turns out to be quite the reverse of most the reception and dining area have not been renovated since it was built in the 70s but the rooms have just been updated much to Kim's delight. There was very little traffic on the road to Passo Tonale and the alternative meant losing altitude so we opted for the road. Passo T is awful, a dreadful example of creating a ski village where no real village existed, a hotchpotch of styles and buildings which would look more at home in city suburbs than a mountain pass.

On the contrary the next village, Ponte di Legno over the pass to the west is charming and we are sad that it's only 15km into the day. We push on another 5km to Temu where we check into what appears to be a quiet hotel with a MRS 9 owner. We drop the packs shower and cross the road to the pizzeria which opens at 6:30. As we are enjoying the pizza we are horrified to see two German coach tours pile into our hotel. Hoping for an early night we get back at about 8:30 and find that they have brought their own band! We try to sleep to strains of slapping thighs lederhosen, in retrospect we should have joined in. Next day destination Aprica a ski resort I visited in the early 80s, all I remember from that trip was the lack of snow. Today's route has one of those depressing dips in the middle as we have to drop from over 1000mts to Edolo at 800 then up to 1200. The route is pleasant though but Edolo confirms it's self off the tourist trail with Panini stop scoring a dramatic MRS 8. A good 32km today with plenty of climb so we arrive late but to a warm welcome at the hotel Haish MRS1. The extremes of MRS in this country are quite unnerving although the pattern of low MRS in tourist areas and high MRS not far away does appear to be consistent. This family run hotel could not be more welcoming and the food was excellent. Aprica has grown since I was last there but it is no more attractive. We set off the next day with a cheery goodbye from the hotel family, the route choice has been tricky because we need to drop down into the Sondrio valley but want to avoid the main road. I chose a route which follows the south side of the valley on a tiny back road, then take a risk on a track that looks too good to be true. The track must have been an old railway as it follows the contour of the hillside, part of it had slid away but there was just enough left to squeeze through on foot (but don't look down). Another scary moment when we could see an old tunnel in the distance. You never know if these old tunnels have collapsed or been blocked. Phew, this one is clear and with the aid of our trusty headlights we make it through.

After reaching the valley bottom we pick up a cycle route and have an uneventful trot into Sondrio along the river. Sondrio old town is quite nice and the hotel was very swish but we must be off the tourist track. Claudio the desk clerk scored a full 10 on the MRS. We tracked down the only pizzeria that appeared open (no thanks to Claudio). The next day found us back on the cycle trail which looked like it may most of the way to Morbegno tonight's target. The village of Fusine provided a coffee stop and a diversion as we watched two local women buy at least 10 lottery scratch cards and scratch away for 15minutes. They must have been hoping to escape. Morbegno beckoned and provided the worst hotel room so far, fortunately one of the better meals. The map didn't show the bike trail going west from Morbegno so we found a back road through the village of Cosio, the fences and barbed wire were getting serious now, and most houses had automatic sliding gates that protected the fearful occupants. We were walking past one of these fortresses when the owner was leaving in the car, upon seeing us she stopped and waited for the gate to slide shut before she drove away. We must have looked like we were going to sneak in and steal her plastic curtains. We were forced back to the main road and thought we had no options but we caught site of cycles in the distance. The cycle route had been recently completed west of Morbegno, saved from the Italian motorists! It's Saturday so the path is quite busy, people still studiously avoid any greeting. About 7km from Morbegno is wonderfully renovated model farm which boasts visits to the dairy and a great farm shop with coffee and ice cream. It's a bit early for lunch but the ice cream is good. It is obviously a popular place with coaches and cyclists converging on it from miles around.

The cycle track is still not on the map but it appears to be going to Colico and our first view of Lake Como. The trail turns to gravel which stops the racing cycles and we are left in the company of a few mountain bikers on the final stretch to the lake. Eventually we emerge from the trees to see a blaze of colored kites; the lake shore is swarming with kite surfers preparing for the afternoon breeze.

The kite-boarder’s café is still open to so have a late lunch while watching the fun. The lakeside village of Colico is quaint but Kim wants to stay in Bellagio so we hop on the ferry and enjoy a cruise down the lake to the village.

In addition to the beautiful views the trip entertainment consisted of watching the Kite boarders play ‘chicken’ with the ferry, on more than one occasion the Capitan had to jam the brakes on.

The plan is to spend two nights in Belagio return the next day (to Gravedona on the opposite bank) and walk down the west side of the lake to Menagio then ferry back to Bellagio.

Bellagio is an attractive town and it’s late enough in the season to be relatively quiet. We are firmly back on the tourist trail now and the hotel welcome scores MRS 1. The next day we take the early ferry to Gravedona which is opposite Colico on the west bank of Lake Como. This side of the lake appeared (on the map) to offer the best walking opportunities but there is no continuous trail all along the lake side. Many of the old villas had lake access from their spacious grounds so I suppose the current owners don’t want the plebs in their palatial gardens. Most of the villages have attempted to make some sort of lakeside walkway and we manage to patch together a route which takes us to Menagio. The villages are quiet a hotchpotch, some gentrified with renovated villas and others quite slummy. One obvious reason behind the fortunes of the villages is the possession (or not) of a ferry terminal. It seems that a motorized service started in 1826 and the villages that were linked must have benefited enormously.

As you can see from the photos we have been very lucky with the weather, it’s now 10 days since we left Bolzano and we have had no rain during the day and mostly clear sunny weather. We arrive in Menagio about 5pm and the next ferry (a car ferry) back to Bellagio is at 6 so we have an hour to look around. This is by far the nicest village we have seen on this side of the lake. Given that we had no packs today’s distance of 20km was a bit shameful we must have been admiring the views. The morning ferry brought us back to Menagio (with packs) and we are targeting 26km to Moltrasio The path is once again very intermittent and we switch from lake side to road to high above the lake to try to find the best route. By far the best village on today’s route is Lenno a small village nestling on the north side of the Lavedo Peninsula. The surroundings also boast some rather nice real estate.

Things appear to be looking up on the MRS too. People say ‘Bonjourno’ on the trail! On this section of the lake there has been an effort to create a formal footpath called the ‘Greenway’. This is relatively new and not on our map but it’s quite well marked and keeps us off the road. Unfortunately it only lasts about 10km and we are then left to our own devices again. The main road here is getting more and more treacherous so we were happy to find an old lakeside road with very little traffic with lead to Moltrasio. Next day we were to say goodbye to Lake Como at Cernobbio and head off west into Switzerland for a few km. Of course as soon as we entered Switzerland there were cycle paths and footpaths everywhere, unfortunately we were only there for one hour. Onwards to Capolago on the south west tip of Lake Varase, we had left the mountains behind and the lakes to the west of Como are much less attractive. We were pleased to find that Lake Varase has a cycle path round it and that provided a few km of security before we back on road. I have penciled in so many route choices for today that I manage to take the wrong route out of Cassineita Rezzone, now my navigational errors are legend but none of them have had such a happy ending as this one. When I realise the error we were 1km into the ‘wrong route’ so too far to go back, but we spot the red and white markers of a European long distance path. This is nowhere to be seen on the map but it appears to go in the right direction. A little further on and a helpful local (MRS2) confirms that it does indeed go to Travedona. We push on round the north side of Lake Monate and on to Angera on the east shore of lake Maggiore, Angera looks a bit grim so we catch the ferry to Arona. Arona is quite touristy and scores an average 3 on the MRS, probably worth a visit if you are touring the lakes (don’t stay in the Hotel Atlantic), but we had get to lake Orta so we didn’t spend any time there. Quickly off the tourist trail and the prize for most miserable with a MRS10+ goes to the bar owner in Invorio who was so rude we walked out. Those security fences were getting higher as well so there must be a correlation between high MRS and high fences. Kim has been looking forward to the Villa Cespi near Orta, a hotel in an old villa built in the Moorish style in the 1800s. It looks cool but I’d recommend staying in the village rather than here. Orta village is a hidden gem a little bit crumbling but perhaps all the better for that. The Isola San Giulio looks like it’s worth a visit too, we never made it there because the following day for the first time the heavens opened and visiting islands didn’t seem very appealing.

After crossing the lake we plod through dreary villages to Pongo where a child sees us coming down the road and actually runs away. It must be said that we can look strange in full cover ponchos but surely not that scary. We really are in the middle of deepest dreariest Italy here, it is (was) the textile mill region but when the mills closed they didn’t find anything else to do. The night in the town of Borgosesia was too horrible to recount. We left the dark satanic mills behind in Trivero and start the serious climb up to Bielmonte where things started to look up a bit, a ski area at 1400mts with one hotel where the family appeared to be pleased to see us and very helpful. The road from Bielmonte is called the Panoramica Zenga, aptly named as the views are spectacular. The rain has cleared the air and we can see the distant peaks of the Southern Alps beyond Turin. There are not many off road route choices but it’s Sunday so we hope the traffic won’t be too bad. Unfortunately clearing weather tempts the motorcyclists out so the tranquility is shattered every now and then.

We are seriously back into the mountains and push on to Piedicavello at the foot of the highest pass so far, we arrive in Piedicavello at 2:30 and debate the merits of going for over the Col della Vecchia at 2200mts. There is an unmanned refuge en route but a local tells us it’s closed at this time of the year. We decide to wait until tomorrow. The next day we set off for the col and find that the refuge is open with fuel supplies and blankets, we could have been here last night! Near the refuge is a small lake which must be an attraction in the summer.

In October at 2000mts it’s a bit chilly so we don’t stop for a swim. On the other side of the mountain we descend to the village of Gaby and en route meet an inspiring old lady gathering fire wood. Yvonne is 80 and still going strong, she is French and has lived on both sides of the Alps. Let’s hope we are all still able to do this at her age.

This valley is a different world, the security fences have disappeared and the people are friendly. We stumble on a great B&B run by Elvira who insists on preparing some pasta for dinner. Thank you Elvira.

The next day we push on to Gressoney St Jean, another ski village, where we need to decide if we cross the pass to Brusson today or leave it until tomorrow. We arrive in Gressoney around 12:30 and find nothing but helpful people. Whilst studying the map and looking up at the pass a local chap offered help on the route choice. Amazing, these people must be genetically different from the ones we left behind. One of the problems affecting the decision is the fact that Kim has had a growing problem with a recurrent back injury. This manifests itself as a sharp pain which she can ‘cure’ by lying down (all night) or with alcohol! I know this sounds like good excuse but it’s true. She can never tell what a certain day might be like but today was bad. We decided to go for the pass today but she said that would need some anesthetic. 3 glasses of Prosecco later and we set off. Some parts of the trail were quite technical and I wondered how I was going to explain Kim falling off a mountain to her children. I wonder if the autopsy would show the alcohol levels. Fortunately we made it to Brusson at dusk and the lights of the village made a welcome sight.

The reception in Brusson was lukewarm and we were glad to move on to St Vincent in the next valley. St Vincent is a casino town and is bustling with activity but we didn’t have time to visit. En route from St Vincent to Nus Kim’s chest problem becomes worse and we know that we have some serious mountains to cross from Courmayeur to France. Things are not looking good. In Nus we have a big pow wow and decide that it will be safer to call it a day and come back to finish the last 4 days another time. A helpful bar owner in Nus drives us to Aosta where we can get a coach to Courmayeur and then on to Chamonix. A disappointing end to 19days and 460km but we’ll be back to finish the job soon. …………..To be continued……….