Italy - Day 13: Lago di Braise to Pragser Wildsee

Confession

Ok. Ok.

I know they are the same place.

We had a spare day and the weather was good so for a change we went for a walk. The map and the tourist center aid that it was possible to do a nice circular walk.

Tourist Information: It's hard and not very many people go there.
Us: Great

So a challenge. The map showed a strenuous but easily doable day walk. So off we went. The lakes were just as pretty as before and the first part was around the lake - for the third time. But then up a valley as opposed to a rock fall like last time.

But the valley soon turned into a rock fall. It was such a pretty valley that the mountains had all decided that they wanted to go there. All of them. The rocks were crowding the trees out.

We walked up to a cottage had a bite and a beer. Thought about buying their home made bread - but had nothing to eat it with, s didn't. Talked to the cottage man as the weather looked possibly iffy by then and we weren't as healthy as we had thought.

He said that back and continuing were about the same - and if we took 'that' short cut, continuing would be slightly shorter and much much prettier. That's the way they go he said.

So we did.

And it was.

Edelweiss

Rare - it was every where.

We ended up walking on it

The path took us up and onto a wide ridge then down the side of the ridge. We even spotted the famed wild horses of the Dolomites. They are very very rare and shy, but we got lucky.

Famed wild horse

 The guy had been right - it was pretty.

A view

We started down and came to a stone wall. The purpose of which we couldn't work out. But it was photogenic. Maybe that was its purpose.

Not posing

 The useless wall went on for ages.

Leading lines

Couldn't choose

 To low to stop much... maybe someones rock collection...

Then back to the lakes

 Destination in sight. Still a bit of a trek but down with no back packs, last day.

Easy.

Italy - Belluno & Cortina (d'Ampezzo)

Belluno

Town something or other

First impression weren't promising. Luckily its only one day, we were thinking. We had spent a couple of hours in Cortina (of car fame) and it was very very pretty. But not in out hastily made opinion worthy of actually staying there.

But Belluno...

More

But during the day it grew on us. It was an interesting place - for a day and a night. Good food!

Town phallic symbol

 The town had history and was a proper working town. We met all of th epeople who we seen walking over the past couple of days. Several times - Belluno is small.

Well and corner

It had an old bridge, well camouflaged  - but due to climate change and erosion the river has got wider and has moved. So the old bridge no longer fits.

The old bridge

The back drop was as you would expect, Dolomitic and back.

Back drop

Late afternoon sun gave us a chance to play.

Artists at work

The Shadows (Walkers after the storm)

Corina (of car fame) d'Ampezzo

Really beautiful - in the let's go to Cortina for lunch. It seems to be basically an expensive ski resort. Pretty to look at but missing any depth or soul. Worth a visit but don't stay was our conclusion. 

A big one

We spent a few hours including a long lunch. Enough we judged.

Even the bus station was pretty

We figured we did Cortina.

The leaning tower of Cortina

The full name is almost bigger than the town.

Just a tourist trap

A modern, up market ski resort.

Still leaning

And to add insult to injury - no Cortinas

Belluno is the capital.

Italy - Day 12: Rifugio Bianchet to [some random road between Belluno and A(something)]

The last morning

Today is a short one. Not the usual 24 hours.

Limited views

Just a gentle trek down the valley to a bus stop. Then a bus to Belluno or that's the plan, we have no experience of buses here. The valley didn't disappoint  however. It was a wooded gorge with steeped often cliffed sides, rising to unseen tops. Sound almost poetic now.

The path, a road, unpaved but a road. So not too difficult to follow. And of course there were the people. Not.

None of them - not a single human being. Not a single alien either, I hasten to add.

It was empty. 

Anyone walking this stretch would be a couple of hours behind us. The rifugio we had stayed in was empty save us a a group of young Germans who had left long before we finished breakfast, going up.

Ellie is suffering from the pollen of yesterday the worst one by far. Luckily the path / road is easyish.

Hard to get lost

The river cascaded down beside us all the way.

Martin's rule:

"when the road runs next to the river you are nearly finished, "

was holding true. The river was absolutely unfotographable. A bit too far away and deep in the self made canyon. Too dark and gloomy for our phones.

Towering cliffs

Despite or maybe because of Martin's rule the road seemed to go on forever. The occasional detours away from the road usually not worth the effort. So we picked and carefully chose; a longer road stretch compared to a very steep track in the forest.Roads are great.

Narrow

We have been walking for days under cliffs where very big chunks of rock, if not the cliffs themselves, were falling all of the time. But today there was a warning sign. Maybe we did the walk the wrong way around.

Walk quick - don't stop

Despite the warning of immanent death from gravity we survived and finally made it to the bus stop. The bus was on time - we were early - so we sunned ourselves by the road. Breathing in the fumes of the traffic to get us re-accustomed to everyday life.

We're off to Belluno - the capital of the Dolomites, well one of them, Cortina (of car fame) is often referred to as the capital. We'll look at both an let you know.

Italy - Day 11: Rifugio Pian de Fontana to Rifugio Bianchet

Morning glory

The day started out well.

We had a short stretch to the next rifugio but didn't want to go further. We were basically finished and now had to fit in with bus schedules. We asked the people at the cottage if there was another track that would deliver us to the same place but with take longer.

Note to self: Never do this again!

There was an alternative, highly recommended: just turn right at so an so. Follow the track - that might be hard, but not impossible. No-one goes that way but its much prettier they said. The grass will be long, and while you may wander from the path its hard to get too lost.

We got to 'so and so'. Said goodbye to our Dutch friends and turned right. And up of course. The short path, and out friends, went straight into the forest. We went back onto the mountain.

The view

The cottage guys were right about everything. It was pretty. It was empty. The track was hard to follow. It was hard to get lost: to up or too down on either side to stray far. And, very unfortunately, the grass was indeed long. And ripe. As soon as we entered the meadow - the pollen started to fly. Huge clouds of the stuff everywhere.

Then we started. Sneezing, eyes watering, noses running. Three out of four of us, hay fever and badly. This high meadow was just in a different time zone to everything else. It was killing us. We should have turned round but we were stupid. We took the anti-allergy tablets that we always carry - but...

We were not happy campers...

Blurry scenery

Just walking was an effort. But it was beautiful, at least that's what Nora said. We only saw vague images through weepy eyes, between sneezes.

Ahchoo

 I think we should - SNEEZE - go this - SNEEZE - way.

Beautiful meadow

Next time we take the short route.

We got to an unmanned cottage, which was pristine. Stone everywhere - you could eat off the floor. We guessed few people ever went their - just locals who knew of its existence. Only a bit off the main drag, but a world away.

The way down from the cottage was really down. The path avoided the cliffs and just about avoided being vertical, most of the time. The rocks were rocky but certainly not solid.

Up close and personal

When we reached the target rifugio. Ellie was dead, the men: walking wounded. The kind lady there provided what medication she had. But Ellie was sick for another couple of days.

Dead

The lesson here, and one we should have known. But one that we will never forget.

"Never take the long cut"

Italy - Day 10: Rifugio Sommariva to Rifugio Pian de Fontana

"                "

Speechless.

Just wow.

The Dolomites have turned positively Alpish. The two live side by side, so I guess there has been some cross breeding over the years. The day was just beyond words - perfect in every sense. A good sleep.

Others complained about snoring but I didn't hear anything.

Strange.

Vista

Upon Vista

Upon vista

Upon vista

Our dining companions were mainly headed down the valley to some or other transit point. But we still had a few days to go. Our path lay back into the mountains and up. The up was a rocky side of a mountain with wide open views behind and to our right. Up ahead and to the left: rock and cliffs.

French family waving

The French family were ahead of us. We could see them on the top - we waved and I'm sure they did too. Their waving must have scared a family of chamois. Five of them sprinting down the scree slope. Close enough to see and hear - but dots on a camera. They past us at full pelt. Then there was a narrowing where a couple of hikers were. 

No problem for these goats - they turned right and ran up the cliff. Only the young showed any hesitation. And then they were gone. No wildlife for days then this continued flood.

Them

We paused a couple of times, for pictures, to just enjoy. It really was a spectacular journey so far.

We stopped for rests and occasionally to find the  way. Sometimes the signs were difficult to find.

Hidden sign

It turned into a bit of a scramble at one point. A bit of a ridge...

Defying death

Then across a little scree field to the col, where the Frenchman is standing.

Difficult path to follow

The Frenchman turned out to be a German walking the other way, We exchanged pleasantries and turned right - off the path - to the top of our first mountain. We wee just getting into the spirit of mountaineering, when it stopped. A bit of a cliff.

Our only summit

Today - definitely the best day so far.

Dolo-alps

Come on...

We sat at the top of the mountain, in the still warm air basking in the sun. Sand and a sea would have been nice but... Still a perfect spot for a pic-nic.

Lunch time

The way down was technical - a multi-tiered valley with marmots everywhere. The goal now wasn't just to see a marmot, or even a see a baby marmot. The goal now was to let a baby marmot to crawl over you. At least two of us agreed, and came up with the idea separately - the other two don't have the patience.

Limestone

 And it got worse the closer we got to the rifugio. It was absolutely amazing.

We saw another 5 chamois. Or possibly the same 5 again. We talked about them later. We had each seen 10 so maybe there were 50 (#Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).

The rifugio

 The rifugio was perched on a ledge overlooking nothing with steep hills behind. The perfect spot.

Tired

The dinner was spent as usual but with the company of a couple of German hikers. And friendly abuse from the Dutch group who we had been walking with for the past 4 or 5 days.