NB 'Col' in these parts means a summit.
The via ferrata was a great success except for the 'lunch box incident'. When packing, Mike had noticed a lunch box in his pack. Job done, he thought. Not so. Said lunch box was mine - containing two squares of chocolate from yesterday. Mike's lunch box spent the day in his room's fridge.
It was a case of surrogate mum to the rescue (thanks for sharing your lunch, Susan), and lunch in the jacuzzi for Mike.
Those of us who went up Col de Lana enjoyed great views. Much of the Alta Via 1 route can be seen from here. The flowers were truly wonderful, including whole meadows of bright blue trumpet gentians like the ones shown above.
The summit is littered with WW1 paraphernalia - a crater where 45,000 kilos of explosive took out part of the summit ridge; at least 1 km of tunnels that we explored; and restored 'trenches' leading down the ridge and forming the footpath.
It was a short walk, taken at a leisurely pace, with a lunch hut at the summit. We sheltered from a shower there, and from a second shower in a tunnel.
Sue and Julie descended ahead, whilst Julie's phone made unprovoked calls to mine, including a voice message comprising muffled footsteps and chatter!
We arrived back at the same time - from different directions due to a girly navigation error.
Then it rained, but after our ritual sauna we enjoyed another good dinner at the Sport Hotel, albeit - in true Italian fashion - they struggle to please our two vegetarians.
Messages:
JJ - get better soon, and Sue says she is finding red wine a very good muscle relaxant.
Collett's Mountain Holidays - have you nothing better to do than surf the web? I expect soon to find a comment on Chalet Barbara being a fine place to stay!
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
1 comment:
Ooh, more lovely gentians! Thanks for posting :)
It really does sound as though you're having the most wonderful time! I'd love to get out there at some stage.
Continue to enjoy!
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