Friday 4 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 10 - The Hills Are Alive.....

Ibex

Plan: Lac della Vacca to Rif Soria Ellena - 15 km, 1100 metres ascent, 7 hours

Actual: River Camp in Val del Sabbione to Rif Soria Ellena - 1840 metres
20 km, 1600 metres ascent, 9.4 hours including 1.6 hours breaks.

Best bit: Herds of ibex and chamois

New high point: Colle dei Vei del Bouc - 2620 metres

The hills today were alive with herds of ibex and chamois. Marmots scuttled everywhere and snow finches and stonechats busily protected their nests.
Even here at the Rifugio, whilst we are dining a fox is sitting expectantly on a picnic table outside.

(Later...said fox tries to seek refuge in the Rifugio whilst a stone eagle hovers hungrily above.)
The Swiss identified it as a 'stone eagle'. It looked much like a golden eagle to me, perhaps even bigger! [It was actually a bearded vulture.]

It was one of those days we will remember fondly when the going gets tough.

It was great.

Having crossed the river last night we were soon at the top of a thrutchy bank strewn with bistort and Nottingham catchfly and strolling along the M5, dodging mosquitos that luckily hadn't found our excellent camp site. Up at Lac della Vacca it was wonderful. A wild camp site for connoisseurs. It was a shame we had missed out, but yesterday's decision to stop early made sense at the time.

The boundary with France was nearby, so we nipped up to visit it. Gentle slopes led to alpine pastures much less rugged than on our Italian side.

And so we headed up the ancient donkey track to our highest point of the trip, at 2620 metres, where we found another herd of ibex. The clear air held wonderful mountain views.

A 1200 metre descent on well graded paths followed. Our paths today were old trade or war routes, so are 'donkey friendly'. This makes them much gentler in gradient than many alpine paths, and a pleasure to be on.

Having seen nobody in the morning's remote valley (since leaving the GTA route nearly 24 hours earlier, actually), it came as a surprise to meet a day hiker below the col. Several more were met as we descended to the security (and welcome lavatory) of the bar in San Giacomo.

From there it was an easy stroll on the GTA (rejoined here at the start of stage 6, after we left it yesterday half way through stage 3 - our border route took a big short cut!) up a broad path to this fine establishment, run by a Philippino lady and her sister. We have the company of 3 Italians and 13 Swiss/Germans. The common language is English. The menu for tonight reads:

• Pasta w/gorgonzola sauce
• Baked meat w/pizza sauce + flowered polenta w/cheese
• Catalana cream

And delicious it was too, in between watching the eagle.

Strange that English is the common language when according to the hut book the only native English speakers to pass through here within the last two years are Geoff Bailey and Kate Malfroy (malfroykate@mac.com) who passed through on 20 June on day 5 of their 35 day GTA trip. We knew of their existence from yesterday's Germans, and it will be good to swap stories at some point.

Anyone wishing to view our summary and detailed itineraries, or our kit lists, should use the link to the GTA web page from the home page of http://www.topwalks.com/

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Thursday 3 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 9 - Alpine Strawberries for Breakfast

Campsite in Val del Sabbione

Plan: Limonetto to Lac della Vacca - 13 km, 1900 metres ascent, 7 hours

Actual: Bus from Limone to Limonetto, then planned route as far as wild camp in Val del Sabbione - 1800 metres
10 km, 1300 metres ascent, 6.75 hours including 1.25 hours breaks.

Best bit: Scenic Lakes
Summit: Monte Ciotto Mieu (MCM) 2378 metres (just a couple of metres below our high point to date)

We stopped today before 4pm, so it was another short day. That was because it had started to rain!, and we spotted a possibly good site for the tent. By the time we had dropped down to the river and filtered some water (there was a big herd of chamois above us) the sun was shining again. But we persisted and found a nice spot across the river.

We can catch up tomorrow, albeit by way of a long day.

The act of crossing the river to get to this secluded spot was notable for me in that after nearly falling in at the first attempt, I used my crocs for the purpose for which they were bought 18 months ago - river crossings - for the very first time.

We didn't see a soul after leaving Limonetto on the 900 metre climb up to a notch on the horizon - Passo di Ciotto Mieu. The strawberries provided a succulent second breakfast, the sun shone, the flowers waved in the breeze, the streams sparkled...

Yes, we now have streams and need to carry only a litre of water, or less. My load has however been compensated for this reduction by the addition of a spare gas cylinder.

The views from MCM were the clearest we have had yet, though neither Monte Viso nor Monte Rosa (should we really be able to see our final destination at this stage of the walk, already?) could quite be seen today.

Two people came the other way on the main path whilst we had our mini excursion to the summit. Then on the steep (aided by wires) descent to Lac della Alberg we met a German couple doing the GTA. Alright, they weren't camping at all, but having done the first half of the route last year they are now finishing it off. So they are the closest yet to our own aspirations.
We recommended that they visit the MCM summit, but I don't think they did, so they won't have found our message in the summit box.

After a lovely lunch by Lac della Alberg, our own route left the GTA by a short cut over boulder fields (not Sue's favourite terrain, but it saved a 200 metre climb) to Lac della Frisson, dominated by the rocky conical peak of Monte Frisson, high above us.

The path was clearly rarely used, especially beyond Passo della Mena, from where the 500 metre descent over steep grass on an overgrown zigzagy path was quite hard on the knees. But that is a feature of this route - it goes where others don't go - and it wouldn't surprise me if no English speaking person has ventured up the attractive but remote valley in which we are camped for a good few years.

The paths around here have some startlingly interesting names! We are camped just off M5c, and today we have also enjoyed paths L12, L7, and M24 (poorly marked, that one, not advised in mist).

More obscure paths follow tomorrow, before we rejoin the GTA route. We hope we can find them!

It doesn't take a genius to work out that we have no signal here, and we may not have one for some time! Please bear with us at such times.

Anyone wishing to view our summary and detailed itineraries, or our kit lists, should use the link to the GTA web page from the home page of http://www.topwalks.com/

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Wednesday 2 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 8 - The Sun Shines on Limone

Limone's main square

Plan: Rest Day

Actual: Rest Day around Camp Site at Limone, and a visit to Borgo-S-Dalmazzo

Best bit: The morning's bright blue sky.

Cumulative to date (planned in brackets):
135 km (123), 8500 metres ascent (8000), 46 hours (roughly!) walking (49).
No of summits visited: 4
Highest point: Ridge at 2380 metres beyond Colla Rossa

Checked messages again today:

We are doing this on rest days (assuming we have a signal) but it's just a quick check using the phone, which in the absence of any other medium (no internet cafés here) is our only contact with the outside world, except by postcard. So if you really need to contact us, please text.

Pauline, from my old office did just that. Hello Pauline, and congratulations on closing the last of the cases I managed before I left GT, over 4 years ago. (NB we were a very efficient team - the delay was entirely due to third parties!)

Well done, Ken and Helen, on scaling one of eastern Canada's highest peaks. We are already looking forward to next year's trip.

Hello Night Bird, Sue appreciates your concern. The 'heat rash' extended up her legs to her back, but has now subsided. The bite on her eyelid did wonders for her looks, she says. Personally, I found it rather ugly! Luckily she remained calm when Monday's planned water supply proved absent.

Congratulations Kate (daughter) on getting your own house. You have plenty of time to practise your skills in the kitchen before we return! I know you won't read this, but perhaps Mike could pass the message on.

Robert I'm sure will agree with us, the Mad Buzzard of Orthwaite is indeed awesome. Anyone wanting a mini adrenaline adventure could do worse than pay it a visit.

Limone is a lovely town, and this camp site is excellent. We strolled into town for breakfast before returning to the (very solid) gazebo to diary write and send a few postcards, etc.

The trip to Borgo (we could have gone the other way, to Fontan, but that would have seemed odd) was needed to buy gas, as Limone only sells the piercing type. Four years ago we crossed the Pyrenees without any such problem, but it looks as if a significant feature of our rest days may be the problem of gas re-supply. On the plus side, thanks to the heat and the efficient pot cosy, the first cylinder lasted a week, doing about 20 brews and 3 full meals.

Yesterday we saw much bird life, as well as lots of marmots and more deer. At one point a group of animated snow finches was chasing off a flock of alpine choughs, and later we disturbed a ptarmigan.

After this morning's blue skies it clouded over a little this afternoon, but we kept away from the rain and enjoyed a wander around the town, which reminds us a little of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Dinner was taken at Ristorante la Diligenza, and was indeed excellent (and served most diligently!).

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Tuesday 1 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 7 - Flirting with the Border

On the Border with Alpenrose

Plan: Colla Rossa to Limonetto - 23 km, 1200 metres ascent, 7.5 hours

Actual: Efficient Rifugio to Limonetto, then bus to camp site at Limone - 1000 metres
19 km, 600 metres ascent, 6.5 hours including 1.5 hours breaks.

Best bit: Timed to perfection!

The full dormitory at Rif Don Barbera was absolutely quiet all night, and with good ventilation we all slept well.

The 10 of us in the Refuge all breakfasted at 7 and set off at about 8. Bizarrely, all 4 groups/pairs set off in the same direction. This was on the 'Tour di Marguareis' - a five day hutting circuit that could be ideal for Notchy, Night Bird, Birthday Boy, and others who prefer a milder form of backpacking to that which we are enjoying on this trip!

The good path was well waymarked, as we were soon also on the GTA route, the inspiration for our walk, for the first time.
We then more or less followed the now familiar border posts all morning.

Mist came and went. One moment we could see for miles, over massive cloud inversions, next moment we could be in a cloud, with 10 metres visibility and just the verdant flowers to enjoy. Today our floral radar observed the usual vast array, most of which we couldn't identify, but dominated by leopardsbane, globularia and a variety of gentians and orchids.

By lunch time we had reached Colle di Tenda, where a huge C19 fort, Fort Central, dominates the scene. We couldn't look around it as it was not maintained and had an impenetrable moat.
Just below was the remains of another huge construction, perhaps from the 1930s. Its high walls provided just enough shade for us to enjoy a satisfactorily cool lunch - the last of our tinned mackerel.

We passed nearby a couple more of these old C19 forts today, and we will see more. But it is relics from between the World Wars, when Italy was fortifying itself against possible invasion from France, that really litter the border, right from the start of our walk by the coast.

Descending to Limonetto, we lost the path briefly and followed a track down to a pleasant beech forest. This afternoon a new novelty featured on our walk - water. First some marshy ground, then a couple of open ended pipes gushing into the meadow, then some mountain streams, and at the foot of the beech forest an impressive waterfall. Hopefully our days of setting off with 2 litres of water each are over.

Below the waterfall a solid fence protected the privacy of an impressive mansion. At the end of its drive an open gate announced its name as 'Wonderfall'. The gate closed automatically as we photographed it!

It was 2.30, with drops of water coming from the seemingly blue sky, and the day's work was done, thanks to yesterday's heavy investment in mileage.

Limonetto is a small place to spend a day off, but we had barely explored it by the time a bus arrived. This took us down to Limone, whilst a storm tried to get going. We sheltered briefly at a bus stop then as the rain faltered we strolled into the large pedestrian precinct of this pleasant town.

By 3pm we were seated under cover outside Caffé Carillon, which provided welcome beers (with crisps and nuts thrown in). The storm raged for a while and a flurry of activity removed items from the outdoor displays of nearby shops.

We were in no hurry. We had timed our arrival to perfection. One week into our trip and our only use for waterproofs has been as pillows. We know that won't last, but we can enjoy the moment.

The kind people at the café drew us a sketch of how to get to the camp site (about 1km distant from its placement on our map) and once the storm had passed and the road was steaming dry, we strolled down to this excellent spot. It's nearly full of old caravans with bijou cabins attached to them - holiday homes for Italians. We are welcome though, and next to our pitch in a quiet corner is a gazebo with a huge picnic table that we can use for dining in comfort.

Some bikers arrive and set up as our neighbours, so we are guaranteed a quiet night. One is a Swiss fan of British bikes - he has rebuilt an old Triumph machine. The others are German officionados of the Dakar Rally, with the latest KTM has to offer.

We do a few camp chores before tucking in to some of the produce we have carried all the way (in expectation of a wild camp) from Fontan - including a large loaf of bread....

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Monday 30 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 6 - A Fine Alpine Ridge

On the Border near Porta Bertrand

Plan: Rif Allavena to Colla Rossa - 24 km, 1600 metres ascent, 8 hours

Actual: Fawlty Towers Rifugio to Rif Don Barbera - 2070 metres
30 km, 1750 metres ascent, 9.8 hours including 1.5 hours breaks.

Best bit: Superb ridge with slopes pink with alpenrose.

First, apologies for the delay (I think) in Saturday's missive. It seemed to have gone but then it seemed not to have gone, so you may have it twice. Sending images may be the problem....so I've deleted Saorge from the Day 4 report just sent..

Today, perhaps for the first and only time, we are ahead of schedule. That's because my planned water supply at Colla Rossa, proved to be a figment of the Italian map maker's imagination. So with no water encountered all day, it seemed wise to come as far as this excellent little refuge and its fine cuisine.

We waved off Arne, the mountain biker from Bad Gastein, and headed directly back to the border. We were going well, and Arne was surprised to pass us 2 hours later - we had taken a more direct route!

The morning was spent on easy broad tracks in the forest, until the sharp ascent of Monte Saccarello (2200 metres - our high point), where we lunched near a 14 metre tall statue of Christ "The Redeemer".

We had seen a chamois in the forest; later a roe deer showed us its bum. (Sue says we saw more than its bottom as it leapt over the alpenrose!)
Today the whistles of marmots became a familiar sound that will accompany us all the way on this trip.

We left the AV dei Monti Liguri path for the last time at lunchtime and this afternoon we were again on a relatively unfrequented route described only as 'A35' on our map. It was a lovely ridge path that side-stepped any difficulties and delivered us safely to this refuge in plenty of time to order dinner.

We found another summit, Cima Misoun, 2356 metres, a new high point. A visitors book allowed us to make the first English entry since it was started in June 2006. Neither this nor last night's refuge has any recorded English speaking visitor over the past two years.

Later, the ridge path took us to a new high point of 2390 metres.

We saw no other walkers at all today, on this fine traverse. Not one!

But there are 10 of us staying in this refuge, so perhaps we are entering more frequented territory.

Will we go higher tomorrow?
Will the weather hold? We had flurries of cloud today, and it rained at the refuge after we arrived. But it's now a beautifully clear evening. Despite walking up to the border I can't find a signal, so this, and the re-sending of Day 4, will have to wait.

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Sunday 29 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 5 - The Day of the Flowers

On the Balcony Path along the Border

Plan: Fontan to Rif Allavena - 23 km, 1600 metres ascent, 8.5 hours

Actual: Noisy Camp at Fontan to Rif Allavena - 1545 metres
23 km, 1930 metres ascent, 10 hours including 2 hours breaks.

Best bit: The flowers and the well graded paths.

Actually, the whole day was the best bit.

Last night's Roquefort Pizza (and there was a great deal of Roquefort) was digested to the sound of our French neighbours partying. There were only 3 of them but their pernod made them very loud!

Another fine sunny day. A thoroughly superb day. All morning we wound our way back up to 1100 metres on wonderfully graded woodland donkey tracks.

The flowers were magnificent.

We saw our only people of the day around lunchtime at Passo Muratone - a few 4WD enthusiasts and 8 day walkers.

The morning had been a cool 25C in the trees, but the afternoon saw my thermometer rise to 38C.

Raw Heat.

A light breeze overcame the worst of that, and the well graded path, now at times vertiginous and aided by wires, saw us comfortably along our border route.

Despite the haze the views down to the remote gorges in France were superb. They almost matched the wonderful variety of flowers - today we saw many lilies and gentians as well as the usual orchids and bellflowers, etc.

There were huge banks of alpenrose as we reached our new high point for the trip - Col Vallette, 1981 metres, near the end of the day.

Allavena Refuge takes 70 people. We are here tonight with just Arne, an Austrian mountain biker who has come from the coast today, mainly on the AV dei Monti Liguri that we have been following. He is tired.

There seem to be half a dozen people running this place, which has a Faulty Towers feel to it.

The food was fine despite an impossible mountain of polenta.

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Saturday 28 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 4 - A Welcome Pause In Fontan/Saorge

Saorge from the south

Plan: Rest Day

Actual: Rest Day around Camp Site at Fontan - 460 metres
Visit to interesting village of Saorge.
2 km, 50 metres ascent.

Best bit: Just chilling out.

Cumulative to date (planned in brackets):
63 km (53), 4220 metres ascent (3600), 25 hours (roughly!) walking (25).
No of summits visited: 2

Checked messages today:

Best of luck with the Wild Camping Saga, to those involved. I did notice the PM's office's derisory response to the petition before I left.

Thank you, John, for your words of encouragement from Timperley.

Thank you, Alan, for your words of - for want of a better one - jealousy! We don't pretend to be 'lightweight' as we have all the gear for 2 months in the Alps, and on this section we have had to carry lots of water. It's quite sweaty in 30-35C, even without 15 kg on your back! Hopefully some of the maps will be posted home as we go along, but we don't have the luxury of a local base or any 'stashes'. We have light but comfy kit, and my sack is certainly lighter than in the Pyrenees 4 years ago. It needs to be - I've slowed down since then.
And Alan, 35 years of hard graft and a big investment in a couple of children (how else would we have got to Liverpool for 5.30 am?), has surely earned the right to tramp around in 30+C temperatures with 15+kg aloft!?!

Must be mad!

Today Dave Oliver cheekily tried to impress us with tales of sunshine and good walks in the Pyrenees. We know he gets more holiday than we do but at least it was a case of 'touché' on this occasion! Hi Dave, we know you haven't time to read this.

Sounds like the weather is ripe for an Andy Howell Pyrenees Experience...

After a leisurely morning in Fontan we hitched a lift with a nice Parisien couple who had recently relocated to Nice, for the short ride through the nasty tunnel to Saorge.
It didn't take long to recce tomorrow's exit route from here, then we seemed to get stuck in Bar Lou Pountin, where it was 33C in the shade.

When the going gets tough....

Sue found a fountain to cool her feet.

We agree that the title of this blog could be misleading (it already is for anyone Googling 'Postcards of Timperley' - and believe me, such people exist!).
So, I've tried to amend it.

Now back at camp we have established that the nearby restaurant that said 'Opening 28 June' has in fact opened. So we'll be along there shortly to comply with Sue's high carbohydrate regime in preparation for the next 3 days, which sound challenging in this heat! Beer is very high carb, I keep telling her...

Kit report:
3 long hot days in brand new Asolo Fugitives. They feel like slippers.
X-socks - a last minute purchase from Bob and Rose. Excellent for comfort and drying qualities. Sue needs some....

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Friday 27 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 3 - Some Unexpected Hurdles (UHs)

A street in Saorge

Plan: Rif Biv Testa d'Alpe to Fontan - 19 km, 600 metres ascent, 8 hours

Actual: Fly Camp to Camp Site at Fontan - 460 metres
24 km, 1100 metres ascent, 10.3 hours including 2 hours breaks.

Best bit: Hot showers and cold beers at the end of the day.

UH No 1: We woke up to the buzzing of flies at Colla Sgora. But at least it was only 24C!

Today's path started on the broad track through lovely forest that the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri has adopted as its route. This follows the border, the small border stones being marked '1947' on the French side and being numbered (we passed numbers 390 to 386 or so) on the Italian side. A foot long grass snake lay on the path. It moved quite quickly when I tried to pick it up.

UH No 2: A piece of string across the path near Bivi Testa d'Alpe (we never did find the 'Bivi') seemed to ask us to go a different way. Obligingly we took an alternative route and actually got to the summit of Tête d'Alpe (1587 metres - highest point yet). But the signpost to this spot had been taken down and the path was faint. Our plan to continue along the path (which of course was clearly marked on our French map - and was in France) was foiled by deep thicket, so we considered our options then returned to the string.

After having spent an hour sidestepping this flimsy obstacle, our brew up by the path junction to Breil was most welcome.

Here we decided not to visit Breil but to continue along the AV and descend indirectly to Saorge.

The forest path was delightful and from now on the flies slowly subsided. We saw no other walkers today, but at our turn off the AV there were a few cars with picnickers, one of whom was carrying a crutch and a collecting basket. We were curious.
'What are you collecting?'
'Nothing' insisted the woman 'the basket is empty.'

Our path to Collette du Mont Agu was an ancient donkey trail through the woods, built to a high standard many years ago. Nowadays it is not on a GR or AV route and doesn't even have a number. So it is not maintained, with fallen trees and other debris presenting minor obstacles. Occasional yellow paint flashes on trees reminded us that we were on this path, though at one point we did need to retrace to find the flashes.

Lunch in the shade at the Collette, where the path met the well maintained GR52A at an excellent viewpoint, was a high point of the day.

We had decided not to drop directly to Saorge but to head down to the Roya gorge and walk along the canyon side to Saorge. We descended to the sound of thunder, with a few drops of rain. It was sunny on the coast and black in the mountains to the north. We were on the edge today, and it came to nothing. That will not always be the case on this trip.

UH No 3: On reaching the GR52A junction with the gorge path we joined the route of Via Alpina Path R158.
The Via Alpina is a richly funded (millions of Euros) project spanning the Alps.
We should have been alerted by their sparse description of the route - 'This stage leaves Breil on the valley balcony path above the Roya valley to Saorge, a hanging village typical of the Mediterranean hinterland.'
The section from our path junction to Saorge was described as taking 45 minutes, with 9 metres ascent.
The Via Alpina staff who wrote this should be forced to walk it with 15 kg rucksacks after a hard day. It took us 2 hours and my altimeter recorded 350 metres of ascent to the top of the spectacular ancient village.
The French map, the top of which we walk off at Saorge, shows the mythical Via Alpina route, whereas the Italian map - we are just on the edge of our first Italian map - is more accurate.
We hope the Italian maps will be as accurate in Italy as this one is in France!

We did get a few glimpses of the gorge, and the approach to Saorge was stunning.

The cans of orange juice were also most welcome, as we had exhausted today's supply to 2 litres of water each (we normally carry only 1 litre, but springs are scarce here.

UH No 4: We planned to camp at Fontan. The path leading to Fontan, which we never properly found, would have involved significant further ascent. So we walked down the road. This was fine apart from a 400 metre tunnel with no footpath. At least it was well lit, with little traffic.

The camp site is small and quiet, between the river and the road. The ground is grassy but stony, and the facilities are sparse but more than adequate for us and two lots of car campers. The restaurant next door doesn't open until tomorrow, but there's another one in the village.

UH No 5: After cleaning off 3 days of grime we headed off to the restaurant. A man greeted us at the door at 7.30.
Great.
He was locking up.
At least there was a bar open, to aid our rehydration as we headed back to camp to our emergency rations of soup, pasta and tuna. We didn't expect to have to call on them quite so early in the trip!

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Thursday 26 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 2 - Lovely Italian Villages and a Steep Climb

Early morning view into Italy from Rif P Gambino

Plan: Rif Patrick Gambino to Biv Testa d'Alpe - 24 km, 1750 metres ascent, 9 hours (note adjustment from spreadsheet, which missed a section!)

Actual: Camp by bijou Rifugio to Col Sgora - 1063 metres
18 km, 1300 metres ascent 9.5 hours including 1.5 hours breaks.

Best bit: Cool tranquillity outside Rifugio this morning.

Everything is very green here, at a time when it's normally brown, according to Luca, the guardian at Rif P Gambino. He told us the weather had been really bad until a week ago, when the sun had come out.

The sun blazed on us today.

This morning's mainly downhill route (back down to 140 metres) passed through 3 lovely Italian villages. First we met a friendly Swedish family at the café in Olivetta, then we reached Fanghetto by a rough path not on our French map. Seemingly passing through a catacomb under this village an excellent balcony path led to the pretty and well serviced village of Airole, where we enjoyed an alfresco lunch in the cool square.

Our afternoon's route lay steeply up a donkey track from the square at 140 metres, to a broad ridge at 1100 metres before dropping to Col Sgora, where at 5 pm we were pleased to find an unexpected water supply. In fact we were surprised to find Col Sgora, as it's marked in a different place on our map.

We saw no other hikers this afternoon. I wonder why? The temperature was 35C as we left the square, and we recorded 37C on the 1100 metre ridge. It was humid as well.

Quite hard work really, so what with my planning estimate cock-up we were glad to stop where we did.

Apart from the flies, that is. They had joined us on the ascent in ever increasing swarms and they spent the evening with us, only subsiding when the sun went down. But for them we would have had a lovely time on this grassy terrace with fine views east into Italy.

But the flies were debilitating and the tent, for a while, was like a sauna, so blogging not possible. Hence the delay in this transmission. Sorry!

On the ridge our attention wandered briefly from the flies and the heat to a fine specimen of Lizard Orchid. Neither of us had seen one before.

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Wednesday 25 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - A Stunning Start

The view back to Menton from Col du Berceau

Plan: Camp site in Menton to Rif Patrick Gambino - 14 km, 1500 metres ascent, 7 hours.

Actual: Hot Camp Site to Camping outside Rif Patrick Gambino
15 km, 1550 metres ascent 8.25 hours including 2 hours breaks.

Best bit: Shady lunch spot (only 24C) after a hot climb (min 30C)

An excellent mountain day after a hot night (neither sleeping bags nor their liners were needed) despite starting on a beach by the Med.

Good paths, well signed, got us up to Col du Berceau (not on our map) for lunch at over 1000 metres, high above the distant Cote d'Azur.

Here, in a lovely shady spot with fine views, we met three Frenchmen, the only walkers seen all day.

After a short descent we left the GR52 path and headed up to the border and the lovely, well graded 'Balcons de la Cote d'Azur' path.

We left this briefly to bag the 1380 metre summit of Monte Grammondo. Graham Illing (who won't read this) would be impressed; others who do read it may just shake their heads...

After recording our feat in the visitors book and optimistically noting our destination as Saas Fee, we went back down to the balcony path. This led through lovely woodland (we could have been on the path from Gradbach to Lud's Church) down to the Rifugio, outside which we are camped.

Here we found our first water since leaving Menton, and a friendly guardian who poured us cups of mint tea and supplied biscuits within seconds of our arrival. We are his only guests tonight, but he won't charge us for camping, and we want to cook some of our own weighty provisions, so we are trying to boost his coffers by consuming his supplies of Birra Moretti.

Hic!

So, a fabulous day, despite having drippingly lugged 15 kilo rucksacks up 1500 metres under clear blue skies and a sun that beat down relentlessly at over 30C. In the days ahead we will have fond memories of this heat.

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Tuesday 24 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Prologue No 2

In a Menton coffee shop, and at Camping St Michael

Plan: Menton to Camping Fleur de Mai - 2 km, 100 metres ascent, 1 hour.

Actual: Menton (Madone) to Camping St Michel (€13)

4 km, 220 metres ascent (including back to town for a meal), approx 2 hours.

Mike got us efficiently to Liverpool, then security tried their best:

1. To confiscate our MSR Superfly stove, and

2. To delay us from getting on the plane, simply by not getting people through fast enough.

Sue skillfully negotiated the stove on board (by licking it greedily), and we paid an extra £2 each to get in a fast lane that saw us through security just in time.

The flight saw us transcribing addresses from a bulky list, into new notebooks, one of which has now disappeared. The bulky list was binned in the meantime, so if you don't get a postcard please don't be as upset as we are to have lost the notebook.

Nice airport was efficient, and we exited the airport about 20 minutes after landing. The 11am bus got us to Menton by lunchtime, and some nice people in a small café saved us the trouble of going to our planned camp site - Fleur de Mai - 'C'est fermé' they said. So we are now luxuriating at the Municipal site, Camping St Michel, a steamy 110 metre ascent from Menton.

It's just about bearable - 31C in the shade.

We'll venture back into town shortly for a meal and provisions, before setting off on our ramble tomorrow.

The weather (to use Alan Sloman's words - and make him jealous) is 'perfick'.

Next Day

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Monday 23 June 2008 - An Italian Border Route - Prologue No 1

It has been a busy day!

The kit that was strewn around the house was relocated to an upstairs bedroom (me - shown above), and to the dining room (Sue).

It has been stuffed into containers and is ready to go - Mike is picking us up at 5 am to take us to Liverpool airport for the flight to Nice. He's possibly the only rock guitarist in the world ready to get up at 4.30 am to provide a taxi service for his dad. Thanks Mike!

I've started a web page - here - that will be added to in due course when we return. It currently just links to our kit list, a spreadsheet of our planned itinerary, and our detailed itinerary.

It will be interesting to see whether or not these plans, based on my perusal of a few maps, bear any relation to what happens in reality.

Anyway, it's getting on for 1 am, so time to call it a day. We'll be trying to post short blogs when we get a phone signal, and we plan to write the trip up in more detail and add some photos after we return home in August.

In the meantime, we welcome any comments and observations - you never know, we may find an occasional internet cafe in which to view them.

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Saturday 21 June 2008 - A 200th Birthday Party

This was the day that Chris, Colin, Jessica, Martin and Phil had chosen to celebrate their 40th birthdays. The venue was Gradbach Youth Hostel, near Buxton. It had been rented for the weekend.

After a sociable Friday evening, Sue and I co-opted 6 others to join us on a 25 km stroll, initially by the River Dane to the Ship Inn (point 3 on the route shown below) at Danebridge.

It was too early for lunch, so we continued past alpaca and horses along some lesser known paths of the Peak District to the Ryles Inn near Langley (point 4) for beer and soup (we’d had large breakfasts). By now we had spent much time in wet fields and everybody’s feet were soaked. Apart from mine – I could gloat in my new boots, which passed the 25 km on day 1 test with almost flying colours – I just have a slight rub on one ankle tendon.

Then we headed along the Gritstone trail to Ridgegate Reservoir for a second lunch (there was limited seating here) before heading past Trentabank and a few neatly stacked logs, and up Shutlingsloe. Not for the first time since I started writing these pages.

Today the ‘Matterhorn of Cheshire’ was in a cloud, so we headed quickly down towards the Crag Inn (point 9) before going up and over again, past a very nice looking house, to Three Shire Heads.

Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire greet each other at this pleasant spot, where a huge piece of fungus protruded from a tree, and everyone seemed happy to rest.

From here it was an easy downhill stroll back to the youth hostel for a rather sparse and drizzly BBQ, plus beer and a ceili in the thin long ground floor room of the old mill. Curiously, a stuffed wallaby sat in one window - they roamed wild hereabouts for many years until the 1990s (see here), and a signpost outside rather bizarrely pointed to Eskdale Green and Muncaster Head!

Here’s our route for the day – 25 km with over 1000 metres of ascent, taking us 8 hours including 1½ hours stops – an excellent day out despite some indifferent weather.


Now then, shouldn’t we be getting ready to go to the Alps?…
Panic!

Friday 20 June 2008 - Mobile Blogging and An Italian Border Route

I’ve just spent an arduous period on the phone to Orange, in an effort to clarify the cost of blogging from abroad over the next few weeks.
There seemed to be some uncertainty as to whether or not an email was technically a text message, and how it would be charged.
The third operative I spoke to was (helpfully) very clear about it. I hope I don’t have to use this blog entry as evidence to reduce my bill when I get back!
Emails to the blog will be charged at £3 per MB, and I’m assured that about 80 pages of text constitutes a MB. The cost is cumulative, so it seems I can produce about 25 pages of text for £1, or is there a minimum charge of £3? Other charges are shown above.
Anyway, it shouldn’t be as expensive as I’d expected, and I might even be able to add a low resolution image occasionally when there’s a good signal. But I don’t intend to spend hours on the tops of mountains trying to transmit huge messages like I did on the TGO Challenge!
So, WD, I shouldn’t be needing your help in uploading the blog. But you never know, if the emails don’t work I’ll have to resort to texting (SMS - Short Message Service) someone in the UK who can upload to this web page, or MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service) may work – it certainly worked direct to the blog when I tested it earlier.

So one way or another we can keep in touch.

I’ve decided to leave the ‘GTA’ (Grand Traversata Delle Alpi) flag on the blog – though I won’t be able to insert the flag remotely – as that route inspired the planned walk. Our latest plan includes only 13 of the 47 GTA stages detailed in Gillian Price’s Cicerone Guide.

We're planning on staying much closer to the border, and crossing over to France in places, so it’s very much ‘An Italian Border Route’.

Apart from the GTA, our planned route includes sections from the following trails:
Alta Via dei Monte Liguri
Via Alpina (surprisingly little of this, and the Via Alpina web pages are not really very helpful) Tour du Chambeyron
Tour of the Queyras
Haute Route Glaciere
Alta Via Delle Valle D’Aosta No 1
Tour of Mont Blanc
Alta Via Delle Valle D’Aosta No 2 – Alta Via dei Gigante
Tour of Monte Rosa

A mouth watering prospect!

800 kilometres (500 miles) and including around 60,000 metres (60 kilometres!) of ascent - in 56 days including 11 rest days.

Thursday 19 June 2008 - New Boots

My year-old Asolo Fugitive boots are not actually worn out, but as I discovered yesterday they do leak and I have my doubts as to whether they will survive a 500 mile walk in the Alps.

As no shop in Manchester (to the best of my knowledge) can provide the dual service of boot-fitting and a good stock of boots, I headed off to my friends at Outside in Hathersage.

It took over an hour to decide on a direct replacement for the Asolos, so despite trying on several other boots that seemed equally comfy, I came away with ‘the same again’.

I’m sure they’ll start to leak at some point on the Alpine trip, but at least I’ll start with dry feet! Now, shall I take Sealskinz, or just two pairs of ordinary socks? Decisions, decisions.

The shop has a nice café for lunch, and I enjoyed the drive home through the Peaks, past Speedwell Cavern and up Winnats Pass.

Sadly, The Marquis of Granby, an old haunt at Bamford, was a mere shell, and finally about to be demolished – you can delete that ‘PH’ from your maps. But at Speedwell there were coach loads of children on school outings – hundreds of them having fun in the sun.

Wednesday 18 June 2008 - Appley Bridge in the Rain

Today’s evening walk, the last for a while, was to be led by Keith and Carol.

Sue ducked out early. ‘I have to pack for the Alps’ she said, and started throwing bits of backpacking gear around.

I set off in the rain and after a while arrived at Appley Bridge.

It’s very rare that we start a walk from this position, but today was one of those rare occasions. Usually there’s a pub to wait in, but the one selected by Keith in his original instructions had been flattened into a car park.

So I waited patiently.

‘We are at the Water’s Edge, ready to start,’ came the text.
They were in a pub!

So, having planned and recce’d this walk, Keith and Carol had turned up and were determined to see it through despite the rain.

8 o’clock on a summer’s evening and it was getting dark, as we entered the Fairy Glen.





The waterfalls were barely visible through the murk.




Eventually we emerged into some fields.

A week in Torridon, two weeks across Scotland on the TGO Challenge, and a week in the Lake District, these had all given me a good feeling about my boots. They hadn’t leaked on any of those trips.
Tonight my feet were soaking wet after just a couple of fields. That means more kit needed for the Alps – it’s a good job I didn’t stay at home and pack!

Emerging, after some time, from a wet lane, we strolled up to Parbold Hill Viewpoint.

Not much of a view tonight, but this is the edge from which the flatlands of Lancashire stretch, on a good day giving lovely expansive views despite the viewpoint’s modest height of just over 100 metres.

Then it was down to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal – a busy stretch of waterway with an old ‘dual carriageway’ through one lock – and an easy stroll down the wet towpath.

Back at the Water’s Edge a quiz was in full flow, with a quizmaster who really did particularly greatly like the sound of his own voice.
The Cumberland Ale went down well though, and we returned home feeling mellow and well exercised.

Thanks for coming, Keith and Carol.

Here's our route - about 8km in just under two hours.

Tuesday 17 June 2008 - A Sense of Panic

This time next week we will be in France, preparing to dip our toes in the Med before strolling around the Alps for a while.

We haven’t really prepared for this (in fact it has only one mention on this blog – on 28 October last year!).

I’ve bought a few maps, and we have a bit of backpacking kit left over from the TGO Challenge.

A selection of windshields for the stove has today been ordered from Bob and Rose.
Why do we seem to go through these like hot cakes?
Is that all we need from Bob and Rose?
How windy will it really be?

Between now and next Tuesday I’ll try to get more organised, and broadcast a more detailed plan of our route so that anyone interested can follow our progress.

My original idea was to follow the ‘Grande Traversata Delle Alpi’ (GTA) route that is covered in 47 stages in a Cicerone guide written by Gillian Price.
The more I look at that route, the more it seems rather ‘soft’. So in an effort to achieve something a little more challenging, we will try to keep close to the French/Italian, and later the Swiss/Italian borders, staying in Italy most of the time.

That has involved buying a fresh set of maps to cover the north west corner of Italy – parts not reached by the GTA, such as the enticing Gran Paradiso region.

In an effort to show you where we are going, I logged onto Google Maps for the first time tonight. It was really quite useful, though I didn’t get to grips with any significant features, and I was unable to show a scale on the screen dump that I have utilised for today’s postcard.
But the image I’ve quite easily finished up with does show our planned start and finish points, and Google has placed a convenient yellow line to mark the Italian borders that will form the basis of our route.

The distance between our start and finish points is probably about 200-250 kilometres as the crow flies, but our walking route may tot up to double that length.

Well, that’s a start, anyway, and given that there is no natural fixed end point we can build in quite a few rest days and make visits to local towns where practicable. The route will be ‘pure’ (an unbroken line), but side trips will be permitted!

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Monday 16 June 2008 - Queen Sofia of Spain visits Eccleshall

Queen Sofia of Spain visits Eccleshall - A Right Royal Occasion!?

Well, almost.

Mother, who lives in Eccleshall, was wandering the streets of Rhodes a few days ago when she was taken aback by the presence of lots of security men.

‘What’s the crack?’ she asked.

‘We’re just minding Queen Sofia of Spain’ they answered.

‘Ha’ said mother ‘I know you’re joking….!’

However, she remained curious, and after a short while a familiar visage appeared from a shop, and faced her.

‘Good morning’ said the lady, cheerily, ‘and where are you from?’

‘Good morning, Queen Sofia’ said mother, who can instantly recognise any Royal personage from quite some distance, ‘I’m from England’.

‘Well I do hope you have a most enjoyable holiday’, said the Queen.

It had made mother’s day, so today, as I passed through Eccleshall, I reintroduced her to this most amenable of Royal personages.

The observant amongst you might even spot that Queen Sofia appears to have taken part in this year’s TGO Challenge walk across Scotland. We didn’t see her, but she was rumoured to have spent one evening massaging Denis Pidgeon’s feet!

Back in Cheshire
A farmer was working hard to bale his hay, which must be lovely and dry after all the fine weather we’ve had.


The hedgerows are filled with the white flowers of the bramble this week – hopefully a sure sign of a rich crop of blackberries in a couple of months’ time.

Sunday 15 June 2008 - A Trip to Charlecote Park

We were in Warwickshire today for a visit to Charlecote Park, a National Trust property advertised as a:

"- Superb Tudor house and landscape deer park
- Shakespeare was rumoured to be caught poaching on the estate
- 700 years of the Lucy family, with a uniquely extensive portrait collection
- Colourful landscaped gardens by the River Avon
- Great walking and picnic opportunities in the 'Capability' Brown deer park
- Traditional family games and play area

The Tudor home of the Lucy family for more than 700 years, the mellow stonework and ornate chimneys of Charlecote sum up the very essence of Tudor England. There are strong associations with both Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare, who knew the house well – he is alleged to have been caught poaching the estate deer. The rich, early Victorian interior contains some important objects from Beckford's Fonthill Abbey. Landscaped by 'Capability' Brown, the balustraded formal garden opens on to a fine deer park on the River Avon."

Despite the rather aggressive looking wild boar guarding the entrance, the property was very welcoming today, with lots of happy people wandering around it on a sunny afternoon.

In keeping with tradition at such places, mute swans floated serenely on the River Avon

Pleasant gardens, and a croquet lawn, led from the house to the river

We found a large mulberry bush, its fruits are shown below

The house, as seen from the restaurant (above), and the gatehouse (below)

Then we retreated to Solihull and had a fine bonfire, coincidentally succeeding in trimming the holly and rhododendron hedge as well – the technique could be likened to trimming one's hair using a primus stove.

Saturday 14 June 2008 - Summer in Cheshire

All was well as I wandered the Cheshire lanes today.

Holidaymakers were mixing with locals at Lymm, where a ‘canal fest’ seemed to be in full swing. Can you spot the man in fancy dress?

Meanwhile the swans, about 200 metres away from all the activity, were busy training their children.

Dad, as usual, was malingering near a boat named ‘Freedom’.