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Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca
Sunday, 27 July 2008
View from a Madonna
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Glacier
Apologies for the transmission delay. Despite being high, we are in an obscure corner with rare phone signals.
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Friday, 25 July 2008
Friday 25 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 31 - A Day out in France
Brocken spectre outside Rif StellinaPlan: Day 32 - Rif Vaccarone to Rif Stellina - 30 km, 900 metres ascent, 9.5 hours. (Estimates per Via Alpina web site before I realised its shortcomings.)
Actual: Clapier Lakes (an hour on from Vaccarone) to Rif Stellina - 2610 metres:
29 km, 1100 metres ascent, 9.5 hours including 2.2 hours breaks.
Best bit: A fabulous walk and most sociable rifugio.
Up early to paddle across freezing river and ascend a few metres to Colle Clapier and our excursion into France.
It was pleasantly cool walking down the Savine valley. Gloves were even used (I would not say they were 'tested').
The sky was blue and it rose to 30C+ later, so the cool morning was welcome.
Passing over the Col du Petit Mont Cenis, old border stones were testament to the history of this spot, now several km into France.
The Refuge du Petit Mont Cenis was most welcoming, providing excellent coffee and crêpes, and a guardian who showed interest in the Free Loader solar charger.
We soon got views over lovely flower laden meadows to the 'blue lake', Lago del Moncenisio, and sent this message.
Back on the border after another lovely lunch, we stopped for a while to watch a golden eagle.
Our short cut and planned wild camp beyond Alpe Tour was sadly 'missing'. So we were obliged to make the 500 metre climb to Rifugio Stellina. On the way we passed Sonia and Fausto, plodding slowly up to join friends at the rifugio. It is run by volunteers from Novalesa. The boss is Franco (Rif Director), Ezio is this week's guardian, today Sandro reccied our new route for tomorrow, Claudio is fluent in English and an excellent translator, and his wife Piera is an archery enthusiast.
The nine of us have enjoyed an excellent meal, followed by a sing song in local dialect.
This is a wonderful place to be tonight.
Tomorrow's planned route is abandoned due to a landslide - fortunate then that our planned short cut was 'missing' and that we came here to learn of the landslide (we can see it - massive). Even more fortunate that Sandro has today reccied an alternative, and that Franco was here to show us where to go through binoculars.
There are isards (small deer) outside, mountains in view across the valley (over a cloud inversion). Earlier we enjoyed Brocken spectres from outside the rifugio.
10pm and the sing song is still going strong....
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The Blue Lake
The low resolution camera on the phone doesn't really do justice to this view...
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Thursday, 24 July 2008
Thursday 24 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 30 - A Fine Route across the Susa Valley
Looking ahead from Vaccarone to Col Clapier and Vallon de SavinePlan: Day 31 - Rif D Arlaud to Rif Vaccarone - 17 km, 2100 metres ascent, 6.5 hours.
Actual: As planned, then a 300 metre descent from Rif Vaccarone to below the Clapier Lakes, about 200 metres from the French border - wild camp at 2450 metres :
23 km, 1800 metres ascent, 9.7 hours including 2.5 hours breaks.
Best bit: Superb panoramic views.
A down and up and across day.
Stephane served up a good breakfast at 7am. He and Elisa run Rifugio Daniele Arlaud very efficiently, so far as we could see, catering mainly for day walkers. They are on the GTA route but don't get many customers from that source. Perhaps the refuge was renovated after the German guide books were written. It has indeed been most tastefully renovated and was a lovely place to stay.
http://www.rifugioarlaud.it/
Thanks for the cooking, Stephane, and for your scary skiing tales.
Also, you may be interested to know that after over four weeks of walking you are the first person to have shown any interest in our kit. The Free Loader solar charger has been living unnoticed in my map case, until you spotted it!
The descent to the Susa valley through shady woodland was lovely.
The alimentari provided sustenance for a couple of nights and three lunches.
An English landrover with three people in it passed us. It didn't stop.
Stephane was right about the Sentiero Balcone (SB). Many paths are so marked. Apparently there is consternation about paths leading to and from the SB being so marked, especially from people who inadvertently find themselves at the tops of mountains or the bottoms of valleys having mistaken the link paths for the real thing.
And as for the Via Alpina - luckily we ignored it today. It would have sent us on an arduous roundabout route to a refuge that has been closed for some years. The maps do not indicate that the refuge is closed, so nor does the Via Alpina information. The route descriptions are brief - they read as if they have been written by someone who has casually perused the relevant map. You or I could probably write as good a description!
Forget the Via Alpina. It seems to have been devised from maps to keep people in 8 alpine countries happy. It's an ill conceived mess. Buy the maps and devise your own routes. That's my humble opinion.
Anyway, we had Gillian Price's excellent GTA book. We have been impressed by its detail and accuracy. Today it led us unerringly to the attractive village of Eclause. It even warned of barking dogs there. They were indeed noisy.
Then we had map number 1 - Valli di Susa - and our own planned IBR. So no confusion about where we were going today.
A pleasant lane then an unpleasant excursion along an SB footpath (planned, but on reflection we should have stayed on the road) led us to a picnic bench in the shade (have I mentioned the sun beamed down on us all day again) for our first shot at weight reduction since the excesses of the alimentari.
Having transferred as much as we could from our packs to our stomachs we set off up a steep path signposted (3 signs, the SB one being new) towards Rifugio Vaccarone, which we knew from Stephane would be closed.
The path soon relaxed into a series of huge zigzags which at every turn revealed a wider panorama. Monte Viso popped up and grew huge on the southern horizon as we slowly got higher.
Two day walkers, the only walkers we saw walking all day, were coming down.
So the 1700 metre ascent to Passo Clopaca was a doddle.
The views from the pass were superb - distant peaks and long valleys.
Gliders soared and a black bird whistled past, its wings tucked back like a miniature olympic diver clad in black.
The belvedere path to Rif Vaccarone was lovely - it stuck rigidly around the 2750 metre contour for nearly 5 km, covering rocky, barren ground, with clumps of flowers where they could get a hold. The rare Mt Cenis bellflower appeared for the first time amongst prolific spring gentians, leopardsbane, glacier crowfoot, forgetmenots and moss campion.
A family with a dog were installed in the small metal bivouac shelter just before Rif Vaccarone. They must have been relieved when we continued past them.
Rif Vaccarone held a big surprise. A gang of men. Machinery. It was being rebuilt and will no doubt reopen for business next year. It's in a great position and should do well with the right guardian.
We filled all our water bottles and continued for an hour to this fine camping spot, accessed by wading a river, just below the French border. It's not far from Rif Vaccarone, just 300 metres down a cliff, aided by fixed ropes.
Dinner, prepared by my resident chef, was delicious.
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Wednesday 23 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 29 - Half Way!
Outside the Posto Tappa in Usseaux - with bright sun and deep shadow Plan: Day 30 - Fenestrelle to Rif D Arlaud - 18 km, 1400 metres ascent, 6 hours.
Actual: As planned (we soon joined GTA stage 22):
20 km, 1500 metres ascent, 8 hours including 2 hours breaks.
Best bit: An excellent balcony path along a wide ridge with magnificent panoramic views.
It's the Italian Holiday Season.
Today we saw more people than usual.
In Laux two couples with packs passed in the other direction - probably Germans on the GTA having just set off from Usseaux.
Also in Laux we chatted about our route with an Italian couple out for a 'constitutional'.
Usseaux and Balboutet were lovely villages with attractive murals. Deserted as we passed through.
Some mountain bikers zoomed past us just beyond Balboutet. We spotted some signs - they were on a mountain bike marathon event. We watched. Five more passed. That was it.
In Cerogne an immaculate little house (nobody around) was having its view blocked by a renovation just below it - nobody was working there today.
But there was life in Cerogne, and it needed us. Time for our good deed of the day! Six Italian scouts. No map. Nothing in fact, other than their smart uniforms. They clearly hadn't come far. They were Lost. Now it wasn't really a big deal for us, as a signpost clearly confirmed our advice. But it took them a while to pluck up the courage to ask for directions from these two foreigners with big bags. They plodded of happily towards the fleshpots of Balboutet.
We lunched (alone as usual) in the sun at around 2150 metres in the Cerogne valley. The rock gardens were wonderful. The path was deserted. Birds of prey (we have a shortlist of 3 possible species) circled above us. We sent this message in an attempt to give our readers a glimpse of the wonderful flowers.
Up at Colle dell'Assietta there were mountain bikers, some day walkers, and a Park Ranger in a Fiat Panda with a blue light aloft. He seemed to be carrying a gun. (We didn't know we were in a Park. Are we?) A spaniel was running in front of the car.
Lots of memorials to the fallen were passed. This has been a war zone. The presence of the Fort at Fenestrelle deterred conflict down there, and battles were fought on this high ground, out of range of the Fort. More recently the two World Wars claimed many lives around here, and remnants of wartime fortifications and barracks remain.
The views were splendid, with the Ecrins appearing quite close by, and long views back to the Fort and the valley that leads to Turin. Tomorrow's hills stood out to the north, beyond the deep trench of the Susa valley.
The GTA route off the track along the crest wasn't marked as such. It was easily found though - scantily signed 'Sentiero Balcone' with a warning that only expert cyclists should attempt it. There was no sign at all for our destination. A few GTA signs did appear, but we lost them a couple of times. There was nobody around other than a farmer shouting at his cows.
Then at 4.20 we reached the sleepy little hamlet of Montagna Seu. It sits about 700 metres above the Susa valley and is home to a small mountain refuge - Rifugio D Arlaud. A few day walkers were lazing in the sun. Sara had booked us in here from Torre Pellice, so we were expected. We had been told that the Susa valley gets very busy, and there are even lots of English visitors.
We have the place to ourselves tonight.
Waiting for dinner, we have a view from our balcony. This is special. Not all mountain refuges provide rooms with balconies. The view extends to the snowy peaks of the 4000 metre Ecrins, over 50km away. Himalayan music seems to chant from a clear blue sky (from the Rif, actually).
Half Way.
Well, we've made it this far with no crises (apart from the time I thought I'd fried Sue's ipod), no injuries, no illnesses, no kit failures. A few things have yet to be used - spare socks, gloves, first aid kit, etc.
So we haven't had tales of doom and despair, and exciting episodes of extreme endurance to relate, not even any bad weather yet (today the great yellow orb has beamed constantly from a deep blue sky again).
It's just the routine of the 'up and down' life of the IBR....
And the day concludes after an excellent meal provided by Stephan - a Breton - our personal chef for tonight (Hello Stephan!), with tales of 'derring-do' all round.
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Alpine Flowers
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Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Tuesday 22 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 28 - Sunny Fenestrelle and a Fort Visit
The Fenestrelle Fort from Tre DentiPlan: (Day 29) Rest Day and Fort Visit
Actual: Admiring the brilliant blue sky, strewn with vapour trails, and visiting the magnificent Forte di Fenestrelle.
Best bit: A truly magnificent Fort.
http://www.fortedifenestrelle.com/
Cumulative to date (planned in brackets):
402 km (390), 29100 metres ascent (29300), 150 hours (roughly!) walking (159).
No of summits visited: 7
No of cols or passes visited: 57
Highest point: Point Joanne - 3054 metres
No of native English speakers met/seen from a distance: an American coach party.
Hours waterproofs worn: 1
Messages:
I've tried to send a few emails from our webmail facility during the past month. I know that works from internet cafés (we haven't found any), but I don't think it's working using the Blackberry phone. I tried! So apologies to those people whom courtesy deserved a response or contact. We will be in touch in a month's time. Meanwhile, text messaging to us should work fine.
Notchy, of course, knows the number and is continuing to entertain us with his World News Service. Thank you, Notchy, and we hope the Field Kitchen continues to function.
(Notchy is our good friend at home whose kitchen has been relocated to his garden during house renovations.)
Stephanie, who together with Ulrike came to our salvation for an evening at Campo Base, - Hello - we did enjoy that evening, and we hope Ulrike got over her temporary lack of practice with the Italian language. Thanks for your message Stephanie, and keep in touch.
Roman (Lighthiker) - thanks also for your messages. We don't mind the ups and downs, the GTA is indeed a fine route. But we will be leaving it after tomorrow to follow our own IBR to Usseglio. Then we follow the GTA to Fonti Minerale before finally deserting it in favour of Gran Paradiso and the Alta Vias of the Aosta valley. So we won't be visiting Susa, or Rocciamelone. The GTA beyond Fonti Minerale will remain a treat for another day.
Hello Volker and Eva-Maria. We enjoyed our time with you in the quaint Posto Tappa at Balsiglia. And the strawberries were lovely. The German weather forecasting station you put me on to is excellent. I'm not going to disable the images as I like to look at the page full of yellow circles!
Hello Rodney and Christine in Shropshire. Rest assured, I will return with vigour to the little problem with B-T on my return in August.
The camp site is very quiet, mostly occupied by fixed caravans and cabins whose owners aren't here. Apart from the extortionate pricing, it's very pleasant. It has three very big long buildings (each 60 x 10 metres), partly used for the site facilities, but curiously out of place on a camp site. Strange.
Military antiquities perhaps.
The fort offers only guided visits - 7 hours, 3 hours, or 1 hour. We chose the 3 hour version, with an Italian guide, Michel.
The fort is big and complex. We went about a third of the way up it, rising 200+ metres in the process. There are 4000 steps to the top. It fell into disuse in 1920, except as an ammunition dump, and crumbled significantly until 1990 when renovations started. We soon realised why only guided tours are allowed - there are lots of crumbling bits of building, numerous mysterious tunnels, etc. It would be a wonderful place to explore, but maybe a bit dangerous!
Michel did his best to educate us, but to get a guide who speaks English you need to pre-book at least 10 people. This afternoon the fort had just us and 20 Italians as customers for the guided tour of this remarkable place.
We thought the fort would be a major tourist attraction. Wrong! No French, no Germans. Just some rather solemn Italians and us.
Then it was back to a delicious 7 course alfresco dinner outside the tent, on what would be a perfect evening for an outdoor concert.
It has been another lovely day - not even any high cloud.
Kit check:
What will expire first?
Pot cosy (looking battered), my Tilley hat (developing holes) or Sue's boots?
My own Asolo Fugitive boots were new for the trip, so I brought some Nikwax proofer for them. I left that at Balsiglia after the boots had seen their first rain since 18 June in the Peak District when they were brand new. There seems no point in proofing the uppers when water seems to flow freely into the boots through a space between the uppers and the soles! I shouldn't complain though, they really are very comfy.
That's all. Another 'rest day' has just flashed past!
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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Monday 21 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 27 - The Lonely Alp
On Colle dell'AlbergianPlan: Day 28 - Berg del Lauson to Fenestrelle - 14 km, 600 metres ascent, 4 hours.
Actual: Balsiglia to Camping Serre Marie at Fenestrelle, 1100 metres, - based on GTA stage 21:
19 km, 1400 metres ascent, 7.8 hours including 1.3 hours breaks.
Best bit: The cascades on the ascent from Balsiglia.
It's the Italian Holiday Season.
We spent today walking in the sunshine over a fine mountain pass - Colle dell'Albergian, 2713 metres - totally alone apart from the presence of a shepherd and his dog for a few minutes.
Fenestrelle is the home of the most extensive military fort in Europe. It occupies 1.3 million square metres. We decided to eat out here, together with any other tourists. It took us 30 minutes to find a restaurant that was open. We were the only diners. Nobody else arrived.
And we have been walking on a named route - the GTA, but it seems that this particular route attracts just a thin trickle of Germans - there were none on today's section. Nor anybody seen out walking yesterday, for that matter.
We are less than an hour away from Turin.
I don't quite know what this all means, but we did have Notchy's News Service to confirm that the English are useless at cricket.
One thing we know has affected tourism in this area is the bad weather they had shortly before we arrived. It seems that whilst we were cavorting across Scotland in the sun on the TGO Challenge, parts of the Alps had severe weather. We know a landslide at Villar Pellice washed away a house, killing 4 people, and today we have seen evidence of the destruction caused by that weather. For example there is a nice stroll up to the picture postcard village of Laux from here, but a bridge has been washed away, leaving a river crossing that some may find awkward.
Romina, at Ghigo, put the fact that the area is having a bad year for tourism down to this bad weather.
Anyway, today is summarised below:
• Tea and cake for breakfast.
• 'Goodbye Volker'. 'Goodbye Eva-Maria'.
• Leave Balsiglia at 7.45 on a shady, cool morning.
• Soon hit the sun. Fleeces off.
• Waterfalls cascade down from all sides as we ascend the ancient paved path.
• It's a long ascent - around 1350 metres.
• We pass shepherds' huts below an area where the huge local roofing slates were quarried.
• A shepherd is encountered on his way to a sleeping spot above his lazy cows.
• Tiny grasshoppers and wheatears hop alongside us.
• High cloud and a SE breeze keep us cool.
• Plenty of camping spots - we would have been ok yesterday despite the cows.
• Pass derelict military buildings to reach the high col at 11.30.
• Fine views to Monte Rosa, closer now.
• Descend to an excellent lunch spot through floods of yellow, pink and blue flowers.
• Huge fort comes into view across the valley, blighted by ugly new hotel complex beside it.
• A view through binoculars - reveals the fort site to be completely deserted.
• It must be siesta time.
• Much evidence of May's severe weather - boulder strewn gullies, etc.
• Lots of heads carved into trees by a local artisan.
• Large yellow foxgloves and great yellow gentians dominate the lower slopes.
• Nutcrackers flit over deserted woods.
• Reach pretty village of Laux at 3pm.
• Leave GTA route to descend by pleasant ancient paved path past recently destroyed bridge and other debris, to the small town of Fenestrelle.
• Finish walking at 3.30.
• Book in to camp site. Extortionate at €30 a night for the two of us!
• Explore, catch up with Notchy's News, eventually find a restaurant that's open...
A typical day on the GTA really - up and down over a lonely alp in fine weather with lovely flowers and good views.
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Monday, 21 July 2008
Posto Tappa
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Sunday, 20 July 2008
Sunday 20 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 26 - Sunshine and Showers
Mural on the wall of a house in DidieroPlan: Day 27 - Ghigo di Prali to Berg del Lauson - 19 km, 1700 metres ascent, 7 hours.
Actual: Ghigo di Prali to Balsiglia, 1370 metres, - GTA stage 20:
15 km, 850 metres ascent, 6.5 hours including 1.5 hours breaks.
Best bit: The lovingly laid out museum.
Messages first:
If Tobias, who we met yesterday descending to Villanova, reads this - if you left your head torch at Ghigo - Romina, at the Posto Tappa, is keeping it safe for you.
Romina, it was a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for looking after us so well.
Notchy - thank you for the continuing news updates - their entertainment value is increasing!...
Perhaps yesterday's 'PS' was misplaced! Today dawned bright and sunny, but by 11.30 there was minor leakage. Further 'leakages' occurred whilst we strolled along, and in between bursts of strong sunshine we did actually wear our pillows (aka waterproofs) for about an hour.
That would have been longer if we had continued to our planned camping spot some 800 metres above our current position.
As it is, we are happily installed in the Posto Tappa at Balsiglia, together with a couple from Hamburg, Volker and Eva-Maria. Hello both, we enjoyed your company.
This remote Posto Tappa has no restaurant, but good facilities for cooking the meal we would have enjoyed in the tent, and groceries that we can use if we want. Everything is on an honesty basis, and it is indeed a privilege to have this house to ourselves in the cosy hamlet whilst stair rods plummet from the sky outside.
Tomorrow it will be sunny again. As Showell Styles used to say about the rain in the Alps:
'It's for the heat.'
It was a pastoral morning through gently undulating woods with small yellow foxgloves, bearded bellflowers and common spotted orchids. The path was lined with strawberries, so progress was slow.
Coffee was taken after a couple of hours in the excellent Osteria in Rodoretto. This delightful little hamlet proved difficult to escape from, until we ignored all the (many) paths and - per guide book instructions - headed 'uphill' from behind the church, through a steep pathless field to reach the desired track. A '15 minute break' had become nearly an hour by then!
After lunch at a picnic bench above Didiero, sadly curtailed by said 'leakage', a stroll down a pleasant track led to that tidy village which is decorated with artistic murals on the walls of the houses.
Then it was a stroll up a leafy lane to our home for tonight, which is above a historical museum about the exile of Waldensians from this area, their return three years later (1689) and the subsequent siege in 1690 from which most of them accomplished an audacious escape on a foggy night. The museum is a little gem, and the building is a schoolhouse built in 1889 to mark the 200th anniversary of 'The Return'.
Tomorrow we will do the 800 metre climb planned for today. And more. The sun will shine.
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Saturday, 19 July 2008
Saturday 19 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 25 - Inversion
Cloud inversion from Colle Giulian, with Monte VisoPlan: Day 26 - Bobbio Pellice to Ghigo di Prali - 18 km, 1900 metres ascent, 7 hours.
Actual: Bus from Torre Pellice to Bobbio Pellice, then a lift to Villanova for GTA stage 19 to Ghigo di Prali, 1455 metres:
14 km, 1300 metres ascent, 6.8 hours including 1.2 hours breaks.
Best bit: Views to Monte Viso at lunch time, over a sea of cloud.
The highlight of the day was the magnificent view towards Monte Viso from our lunch spot at Colle Giulian, 2451 metres. Here's the message we sent at the time. We had spent nearly 3 hours in fairly thick cloud, so it had been a great relief to find the sun beaming down from a blue sky shortly before we reached the col.
Saturday morning: we expected to see a rush of people to the hills on this first day of the Italian holidays. But it took 30 minutes to get a lift out of Bobbio Pellice, then we saw nobody until we were approaching the col. It was a silent ascent past huge mulleins - no birds, cattle, humans or water - just the click of our sticks and the gentle thud of our boots in the 20 metres of world that was visible to us.
We had met a few people descending into the mist, and we joined two Italians and a shepherd on the col with the view. It really was superb.
Notchy's News Service joined us at lunch time, so we now know all about the City supporters' failed attempt to get their trawler to the Faroes, and the terrible twins of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac.
Notchy is almost as up to date with world events as the cockatoo at Rif Jervis!
Nick's 'Courmayeur Hotel Information Service' also joined us at lunch time, so we had a very bleepy time. Thanks for this service, Nick, we didn't realise that you were about to go to Shanghai, but you know what they say about busy people. (Seems like you are trying to compensate for our current lack of carbon footprint.)
The descent to Ghigo was steep but uneventful albeit back to the usual array of floral colour, with an increase in activity as we approached the village confirming that the Italian holidays have indeed started.
After our experience with the full refuge at Rif Baillif-Viso the other day, we thought the Posto Tappa here may be full. So we got Sara to book us in. On arrival we were immediately recognised and led to our dormitory. The beds are good and the water hot. We are the only people staying in the Posto Tappa, and the first English people they can recall having visited them. Here's our message about the Posta Tappa.
Any other sales of Gillian Price's GTA book appear to have been to armchair readers!
We've heard about the excellence of Posto Tappa meals. We were not disappointed.
We started with two types of pasta - pasta with artichokes, and penne with mushrooms. Then part-cured pork with relish, accompanied by salad and chips and a dish of turkey in a creamy sauce. For dessert, pannacotta/chocolate mousse. Behind us was a shelf of Barolo wines dating back to 1971, and another with a huge selection of grappa.
PS Our 'Year of Constant Summer' continues - but for how long?
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Inversion
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Friday, 18 July 2008
Friday 18 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 24 - The Wonderful Sara
Two chefs communePlan: (Day 25) Rest Day
Actual: A busy day of planning and provisioning - in the sun, of course.
Best bit: Sara's smile after all her efforts on our behalf.
Cumulative to date (planned in brackets):
354 km (341), 25550 metres ascent (25100), 133 hours (roughly!) walking (141).
No of summits visited: 7 (that may stay the same for a while)
No of cols or passes visited: 52
Highest point: Point Joanne - 3054 metres
No of native English speakers met/seen from a distance: an American coach party.
Serious applications of waterproofs: 0
Messages:
Nothing much to say, you'll probably be delighted to hear - we've received only very few comments over the past few days, but thanks AS and Roman for continuing to show an interest, and the visitor numbers seem to indicate a few other victims for my ramblings.
Today we sought to resolve a couple of problems whilst in this pleasant town - Torre Pellice. We were woken early, as the weekly market was setting up outside our window, so that helped to get us under way.
Breakfast was excellent and set us up well for an arduous day.
Camping gas is a rare commodity hereabouts, even in quite large towns like this one. Another train journey looked on the cards when the hardware shop could only produce canisters of the piercing type. Eventually Sara was able to point us to a sports shop (usually a waste of time) where a man shook his head glumly. But on production of our stove....'Ah, maybe' (in Italian of course). He led us to a locked garage.
Wow!
We now have three and a half canisters of Coleman Fuel. The weight is off our minds and onto our backs! Given the necessary increase in the use of refuges and hotels, they may last the whole trip. They'll certainly see us to Courmayeur, where we know gas is available.
The above-mentioned Sara is the lady in Tourist Information who has worked for over two hours on our behalf today. She has been exceedingly helpful, making about a dozen forward bookings for us.
The problem is that whilst we have a tent, wild camping, even outside Rifugios, is strictly illegal - and rigorously enforced - in the Gran Paradiso National Park. We now have selected bookings up to that point, which we can mix with camp sites and wild camps. But in Gran Paradiso the Rifugios we wanted were fully booked. This has obliged us to change our route rather than force the issue and, as Alpine Club members, demand (floor) space in the already full Rifugios (not a pleasant experience anyway).
So, we have a pretty clear idea of where we will be up to day 47, after when wild camping returns as an option. Instead of Rifugios in Gran Paradiso we will be using mainly the sparse camp sites, meaning a significant route adjustment. One of these camp sites has even had to be pre-booked - Sara telephoned every one in the district.
But it's still a fine route, and all we need now is a nice place to stay in Courmayeur on 6 and 7 August. Any offers? Nick, any chance of a bit of research on our behalf?
I little more forward booking will be desirable, but that's for another day.
All this, of course, commits us to our 'day ahead' timetable, so we will have to walk in the rain when it finally arrives.
Torre Pellice is a lovely town, and we've really enjoyed our stay here, albeit much of the day has been spent dealing with 'admin' tasks.
Tonight the bar across the road is vibrant, a brass band can be heard up the road, and opera singers (who we watched for a while) are in full flow down the road in Via Repubblica.
We are in Beckwith House, named after a British General born in Nova Scotia, John Charles Beckwith (1789-1862), a benefactor of the Valdesi area. His tomb is just up the road. The area is also known for having taken a stand against Nazi/Fascism. An interesting place. We are very rare English visitors, likewise the American party, who are cheese hating vegetarians, and mostly quite thin, as you might expect from such a diet. The chef has been challenged by this, but the good man gave us lots more cheese tonight, and managed to force down us five helpings of his excellent pizza before we finally refused more.
We are bloated.
Star of the evening was the aged Italian lady who sat next to us at dinner. She must be about 85. On hearing us talking about Gran Paradiso she started to relate tales from her youth. Her first glacier experience was on holiday with her father. He had borrowed some rope used for tethering cows from their hotelier. There were no ice axes or crampons. She held up her white handkerchief to illustrate the steepness of the snow (vertical, it seems). 'I was very scared' she said.
A grand old lady.
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 17 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 23 - Some Good Decisions
Here we are, on Colle SeillierePlan: Day 24 - Refuge Baillif-Viso to Bobbio Pellice - 23 km, 600 metres ascent, 6.5 hours.
Actual: As planned, then bus to Torre Pellice, and the hotel Foresteria Valdese di Torre Pellice, 545 metres:
21 km, 500 metres ascent / 2300 metres descent, 8 hours including 1.7 hours breaks.
Best bit: View of Mont Blanc / the selection of cheeses at dinner.
It was, as predicted, a gloriously quiet night. We woke to blue sky with high cloud, and cloud in the valley.
After an efficient breakfast in the refuge we waved off our mountain biking friends and set off up the path to Colle Seilliere - 2854 metres. A backpacking Dutch couple had set up camp at a path junction. As we chatted with them others passed on their way to Passo delle Traversette as they circumnavigated Monte Viso. We had already pointed some people this way after they had stumbled upon our tent. They had left the refuge in completely the wrong direction. Perhaps they hadn't noticed the signs.
We headed on up to our col, completely alone. It is not on the Tour of Monte Viso.
From the col, stretched across the horizon in a line about 100 miles away were the distinctive bulge of Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn (looking like Schiehallion on an inconsequential day) and Monte Rosa. They will surely get closer in days to come whilst Monte Viso will slide into history.
We had 'phone reception, and sent this message home; we were ready to gloat!
Border Stone 46/1 - erected in 1992 - graced Colle Seilliere. This is perhaps the last border stone we will see for a while, or even on this trip, as our route now heads north well inside Italy, by-passing Sestriere and the vast areas of ski pistes that serve the needs of nearby Turin.
Two Germans arrived on the col from the north, as we studied the lovely purple saxifrage that graces such places.
As we descended we noticed from the Nature Reserve signs that we have moved from Cuneo Province to Turin Province. Both cities enjoy wide views of the mountains that top valleys that flow towards the cities like the spokes of a wheel. They must be brilliant homes for outdoors enthusiasts.
Alpenrose returned with a vengeance as we strolled into the cloud filled Pellice valley.
Lago Lungo housed small trout, swimming alongside which were 'black fish with legs' - about 9-12 inches long. These were rare salamanders, Salamandra Lanzai. What a treat!
At 2100 metres we entered the pink world of the mountain houseleek, and passed the wreckage and memorial to a USAF plane crash in 1957.
On we went by campers (rising very late in a lovely meadow) and past busy ants and nodding harebells, to reach a wide plateau at 1800 metres. Huge beds and massive chutes of rubble indicated that it is not always so benign just here. (Perhaps there is a huge pipe, and the water is being stolen by the residents of Turin.)
Hamlets accessible only by 4WD advertised local cheese and honey (miele) and showed off proudly their roofing skills using massive chunks of local slate.
Big dogs are used to protect the sheep around here, as in the Vanoise and elsewhere. They lazed next to the dozy flocks today, not a wolf in sight. Cuckoos and skylarks flitted away when they saw us.
The wide plateau was overlooked by a large Tyrolean house with a sundial. This turned out to be Rifugio Jervis, doing a good lunch time trade with walkers from the valley for whom this was their high point, albeit 400 metres below the ceiling of today's thin veil of cloud, and over 1000 metres below the wonderful views to Mont Blanc.
We passed by, pausing briefly to chat to a caged cockatoo (in Notchy's silence he passed on some world news - 'no change' he said) before heading down into a steep sided valley with huge waterfalls for our own luxurious alfresco lunch.
From Rif Jervis we were back on the GTA route for the hour or so down a lovely old mule track, full of small blue butterflies, to Villanova. On the opposite side of the valley were huge caves under massive overhanging boulders.
Villanova has just a Posto Tappa and a few ruined buildings and we prefer more interesting places for our rest days. So we continued on down the Pellice valley. We missed a path, but it was probably an unsigned jungle traverse that we escaped from, and as compensation we had a huge raspberry tree all to ourselves along the quiet lane.
A path eventually arrived, contouring stubbornly above Bobbio Pellice before suddenly dropping into the town. All the way down the valley information boards had punctuated our progress, giving graphic details of the flora and fauna, as well as roof building, cheese and honey making, and lots more. They were great.
A quick look around Bobbio revealed - well, not a great deal - and almost certainly no supplier of camping gas.
A bus stood in the square.
Decision time.
We hopped on for the 10 km ride to Torre Pellice down the valley.
A Good Decision.
Tourist Information, closed in Bobbio, was open and helpful.
Next decision - camp site or hotel.
We opted for the Foresteria Valdese, a Hotel recommended by Tourist Info.
Another Good Decision.
We have a nice room and enjoyed dinner with an elderly French couple and an Italian lady. The local red wine went down very well, and as we are on holiday tomorrow there is no pressure to write this.
There is a coach party from the US, on a 'Reformation Tour' staying here. The first native English speakers we have seen for over three weeks. Hello Beverley, hello Cindy, hello All!
Highlight of the evening was the cheese course, with local cheeses not even available in Turin on the platter, which was trolleyed around by an enthusiastic rotund chef who wanted everyone to try everything. He likes people like us with good appetites. We will eat here again tomorrow!
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Mont Blanc
Where would you prefer to be!?
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Thursday, 17 July 2008
Wednesday 16 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 22 - A 3000 Metre Day
At Point Joanne - 3054 metresPlan: Day 23 - Val di Fiutrusa to Refuge Baillif-Viso - 24 km, 1600 metres ascent, 9 hours.
Actual: Colletto della Battagliola to Camp by Ref Baillif-Viso, 2507 metres, via Pontechianale and Vallone Soustra:
22 km, 1700 metres ascent, 9.8 hours including 2.5 hours breaks.
Best bit: Views from a 3000 metre summit.
New high points: Passo della Losetta - 2872 metres, then Point Joanne - 3054 metres.
Another lovely sunny morning, with cloud coming this afternoon when the cool air blown in from the north met the hot air from the Italian plains.
We have just enjoyed a good meal in this French refuge that has 65 places. We are camped outside as the refuge is full!
After three weeks in empty hills and near empty refuges, this is a bit of a shock. But there is a walk called 'Tour of Monte Viso'. People like to be guided round it in large groups. To be fair, though, there is a mixture of people here (no other native English speakers of course), including a number of adventurous mountain bikers. We met one this afternoon. He was carrying his bike over a rock field on the way to a 2800 metre pass.
I'm sure the tent will be quieter than the refuge, it is actually our preference tonight.
At the meal, we sat next to Marie-Claire, an English teacher, and her husband Jean-Paul, He is the chief National Park warden at Cauterets, near Lourdes. He knows all the isards in that area by the names he has given them. His work is his passion. It was lovely to meet and enjoy the evening with them.
After crossing the highest point on the entire GTA route yesterday, we reverted to our IBR today and finally broke the 3000 metre mark on Point Joanne which, fittingly, is on the border - though we couldn't find a border stone.
On a bearing of 20 degrees, far to the north, were the snow clad mountains of our final destination in the Monte Rosa area. It'll take us 5 more weeks to reach them.
This morning the sun was on the tent by 7am, after the cuckoos and the barking deer had already roused us, and we were up and away soon afterwards. Our tent was after all straddling a footpath. We need not have worried. Pontechianale was still asleep when we arrived there from a pleasant woodland descent, accompanied by birds in urgent conversation. But a café provided coffee and ablutions, and provisions were easily obtained.
The walk up to Chianale, another lovely old picture postcard village, was a delight. We met two nuns carefully picking things from the undergrowth. 'Infusions' they said. Could it be camomile they were collecting?
The Tour de France comes this way on Saturday or Sunday, so the short stretch of road we walked up, after rejoining our planned route, was freshly tarmaced.
Then it was a long 1000 metre ascent up the lovely Vallone Soustra. We were going well, and after a picnic in the sunshine reached the high col - Passo della Losetta - that briefly gained the 'high point of trip' accolade.
Monte Viso, rather shy until now, reappeared in all its glory, but came and went in the cloud as we ascended Point Joanne. A lone young ibex was on the summit looking for its mother. From there, this refuge looked very close.
Back on the col, after a false start to the edge of a cliff (the map shows the path that way), we headed briefly down the Vallanta valley before turning along a vertiginous belvedere path to reach the Passo di Vallanta, today's gateway to France.
There were quite a few folk around, including a couple with a fit and nimble mongrel, and a good path over rocks and through snow fields led us slowly down to the refuge after another long but fulfilling day.
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Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Tuesday 15 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 21 - Medieval Italian Villages
There were many sundials - this one in Chiazale, at 2.47 pm, perhaps requires re-calibration!Plan: Day 22 - Rif Campo Base to Val di Fiutrusa - 18 km, 1800 metres ascent, 8.5 hours.
Actual: Alternative route based on GTA, via Rif Melezé to promontory 200 metres beyond Colletto della Battagliola, 2230 metres:
25 km, 1900 metres ascent, 11 hours including 2.5 hours breaks.
Best bit: Colle di Bellino/Medieval Village/Wild Camp.
New high point: Colle di Bellino - 2804 metres.
As it happens, our planned route to Val di Fiutrusa was well signed and would have presented no difficulties.
But due to the failure of Campo Base to provide suitable provisions, we were obliged to take the scenic route via the fine col, just beyond which we are camping. The nearby spring mentioned in our GTA guide is just about dribbling, so it did take 20 minutes with a grooved tent peg and a mug to collect tonight's water supply.
Campo Base, last night, provided perhaps our poorest meal yet, though adequate. The chef was fine, but one of his helpers was particularly dim, allowing food to go cold before she got round to serving it. This morose young lady, defined by her 'builder's bum' just didn't want to be there.
But Stephanie and Ulrike, both from Germany, made up for any defects with the food. We enjoyed a most pleasant evening with them. Ulrike has a phobia for large parties of Germans. She has a method of avoiding them; she starts on a Sunday evening and goes in the opposite direction to the German guide books. Good thinking Ulrike, and thank you for so generously providing the chocolate, muesli bars and croissant that the grocery department of Campo Base failed so miserably on. We are most grateful to you. None of said items made it to Colle di Bellino.
On Colle di Bellino
Stephanie, we hope you had a more relaxing day after your energetic day out on Colle dell'Infernetto.
Could you let us have the name of your guide book, please - we know a few people that the gourmet tour would really appeal to (ourselves included).
As you may gather from the photos, it has been another cloudless day here. We got to a new high point with wonderful clear views.
Then we descended to ancient villages which resembled in some ways the villages in the Kali Gandaki valley on the Annapurna Circuit. They had many sundials - though we didn't count all 32 of them - there being an obsession with the sun around here.
One of the villages, Pleyne, had a small shop. Once we had managed to retrieve the lady of the shop from her other job - collecting hay - she was able to sell us from her minute store the excellent soup, risotto, tuna, mushrooms, chocolate and tea that we have just enjoyed and that Campo Base was so unable to provide. It was almost worth using this alternative route (which I have to admit is probably better than my original plan) just to meet this lovely old lady and her 'one tooth' husband. [Here they are.]
And after a final, well graded ascent to a col with 'the finest' views of Monte Viso, we found the little spring and the small promontory on which to spent the night. [Here it is.] Cuckoos are still awake, and a deer with a baby has spent 30 minutes staring at us and barking, but seems to have gone away now. We can see the small village of Castello, 700 metres below, and we've watched the sun's rays slowly slide up to the far horizon - the plains of Italy to the east, above which there is now a glorious pink glow.
It has been warm and windless here, so cooking outside was most enjoyable, especially as a swarm of flies took temporary possession of the tent!
Today also featured:
• The usual plethora of flowers, including field gentians for the first time.
• An amusing exchange of texts with Dave Oliver, during which he claimed to have caught an 11 pound carp.
• Another idyllic location for lunch.
• Very few people out walking, as usual.
All in all, another Brilliant Day.
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Monte Viso
11 am - we haven't seen anyone else yet today (Tuesday).
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Monday, 14 July 2008
Monday 14 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 20 - The Chef's Cupboard
Chiappera and Rocca ProvenzalePlan: (Day 21) Rest Day
Actual: Rest Day
Best bit: Wandering around the pretty village of Chiappera, five minutes down the road.
Cumulative to date (planned in brackets):
286 km (276), 21450 metres ascent (21100), 111 hours (roughly!) walking (117).
No of summits visited: still 6 (they are harder now!)
No of cols or passes visited: 47
Highest point: Colle del Sautron - 2687 metres
No of native English speakers met/seen from a distance: still 0 - apart from the Welsh car in the Monti Liguri area.
Serious applications of waterproofs: 0
Messages:
To Merlijn in Amsterdam:
Congratulations, you are the first person encountered en route to have commented on the blog. We did enjoy our brief time with you and Milka at Malinvern and we hope you appreciated the wonderful weather we brought with us!
To Gayle and Mick:
Congratulations on getting to John O'Groats and commiserations on your having to return to the 'day jobs'.
We're sure you'll enjoy the C2C in September.
How about applying for next year's TGO Challenge?
And Gayle, you must be a glutton for punishment trying to catch up with these ramblings!
To Notchy:
Thank you for the updates on world affairs. Will you still be able to send them from the trawler you have hired to watch City, or was that someone else and you will be watching City's European debut from the sidelines of the Field Kitchen?
To Roman (Lighthiker)
Thanks for your messages. My own Alpine experiences regarding Italians largely echo your own. I would add that they have a penchant for travelling, and walking, in coach loads, which can be a little tedious for others when their route is of the Via Ferrata nature. Also, the coach loads sometimes meld into groups of huge numbers. Some of our readers will recall an episode on Piz Boë when we lost track of each other in the crowd (who were all singing) and had difficulty negotiating our way to the summit.
But, as you say, the huts are full of other nations (I hesitate to say 'Germans'!).
We will soon have to make some advance bookings, I fear, but we do have the lovely green tent as back-up, and we are Alpine Club members...
We are using the Italian IGC 1:50000 maps, which actually show the paths surprisingly accurately. Even with our 'Jungle Experience' I'm sure there was a path, it was just so overgrown and infested with animal tracks that we missed the correct route.
But our ongoing route over Passo di Fiutrusa raises concern on two counts:
• The 2858 metre pass has a steep 700 metre drop to the north.
• Our catering arrangements for the crossing/possible retreat are logistically flawed.
So we may well instead follow the GTA route, which I did plan as a valid alternative.
Actually all alternatives are valid!
The GTA book by Gillian Price says 'groceries' are available here. It fails to mention that those groceries are basically items from the chef's store cupboard. So we could set off with a few catering packs suitable for a major expedition such as this, but as there is no sign of the mule whose droppings we followed over the Colle del Sautron yesterday, my food porter may object. And as the GTA route has a shop, supposedly, in Pleyne, and passes through the fleshpots of Pontechianale, we may choose that option.
The chef is a delightful chap, and quite happy to sell groceries from his cupboards. The flaw in Gillian Price's assertion that groceries are available here is her failure to mention that your menu should exclude muesli, chocolate, GORP, packet soup, etc (ie backpacking food).
Anyway, that's not really a problem, we've had a nice day here in lovely sunny weather. The pretty village down the road, Chiappera, has lots of children and chickens, and a lovely little church with a bulbous Tyrolean tower and outside frescos. Also a bar that sells very acceptable ice cream.
We have been very lazy ('recovering', says Sue) today, but we hope the chef has been busy, as we will be testing his skills tonight.
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/
Sunday 13 July 2008 - An Italian Border Route (IBR) - Day 19 - First Edelweiss
One of many Border Posts that we have passed - this one is particularly elaboratePlan: Day 19 - Col di Puriac to Lac de l'Orrenaye - 15 km, 1000 metres ascent, 5.5 hours; Day 20 - Lac de l'Orrenaye to Rif Campo Base - 14 km, 800 metres ascent, 6 hours.
Actual: Route as planned to camping ground at Rif Campo Base, 1680 metres:
28 km, 1500 metres ascent, 11 hours including 2.5 hours breaks.
Best bit: The Wonderfully Clear Views.
As you might have guessed, we have enjoyed the multitude of wild flowers on this trip. But until today that icon of alpine flowers, the edelweiss, was missing from our list. Today it appeared - small blooms were sprouting as we passed through France, then larger specimens as we re-entered Italy. I'm sure they will now keep us company to the end of the trip.
We seem to have lost the ibex and chamois for the time being, but the noisy marmots are ever present.
So we didn't mind, last night, when the heavens opened and doused the shrieks that infested our otherwise excellent camping place. The tent needed a good wash. The soup - a consommé made from stock cubes, dried veg and chopped frankfurters, was excellent. Added butter (we have lots) improved the tortellini as the rain battered the tent.
Today dawned bright and fresh. My trouser legs were employed for the first time, and we set off at 8am in fleeces.
The 700 metre descent down a lovely valley then past the ruined village of Le Grange to Argentera was very much like the descent from a Lake District fell, except that there you don't get chirruping choughs and shrieking marmots.
We spent a while in the sleepy village. There was cake and chocolate to be eaten, cyclists on a time trial to watch, and a village square next to the church dedicated to someone who had lived for just 14 years in the mid C19. I even cleaned my new boots here since the morning's wet grass had nicely prepared them for the cleaning fluid for the first time.
This morning's good paths were not waymarked with paint. This means they are ignored by the modern signs that have been erected that seem to deny the existence of routes unless they have been 'painted'. So we often rely on old wooden signs to start us off on these little used paths. Such a sign pointed us up past La Tinetta towards the Roburent Lakes. We had plenty of time - it was planned to be a short day.
Up steeply through random terracing we went, rounding the rocky outcrop of Le Tinetta as a man far below got bored with the cyclists and trained his camera on us.
A Cameron in the Alps?
It was a lovely route through a mass of rock roses and cypress spurge, into superb rock scenery. A large 'tooth' towered above us.
After seeing just one person all morning, it came as something of a surprise to find hordes of people up at the lakes, picnicking in the sun. So that's what we did, for a leisurely hour, whilst Notchy's News Service (we had only turned the phone on to take a photo) brought us news of doom and gloom and Mark Cavendish.
Sunday Lunch in the Alps.
It was just a short way up to Border Post number 65 and our entry into France over Colle di Roburent - 2496 metres.
Just below, our planned wild camp, Lac de l'Orrenaye, littered with picnickers, glittered in the sunshine. It was 2pm.
Plan A - camp now.
Plan B - go flower hunting then camp.
Plan C - it's a lovely day for a walk.
It was indeed a lovely day for a walk. The westerly breeze would soon have cooled us had we stopped.
We left the picnicking hordes as we passed the path down to their French car park and headed on up to Col de la Gipière. The path was now on a French GR route, and therefore waymarked. We passed a couple, puzzling over their map.
Three people approached us as we passed snow finches and wheatears. They doffed their caps. Sue was impressed!
Then we short-cut the Rochouse gully and turned up the well graded path to Col de Sautron. A lone woman descending just about managed a greeting, then we were on our own for the rest of the walk to Rif Campo Base.
Col de Sautron, with border stone number 60, erected in 1823 (so apparently not part of the 1947 border change), is marked as 2687 metres on our map, another landmark, our highest point yet.
From there it was a gentle 1000 metre descent to camp, through 'Dolomitic' limestone scenery with little water or flat ground to camp on. Any wild camping here should be planned for the French side of the col.
Some spots of rain induced the donning of our pillows (waterproofs). That did the trick! The rain ceased immediately.
A short stretch of tarmac led finally to Campo Base at 7pm. The beers were welcome, before we adjourned to the tent to cook the food we'd carried all the way from Pietraporzio.
So, after this magnificent day's walk in perfect conditions we are a day ahead of schedule. I'm sure we'll find that handy in the days to come.
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Sunday, 13 July 2008
Sunday Lunch in the Alps
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