Monday 2 August 2010 – Dunham Massey and a Banded Demoiselle Damselfly

After noting recently that the ‘rare’ Banded Demoiselle Damselfly is the emblem of the Mersey Vale Nature Park, it was still something of a surprise to see one today by the Bridgewater Canal.

According to Wikipedia it is “a large damselfly with a total length of up to 48 mm and a hind wing length of up to 36 mm.  The male has translucent wings which each have a broad, dark iridescent blue-black spot (or band) across the outer part. On immature dragonflies the spot is dark brown. The body can be a metallic blue or blue-ish green.

Our very active specimen certainly fitted this description.

Sue, Dot and I had enjoyed a short stroll around Dunham Park, where the ‘fountain’ was conspicuous for its green-ness rather than for its fountain.

A large group of Fallow Deer bucks lazed near the entrance, seemingly weighed down by their new horns.

The house was still standing proud, with the coppiced trees that were bare a few weeks ago now looking like dark green lollipops.

After a tour of the grounds and a luxuriant coffee, we headed down to the Swan with Two Nicks and onto the canal towpath.  The weed below – perhaps a Black Knapweed, was busy with insect life. Mark would probably identify the bee as a Red-tailed Bumble-bee, Bombus Lapidarius, but I can’t ‘sex’ it as I can’t see whether or not it has a collar!

Then we saw the Damselfly.  Quite exciting really – we watched it for ages, though we failed to get the desired picture of it flying.

The images below were the best I could manage.

All in all, a very pleasant little excursion.

Thursday 29 July 2010 – A circuit from Wrenbury

Our jolly little band of five assembled in the busy Cotton Arms and waited.  “Trekking Britain (aka Jamie) might arrive” I pronounced.

We waited.

“Hello” said a familiar voice.  It was Anne, an unexpected addition for tonight’s stroll, the venue for which had shamed this resident of ‘near Nantwich’ into joining us for the evening.

Next time, perhaps, Jamie – a bit closer to home.

Most of the evening’s photos were blurred due to poor light, so there’s no picture this time of the wooden bascule (lift) bridges, raised and lowered by counterbalancing beam weights, that are a feature of this stretch of the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal. 

There is also a selection of shapely single span brick bridges like ‘Number 13’ above.

We followed a route described in Jen Darling’s ‘More Pub Walks in Cheshire and Wirral’ (Page 100).  I won’t describe it in detail, as you should be able to work it out from the image below.  The first half was through pleasant enough farmland on well marked paths blighted only by frisky cows and electric fences randomly placed without any consideration for users of the footpaths.  Andrew’s jacket served as a good insulator, even if it did bring some of the fences down.  Another example of inconsiderate Cheshire farmers – it’s really so simple to cater for footpath users and electric fences, but they seem to prefer to have their fences pulled down.

The frisky cows were friendly enough, even if Jenny didn’t appreciate their attention, but a picture of an angry bull on a stile as we exited one field served to further incriminate the local populace.

Andrew (‘concerned resident of deepest Cheshire’) vowed to file a report.

After that, the stroll along the canal was very easy and jovial.  Just as well.  It got dark.

Here’s the flattish 9 km route – it took about 2¼ hours at a very gentle pace.

Thursday 29 July 2010 – A Trip to Lyme Park

“A little less than 50 years ago the Marple Aqueduct was close to ruin. After gradual decline due to lack of maintenance over many years, water began to seep into the stonework. During the long cold winter of 1961-62 this froze and caused severe damage to the walls of the Aqueduct and a large section fell into the River Goyt below. At this time the canals were already un-navigable due to the sorry condition of the locks and it looked like time might be up for this magnificent structure, once described as "a wonder of the age" by author George Borrow.”

I’ve extracted the above words from the full story of the 200 year old aqueduct.  During my days in Manchester the canal has been lovingly restored and, like many others in the area, is now unrecognisable from its former disreputable state.

Sadly, this morning I didn’t have time to wait for a barge and a train to enter the frame (another time, perhaps), but you can see that the towpath is accessible by bicycle.  There are more pictures in this posting.

Sue had wanted to visit Lyme Park, so whilst she drove there I cycled by a route intended to avoid any roads.

The Bridgewater Canal leads easily to the Mersey Valley, where I paused by Chorlton Water Park with a couple of wardens, trying to spot families of Whitethroat and Bullfinches that they assured me lived in the woods by the golf course.

On the approach to Stockport an information board next to a giant wooden fish explained that this was the site of Heaton Mersey Bleach Works, dating from 1784, one of over 100 industrial premises built in this area from the late C18 through to early C20, many of which presumably got their power from the river.

Over the past 60 years the river has gone from being one of the most polluted in Europe, to being a home for a variety of freshwater fish.  The rare Banded Demoiselle Damselfly is also reputed to be here; indeed it is the emblem of the Mersey Vale Nature Park.  I didn’t see any!

My ride progressed along the river bank at a leisurely pace all the way into Stockport, where a closed path ushered me into a trading estate that drove me inexorably into the centre of town, which luckily is pedestrianised.  I’d thought that the route of the Midshires Way would draw me nicely along to the Peak Forest Canal.  I was mistaken – the footpath through Vernon Park is just that, a Footpath.

After pushing (literally) on to the slightly more spacious Woodbank Park I gave up on the Midshires Way and cycled through Offerton to renew my acquaintance with the River Goyt at Chadkirk.  A quiet lane then took me to the canal, which I joined just after passing St Chad’s Well, which is marked on the OS 1:50000 map.

Local tradition says that this is a holy well associated with Chad, the seventh century Bishop of Lichfield, who came as a Christian missionary to this area.

The practice of Well Dressing apparently dates from Celtic times.

There’s also a tradition of making a votive offering to the gods; this could be a small coin or even a bent pin.  Or half a pork pie?

Anyway, a short carry up a flight of steps brought me at last to the towpath.  I soon had to leave it to go over a tunnel, but then it was a straightforward ride over the aqueduct, up the long flight of locks to Marple, and on along the Peak Forest Canal to the outskirts of New Mills.  I turned right up to Seven Springs and Brines.  This would be better in the other direction; my limited ability on the bike meant that I was unable to find the necessary traction to negotiate the steep stony track any other way than on foot.  Which made me a little late for my rendezvous with Sue in Lyme Park.

So ended a pleasant morning’s ride, in gloomy conditions.  Next time I may choose to follow the Trans-Pennine Trail through the Mersey Valley and on to its junction with the Cheshire Ring Canal system, which I would follow to a track leading into Lyme Park from beyond High Lane.  That may be a better route.

Here’s today’s 28 mile jaunt, including 650 metres ascent, which took a leisurely 3.5 hours.

Wednesday 28 July 2010 – Goodbye Swifts

Our swifts arrived in mid May whilst I was walking across Scotland.  They’ve been living in our eaves just above the study window for about ten weeks.  Long enough to produce a family and feed the youngsters for about six weeks, after which time the young fledge and are immediately ‘on their own’.  They live their lives on the wing, and will fly continuously for about four years, before returning to breed.

We’ve had them for many years.  The pairs mate for life and return to the same nesting spot.  Last year ours returned very late, so perhaps we gained a new pair.  This year they arrived on time.  They have headed off to Africa – south of the Sahara I think; I wonder if they have reached there yet?

We will miss them.

Friday 23 July 2010 – The ‘Big Macc Ramble’

Hello all, apologies for the recent hiatus.  I’ve been taking a break.  I’ll now try to catch up…

Some ten days ago I revisited this excellent mountain bike route, details of which I don’t need to bore you with, as I reported in more detail on 21 September 2009.  The route is described here.

At this time of year many of the hedgerows are lined with a garden weed that looks quite colourful in the countryside - Rosebay Willowherb, pictured above, and this very week (the last week in July) is the time to harvest the bilberries that abound in Charity Lane, the rough track that links the hamlets of Walker Barn and Macclesfield Forest.

A Favourite Place

I wasn’t equipped for the bilberry harvest – I left that to the lady with a large vehicle and a fancy Norwegian ‘bilberry collecting gadget’.  But I did pause at the summit of Charity Lane, at around SJ 967 727.  This is a ‘Favourite Place’.  It’s a high point of the ride, at 475 metres – nearly 300 metres higher than the starting point by Ridgegate Reservoir.  It follows nearly 40 minutes of fairly unrelenting ascent and is a good spot to pause with a cup of tea before tackling the sporting descent that follows.  The views aren’t fantastic, but do stretch across to Shining Tor and the High Peak (top left), and over to the second and highest high point of the ride – the Cat and Fiddle, at 515 metres (on the horizon, top right).  The track is a brilliant mountain biking surface, as shown on the lower images.

The groove of the track slowly deepens and the rocks get larger as it continues towards Macclesfield Forest.  Care is needed, but one of the beauties of this entire route is that dismounting is necessary just once (for a non-expert like me), near the start, to ascend some steps on the track below Tegg’s Nose. 

Care is needed on steep gravel though, so don’t be afraid to get off, but that would deprive you of the chance of testing your skills…

On reaching the A54 road a view of Three Shires Head is soon gained.  This is the junction of Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire, shown in the distance beyond the field of sheep.

With no punctures on this occasion, it was a fairly quick buzz around the circuit, with an exhilarating final descent.  Home in time for lunch.  [Sorry, Geoffrey, I only decided to do this after breakfast – didn’t have time to order any of your coffee!]

Here’s a reminder of the route.

Some Evening Walks

Just in case any of the local (to Timperley) bloggers may be interested, a list of our evening strolls for the rest of the year is here.  There’s one on Thursday.  Apologies if you have already received an e-mail or Facebook message about these.  But if you haven’t received an e-mail, and would like to in future, please drop me a note using the ‘Contact us’ button on the above link.

There’s no prize, but can you spot where these people were on 29 April 2006?  Before they retired from their active lifestyles!

Three Weeks of Sunshine

It’s nearly a week since we returned from our sojourn in the sun to the world of anaemic coffee and disintegrating sun tans, though nobody has complained about the gap in transmissions!

The image is of our evening view from the campsite at Trafoi.  The glacier was visibly melting during our time there.

This posting is really just by way of a dummy entry to which I’ll add an index and links to any slide shows of our trip, should I ever get around to that.  In the meantime, there are various other jobs higher on the list, and the continuing exercise of helping Mike to decorate his house.

Ah, I forgot, some images from the Piz da Lech Via Ferrata trip on 15 July, principally for Pete and Nicola, are here.

But I do enjoy blogging (hadn’t you guessed?) so am bound to find time to add something to these pages.

When in Treviso last Monday, Gillian and Nick told us the swifts had gone from Venice.  We were therefore pleased to find that ours had not left; indeed I can hear them outside the window as I write this.

I must learn the ins and outs of my new ‘phone – I upgraded (on impulse as I passed a Carphone Warehouse shop) a couple of days before leaving for the Alps.  It’s a Bold 9700, and seems to transmit more quickly than the old Curve. 

But I’ve noticed that not all the images I send from the ‘phone appear using the Firefox browser (it doesn’t seem to pick up all the images from Alan’s HTC phone either).  Perhaps a problem with our desktop computer?  Internet Explorer seems to work fine though.

I’ve also noticed little ‘suns’ on many of our file icons.  Here’s an example:

Does anyone know what these mean?

Piazzo dei Signori - Treviso

We enjoyed a short, sunny, sedate journey, then booked into the Continental Hotel (where we have a comfortable air-conditioned room, albeit with a worrying footprint on the ceiling!), took precautions against the battered Clio being towed away, and strolled around Treviso with ice creams in hand.

The main piazza is too big for this gadget's flimsy little lens, hence the two images.

We are told that it's much cooler than of late around here - a mere 29C or so. We are glad that Chalet Angelo was up at 1700 metres - it was hot enough up there!

Treviso has an ancient centre, surrounded by walls, gates and a moat. The moat is a mixture of clear watered rivers and canals, with a profusion of different birds on weed control fatigues.

The Duomo (Cathedral) is large and almost completely lacking in ceiling decoration, unlike many other churches we've visited. But it was nice and cool and had a reverent atmosphere.

The evening was spent in the excellent company of Gillian and Nick, with Toni del Spin providing superb Trevisan cuisine, thus bringing this trip to a most pleasurable conclusion.

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Our Last Day in the Dolomites

Whilst Sue enjoyed a flower bagging foray from Chalet Angelo onto the Pralongia plateau, I enjoyed my final day here with Dan from Collett's and eight other guests, on the standard traverse of Sassongher.

Our numbers had been boosted by the cancellation of today's Via Ferrata plans due to early rain. Setting off in waterproofs cured that problem. They were soon discarded in favour of t-shirts, though later fleeces were deployed for the first time since we arrived in Italy three weeks ago.

Edelweiss and Ruby, a red deer, accompanied us to Col Pradat, from where we took the pleasant route through low shrubs to the junction where #7 heads across the face of the mountain. It's actually quite a wide terrace compared to #7 up Monte Cavallo; nobody encountered any difficulty, other than Alfred, the Alpine Salamander, whose black body was badly camouflaged by the white rock, requiring him to hide in a crevice.

We reached the 2665 metre summit in around three hours after our 1100 metre ascent, losing only Mark (to a bout of vertigo) on the way. A cold breeze scoured the top, where a coach load of day trippers had bagged most of the sheltered spots. I tried to capture the moment (see previous posting), with limited success. My subjects obviously didn't realise that the photo would immediately be disclosed to Eddie and the world.

Some of us lunched on the summit, with excellent views despite a cloud base of around 3000 metres. The air was much clearer than of late.

The rest lunched near the col, below a short wired section that caused no significant difficulty. The most photogenic diner was the gentleman pictured above, Charlie Chough, taken from our lunch spot with our ongoing route down appearing just below the crags in the distance.

'Just around the corner' beyond those crags lies the shyly positioned Rifugio Gherdenacia, which looked closed when it eventually came into view.

Dan narrowly avoided a mutiny. The Rifugio was open. Drinks all round.

Path 11A then zigzagged the merry band down a steep gully before depositing them on lovely woodland and meadowy paths past Melancholy Thistle and Clove-scented Broomrape.

Further down, on the road to Verda, a resident had clearly made a poor calculation when exercising his road crossing skills. Adolph, the ex-adder, made such an impression on Dan that he produced his lunch box, muttering something like "I think Alice would like this".
[Alice is the host/chef at Chalet Angelo.]

The riverside path led us gently on to Chalet Bracun, where the others collapsed into heaps resembling the piles of washing in Angelo's laundry, whilst Stuart and I strolled back up the 150 metre slope to Angelo's waiting sauna.

Another lovely day out (16km, 1300 metres ascent, 8 hours) was followed by a sociable evening with only a short diversion for our self-catered dinner, comprising scraps.

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Collett's (Corvara Section) 'A' Team summits Sassongher!

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Monte Cavallo

This morning the chairlifts from Pedraces took Sue and me painlessly up 700 metres to Rifugio San Croce, from where path number 7 led us for nearly two hours across the face of the Fanes cliffs. The top image shows Sue, about half way up, with Marmolada in the distance behind. This section was along a narrow ledge with a horrific drop. A bit later on, some wires appeared, thus qualifying the route as a Via Ferrata (Grade 1B), though no equipment is required.

Once on the Fanes plateau, we enjoyed the rock scenery and looked ahead to Monte Cavallo's 2907 metre summit. See lower image.

After another hour we were up there. Lunch was taken in front of our panoramic map that disclosed the nature of the far ranging views. From Austrian summits to the peaks of the southern Dolomites.

Friendly German and Italian voices surrounded us. As did Pink Cinquefoil, Moss Campion, Spring Gentians, Mountain Sainfoin, Rockroses and Mountain Thrift - to name just a few.

After resisting the temptation to continue on to climb Cima Dieci, we returned to Passo di San Croce, before picking up a variant of Path 12 which led us by the shortest walkable route (our grippy trail shoes were helpful on the 'sloping' limestone) to the Forcella de Mesdesc, at around 2500 metres.

It was clear that a trail bike had managed to ascend the path from La Villa. It was also clear that somebody had managed to run down the scree. The descent to La Villa, all 1200 metres of it, was steep, especially the first scree section. Walking poles were needed. They were in the boot of the car. Not much use there! Bum was deployed.

We made it down 500 metres of scree, from the Rhaetian Poppy zone into the Harebell zone, fairly quickly, even if odd stances were employed to avoid big slides. The path looked as if it had been recently renewed from here on, with trail bikers having taken advantage of a ready made race track. But it was a pleasant enough route down #12 to La Villa and on beside the river to Pedraces.

All in all, it had been a fine mountain day, especially along path 7, in superb weather yet again. Looking up to the summit, 1600 metres above us, made us realise that apart from the 16km walk with 1000 metres of ascent, in a little under 7 hours, we'd done quite a bit of descent as well.

As a result of having decided not to climb the second, 3026 metre peak of Cima Dieci, we were back at base in plenty of time for a sauna and a beer before indulging in Alice's home cooking at Chalet Angelo, and a most sociable evening.

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The Esoteric World of Alpine Flora Identification

Today we joined Graham and Jackie and an assortment of Collett's guests (Maggie and Ada) for a rummage in the sunny meadows and rock fields above Arabba on the Porta Vescovo Ridge.

For their two week slot at Collett's, Graham and Jackie are the 'flower people', two of a series of enthusiasts who turn up every year to accompany guests on 'flower walks'. We'd not been on one before, but this seemed an ideal opportunity to confront some of the gaping holes in our knowledge of the flora that surrounds us whilst walking in these parts.

The picture shows some of these hardened characters in action under the backdrop of Marmolada, the 'Queen of the Dolomites'.

Sandworts, Hawksbeards, Wormwoods, Rock Jasmines, Cresses, Saxifraga depressa and many more. It all became a tiny bit clearer, but readers of these pages will be pleased to hear that our new found knowledge will be imparted in piecemeal portions, if at all.

Whilst the others returned to Arabba by cablecar, Sue and I extended the 2 km that had taken us all morning to cover, by walking back down to Arabba. We managed a total of around 6 km, with less than 100 metres ascent, taking, well... all day.

On the way down we spotted, amongst much more, a gem - Bear's-ear Primrose (Primula auricula). Graham and Jackie were very jealous when we showed them the pictures (to follow) later at Haus Valentin in Pedraces, where they presented an excellent slideshow on the final evening of their trip.

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Piz da Lech and an Italian Sandwich

This was my first Via Ferrata route for some time. Sue went for a walk to the Nuvolau with Chris, Helen and Simon, and various others from Collett's Dolomitic empire. One of our reasons for staying with Collett's is that we can split up like this and still have company. Whilst Sue would dearly love a Via Ferrata day, her injury prevents it, and I'm reluctant to do them alone.

My day started with a stroll down to the Boe Gondola, where over twenty folk from various Collett's locations slowly assembled for today's Via Ferrata experience. Eventually we actually caught the gondola, and then the Vallon chairlift, from where it was a short stroll to the start of the VF.

I could tell it would be a slow ascent by the time it took a large group ahead of us to 'kit up' (install newly hired climbing harnesses and VF kit, etc). But our own group (pictured) wasn't much quicker.

"Let's go" I suggested to Pete at about 11am, as the way ahead cleared. So we set off. After about 5 metres of easy wire the three Old Faffing Italians ahead of us engaged in a hugely slow faff on a vertical section, during which one of them paused for some time, hanging precariously off the wire, to deal with a telephone call.

Italians love to talk!

'No matter', I thought - the rest of the 'coachload of Italians' up ahead looked even slower!

Eventually Pete and I were afforded the space to tackle the wall of rock. 'Huff puff' - we soon realised why the Italians had been so faffy. The Pic da Lech route, graded 3B - a mid grade VF - had plenty of good resting places in between thrutchy ascents and airy traverses. We spent a lot of time at such resting places due to the slowness of the group ahead.

After making sedate (I'm being polite here) progress for over an hour, Pete and I found ourselves sitting next to the three Elderly Italians, looking up at the rest of their party making very heavy weather of ascending a couple of ladders. We watched, bemused that anyone could make anything so simple look so hard. English voices floated down.

So it was not an Italian coach load, just three old boys irretrievably sandwiched between two parties of English incompetents.

Mutterings under the breath..."Shoot ze Inglese fools".
With an echo..."Shoot ze incompetent Inglese fools" - I blame Pete for that!

Anyway, the English Incompetents huffed and puffed their was up the ladders whilst we gazed up, directly into the sun, in bafflement. The colour of my face tonight is testament to the aeons it spent in that position.

With the ladders clear, the Aged Italians strolled on up them (if indeed it's possible to stroll up a ladder). Then it was our turn.

I knew it was easy. I'd been here before. I'd waited at the foot of the second ladder for many minutes whilst Sue had tried to coax a small Italian boy upwards, finally resorting to impaling said child on a stemple and hurling the whole lot at the little blighter's idiot father.

I had explained all this to Pete. "So that's the reason for all the loose stemples" he observed.

Pete was next up. "I can't reach" he pleaded. "Stand on the top rung" I suggested. He made some rather rude gurgling noises before emerging triumphant at the top of the VF with knees oozing copious bodily fluids by way of proof of passage.

Next up was Nicola. She's shorter than Pete and her "I can't reach" plea was a little more justified than his. By some psychological miracle I overcame my usual state of terrified vertigo and helped her up, leaving Kev (next up) to look after himself and the following person.

Pete and I strolled up to the summit, said hello to the three Italian Elders and confronted the Incompetent English. It turned out that Collett's had dispatched them as an advance party from Chalet Barbara in Arabba, clearly for the purpose of laying siege to the mountain. There must have been over 30 Collett's guests on this route today.

And we complain about coachloads of Italians!?

The views from the 2910 metre summit of Piz da Lech, to numerous Dolomitic peaks and valleys, are stunning. We savoured them together with our lunch for an hour (1pm to 2pm), during which about half our party, in various states of bruisedness arrived on the broad summit.

I have yet to discover what happened to the rest of them, as Pete and I, being the only members of the group mean enough to buy one-way lift tickets, decided to commence our 1350 metre descent to Corvara. It was a most pleasurable two and a half hours, punctuated by a welcome coke at the Boe gondola station and culminating in a long, slow beer near Chalet Bracun.

An excellent day out - 8km with 400 metres ascent, in about 6 hours. Thanks for your company, Pete, I really enjoyed our day together.

Back at Chalet Angelo, Sue was luxuriating in the sauna after her own sociable day out, and the atmosphere was delightfully convivial, everyone having enjoyed another fine day under the bright yellow orb that just now remains a constant feature of the Dolomitic skyscape.

[Hello Paul, hello Helen. Wish you were here? Surely not, it's a bit hot!]

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A Short Walk up Sas Ciampac

Wednesday is a day off for Collett's staff. There were no organised activities for us to be sociable on, and others felt our own plans would be too easy/hard for them.

So Sue and I set off on our own from the chalet at 9am down the steep path/road to Corvara village.

Sassongher (pictured from near our chalet) looms high above Corvara, but it wasn't our objective today. We were heading for the highest of the summits to the north east of Passo Gardena, Sas Ciampac, which at 2672 metres towers over neighbouring Sassongher by all of 7 metres. It's pictured in the posting from two days ago, just after our arrival here.

Having previously approached Col Pradat by a brutally steep path from Colfosco, #4A from Pescosta was pleasurable in comparison. It wound gently up through shady woods, past Fragrant Orchids and vibrant Moon Daisies (pictured).

At 1820 metres, about the height of the nearby Edelweiss Hut, we spotted our first flowers of that name on this trip.

After joining #4 at Col Pradat, we contoured amiably towards Forcella Ciampei on what proved to be a very busy section of path. The crossroads at the Forcella seemed like Piccadilly Circus, so it was with relief that we turned off Alta Via 2 onto path 2A shortly afterwards.

The ascent of Sas Ciampac from the sparsely vegetated limestone plateau then became a pleasure. We summited around 1pm and enjoyed lunch in our own company, having narrowly missed a coach load of Japanese!

It became busier after we rejoined AV2 at Passo Crespeina, but the route to Passo Cir and on to Jimmy's Hut was nevertheless a pure delight, firstly above a narrow valley of lush meadows bordered by steep cliffs, then winding between rocky pinnacles that remind me of the Trotternish area of Skye.

We were thirsty, so two schiewassers went down well. But the cost! Nearly €8 for two glasses of cordial! Ouch.

Flower (identification) stops punctuated our stroll down the easy #650 then #28 to Corvara. Lovely woods with open views, then a call into the supermarket before the final 150 metre climb up to Chalet Angelo to conclude an excellent day. We had walked about 16km, with 1300 metres ascent, in about 9 hours.

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The Azalea Walk

The 30 minute chairlift ride from Pedraces got 15 of us up from 1350 to 2045 metres, a satisfactory way to start the gently descending path 15 that links Ospizio La Crusc Hospiz with the village of San Cassiano.

We were a sociable lot, as is the norm with clients of Collett's, with Anna, who's based at their Haus Valentin chalet in Pedraces, 'carrying the umbrella'.

The path wound gently through woods, with frequent vistas across to the Sella and Puez massifs, and the Fanes behind us. The pace was gentle. Lunch was taken (pictured) at a fine spot by the edge of the woods, with a view to the distinctive peak of Sassongher (2665 metres) above the conglomeration of settlements that calls itself La Villa.

Early rain ('for the heat') had been expected, but it failed to materialise as we continued on down to San Cassiano, returning to Pedraces by the riverside path via La Villa.

Anna was so engrossed with the views (the second picture shows the Fanes escarpment from this scenic path) that she failed to notice two of her charges slip away on their own agenda.

The rest of us continued merrily on to Pedraces for a welcome beer after this easy 12km stroll with around 100 metres ascent, in a very leisurely four hours or so.

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A New Home in Corvara

The previous posting may be deceptive - it's just a small sliver of a wide panoramic view of hazy rock peaks for as far as the eye can see.

Yesterday's walk was based on walk 15 in Gillian's previously mentioned book. The detailed route description is somewhat superfluous - as Gillian points out. There are any number of permutations of paths that anyone equipped with map number 72 or its larger scale equivalent can devise without difficulty....

Today we enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast, compared with our camp fayre of the previous week, before settling our modest account and heading for Bolzano.

Good advice from two welcome sources had encouraged us to take the cablecar and narrow gauge railway to the Renon plateau, with its stunning views towards the Dolomites.

Then, onwards through intermittent afternoon rain to our self-catered apartment at Chalet Angelo, one of Collett's (www.colletts.co.uk) bases in Corvara, in the heart of the Dolomites.

We have the only self-catered accommodation in the building - a penthouse apartment with great views to the Puez summits and Val Gardena.

The morning view with the sun on the mountains will be stunning, but since we only arrived at 4pm the above images are from the afternoon and evening, looking west from the window of our new home.

[It's good to hear from you Shirley, no doubt you had a brilliant time in the Pyrenees. We are here for another week.]

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The Dolomites, from Collalbo

It has been said, by one much more familiar with this area than ourselves, that:

"I'm close to saying this place is the best for amazing Dolomite views!"

That could be right, though today's heat haze has produced a rather 'atmospheric' view.

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Val Martello this morning - from our balcony

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Val Martello

A leisurely striking of camp and a good hour's drive found us enjoying elevenses in the sunshine (I've mentioned the weather - just for you, Louise) outside Albergo Gioveretto in Val Martello, another new destination for us.

So it was midday by the time we set off from 1880 metres past another fine information board (the Stelvio Park is awash with them, I won't mention them again). Along #20A/38 towards Albergo Genziana (Enzianhütte) past Early Purple and Common Spotted Orchids, taking #38 through beautiful woods to a short road section before turning along #8 just before reaching the hut and its many facilities.

#8 was signposted to Malga-Lyfi-Alm at 2165 metres. Shortly after crossing a torrent we turned left up #39, by a picnic bench well suited to a lunch stop for anyone equipped with a gallon of sun tan cream (1.5 hrs to here).

Then right at a junction at 2220 metres, along #35, happy in the knowledge that the bulk of ascent had now been done. We kept left where #20A branches to the right, taking #35 to Lyfi-alm, which was very much open for business on this sunny holiday afternoon.

It was like Piccadilly Circus, with lots of paths from here - we chose to continue along the unnumbered one continuing ENE from below the alm.

Then after a few metres, #8 to Stallwies was our choice.

At 3.30, almost two weeks to the hour after embarking on this trip, the unthinkable happened.

Waterproofs were deployed.

Continuing on through the light rain, we reached a low point on #8 at 1920 metres, where a right turn took us down path 0 (?!) to a junction with #9 - here we turned right to Thial - 1850m.

It was like being in a greenhouse, so waterproofs were discarded before a short but unpleasant section up tarmac zigzags to the vertiginous dam wall at Lago di Gioveretto.

#36 beside the lake after the phobic dam wall was suitable for wheelchairs, we joked.

It proved an easy stroll by the lakeside to finish our circuit at 5.45 pm.

We had passed only one wheelchair.

We'd enjoyed a most scenic 11 km outing, with 500 metres ascent, taking us over 5.5 hours (but the flower ID stops are becoming more difficult and time consuming).

It's a valley to which we hope to return.

We had decided to stay at the hotel outside which we'd parked the car. After all, it did say 'Only For Guests'. Horror of horrors! The hotel was full!

Up the road - 3 nights minimum, and expensive (very posh).

Down the road to 1200 metres - a 15 minute drive during which we struggled to keep ahead of a pair of mountain bikers, the Ortlerhof establishment wasn't so fussy. Half board we are, in one of only three occupied rooms.

It's very comfy, and the house cabernet has successfully washed down the menu:

Insalata del buffet
Mezzalune tirolese con burro lesso
Entrecoté con burro al erbe con crochette di patate e verdura
Gelato di vaniglia con lampone calde

Delicious!

Then I wrote this whilst watching the first half of the World Cup Final. I apologise for not affording you my full attention.

Must go now. The second half has started.

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A Stroll from Furkelhütte

Trafoi, this morning, was humming with activity as the throaty purring engines of vintage cars participating in the Sud-Tirol Rally brought various admirers to the roadside as the old vehicles embarked on the classic ascent of the Stelvio Pass. Strange to see so many British sports cars with left hand drive and German plates.

For us, after admiring the machinery on display, a long 650 metre ascent on a chairlift (on which Sue blagged a ride as an OAP!) to sunny Furkelhütte for lattemacchiato (pictured). It was a temperate 25C in the shade at 2159 metres. What it was like lower down I hate to think (forecast 38C).

The sky was a hazy blue, with thin streaks of cloud and a stunning view of Ortler, and its crumbling glaciers.

We left the hut at 11.30 to ascend through a forest of black vanilla orchids in a luxuriant meadow, past a wartime 'pill box', before eschewing a broad path (#24) to a minor peak, in favour of the little used #25 to Passo di Vallazza, at 2742 metres.

At 2500 metres, an exciting moment. Our first sighting of Dark Stonecrop this trip!

We continued in silence, apart from the distant tinkle of cowbells and the caw of a raven, and our own voices, past innumerable marmot holes.

On reaching the pass just after 1pm we were greeted by a big view, with high cloud over Austria, whilst a thin sun beamed down on us.

It was a fine spot for an extended lunch, during which we spent a happy hour trying to identify lots of miniature alpine plants. With limited success.

A few drops of rain signaled the need to descend, past whistling marmots (at last we have seen some), bundles of caterpillars in the grass, and through verdant Alpine meadows on the anti-clockwise continuation of #25.

Back at the hut at 15.30 after a 7 km, 4 hour walk with 600 metres ascent, beers were most welcome.

Then it was back down the chairlift, a visit to the Stelvio National Park Visitor Centre, with its fine exhibition of owls, before returning to camp to battle with increasing dampness of the air and two recalcitrant gas stoves from which we are trying to drain the last dregs of fuel, for our final alfresco camping meal of the trip.

Not that we are coming home just yet...

Since we've been at Trafoi (1550 metres), six days now, the barometer has risen steadily from 849 to 854Mb. Stable weather, or what?! (Despite tonight's rain, which we are actually quite enjoying.)

[Shame on you, Alan! Blogging is never a 'pain', but sometimes Old Man Time sets up a bit of a 'challenge'. And we quite like those! Don't we? Even if it does finish up a bit garbled...?]

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