Friday 11 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 15 - Passo Duran to Rifugio Pian de Fontana

 

Alta Via 1 - Day 6 - 18km, 1200 metres ascent, 8.4 hours.

A classic day on AV1. 

Sunlight of Delight and Views of Desire.

For the first time on this trip, several of our waterproof clothes remained stashed today. Others came out briefly towards the end of the day when we skirmished with a cloud as we descended through a zone of marmots and the occasional Burnt Orchid - amongst a vast selection of flowers. 

Beniamino and his staff saw us off before 8am after a good breakfast. (Pictured) After a short descent along the road, we headed along path 543 all the way to the Pramperet Rifugio. It's a wonderful belvedere path for most of the way. Fabulous views and splendiferous flora. Forest, scree slopes, and lazy rises through rock bands.

A good lunch at the friendly hut saw us winding our way up to Forcella de Zità Sud with a couple of Germans who were grateful for our guidance across some snowfields and up a rocky crest to the col, the last few metres being up a steep snow slope. 

Sue, Susan and Roy nipped up to a summit whilst Karen and Mike and I admired the view (also pictured).

It was a 700 metre descent to this fairly basic but friendly Rifugio that hadn't been built when I first visited AV1 in 1991. Its derelict predecessor building is pictured on the wall in 1983.

The descent was perhaps the toughest part of the trip to date, as it was unrelentingly steep and slippery on the limestone that was being lubricated by the passing cloud.

We are enjoying our last evening of 'hutting' before descending to the fleshpots of Pedraces. The food tonight is as good as ever - pasta, pork, polenta, nut cake etc.

The alpenglow on the Schiara is wonderful.

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Thursday 10 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 14 - Rifugio Coldai to Passo Duran

 

Alta Via 1 - Day 5 - 22km, 1000 metres ascent, 9.2 hours.

Mudpits of Despair and Cow Pats of Doom.

After an ordinary breakfast we set off at 7.45am in an effort to cover some ground before the predicted rain. After a couple of minutes there was rain in the air. That was the on and off story of the day. Waterproofs, that is. Actually we could have got away with leaving them in our bags. But we didn't. 

Sue is pictured shortly after the start, posing in front of Lago Coldai and the Civetta.

During the course of our traverse alongside the western cliffs of the Civetta, we encountered everything from steep snowbound scree slopes to meadows with wild flowers and newly born calves, then forest paths with cesspits of cowpat laden mud.

The twelve Germans from Lago di Braies made a brief appearance before heading off to the Tissi Rifugio for coffee, whilst we continued in the cool weather as far as Rifugio Vazzoler for our own refreshments. 

Lunch soon followed, then a magnificent belvedere path concluding with beers at Rifugio B. Carestiato amongst a dog loving family from Padova.

Down at Passo Duran, Beniamino and his staff at Rifugio S. Sebastiano have provided excellent accommodation and have fed and watered us brilliantly. But there is no wifi and a minimal phone signal with the usual network problem, so transmission may be delayed. 

As to the heading, Mike decided to tramp into a cowpat laden mud pit, hence triggering the comment from Susan. It did rain a lot last night and the ground is unseasonably soggy just now.

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Wednesday 9 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 13 - Rifugio Città di Fiume to Rifugio Coldai

 

Alta Via 1 - Day 4 - 15km, 1150 metres ascent, 7 hours.

In search of dinosaurs' footprints.

By the time we reached Rifugio Staulanza for coffee we were on Plan E. Plan A, the AV1 route over to Rifugio Venezia, had been extinguished by the dangerously steep snowfields due to abnormal amounts of snow last winter. Readers may recall that we suffered similar problems in the Pyrenees last year. 

Plan B was rejected as being too short - the direct route past Mt Pelmo.

Plan C was rejected as being too long - the other way around Mt Pelmo involving a lot of descent and ascent.

Plan D was abandoned due to snow gullies that Karen would have struggled with. 

Plan E resulted in an excellent day despite indifferent weather that had us putting waterproofs on and off and trying to avoid the mud. 

After the interesting route to Staulanza we headed along the belvedere path, number 472, through much mud, towards Rifugio Venezia. Shortly before Col delle Crepe we headed up to look at the dinosaurs' footprints pictured above. The other pictures show us at the start of the day in front of Mt Pelmo, and the Civetta group from belvedere path 472.

Descending from Col delle Crepe towards Palafavera, we paused briefly for lunch under some pines in light rain. Then it was down to the road and up a jeep track and footpath to reach our destination before 3.30pm.

Luckily, it's another cosy refuge, if rather larger than last night's. 

Outside, one minute it's snowing, next it's all clear with distant mountains bathed in sunlight with a rainbow foreground. 

The three Johns are here, but the French and the Chinese have gone further today. There are quite a few others here. Showers are good if brief, and we have a room for four and one for two. Half board is €40 for Alpine Club members.

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Tuesday 8 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 12 - Rifugio Dibona to Rifugio Città di Fiume

 

Alta Via 1 - Day 3 - 16.5km, 1100 metres ascent, 7.5 hours.

A wet day in the Dolomites. 

After a fairly damp day we arrived here soon after 3pm. That should leave plenty of time for blogging, but in a cosy Rifugio full of sociable folk - our own six, the three Johns, French and Chinese couples, etc - it isn't so easy!

The first hour and a half today's walk was thankfully in a pause from the rain that had fallen all night and demanded a dash from the annex to the main building for breakfast. 

A steep slippery 300 metre descent to the Cortina-Passo Falzarego road was followed by a steep thrutchy 300 metre ascent almost as far as Rifugio Cinque Torri. Before reaching that sanctuary we turned left and took a steep slippery 300 metre descent to the Cortina-Passo Giau road. By now the rain had made the tree roots of which the path was composed even more slippery.

After a short section on a freshly sanitised pathway, normal service was resumed by way of a steep thrutchy 300 metre ascent to mercifully level path to Rifugio Croda da Lago 'G Palmieri'.

Lunch was taken in this fine establishment as the rain tipped down outside and an elderly group of Japanese tried to commit hari kiri on the welcome grate. Then waterproofs were redeployed for the stroll up to Forcella Ambrizzola. My five companions are pictured leaving the Rifugio. Mike had given up on his brolly by this point.

The afternoon was spent on limestone pavements then mud. A beautiful high level stroll in light rain, followed by a gluey descent to a "cute" (to quote our friends from Paris) Rifugio Città di Fiume. 

It's full tonight with just 25 like minded tourists and some Italian scouts who have sought refuge from the rain.

Last night I discovered some wifi, and this Rifugio, despite being quite remote, also has it. Great stuff!

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Monday 7 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 11 - Rifugio Lavarella to Rifugio Dibona

 

Alta Via 1 - Day 2 - 20km, 1250 metres ascent, 8.4 hours.

Last night's wrestle with the wifi in 'hotspot corner' distracted me from the 'start time' discussion. I wasn't expecting our American friends to go to bed at 8.30! My 7am breakfast plan had been thwarted by the desire for a long sleep. They must still be jetlagged. Not to worry, we were away by 8.15, in lovely weather.

Last night's remote spot was never likely to have phone reception. If it had, I'd have no doubt received a message saying that I had no data network connection despite the good signal. This Samsung phone seems too complicated for its own good and no amount of wrestling with settings seems to solve the problem. 

The wifi at Lavarella was unstable to say the least. I kept receiving messages saying my blog posting had failed, but it was showing up on the website. I tried and failed miserably to respond to AlanR's message of sympathy. Thanks Alan. And thanks for commenting on one of yesterday's pictures, proving that the 'failed to send' message was a glitch. (And perhaps indicating that the network problem is resolved.)

Here there is no wifi, and a vague phone signal but no network available to me unless the problem resolves itself, so readers could have a long wait to hear about our excellent and energetic day on AV1.

We started by rising past Rifugio Fanes in the company of marmots and nutcrackers, to a low col, Passo di Limo. Then it was a lovely walk through meadows to a turning to a notable and memorable notch that gave one of our 2005 team a nickname. A German group of twelve who started at the same time as us yesterday, pointed out the 'path closed' signs. Apparently the steep route the other side of the col had suffered a landslip. So we continued on down to near the road head at Capanna Alpina, then up to the splendid Scotoni refuge, for drinks and excellent apfelstrudel. From there we forsook AV1 in favour of the quieter 18B and 20A route to Forcella Lagazuoi. Lunch was enjoyed with views to Corvara and Sassongher, of which more next week. We could also see numerous people wending their way along the supposedly closed path beyond the notch. Then we encountered many snowfields on the way to the Forcella, where a cold wind and short shower greeted us. We'd met a very friendly and quaintly dressed English couple on the quiet path.   

The rain soon eased and we wended our way along various AV1 paths past a couple of cols and numerous signposts to the Lipella via ferrata. After missing path 404, we took the excellent 412 route through undulating woodland, to reach Rifugio Dibona at beer o'clock - which today was 4.30pm. The rifugio is at a roadhead high above Cortina, and is where in the past I've driven Braemar Simon with his paraglider, as well as descending rapidly from the summit of Lipella on one occasion after many hours of ascent on the via ferrata.

We are sharing the annex with a French group, but at least we have a room for just the six of us, and the food here is very good. As are the views. Today's pictures, if and when they transmit, are from the Campestrin valley and from path 20A on the approach to Forcella Lagazuoi, where many of the other folk walking AV1 are staying tonight.

Lots more flowers today, starring Least Primrose, but not many birds apart from the abovementioned and a flock of Choughs.

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Sunday 6 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 10 - Lago di Braies to Rifugio Lavarella

 

Alta Via 1 - Day 1 - 20km, 1400 metres ascent, 8.5 hours.

Away from the fleshpots of Lago di Braies at 8.45 after a hearty breakfast of unlimited portions, we joined the crocodile heading up to Rifugio Biella. By the time we got there three hours later, we'd lost the blue sky and had our waterproofs on and off. The wonderful reflections in Lago di Braies were long gone.

Lots of flowers as usual kept Sue busy with her camera at the back of the pack.

Lunch was enjoyed shortly after passing Rifugio Sennes, before some more spots of rain from a bulky cloud to our south caused another brief deployment of waterproofs. 

It's a long way down to Rifugio Pederü, along a slippery surface. Drinks at this huge 'hut' at the roadhead went down well and set us up for the stroll up to this lovely rifugio. 

Improving weather ensured this final stage of today's walk was an absolute delight, with lovely light on the high summits of the Fanes across the valley. 

Good company, good food, and an early curfew for the hut's wifi, mean that I have to leave you now after this excellent first day on AV1.

Today's pictures were taken above Lago di Braies, and on the approach to Rifugio Lavarella.

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Saturday 5 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 9 - Lischana Hütte to Lago di Braies

 

Last night's rain had cleared by the time we rose for a 7.30 am breakfast before ambling back down to the road head above Scuol. The lovely path dropped through bands of thin cloud. Redwings and a larger thrush sized bird flitted amongst the foraging marmots. There were frequent pauses for photos of one or other of the huge variety of wild flowers, with numerous different orchids gracing the path side during the course of our two hour descent.

After 5.5km and a vertical drop of over 1000 metres we were back at the car by 10.30 on a pleasant day with blue patches of sky on the one hand and drops of rain in the air on the other hand. 

The 150 mile journey to Lago di Braies passed uneventfully, with no traffic problems. After elevenses at a roadside café we descended slowly along the Merano road towards Silandro. For many miles our windscreen was filled with the sight of the snow draped Stelvio Alps, shrouded in several layers of cloud. By Bolzano the temperature had risen to 28C, so we were pleased to rise to 1500 metres, where it's a bit cooler and we are ensconced in the splendid Hotel Pragser Wildsee, the view from which is shown above.

Markus will be pleased to hear that the food and accommodation are both excellent. We arrived here around 4pm and then spent some time washing clothes and preparing for a week's hutting trip on Alta Via 1.

We went down for refreshments and were greeted by Susan, Roy, Karen and Mike, who had just arrived from Munich (having started earlier from Connecticut and California) to join us on this trip.

Thanks go to various folk for your comments and emails. The 'phone has been playing up today and this posting is only possible thanks to the hotel's wifi, as no network service is being recognised. It may be some time before another wifi is encountered, so don't worry if there are periods of silence.

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Friday 4 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 8 - Lais da Rims

 

Today was rather overcast and a bit windy. I'm writing this from inside the cosy Lischana Hütte with a pot of tea, waiting for rain, whereas yesterday we were outside in t-shirts and blinding sunshine.

After an 8am breakfast - this is not a 'crack of dawn' establishment, though Silke will oblige if asked, Markus and I were requisitioned to the site of Heinz's love nest, where what looked like the components of a garden shed were piled onto a foundation of pallets. We helped Heinz and Marlene (who luckily is a carpenter) rearrange the piles and erect one wall. Unfortunately, as we lifted the second wall that should have meshed with the first, it fell to pieces. Shame! But Markus and I obtained our honourable discharges, leaving the others to assemble the shed bit by bit. 

We bade Markus farewell, and he headed down the hill and home to Dornbirn. It was great to see you Markus, and thanks for orchestrating this bit of our trip. 

Meanwhile, Sue and I headed up the good path to the plateau, Lais da Rims,  south east of the hut. After only a few minutes we encountered a traverse across a steep snow gully. I baulked at this but managed to find a way around the obstacle by tiptoeing up some very loose scree, at the top of which a couple of ptarmigan were having a 'love-in'. They were still at it when I returned several hours later. 

Sue entertained herself by taking flower pictures while she waited at the top of her 'easy scramble'. I should have brought my ice axe and crampons instead of leaving them in the car.

There were no other technical difficulties as we ascended to the plateau at around 2950 metres. By now we were wishing that we had snow shoes as we kept sinking deep into the snowfields that dominate the scenery up here. We met the man with his son who are staying at the hut, then three Swiss who had walked up from San-charl and admitted to being a little disorientated. We comforted them by pointing out the path. "Three Swiss taking directions from an English couple" they mused "it doesn't seem right, but thank you."

We continued slowly onwards in the footprints - well, footholes - of the Swiss as far as an iced lake at 2856 metres,  4.5km from the hut. Lunch time - nice bread, cheese and tomato from Scuol's Co-op. Today's picture is taken from here. You should be able to see the Ortler Alps in the distance, but today's visibility was far inferior to yesterday's. 

Two joggers postholed past us, and a heavily laden pair stumbled towards us through the snow. We saw them later descending slowly to reach the path to Sur-En.

A front was slowly approaching. The limited views were diminishing. We flogged our way back up to the plateau's high ridge, retracing our steps to the high point. This is the start of the ascent of Piz Lischana (3105 metres). It's mostly a tricky scramble, but the walk up to the first high point - 3044 metres, was easy so we went up, despite increasing wind and cold. Sue justified the visit by finding Glacier Crowfoot and a variety of Rock Jasmine that has her stumped. This is probably higher than any point reached on last year's Pyrenean Adventure. 

Then it was back down to the hut to complete our 9km walk with 700 metres ascent by around 3.30, for a welcome pot of tea and another leisurely afternoon and evening. On the way we passed the shed/love nest and were impressed to see that it now has four substantial walls, if not a roof. Heinz and Marlene are probably rectifying that defect whilst I write this and Silke prepares supper.

That's all for now from a very warm and cosy Lischana Hütte, where Khaled Hosseini's brilliant novel 'And the Mountains Echoed' has been succeeded by the rather lesser literary qualities of the adventures of Agatha Raisin.

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Thursday 3 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 7 - Scuol to Lischana Hütte (Chamonna Lischana)

 

As predicted, early morning sunshine burst onto the tent. Sue and I didn't wake until after 8 o'clock. A quick brew for us kept Markus waiting - "I'm not in Challenge mode, I haven't even brought a stove" he professed. Eventually we enjoyed breakfast in town, where the 'Café' was the place to be - an excellent spot.

Apparently Scuol has 2000 residents of whom 500 are Portuguese. "Nice people" reports a local, "but rather prone to a surfeit of children." In the holiday season there are an additional 4000 tourists.

It was noon by the time we had done our shopping, showered, dried out the tent, sorted all our hutting gear, and parked at the start of the Lischana path on a beautiful cloudless day. The 6km, three hour climb of just over 1000 metres to the hut at 2500 metres was a delight. Through woodland at first, passing copious clumps of Lady's Slipper Orchids - it's worth walking up here for that reason alone - then into a more open area with fine views back to Scuol and the Silvretta Alps beyond. Paragliders in the distance looked like moving bits of snow slopes. The hillside glittered with a rich tapestry of alpine flowers. 

It was good to see Markus's sister Silke again. She spends her summers helping to run this mountain hut together with Heinz, Gabi and Marlene. They have just six guests tonight. Sue and I have an excellent room to ourselves.

We lounged with beers for a while after arriving at around three o'clock, before visiting Silke's nearby herb garden. Markus helped her to cultivate and seed it a couple of weeks ago. We hope it survives the ravishes of 'Fritz the Ripper', Lischana Hütte's resident gluttonous marmot, and the ibex that regularly visit.

The rest of the afternoon passed as much of this holiday, in 'chilled out' mode, in the sunshine outside the hut, before adjourning for a fine meal.

Today's images are of the iconic orchid, and the view from just above the hut to Scuol and the Silvretta Alps.

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Wednesday 2 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 6 - Heidelberg to Scuol

 

We said goodbye to Thomas last night as he had to leave early for work, and the unenviable task of a three hour telephone conference between Germans and Japanese, conducted in (pidgeon?) English. 

By the time we'd dragged ourselves from holiday slumber, Andrea had laid out the traditional table of buns, cheeses, cold meat, yoghurt, fruit, jams, etc, with her home made jam and cheese stealing the show.

Leaving at 9.30, we avoided the rush hour traffic as we started our 330 mile journey to the Swiss village of Scuol. The A6/A7 route to Ulm worked fine as we left the sunshine of Heidelberg and ventured into gradually more overcast surroundings, eventually turning hillier, but by then the sight of any hills was obliterated by persistent rain. 

Lunch in Lindau brought back memories of a wintry visit to Dornbirn and Markus and Wolfgang's 'Ritzy Shack'. It was warmer today. But wet. Memories of E5 returned as we wound our way around the waterways that flow into Bodensee. 

From Lindau we took a scenic route via Buchs and Klosters to reach the excellent campsite at Scuol by 6.30. More memories for me as we passed over the 2300 metre Fluellapass, pictured top, that Markus and I cruised over on our TransAlp bike ride a few years ago. Given that this same Markus arrived at Scuol's posh campsite at the same time as we did, the reminiscing carried on long into the evening. We had passed through here on the bike ride, shortly after accidentally appearing to lead a mountain bike endurance race.

Tents went up under a seriously leaky sky. Then after a quick brew we adjourned to admire the Hotel Traube's lavish menu. We couldn't resist. The top of a mountain had appeared as if by magic between two buildings in Scuol, and Traube's chef turned out to be on good form. The pictures should speak for themselves. 

I'll mention Swiss prices just as an aside, being as we are paying a brief visit. The campsite costs slightly more than twice as much as its French equivalent. Other prices are subject to a similar formula. Be warned and consider staying away if you are on a tight budget. 

We emerged from the restaurant to a cool, clear evening, today's weather having ranged from a sunny 20C to a snowstorm at the pass. We are now set for a frosty night. Brrr.

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Tuesday 1 July 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 5 - Heidelberg

 

A lovely day with Andrea and Thomas, walking into and around Heidelberg.

Sue found a website with '97 attractions in Heidelberg' and we visited quite a few of them as well as gathering candidates for another three attractions. 97 seems to us rather a pathetic failure to reach 100. So 'wild fruit' can be added to the list, with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries - yes, on 1 July - all being sampled today.

After a substantial 'Full German' breakfast on a lovely sunny day, we set off around 11 o'clock and rose through woods to a communication tower near a convenient café. There are a myriad of signposted routes in this area, especially for mountain bikes. We followed a red route through woodland that emerged at the ruins of Klosterruinne St Michael - a religious centre dating from before 400BC.

The ruined abbey was an interesting place, as was the amphitheatre like structure nearby. The latter, pictured top, is Thingstätte, built by the Nazis in the 1930s with a huge capacity. Hitler never came here, but the place was used for the shameful glorification of Naziism. Nowadays it occasionally hosts concerts.

Below the amphitheatre was another of several towers encountered today, Stephansklosters Tower. We climbed to the top to admire views of Heidelberg. Nearby was a 56 metre deep hole in the ground - Heidenloch - which appeared to be someone's persistent but futile attempt to dig a well. An impressive hole, especially when I found the light switch that illuminated it. 

Lower down, we passed Bismarcksäule, another tower that we climbed (maybe that's the answer to the 'why do I feel so tired?' question as I try to avoid nodding off whilst writing this).

Views of the town slowly got closer as we made our way down to the Philosophersweg - another of Heidelberg's attractions. I'd been here before, on a summer holiday in 1981. Only two other readers will remember this trip, and neither is listening at present, but the wonders of text messaging will see to that. It doesn't seem to have changed much in those 33 years. The middle picture was taken from the Philosophersweg whilst watching a red squirrel devour the fruit of an almond tree. 

The 'Old Bridge', which is actually a new bridge because the Nazis destroyed the old one in an attempt to halt the Allied advance in WW2, delivered us to the tourist zone, and a welcome beer. Beer o'clock is indeed alive and well, Humphrey. 

Duly refreshed, we stumbled up to the castle, which covers a substantial plot overlooking the town. The castle deserves an entry of its own; all I have time to report now is that it is a miscellany of different architectural styles, partly ruined and partly fairly new, with a rich and colourful history.  The bottom picture was taken from here. 

By the time we got back down to the Old Bridge we'd walked a good 18km on a hot day and were pleased to be able to hop on a bus to return to Wilhelmsfelder Strasse and the delights of an evening with Andrea and Thomas. Their cooking philosophy is very like ours, as is their taste in wine, so we've really had a great day and a great evening. Thanks A and T - for your companionship and wonderful hospitality. We miss you in Timperley. 

Thanks also to HMP3 for your recent comment on this rather mundane trip on which my diary entries are principally for the purpose of keeping in touch with friends like you, and family whilst we are away. Believe it or not there really were zebras and camels outside yesterday's supermarket, beer o'clock is alive and well, and my daughter has finally got round to reading about my 'Pyrenean  Adventure', perhaps at some cost to her children. My son may find a copy in his chalet room next week.

Goodnight, sleep tight. We will!

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Monday 30 June 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 4 - Verdun to Heidelberg

 

The campsite restaurant echoed to groans from a subdued Dutch contingent in front of an unseen TV. "Mex1" muttered a distressed man in orange as he passed our patio table.

Meal finished, we made our way to a window outside the crammed TV room. There were five minutes to go. Things looked bad for the Europeans to whom we had earlier sworn allegiance. Those five minutes proved very entertaining. We left our Dutch friends to celebrate and headed off down cycle track number 13  for a couple of kilometres,  returning in light rain from a seemingly clear sky.

The birds here at Verdun are as vociferous as those at Montreuil. One of the many delights of camping in such places.

After another fine sleep (we both sleep better in a tent than virtually anywhere else) sunshine greeted us, as did tea in bed and croissants from the campsite's local bakery. Excellent. 

Another leisurely departure saw us drive into Verdun for a quick look around. It's a pleasant town with a river and a citadel. We wished we had time to explore. Verdun would be a good spot to stay at for a few days - there's lots of walking and cycling and other stuff to hand, and the campsite is excellent, with good facilities including a pool.

Today's pictures were both taken near the centre of Verdun. 

A trip to a 'Cora' (think of Tesco Metro x 3) sorted out lunch, and we left the excitement of the retail park, complete with its zebras and camels, to continue our journey along an assortment of French byroads through small communities who farm in the pretty countryside. A massive field of sunflowers stands out in the memory. 

These small villages failed to reveal a coffee shop until nearly lunchtime, when a snack bar in Longeville-les-Saint Avold drew us through its doors. Our two coffees came black, with a bottle of milk. The milk was off. Our genial host disappeared for a while, returning with an abject apology. "My wife was making yoghurt out of that milk" he pronounced "This bottle will be better." So the coffees were replaced and everyone was happy. Here you can still get a cup of coffee (two on this occasion) for a euro.

Once in Germany we took to the motorway for the final part of our 190 mile drive to Heidelberg. 

The Satnav was very handy for locating Andrea and Thomas's apartment on Wilhelmsfelder Strasse, where tea and delicious apricot chocolate cake awaited us. A and T used to live a few doors away from us in Timperley, and kindly looked after our house and plants when we were away. Having abandoned the UK, in the process abandoning much of their large collection of plant pots in our garden, we have been forced to lure a homeless couple into our house as full time replacements for A and T (thanks Pam and Paul), and it's a pleasure to visit our old neighbours in their new home, where our European allegiance has now switched from Holland to Germany. 

Meanwhile, we enjoyed a 4km stroll down to the abbey at Neuburg, for an excellent meal and a bus ride back home.

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Sunday 29 June 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 3 - Montreuil to Verdun

 

It's great to wake in a cosy tent to the sounds of cooing doves and chattering blackbirds. Apparently it rained in the night, but the Hyperspace tent, built to withstand just about anything, was as oblivious to that as I was.

Today was spent mainly in the car, on a 240 mile journey avoiding motorways.

After calling in at Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise for croissants from the Boulanger Patissier (Andrew Junior would have been impressed by the two lines of chocolate) and eating them next door in the Café de la Paix, we headed along quiet roads through occasional downpours past fields of white and pink, and past lots of water towers and newly installed wind turbines.

Diesel is €1.30 per litre, so if you are driving to the 'mainland' you'll save by waiting to fill up until you are out of the grip of UK taxes.

In the area that borders Belgium we passed lots of unsightly slag heaps, so we shied away from that heavily industrialised zone in favour of the poplar lined byway of the D643 road to Charleville-Mézières.

Lunch was provided by a roadside CoOp - baguette with cheese and tomato. 

During the afternoon we met a convoy of around a hundred caravans, mostly being towed by white vans. What was that!

A storm followed us for much of the afternoon, but it had dissipated by the time we reached Les Breuils campsite at Verdun. Another friendly, familiar and cheap spot where we can eat in the restaurant and form a 'European' alliance with some Dutch football supporters.

Today's pictures are at the campsite. The second one is the view from the empty chair on the first picture. So you can picture where we are. ..

That's it for now. If we do anything interesting during what remains of the day we'll report on it tomorrow, but 'chilling out' is the current name of the game, with Sue engrossed in 'The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules' and me enjoying Khaled Hosseini's 'And the Mountains Echoed'.

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Saturday 28 June 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 2 - Wokingham to Montreuil

 

A lovely morning in Wokingham saw us bidding fond farewells to Jill and James and heading off to Woodley for my Saturday morning jogging 'fix' at the local 5km Parkrun. It was a fast course, resulting in my best time for a while - 21.35, only just outside my best. It's a shame that's my last such outing for over a month. Meanwhile, Sue went for a stroll around the course and shouted encouraging noises to some of the 235 joggers who had turned up to try their hands (legs, even) at this pleasant three lap course.

Coffees outside the Oakwood Centre, where I'm pictured, enabled any perspiration to vaporise before our (less tedious than yesterday's) 120 mile drive, via Ashford to collect some lunch, to the Chunnel terminal at Folkestone. 

If we'd known TGO Challenger Alan Sloman's address we'd have dropped in on him en route; luckily for him we didn't. (Hi Alan.)

As one who suffers from seasickness but not from claustrophobia, I find the Chunnel by far the most comfortable way to cross the Channel. Today we arrived at the terminal two hours early, but with their customary efficiency the Chunnel people got us to Calais within an hour of our arrival at Folkestone. 

After another pleasant 50 miles or so through French countryside littered with wind farms (I don't remember them from previous visits), we arrived in the flowery and ancient town of Montreuil, where we were soon in the familiar surroundings of La Fontaine des Clercs campsite and its friendly and memorably portly guardian. Despite having put our clocks on by an hour, we were enjoying a brew (again I'm pictured - wow, two pics of me in one posting - that's rare!) by soon after 4pm.

It's a lovely campsite, only €15 for the two of us including car and tent, situated just below the town walls. We strolled up to and around the walls - establishing via my Garmin gadget that the circumference of the walls, via the Promenade des Ramparts, is about 3km. At one end of the town is a 16th century citadel that was built on the site of an earlier castle. The lower image (if they all transmit) shows a view along the wall towards the citadel. Around the walls one species appears dominant - blackbirds, there are loads of them.

After walking around the walls, we took to the town itself. An interesting place with ancient cobbled streets. Dinner and beer was obtained from a small shop, and after a further 3km of wanderings we adjourned to the campsite for an alfresco meal in calm warmth outside the tent as we slowly lost the sun, which seemed to be synchronised with Chile and Serena, who at that moment both lost their respective jousts.

Here's a slideshow for the day (18 images)
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Friday 27 June 2014 - Summer Holiday - Day 1 - Timperley to Wokingham

Friday afternoon isn't the best time to undertake this journey, but we managed the 190 mile trip in Skippy in about five hours. Apologies go to Jill and James for arriving late and empty handed.

I know from a previous life that there are loads of good places to eat in this part of the world. Times haven't changed in that respect. The four of us enjoyed an excellent Thai meal in the restaurant above the Red Lion.

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Friday 20 June 2014 – An Evening Walk from Beetham

Last Friday Sue and I chose a lovely evening to set off from The Wheatsheaf in Beetham, through the colourful church yard.

The walk was due to start at 7.30, but with no others expected we started before 6pm.

Paths heading towards the Fairy Steps led through woods with deserted ruined buildings.

New signposts in this area comprise solidly built cairns with direction markers on the top.

Before long, we reached the Fairy Steps.

On a perfect evening, tea and cake with a view towards Arnside from the top of the Fairy Steps was just what the doctor ordered.

It's hard to descend without touching the sides. We won’t be seeing any fairies…

From Haverbrack there's a fine panorama with the Kent Estuary, Milnthorpe, and the Lake District beyond, with High Street and other Lakeland summits prominent in the distance. It's a sharp descent to the estuary...

... where a pleasant woodland path meanders beside the sands.

Oystercatchers and many other birds feed here.

We soon turned away from the estuary and up beside the River Bela.

Then it was on across the Deer Park and back to Beetham.

We soon passed another Cairn / Signpost.

There were plenty of deer and sheep about. We are just outside Milnthorpe here.

Soon we were back in Beetham, enjoying the last of our tea in the shade from the warm evening sunshine.

Here’s our route - 8km, 200 metres ascent, taking 2 hours. Highly commended.

There’s a slideshow with a few more pictures – here.

We go on holiday tomorrow, so I’ll be making a daily posting, wifi permitting, by way of a personal diary. I’ll try to make it vaguely sort of interesting, but given the need to keep on top of the writing (often done whilst enjoying a beer and chatting to others) I can’t guarantee anything. Your comments will be welcome, even if I don’t manage to reply to them.

Wednesday 18 June 2014 – Reddish Vale with SWOG

Sue and I have been attending (and performing at) Stockport Walking & Outdoor Group’s evening talks for several years. From May to August, they abandon Hazel Grove Civic Centre in favour of local meadows for their Wednesday evening entertainment. Tonight was my first visit to one of these outings, which are somewhat better attended than our own evening walks.

Simone was leading her first walk. We started by filling the car park at the Arden Arms but not going inside! Then we left the pavement beside Stockport Road, in favour of a narrow path beside the River Tame. Simone skilfully led us towards a deep bog that she skipped across without revealing the ‘dry’ route.

A traffic jam ensued. Thirty lost souls blinded by the sun.

As folk slowly fumbled their way through the undergrowth, a tree decided to wreak havoc with Howard’s spectacles. It snatched them from his nose and flung them away. It took ages to find them!

Soon we escaped from the bog and found ourselves in a spacious meadow full of docile horses. It was a lovely warm, sunny evening.

On reaching Reddish Vale Country Park, we admired this proud mother with her babies, and the mosaic outside the Visitor Centre.

The lake and viaduct shone brightly in the late sun.

We met someone who had felt he was walking on a moving carpet. For us, we seemed to be walking on bits of moving debris. Why was this stuff moving? It turned out to be vast numbers of these little creatures.

From the Visitor Centre we headed up to Hyde Hall along the Trans Pennine Trail, then back to our outward route and along the road to the pub, which had stayed open especially for us, not that it was particularly late!

We enjoyed some of Robbie’s Best, whilst admiring a lovely Stockport sunset.

A most pleasurable first (second for Sue) evening outing with SWOG, with a special thanks to Simone and Howard for providing the entertainment.

Our route is shown below – 7 km, 70 metres ascent, 1 hour 45 minutes. Simple.