Circular Tour - Orsiera Regional Park

Circular tour: Travers a Mont - Rif. Valgravio - Colle Aciano - Rif. Toesca - Alpe Balmetta - Rif. Amprimo - Paradiso delle Rane

Leisurely walk up to the hut 'Valgravio' (1400m), then very steep up to the ridge where you pass Colle Aciano (2020m). The first third of the uphill was quite alright, a very steep trail in the woods, then we tackled a very rough second section, where you could scarcely see where to put your feet, and the final section really did me in, although it wasn't really that bad... not enough training, surely...

the view climbing up

We rested for lunch just past the pass (Colle Aciano), near the Park Rangers' hut (closed) - time so far: 4 hrs.

Colle Aciano

After lunch we headed towards the hut 'Toesca', that we reached in 1.15 hrs with a few up and downhills...

a spot of lunch - risotto

There we enjoyed a well deserved cuppa and some excellent home made cakes (a bit steep in price, though, at €4.00 a slice... next time, for the same proce, I'll bake a cake myself and carry it with me...).

tea and cakes

After another 1.30 hrs we made it back to the car, in a light drizzle with the sun shining at the same time.
All together (including breaks) it's been an 8-hour walk, pretty hard at times, but well enjoyed at the end of the day.

Lots of rhododendrums in bloom, and plenty of other mountain flowers too, some of them proved to be a nice place to take a nap...

In this hike I tested my newly bought mountaineering boots, that I'm gonna use in Iceland for my next holiday: the result was quite alright as my feet are still all in one piece, just a bit of rubbing round the back of the heel, but that's pretty standard with any new shoe I buy. I wore them through rocks, woods, water, mud and even a patch of snow - it was a good test! I think they will perform well on Icelandic trails.

Whenever I go hiking in the Alps, I get rather frustrated at first, as the ascents are always very long and steep, and so are the descents. The impression you get, every time, is: steep steep steep up, a summit of sorts, steep steep steep down, liked it? ok. Well, no, actually, I didn't like it at all, but that's what you get in the Alps.
Only, at the end of the day, summon it all up, I do enjoy my hikes most of the time. I should have learnt by now, but still I tend to dream of a nice coastal walk or a Lake District fell while I'm sweating away my mountain hikes... I guess I have to make the most of what I have at the moment, though :)