Lago Paschiet, Valli di Lanzo

27-09-2015

Solo walk.
Today I took a nice and easy 2.30hrs walk on a nice trail. I went up in my books and attempted some barefoot hiking coming down - not strictly all the way down for the top part was quite littered by treacherous sharp stones, and I had to come down in a bit of a hurry to avoid the rising fog, so I preferred wearing my boots for the first part of the descent.

Autumn is coming

The colours of the Autumn are starting to show and the scenery is really beautiful. At the lake is all peace and quiet - you just hear the soft ripple of the water and a bird chirping in the distance. I didn't meet anyone else on this trail, nor at the lake, making it all the more enjoyable.

refreshing the feet

As soon as I reached the lake I put my feet in it, refreshing them in the icy water after the 2.30 hrs they had been constrained in closed shoes; I spread-out my sweaty clothing and put on a clean T-shirt and a light fleece jumper for the air was quite brisk at 2000m and I wanted to rest and enjoy my apple for a bit.

I started on my way back down pretty soon though, as there were clouds coming in from the peaks above the lake, and some coming up from the bottom of the valley, and I didn't want to be stuck in the middle.

After a couple of hours of descent, from a slightly different (and worse) trail than that I used to come up, I reached the village I started from still in time for a spot of lunch, then I waited for Rosie to come back from her Mountaineering School teaching lesson.

Good job I always have a book with me ;-)

more pictures here

Freissinières, France

19-09-2015

The Freissinières Valley

Nice walk today in a spectacular French Valley... or forest, rather. I went with my wife and a couple of friends to a large selection of climbing walls overlooking the valley - I don't personally climb for I don't really like it, but I belayed them on their ways up and down, to the great satisfaction of them all, apparently ;-)

 

The place is really idillic - pine forests with their typical lovely smell, lavender shrubs, a nice path all around and lots of walls to climb on, for all difficulties. There's also a Via Ferrata of which we didn't know about, otherwise I'd have brought my kit... as much as I don't like free climbing, I love Via Ferratas!

I enjoyed my belaying role treading barefoot on the ground, whilst I used my sandals to move from one wall section to another - there were too many small sharp stones about to just ditch the shoes altogether. Anyhow, I think I didn't do too bad for a trainee barefoot hiker  ;-)

Barefoot training

The day went on smoothly, we had lots of fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed the sunny late summer day - even if I ended up with a cranked neck for the unusual looking-up position... nothing that a good night rest, with some ointment and a fleece buff on my neck didn't cure...  ;-)
A truly perfect day!!!







as usual, a few more pictures here.

Vallonetto Bivouac, Susa Valley, Italy

12-09-2015

Quite a view from the top

This morning we started bright and early (6.00am) an headed to the High Susa Valley, direction Exilles, Rochemolles. Past the Scarfiotti Refuge, we still went a bit further on in our cars, then we started the steep ascent towards the Fourneaux Pass (3139m). After reaching the Pass, we bore right, and still up, to pass the Galambra hut then further on to the Vallonetto Bivouac (3212m).

Galambra hut - a break on the way up

The day was mostly overcast with foggy patches - I guess we would have had spectacular views otherwise!

Vallonetto Bivouac

There was quite a few people there, and we went up with a bunch of friends, for the bivouac (a tiny hole, really) has just been repaired and has been entitled to a fellow mountaineer who perished on his beloved mountains. I didn't know him personally, but a few of my own friends did, so we thought it was a nice excuse to take a walk...

I obviously ended up with a splitting headache, as per usual when I make a great effort... these mountains are really quite too steep for my likings, for I prefer some milder uphills. Still, I had a nice time, like always when I finally manage to get these feet moving!  :-)

Satisfied, after all  ;-p

Strudel-galore after the hike

more pix of the hike, here: https://goo.gl/photos/By1uTjR3TVio6K4r9

Week-end in Trento

25-26 August

I completely forgot to mention a 2-day visiting and conoeing in Trento...

being splashed under the fountain, Trento

I drove from Turin Saturday morning and reached Trento in the afternoon, when I met with my friends there and had a short visit of the town just before dinner.

The day after, Sunday, we had a canoe trip planned in Val di Non - it was the first time I sat on a canoe and I absolutely loved it! It was one of those sit-on-top kayaks and I teamed up with my friend Paola, who took the pictures while I was paddling. A thoroughly enjoyable day, and certainly an experience to be repeated!

paddling on...

In the afternoon we took the opportunity to visit some sights in Val di Non, like the St. Romedio sanctuary, where they also had a captive bear, the animal that is always represented with the saint. A really sad sight, I must say - I think it’s a totally unnecessary add to the place…

Tortel

Later on we also visited Thun castle and we concluded the day with a typical local dish, the Tortel -fried potato patties-.




I came back to Turin the day after -Monday- driving all along the Lake Garda -some spectacular views- and using the motorway just after arriving in Brescia, where the plains started…
All in all, a great week-end, with good company and good food.

Thanks to all who helped me visit the town and were so kind in putting me up for these 2 days!

[pix on google+]

Massello Valley, Val Germanasca

13 August 2015

Last night Rosie and I stopped for the night in Ghigo, in our Quber, so we could sleep in fresh temperatures...

Waldensian Trail

Today we moved to an adjacent valley, the Vallone di Massello, where we followed a trail up to the Pis waterfall, a fall that freezes and can be climbed in winter. The area is connected with the Waldensian Return in 1689.
The day was great, we thoroughly enjoyed the walk that took us some 3 hrs altogether - the trail went on for 5.4 km return.
The weather has been good as well, even if some clouds started gathering around 2pm.

Rosie

my feet enjoyed a splash in the pool

Other pix on my google+ page - like yesterday I only had my cellphone with me so the pix are quite poor...

13 Lakes, Ghigo di Prali

12 August 2015

my new backpack

Today I tested my new Deuter Puez 32 backpack -
it's quite comfortable, with plenty of room for all essentials and a bit more.
Today we are walking along the valley of the 13 (glacial) lakes, we did quite a comprehensive tour, with a very steep descent, which my knees didn't like that much... anyway, around 7 km in length for some 5 hrs walk.
With us (Rosie and I) were two other friends.
The weather has been good and splashing in one of the lakes where we had stopped for lunch was a real treat for my feet ;-)

lunch-lake

The photos of the day are on my google+ page. Unfortunately I only had my cellphone with me and it shows in the poor quality of the pix...

3 days geo-tour in Val Maira

03-07-2015

The "ciciu"

I met with the rest of the geo-touring group at Villar S. Costanzo (CN), where our 3-days started with a visit to the Ciciu del Villar Nature Reserve, a typical formation of this area. Their particular "mushroom" shape comes from the erosion of the clay base, leaving the top, made of harder metamorphic rock typical of here and the Susa Valley.
We then moved on to our lunch destination, after a brief stop to check the old separation between the African and the European plates, that runs just here :-)
I left my car there and teamed up with another woman who was also driving alone and we drove towards Elva, a beautiful little village famous for the old Hair Gathering trade. 

> Here's an extract I translated from the Museo dj Pels (Museum of Hair) webpage [http://tinyurl.com/o8y4k44] :
      The Museum of "Pels" (hair) of Elva is linked to the tradition of "Pelassiers" (gatherers of hair), lasting more than a century between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
The pelassiers started from Elva in the early autumn and traveled to Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli looking for women and girls willing to get their hair cut in exchange for a few coins, a piece of cloth or a scarf.
Back in Elva, the hair went into family workshops to be combed and separated according to colour, length and thickness. After this, the hair was collected in braids and sent to wholesalers, who made precious wigs sold to Lords and aristocratic ladies throughout Europe.
The Museum of Pels, hosted in the nineteenth-century House of the Sundial, collects historical material provided by the inhabitants of Elva: vintage photos, tools of the trade, evidence collected directly from the pelassiers, even the laces, jewels, and scarves that were used to convince women to barter their hair. The museum also shows a wonderful documentary by Fredo Valla titled "The road of hair" with interviews of the pelassiers who used to walk these mountains. <

We reached our lunch destination at about 2.00pm - La Sousta dal Col, near the Colle S.Giovanni, with 12°C... a refreshing change from the humid heat of the plains...
The food was very nice :-)

After lunch we drove to the Pass in the pouring rain, so ... no panorama! After retracing our steps, we made another stop for a short walk un a steep hill, just facing Mt. Bettone, where our excellent guide Enrico Collo, an expert of the Valley's geology, showed us the different rock formations.

Teepee tents at Lou Dahu

We then proceeded to Marmora, further along the Valley, were we have our accommodation for the 2 nights. I'm sharing the room with another member of the tour, and we're staying in a campsite (Lou Dahu) that also has bungalows, rooms and Indian teepee tents - the overall setting is nice, but they have a dodgy dog policy: no dogs are allowed even when all occupants of the room agree for its staying… dogs are not even allowed in the campsite area - really weird, when there were no problems in the HOTEL where some other members of our group were staying… so our companion dog Gina stayed in the hotel where her mother was, instead of in the room with her grandad ;-p




After a light dinner in Osteria della Croce Bianca, in Marmora (food ok, but the staff seemed rather out of place), we went for a walk in the night looking for stars. And stars we saw - Antares, Vega, Altair, the Scorpion constellation and even Saturn was visible. A lot of fireflies guided our way back :-)

04-07

Day 2 started with a flimsy breakfast at the campsite -cappuccino and croissant - I reckon they're a bit stingy in these parts... even if I think a bread, butter and jam choice, would have worked out better for us and cheaper for them. Never mind.

Today we spent the day walking - we started with the Gardetta plateau, where our guide Enrico found Triassic dinosaur prints under some fossilised ocean ripple - quite fascinating! We also learnt that green-yellow lichens  grow on silica rocks, whereas orange lichens grow on limestone rocks. 

One of the dino prints

Ancient ocean and beach ripple, on multiple layers

We continued our walk to the Gardetta Refuge for our lunch, where they gave us polenta (thick, solidified cornmeal porridge), the typical mountain food that can be served with stew, sausages or melted cheese and butter.

Edelweiss

Flowers in full bloom

A proud marmot

After lunch, another short walk up to the Gardetta Pass, were there still were some patches of snow. All along the walk we enjoyed the flowers in bloom, including edelweiss, a protected alpine flower. On the way we also spotted a few marmots, some even posing for pix ;-)






Rosie joined us at the campsite and for dinner, to be there for our last day of touring. It was a nice extra to my trip :-)

A view over the valley with an ancient glacial lake

Back to base, we repeated last night experience over dinner, if possible made even worse by the insufficient portions... All in all it's like being on an all-carbs diet: there's always very little vegetables -unfortunately quite typical of Piedmontese traditional cuisine- and the meal is largely based on first course of pasta or rice, and a meat second course, mainly roasts with a few (count them) over-greasy potatoes or carrots. They also favour starters, usually quite tasty, but there again you get a rather unhealthy mixture of meat-fish-cheese with sauces and other fats, with a few vegs, usually cooked...

05-07

This morning we headed to Rocca Provenzale, that incidentally resembles the spine of a giant dinosaur... The morning was really glorious, and we got the chance of learning yet something more about these mountains and their ancient past.

We had lunch at the Maira Springs - I must say the best food we had so far, they even cooked a seitan stew for vegetarians! and we have been told they don't usually do catering... 

A travertine cave

On the way back we visited a formation of travertine caves, also typical of the area.

When we reached our cars late in the afternoon the trip was over, so we all parted with a gift from Enrico, a nice booklet about the geology of the Valley and the promise to exchange photos from the trip.
With Rosie we went for dinner at the Tano di Grich (the Cricket's Den), in S.Michele Prazzo, one of our favourite establishments of this Valley, where we always enjoy good food :-)
_._._._._

I spent a very nice 3 days, learning a lot about geology and the formation of the earth from millions of years ago, I totally enjoyed the walks and the lessons, and the nice group that gathered.

Coming back to the plains we found torrid heat, I guess it's what India must be like most of the time, very humid and high temperatures... we could get very little proper sleep!

For info about geological tours: www.geoturismo.it (in Italian)
[for more pix: http://tinyurl.com/pyhwquu]

a week in Malta

09-06 : MALTA

We arrived in Malta this morning, after bumping into 2 old friends going to… Malta at the airport in Turin…
The weather here is really hot, but there's a breeze and the sea is lovely! Rosie had left her credit card at the airport (at the rent-a-car desk), so we had to rush back, rented car and all.

The population here seem rather scruffy, definately relaxed, and quite pleasant to talk to. Out apartment is nice and cosy, if a bit scarce in equipment, but the landlord is nice and helpful… and there’s free wi-fi. We did some shopping for basics to get us started…
On a short walk around the town I found myself a fab pair of walking sandals - great! and cheap. I might buy a pair of goggles too, for the sea here is really clear and rocky.

10-06 : MALTA

some spectacular cliffs

Today I followed a coastal path - a 15 km walk along the West coast, from Dingli Cliffs to the Blue Grotto. [http://mta.com.mt/page.aspx?id=267]

walking along

It’s been a very hot day, and I compleated the walk at around 1:00pm - about the right time to meet with the others climbing about and go for a bite to eat, before looking for a place for a good swim.

the Blue Grotto

My new sandals performed really well - I used them all day and got no blisters or other discomfort. Tomorrow we’re off to Gozo for the day.

 11-06 : GOZO

Gozo

 After a short ferry journey of about 25 min, we headed SW where the climbing trio found a spot to do their business, and I found a trail leading me into the island, passing from Xewkija and ending in the capital, Victoria (Rabat). The houses here are nicer than on Malta, even the modern beehives are somewhat more contained and not impacting so much on the eye…

Xewkija

In Victoria I went to the citadel -the oldest part of town- where I visited a few museums: Archaeology, Natural History, and the Old Prisons. Unfortunately, there were scaffolding all over this area, as they’re doing some major restoration works… probably before the big summer rush.
This morning I actually had a couple of blisters under my big toes, so I reverted to flip-flops pretty soon into the day - maybe I should have given my feet a rest after a long day wearing NEW shoes…

the citadel

In the old part of the town outside the citadel there are some old Victorian lanes (reminded me of Brighton in a furnace…) where local crafters have their shops - sometimes just the yard of their house. I bought two lace bookmarks, handmande by a nice old lady with whom I exchanged a few words.

the Victorian lanes

Here everybody speaks English, fortunately, for Maltese, is rather incomprehensible. It sounds a bit like a mixture of Arabic and Romanian… hard to read and impossible to pronounce :p
Shortly afterwards I was called out by the climbers who wanted to go for a swim, so I had to cut my tour short to join back with them.











We headed to Dwejra Bay and had a swim in the Azure Window, a large archway in the sea.

the Azure window - and azure it is  :-)

We then drove towards the ferry, but had dinner in Gozo still, in Marsal Bay. We went to a nice restaurant, Otters, were we enjoyed some local food - I tasted some Gozo cheeses and salad.
It’s been a long day - I think tomorrow I’ll take a break and keep in the area…

12-06 : BUGIBBA

a map of peninsula

I took a nice walk along the peninsula where we have aur accomodation, first going to the Qawra Salinas (salt pans), then retracing my steps along the seafront up to the watch-tower on the other side, in St. Paul’s Bay, having a fruit-salad lunch along the way. On the way back to the flat (shop-side) I stopped for a pair of swimming goggles and swim-shoes - rather essential equipment  if you want to preserve your feet on the rocks :-) Back at the flat I had a welcomed shower to get rid of the constant sweat… I’m living in a permanet sauna - in spite of the breeze…

make-shift bench

beehiwes...

romantika...

watch tower, now a museum (presently closed)

All in all it’s a bit boring to go around alone all the time. Not that I didn’t know it, but still, it’s quite tiring. The heat is constant, so is the sweating and the eyes are just slits for the sun glare -in spite of sunglasses - dips in the sea are most welcomed and so is some peace and quiet during the hottest hours of the afternoon. The bits of town I saw so far are all pretty run-down… most of the population is overweight and tatty… and loud! All in all, definately NOT  a place I’d live. I’m rather glad it’ll all be over and dome with in 3 days.

Maltesian boats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13-06 : GOZO

We decided to return to Gozo for the day: Pat and Renzo will go climbing and Rosie and I will go exploring :-)

Ggantija megalithic temples

the old Mill

We first visited the megalitic Ggantija temples - a very nice open-air museum, nicely laid out. The 2 temples are from c. 3500 bc and the walls still up were pretty impressive!
After the temples we went on to the old windmill, now a museum too - very interesting.
I find the local museum are all rather small and essential, but well laid out and with a lot of information - I enjoyed all I’ve seen so far. Museums are one thing I don’t mind spending money on, for it goes to the conservation and preservation of the area.


But the day wouldn’t be complete without a dip in the blue Mediterranean sea - we went to Rambla Bay and had a swim from the red sandy beach. After lunch, we met the other two and we went for a drink before re-embarking on the ferry back to Malta. From the ferry I saw the sun engulfed in a dusty cloud that made some eerie picture…

eerie...

 

14-06 : VALLETTA

This morning I set out by bus with two friends, who also came to Malta for a short break [all-day ticket: €1.50]. We went to Marsaxlokk Sunday fish market - supposidly THE weekly attraction of the island… sadly, no different from any other market I’ve seen. And the fish, although very good to look at, was sold on just a few stalls - fewer than the souvenir ones…

NOT a pretty picture...

different shades of green

cunny advertising

We had a walk through the “fishing” village, but that also wasn’t any different from any other place on the island. After a refreshing pint, we walked to Birzebbuga to visit an underground cave (and attached museum) where they had found lots of remains of ancient animals - the cave was rather small, but interesting.

a view from the fortress

We then caught the bus to Valletta, were we had a spot of lunch. We visited the fortified city and managed a glimpse inside St.John’s Cathedral, but unfortunately, we couldn’t go in for a proper visit, so we missed the Caravaggio paintings there - shame.
Valletta is quite old and run-down, but has a character of it’s own - at least the fortified part we visited.
After quite a lot of walking, we caught the bus back to Bugibba, where our friends are staying too - all the bus rides were packed, and on this last one there were a lot of youngsters evidently going for an evening out :-)

15-06 : MDINA

I had another nice day out and about with Rosie: we visited Mdina (Rabat), the fortified citadel that once was the original capital of Malta.

one of the many knockers of Malta

narrow lanes

People still live there and we walked the narrow roads enjoying each other’s company - the citadel is nice and quiet -a change from the usual hustle and bustle of the seaside towns- and we could finally see some of the door-knockers Malta is famous for, and some very nice glassworks.

overlooking the country

After Mdina we went to Anchor Bay for a swim - we had to climb down some rocks to reach a perfect spot to dive from: really worth the effort! Near there, there is the village they built for shooting the film Popeye, now a tourist trap with animation and all “All those in the water, say ‘YEAH’, all those on the beach, say ‘HU’”… Quick! Run!!!

fun swimming about

Popeye village... now a right ol' tourist trap

We jumped back into the car and went North to Cirkewwa, where we had lunch while we waited for our two friends on the way back from Comino island.














_ . _ . _ . _ . _

Finally, the holiday’s over. Malta has great seas, but it’s far too hot for my likings - I don’t think I’ll be coming back. The only way I could conceive another holiday here, in case of a walking tour of the island, is in the middle of WINTER! I guess it’d still be hot, but not so much. Still, I don’t see that in the very near future. For once I’m happy to go back to Italy…
The holiday foursome worked out well, we were all independent enough and together enough that the thought of another joint venture is not a bad thing.

more pix: http://tinyurl.com/q6sowcy