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]

Lanzarote - day 3

What an excellent day! We started out this morning and walked to the top of Caldera Blanca, a nearly perfect circular caldera with a sort of circular green oasis in the centre. We had a spot of rain there, but nothing to worry about - it stopped as soon as it arrived and the wind dried us up just as quick. On the way there we encountered an endemic bird, the Upara bastard, a sort os small ostrich - although it can fly, it walks on the ground not to fall pray to the falcons flying about. We then moved on to a walk around the Montaña Colorada, but we didn't make it 'round as we were a bit pressed for time. We moved on to another volcano, where we actually went INSIDE the caldera. The scenery is truly amazing!!!
We had lunch at the Bodega Rubicón, a winery of the wine region, where we had excellent food for a decent price, under 15 euros each, including the wine.
The best part of the day had yet to come, though. A tour in the Montañas del Fuego, Parque Nacional de Timanfaya. You can only go on tour on the local coach, as no other vehicle or walker is authorised on the preserved area. The tour was well worth it though - the scenery is grand! You can just about imagine the kind of force of nature involved in the rumbling of lava rolling down the mountain. You go from crumbling masses to smooth deserts, often in the space of a few paces one from the other. It really is quite hard to describe - I took lots of pictures but I'm not sure they give enogh credit to the landscape. [pics will be added once processed]
As I said, an excellent day out, with lots of magnificent sites, although we didn't do much walking.

Lanzarote - day 2

This morning we raised quite early, around 7, and we took a walk along the beach as the town was waking up. I like walking early in the morning, there's a good feeling to it. The cherry on the cake was seeing two girls INSIDE a gym, running on the platform, when they could have done it outside in the fresh air, along the seafront - really ridiculous!
We then had breakfast at Tentation, a bakery that also sells hot drinks and juices. In our 'package' we also have breakfast (and dinner) included. The choice of food was very good, we can try something different every day.
We then set out and went to the village of Ye with the car. We have two guides with us, one who speaks Italian and the other Spanish and English, so I could finally practice some of my Spanish un poco ;) From Ye we started our walk along the volcano La Corona in the N of the island, and we reached the top quite easily. There's no volcanic activity anymore in Lanzarote, and all the calderas are closed at the bottom. Along the way we saw quite a few endemic plants and we stopped here and there to hear some geological explanations. The landscape is really peculiar, all very interesting, rather unusual for our Alpine standards. We then walked along the mountain, to the local water reservoir, and further on to the Northern cliffs - something really spectacular, basaltic cliffs dropping down some 200m to the ocean. The walk was very pleasant and not hard at all. Plus, the weather too has been great!
Back to the car we stopped for a fruit smoothie, then we went to la Cueva de los Verdes, a spectacular tunnel made by the descending lava. This can be visited because part of it collapsed revealing an entrance. It's very likely that there are hundreds of similar tunnels throughout the island. After returning home we had another refreshing dip into the swimming pool, then we went back to yesterdays' restaurant for dinner, but tonight we had a 'proper' meal of starters (complimentary), soup, stew with potatoes and dessert. The potatoes here are as We met with the Geo group at the Orio airport (BG). The flight -4 hrs- was quite uneventful and on Lanzarote we base at Celeste Apartments, in Costa Teguise. Very cozy, extremely nice setting, I'd surely recommend it. It's a one bedroom flatlet with a small patio, kitchen area and bathroom in a apartment complex. THere's also a swimming pool in the complex, although we're told that the sea's warmer...
We had a welcome aperitif and a dinner where we savoured various local specialities washed down with local white wine.
The group seems quite well mixed, a little old on the average, but ok.
Firs impression of the island: good! Fair weather and wind are my thing. On the way from the airport we encountered a few concrete skeletons of half constructed houses, then abandoned. There's quite a few British people by the look of it, and by the amount of pubs and "all day breakfast" places. There's even a chippy :)
The place is overall very nice, with shops and restaurants, pubs and beaches. Our bungalow is quite close to the sea. I think mañana we'll be going to the beach before breakfast and tonight we tested the pool. as the scenery. A great first day of trails :)

Lanzarote - day 1

We met with the Geo group at the Orio airport (BG). The flight -4 hrs- was quite uneventful and on Lanzarote we base at Celeste Apartments, in Costa Teguise. Very cozy, extremely nice setting, I'd surely recommend it. It's a one bedroom flatlet with a small patio, kitchen area and bathroom in a apartment complex. THere's also a swimming pool in the complex, although we're told that the sea's warmer...
We had a welcome aperitif and a dinner where we savoured various local specialities washed down with local white wine.
The group seems quite well mixed, a little old on the average, but ok.
Firs impression of the island: good! Fair weather and wind are my thing. On the way from the airport we encountered a few concrete skeletons of half constructed houses, then abandoned. There's quite a few British people by the look of it, and by the amount of pubs and "all day breakfast" places. There's even a chippy :)
The place is overall very nice, with shops and restaurants, pubs and beaches. Our bungalow is quite close to the sea. I think mañana we'll be going to the beach before breakfast and tonight we tested the pool.