Total ascent, 1163m.
Saturday, 5th August.
The dinner spell is broken! Last night began with soup and was followed by a weird omelette with grated carrot. The And then..... dessert!!! Where was the salami, the pasta, the chunks of meat and, most importantly, the cheese?!
At school, if I ask a question such as, say, "What is 8x7?", a child will (occasionally) answer "56", but raise the pitch of the 6 so it becomes "56?" I then stare at them and say, "Is that an answer or a question?" To which they either make a decision, squirm a bit, cry or phone Childline. My extremely limited Italian works in exactly the same way so if, for example, I'm asked what I'd like for 'postre' and given a list of alternatives I might answer, "Torta?" This of course gives them license to feed me absolutely anything as I haven't strictly speaking decided. Which might explain the dessert, whatever it was (definitely not torta).
At least the beer was ok, and being Friday night I could sit and get hammered with the local. Then he left. A few tourists (pah!) were knocking about but their children were whining so I sat outside and drank more beer until it went dark, sneaking in occasionally to steal crisps from the bowl on the bar (I demand more food courses!). It was time to say goodbye to the valleys and I was looking forward to today's ascent, an ascent from which I would not descend... well not today anyway.
Breakfast at Chalet dell'Ischiator was better than dinner, despite me snapping the rotating handle off the cereal dispenser. I did the only decent thing and hid it behind an ornament (I didn't attempt a confession, I could do that later at the sanctuary). I was given an entire plate of cheese, a huge pot of coffee and another of hot milk. I think they were feeling guilty about the omelette / carrot combination.
It's day 4 and a 1000m morning ascent suddenly seems a formality. I plodded the first vertical 700m, up yet another pretty valley, without stopping until it levelled out at an alp. Today's alp came complete with cows wearing bells and a man and a dog herding them. I took in water and removed an enormous caterpillar from my rucksack before the final pull up to today's col (Passo di Bravaria, 2311m).
Monster of a mountain from the col.
The weather has been amazing so far, and easy to walk in apart from the end of day 2. Granted, the valleys are very hot, but it's been dry heat, and at altitude the air is incredibly fresh. This was particularly so today, because although the views weren't as widespread as yesterday (because of nearby giant lumps) they were crystal clear.
Contouring the side of a steep valley with a monster of a mountain opposite, I'd marked a lake on the map a little further on as a possible lunch stop, but it was a touch disappointing (meaning there was no water in it). Another was shown 100m higher up so I detoured to that. I wasn't alone, the Italians certainly know their picnic spots, but it was pretty chilled nonetheless, and a beautiful spot to boot.
Lunch Lake.
I bumped into two walkers today who were lost, the second time this has happened. Both times they had the same map as me and I could sympathise. I'm reading a quite wonderful book on this trip (including the Monte Isola part - I'm a slow reader, but I take a lot in!). It's by the editor of Trail magazine, Simon Ingram, and it's called 'Between the Sunset and the Sea'. It's fundamentally about mountains and our relationship with them, but it's much more than that (hard to explain here though, just read it, it's brilliant!). At one point he states that, "British maps are the best in the world." This might sound bullish out of context but he's absolutely right. I wonder where Italian maps would be in a Top 200? I suppose it depends who's drawn them. The Ordnance Survey towers over British mapping, whereas I suspect that IGC cowers beneath the remainder of Italian mapping (the maps I used from a different company on the Alta Via two years ago were very good). To describe mine as inaccurate would be a gross understatement, especially the roads which are usually just random squiggles. When describing what qualifies as a mountain, Ingram also says, "If it looks like a mountain and it feels like a mountain, then it is a mountain." I couldn't agree more. The flip side of this is that I can imagine IGC cartographic policy stating, "Draw a random squiggle, if it looks like a road then it is a road." My 1:25,000 IGC maps are littered with random squiggles that don't exist.
So from the lunch lake it was back down to the main path and a short walk to my destination, with hardly any descent as it stands at 2010m. A grand total of 4 hours walking time and nearly 2 hours resting, which is unheard of for me. I was getting into the right frame of mind for a night spent at a pilgrims' sanctuary dedicated to Saint Anne. A place which, according to the brochure, offers the chance, "to spend peaceful and restful days in which to encounter oneself, others and God, assisted by the unique beauty of this place". Or failing that you can play volleyball by the car park.
What the hell?! Or should I say, what in God's name?!
I'm not really sure what's going on here, but it's not peaceful or restful and it's not especially beautiful. I have though encountered others, many others. And I'm staying in the Pope's own Travelodge. I was yet to encounter God so I tried the bar. He wasn't there so I bought a beer while I waited on the patio. Within 5 minutes I was a Teacher again, can kids tell?! A group of them (11 year olds, nicer than the British equivalent) came in with an older lad and aimed straight towards me. Nobody else, just me. They all babbled in Italian before the older lad established I spoke English and told me that they were playing a game. It involved having their photo taken with a visitor (maybe they just looked for the most sunburned person). They were lovely and deserved a crisp each. I got a photo too and even checked that I could put them on the Internet!
Don't eat them all!
A bizarre place but quite good fun really, and my last single room before 3 nights in high level mountain rifugios, with possibly, gulp, no wifi!!!!! Next update when I can post one.
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