Day 1 - Macra to Chiappi, 14 miles.

Total ascent, 1506m (4940ft).

Wednesday, 2nd August. 

Part 1. 

So where do I start? I've done no walking at all yet but I've surely eaten the best meal of the trip and found the oddest bar. 

As I arrived at the restaurant last night the flashing neon lights came on and I wandered in to find the landlord on the phone. He waved me through to a room with an enormous horse painting on the wall and a stunning view from the balcony. When he finished his conversation he came in and laid a table for me with, in his opinion, the best panorama. Note that we didn't at any point during the evening speak the same language, but I still came out knowing that whilst training for the 'Tour of Italy' cycle race a friend of his cycled up the very pointy-looking mountain in the far distance. Gesturing can get you a long way!

The meal was divided into the following courses:

1. Bread and beer (I didn't ask for the beer; in fact the only thing I asked for all evening was a large glass of wine, which turned out to be half a litre!). 
2. Several maps, which he spread out over the other tables once he realised I was walking. I think he was deciding my route for me. 
3. Antipasti of goats cheese. Two pieces, the best I've ever tasted by a country kilometre, with herbs on one and spices on the other.
4. It's also worth noting that at no point did I see a menu, I just ate what he brought me, though here I was given a choice. He brought out examples of three uncooked possible first courses on a plate: linguine, ravioli or gnocchi. I asked for his recommendation, sort of ("Que" (Spanish) "is your" (English) "recommendadidé?" (Utter Nonsense)). He recommendadidéd the house speciality, gnocchi. It was also buenissimo (real word!). 
5. The wine.
6. Meat course, before which he brought out a large tomato and a piece of raw steak on another plate. He told me what he was going to do with them and I smiled, nervously. It turned out to be "Goulash Italiano", and of course it was gorgeous. 
7. Fruit. At this point fruit was a good idea. 
8. Espresso and a home made lemon liqueur (as were all the best bits). 

And there it ended. I had no idea what it would all cost but had a sneaking suspicion that it would be much less than I'd been used to in Monte Isola, so I left a hefty tip and went to pay. I was right, the meal (without booze) was €10. 

So I headed back to Rifugio Escursionistico La Rua and discovered that the landlady ran an outdoor bar next to the river and it was very busy. Where these people had appeared from I had no idea, but it would have been rude not to help support the local economy, so I did. 

The strange world of Macra's rifugio!

Part 2.

This morning I went for an early breakfast to discover that I'd been the only person staying. It was self service, which allowed me to abuse the coffee maker and snaffle a few things for lunch. Then I was off, climbing almost straight away from about 830m up a steep, zigzagging path through deciduous woodland, and hit 1000 metres after half an hour. It was 21 degrees, the coolest outdoor temperature I'd experienced since leaving Wales over a week ago. 

Despite looking like someone who'd overdone the pizza, pasta, bread and beer for the past week I was in decent physical shape for the climb. Following preparation at home I'd managed to walk at least 7 miles on 5 of the days in Monte Isola, which seeing as the island's 1.5 miles long and 1 mile wide was quite impressive (it's also 400m high, which helped)! The path kept climbing and handily passed through the village of Chiesa with its large church and open cafe. 

There are churches everywhere in the Italian Alps. Every village with more than 5 houses seems to have a church, but by no means does every church have a village. I could see several standing alone in the most inaccessible places, and they're complemented by innumerable shrines and crosses. I guess it's nice not to feel alone up here. 

Two more coffees set me up for another hour's climb up to the 'Piano della Colla' ridge. The views now were splendid, and not far behind me to the north the beast of a mountain that is Monte Viso began to rear its head. I joined a track and soon found myself unintentionally herding a lone calf up it. I was a bit concerned that I was taking it away from Mum, and its regular calls didn't help. However, after a while we caught her up along with three other cows; my accidental good deed for the day. I tagged along as part of the herd for a while but the horseflies were out in force, and the cows didn't seem too happy, so I overtook them and said my goodbyes. 

My herd!

Monte Viso in the distance. 

It was getting hot. I reached 2000m shortly before 1pm with the temperature topping 30 degrees and stopped for lunch. In no time I was covered with butterflies; possibly because of my red shirt, possibly because they were everywhere. At least they weren't flies. Soon after setting off again the long climb finally ended and I was on a glorious, flat path on a wide, grassy ridge, with a breeze! This lasted pretty much until I finally started to head steeply downhill to Chiappi via the enormous Santuario di San Magno. 

There were quite a few cars there, so I figured that if people could be bothered to drive up to 1761m to see a big church, it must be worth seeing. I was though extremely put off by the external speakers that were blaring out a naff, pre-recorded mass across the countryside. So it came as quite a shock when I stomped in through the door to be confronted with the actual mass I'd heard from outside! In the 6 or 7 seconds I was inside, I established that it was enormous, the congregation was tiny (but to be fair there were 3 masses a day!) and that if my face wasn't already bright red it would have been. 

I made a hasty 20 minute retreat to Chiappi, a village that is falling down, and La Meiro, my home for the night. It's bonkers! Yes, another one! So like yesterday I'll finish this post before dinner, but I've taken a short video to show what this place is like. It won't load here for whatever reason so I'll stick it on Facebook instead. 

Stats Zone!!!

Notes: Temperature spike at start due to wearing my watch! Attached to pack after. Midday spike was stopping for lunch and leaving it in the Sun.