Today’s walk has been fascinating, exploring tunnels and trenches on a mountain where the Austrians and Italians fought in World War 1. The northerly point, called Monte Piano, was an Austrian stronghold, linked by steep paths exposed to enemy fire, and a mechanised cableway to Lago di Landro in the valley. The southerly point, called... Continue Reading →
Lago di Sorapiss
We have seen the most beautiful lake today. Lago di Sorapiss has milky turquoise blue water because of the powder suspended in it from the shrinking glaciers on Punta Sorapiss, which towers behind it. We had an early start, leaving the campsite at about 7.15 to make sure we got a parking space and beat... Continue Reading →
Contending with the crowds at Tre Cime de Lavaredo
We caught the early bus to Tre Cime today, knowing the place would be busy… a bit like Snowdon on a bank holiday! We didn’t manage to beat the crowds though. The bus ended stuck up in a queue of traffic when we got to Misurini, some way before the toll booth. We think the... Continue Reading →
Via ferratas and waterfalls, but no bus
We’ve had a brilliant day doing 3 via ferratas, two of which went behind waterfalls. They were called Giovanni Barbara, Lucio Delaiti and Cengia di Mattia, and they were much less scary than the one we attempted in Austria, with plenty of foot and handholds. We caught the bus to the start of the route.... Continue Reading →
A bike ride to Cortina
We had planned to get a bus at 9 o’clock to do a via ferrata but overslept so, after a lazy start, we decided to have a bike ride instead. There’s an old railway track that runs all the way from the campsite to the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo I hadn’t realised how far or... Continue Reading →
The Grossglockner High Alpine Road to Italy
Bertie’s done all the hard work today as we’ve travelled 175 kilometres round hairpin bends and over mountain passes to our next campsite at Toblachersee in Italy. We chose to travel via the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, which is the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria. It is 48 kilometres long with 36 bends,... Continue Reading →
Two summits but no via ferrata
The day didn’t quite go to plan because we failed on the via ferrata (Klettersteig in Austrian). However, putting disappointment behind us, we did then have a great hike, even though it’s been a cloudy day. In fact, it was like being on a mountain in the UK with grey skies, cool winds, and mud... Continue Reading →
Relaxing in Bad Gastein
It rained all night and the forecast for today wasn’t much better, so we’ve had a relaxing day in Bad Gastein. We got the bus to the top of the town then wandered down the steep streets and along the river to see bits of the Gasteiner Ache that we missed yesterday… the top and... Continue Reading →
Scary moments on Graukogel
Today’s hike turned into a bit of a drama when, following the route from our book, we ended up on our hands and knees on a rocky ridge with steep drops on each side, unable to see the way ahead because both the path and route markers had vanished. Cue a bit of a meltdown... Continue Reading →
Cloud inversion on Tischkogel and Zitterauer Tisch 😍
We’ve had an amazing walk today. I don’t think I stopped smiling for the first couple of hours after we popped out of the clouds in the valley and found the sunshine. The views were stunning! It was forecast to be quite sunny until 4 o’clock so I was a bit disappointed to wake up... Continue Reading →