We started our hike by taking the local bus from Cortina, getting off at Lago di Braies. We nearly messed up at Toblach, where we changed bus, by almost getting off at the train station instead of the bus station. The pretty green lake was flat calm with tourists out in row boats.
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| Lago di Braies |
After walking around the lake we had a four hour uphill hike to lunch at Rifugo Briella, at 979m. The last stretch was though beautiful karst country; striated white limestone rocks, and stunted low-growing pine. The highlight was seeing an ibex with massive horns. The low point was a brief meeting with the most outrageously racist person I have ever come across. A small section of via ferrata followed, and wild flowers became abundant.
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| The limestone karst landscape |
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| Some via ferrata to spice up the climb. |
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| Lunch at Rifugio Biella. |
We had a grand lunch: pasta, beer (when in Rome...) before traversing the moonscape to Ucia de Senes. Loud music from a live band greeted us, with a crowd of very happy people downing pints and shots.
A short walk through the forest took us to the Ucia Fodara Vedla. Another live band with dancing, piano accordion, beer and fun. We found out all the local rifugios were celebrating the end of summer.
It was a lovely hut with great atmosphere and amazing rooms (including an ensuite) and food. I went to bed with a very full belly - beer, wine, goulash, salad... and sunburnt arms as it was such a fine day.
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| Ucia Fodara Vedla. |
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| The End of Summer celebrations. |
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| Ucia Fodara Vedla. |
Day 2 began with a steep descent to Pederu. We passed rustic farm buildings made of stone with wooden tile roofs, which reminded me very much of Nepal. A relatively short walk up the hill took us to the Ucia Lavarella, which houses the highest microbrewery in Europe. Too good an opportunity to pass up, so quite a few pints filled in the afternoon. The IPA and Weiss beer were excellent. Our trek started just a few kilometres from Austria, and so far the culture and food had been distinctly Germanic. Dara wasn't that keen on trying the goulash.
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| The steep descent to Pederu. |
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| Ucia Lavarella. |
On day three another fine day dawned with a deep blue sky. We walked up the grassy Lech Valley, eventually reaching a narrow cleft in the mountain range, Forcela di Lech. (Forcela means pass). After a steep zig-zag descent we arrived at the diminutive Leck de Lagacio, where some people stripped off for a bracing swim.
Our climb ended at the Forcela Lagazuoi, with great views of Tofana de Rozes (the peak David and I climbed a few days before using the via ferrata). We continued on a steep walk down a rough path, then on a dry ski run, with grass, to Falzarego Pass, for chips, coffee and lemon soda. It was a 2km grind up to our end point at the Rifugio Valporola, where we met Ella, an Aussie doctor, heading the same way. We a fun evening finishing off with some local grappa.
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| Contorted 250 million year-old limestone. |
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| Forcela di Lech in the background. |
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| The descent from Forcela di Lech to the lake. |
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| German naturalist at Lech de Lagacio. |
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| David in front of Tofana de Rozes, with our via ferrata route running lower right to upper left. |
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| On the Forcela Lagazoui. |
Day four: another big day, starting with a walk back down road to Falzarego Pass, then an ascent to Forcela Averau with some stressful steep steps.
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| Falzarego Pass, with an amazingly large and naff souvenir shop. David loved it. |
We traversed to Rifugio Navolau for coffee, then descended to Rifugio Scoiatolli, with its interesting outdoor museum of WW1 exhibits. Lunch at Rifugio Cinque Torri, named after the impressive group of four (five originally but one fell down?) rock spires nearby. We descended pleasant woodlands with sheep, shepherd and dogs, donkeys, goats, and more wild flowers, before the inevitable ascent back up a winding track to our home for the night at Rifugio Croda da Lago. The weather remained fine.
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| Descending towards Cinque Torri. |
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| A misty view of Tofana de Rozes. |
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| Rifugio Croda da Lago |
Day five: A short day, with more clear skies, more passes to cross (Forcela Ambrizzola, Forcela Col Duro, Forcela di Col Roan), more coffee and cake at Rifugio Citta de Fiume. Loud military jets disturbed the silence of the forest before we reached the Rifugio Passo Staulanza. It started raining in the afternoon giving us a chance to stay in and relax, with one day to go. The rifugio offered a range of showers, including the Scottish Shower (cold), and the Emotional Shower (not sure what that's about).
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| Forcela Ambrizzola. |
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| Approaching the lovely peak Pelmo and the little peak Pelmetto. |
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| Our destination in the middle of the photo, Passo Staulanza. |
Day Six, our last day , and our weather luck ran out. It poured with rain. We climbed a steep slippery track, startling a hind with its doe. It was cold and windy with few breaks and no shelter, so we were terribly disappointed to find the Rifugio Venezia, our planned lunch stop, closed up for winter. Instead we plodded down the long 1000m descent to Villa Nova and caught the bus to Cortina. Ella spotted an amazing large black lizard with lightening bolt yellow markings on its back.
In Cortina, we had a very late lunch and David left on 5.30pm bus to Venice. Dara and I were relieved to find the rental car hadn't been towed or ticketed (or dented) as we'd left it in a supposedly free public car park (but with P120 signs everywhere).
Overall it was a fantastic trek, with great company, met lots of interesting people, fabulous scenery, and we should be a lot fitter!
We had 10 hours of sleep, and waited till morning to decide which direction we'd head next. France, Austria or Slovenia?
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