01.10.2020- we survived the mountain

01.10.2020

Dear friends,

after ending yesterday with our first dinner under the open sky, today started with an equally fabulous view of the mountains and an equally tasty breakfast: soggy toast, jam, sausage, cheese, and most importantly, tea, which saved everything. Strengthened, we started our day and it began with a long car ride: ten meters back to not disturb the workers mowing and five meters forward again when they were finally done after ten long minutes.

The next point on our list today: finally start. But it failed after a hundred meters, when I realized that hiking boots are simply not for me. That's why we quickly made a one-eighty turn, went back up the little mountain to our parking spot, and finally set off again, armed with sandals.

When we arrived at the starting point of our hike, the first shock came: about 1500 steps to this stupid monastery, but as so often, the idea was nothing compared to reality. I spent the two and a half kilometers panting up a mountain, without seeing our destination even once, and the worst part was that there were cursed stairs. I can't properly judge if Dad had as hard a time as I did, since my steam engine breathing, and concentrated swearing in short clear moments only occasionally triggered laughter.

First lesson of the day: Alpine flowers also exist in the wild, not just in garden centers. Hidden between tall grass, they radiated in various shades of pink and lilac, giving me a brief moment of happiness before I continued my rant about high mountains. With some bright spots that allowed a dreamy view of the valley, we fought our way up on this hellish path and fortunately arrived completely sweaty but alive. The Sanctuary of Madonna della Corona was impressive, and not just from a distance. The church was directly carved into the steep cliff and harmoniously connected with the exposed rough rock of the cliff face, which gave the interior of the church an almost palpable power and tranquility. Although I am not Christian, I could feel the suffering, faith, and pain of the many people who had visited these holy halls, hoping for answers. It was truly incomprehensibly beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Since we hadn't climbed high enough for Dad's understanding, we now set off for the higher village of Spiazzi, where, after much consideration of where to have lunch, we finally had ribbon noodles with mushrooms and lasagna, very delicious by the way.

Next lesson of the day: if there is a hiking map, take a photo of it. Because when we were looking for the other path that according to Dad should lead to our favorite mountain, we only found a long road that led through the void between the houses on the ridge. And when we had been walking in the supposedly right direction for half an hour and the next village was still too far away, we made the grand decision to simply turn around again. So back the whole way, down too many stairs to get to the monastery, and then at a junction towards a new bridge that had been built somewhere in the valley. The only problem: we hadn't seen a drop of water on our whole journey through the valley. The path was actually marked for experts, but we were so brave and started walking anyway. We were lucky, since it hadn't rained heavily for a long time, we only saw several times the paths that the water would normally cascade down in free fall over our trail, and we could continue our march to the suspension bridge quite relaxed, and it was amazing. The gorge it led over was beautiful, and when I finally saw the water and not just heard it, I could stare spellbound into the deep abyss, or more accurately, it could be described as: "Do not wobble now. Always put your feet on the metal plates and don't let go of the camera. Stay completely relaxed, nothing will happen." After we had both safely arrived on the other side, I had to try it again, and now I'm pretty sure that the suspension bridge can withstand the next lunatics who choose this path.

But the day was far from over, because now we had to figure out how to get back. At the beginning, it still seemed like an easy undertaking, but the path quickly thwarted our plans when we had to overcome an incredible number of altitude meters in a very short distance, and I was wearing sandals. We made it down, that's the only thing you need to know. There were also regularly very beautiful views and we saw a praying mantis, in the wild, totally crazy.

Well, many alpine flowers later, we finally arrived in Brentino and our jelly legs can only drag themselves the remaining meters with the help of a well-known friend: ice cream.

See you soon and I'm still alive.