Day 2 - from Tisens to Fondo

What a day! Today had everything, I mean everything that could possibly happen. Sorry Alisha, it still didn't rain young Labradors today. Luckily, the weather wasn't everything, there was sun, clouds, fog, and a little drizzle. But otherwise, it was good. It was a bit chilly at the beginning, but once you reached top speed, it got warm.

We started at around 08:50 am, so with the time travel again. There was a lot involved, but more on that later.

First, I have to mention something about the hotel in Tisens. Yes, I felt transported back in time, but the staff was super nice, totally genuine and familiar. To pay, they invited you into the office behind the reception and said goodbye with a handshake. Very nice. Was that how it was in the 60s? Sorry, I couldn't resist the little side remark.

So, like I said, we started at around 08:50 am. This was the first time I felt what it's like to hike in shorts and a T-shirt without rain - very nice. Luckily, I had memorized the trail numbers and knew that there was an alternative at one point. So, I took off, unfortunately along the road, and into the next village. I went to the supermarket there, very cute, they had everything, even reached retirement age. Grandpa sat at the checkout in his smock and grandma was rummaging around somewhere. I bought a whole bottle of water from him, sorry, I didn't need more.

Then we continued quickly, I knew the trail numbers, only my GPS didn't. Well, after going in circles a few times, we both found our way and from then on it was uphill. At first, passing individual farms and many apple orchards, here and there a cow, but everything with a moderate incline. Weather good, landscape great. So far so good.

My thoughts revolved around the topics for the blog again. Thanks to Silke's suggestion, I recorded some notes on my phone, a great idea from her, thanks for that. Then I had another idea, how about an audiobook. The audiobook for the book, the movie for the book, and whatever else you could do.

That reminded me of another idea, a kind of invention. The trail markers here in Italy are not that great. So, why not replace them with NFC chips, each with its own code? When planning the route, you save these codes on the GPS, and at the right moment, it reminds you to turn. You already know it from supermarkets. You drive innocently through an aisle and suddenly it beeps and shows an advertisement on a display. Well, maybe not. Back to the hike.

After the first hour, I could see peaks in the distance, unfortunately very hazy, but I was so impressed and had to force myself to keep going.

I'm currently listening to my voice notes, so funny. When I was walking in the woods and came around a corner, this impressive landscape reminded me of the TV series 'The Mountain Man'. I think it aired in the late '70s. So, probably more for the mature readers. But anyway, in that moment, when I saw that part of the landscape, I started grinning and had a feeling of happiness that came from deep within. Amazing.

Oh, and we were still going uphill.

By 10:40 am, I had reached an altitude of 1029 m, my spoken comment was 'wow', and according to the GPS, I had already walked over 8 km and was pretty tired, just like most of the day. To give you an idea of how steep it was here, I have an example. You probably know the last steep section to the Stoppelberg Tower. When you're at the bottom, you think, 'Oh man, this path will never end,' but fortunately, it does. Here, there is no end in sight. By the way, if you think the Sun Path in Nauborn is steep, you haven't been here yet. Compared to this, the Sun Path is as steep as the Dutch lowlands.

A little later, I watched as the fog slowly moved into the forest and the view of the valley, which was there just a moment ago, disappeared. Really spooky, immediately the movie 'The Fog' came to mind.

By around 12:00 pm, I had reached an elevation of over 1300 m and had just eaten an energy bar. Wow, let me tell you, that thing really gave me energy, even though I was pretty exhausted. There must be drugs in there. The only thing missing is me thinking I can fly. I checked my surroundings and fortunately realized that there was no proper takeoff point and I would have ended up hanging in the next tree anyway. So, I decided to use the new energy for hiking.

Today's trail had almost everything in terms of quality and size. Paved roads, well gravelled paths without puddles, forest paths, through meadows with signs that say 'Beware of ticks', and then the absolute highlights: narrow paths that even the highly praised route planner knows. Unbelievable, at some point I had to turn off the trail onto such a path, and I thought, they must be joking, it would have been perfect for a hidden camera show. Well, but that was my first choice, the alternative probably wouldn't have ended at 1800 m, and I really wanted to go up high. My own fault, but a very interesting experience I made in the following hours, and incredible what I was capable of, not only physically, okay, at times I was really exhausted, but also mentally. I talked to myself and motivated myself. Wow, and it worked.

At this time, or maybe even earlier, I wondered what drove me to do this tour. My theory: My inner lazy butt wanted to push me to my limits so that it could influence me again. But nope, it didn't work.

By around 14:00 pm, I reached the highest point of today's stage at 1802 m - incredible, what an achievement. I felt really good again and started the descent very euphorically. In the meantime, I had decided that I would take the bus from the next village to Fondo, so I walked straight to St. Felix.

On the way there, I was still on my time travel journey. The fog in the forest reminded me of Jurassic Park and then I found countless piles of dinosaur poop. When I passed a dugout canoe, I didn't know when and where I was anymore. You can see what I mean in the pictures.

You're probably thinking I watch too much TV. Oh no, never. When I saw the many big ant hills with large wood ants, I thought of one of the Indiana Jones movies, I think the one with the crystal skull.

But back to the hike and my arrival in St. Felix. There was actually a bus to Fondo, and it was just a few minutes after I arrived at the bus stop, but well, it was on the other side of the road and I didn't know it was my bus. The next one would come at 17:16 pm, so in 2 hours. I decided to walk to Fondo after all. It would have been 7 km on the road. I clicked around on my GPS a bit and created a route - and off I went with high spirits. Until, well, until I missed some turnoff. So, I went back a few meters, but there was no turnoff. Oh well, I continued walking to the next village or rather cluster of houses. Yippieh, a bus stop. Oops, the bus to Fondo only passes here once a day - in the morning at 06:45 am. Damn, I'm not waiting that long. So, I planned another route and started walking again. Before that, I took a short break. On the other side of the road, a few older Italian ladies were sitting and chatting, in Italian. So, I started walking and turned back after a few meters because the GPS said I should go the other direction. So, I passed the ladies again. I think that was a real experience for them.

So, I walked through the village, pretty steadily, and wanted to go somewhere. Then I asked an older gentleman. Everyone spoke German everywhere, only he couldn't. Luckily, I speak some Italian and was able to ask for the next bus stop to Fondo. Only 5 minutes away, I would be at the bus stop. Well, when I arrived there, I put down my backpack and started to relax. I had about 30 minutes of waiting time, but it didn't matter, a bus was in sight.

In Fondo, I got off at the second bus stop by chance, and behold, after a few minutes, I reached the hotel. The time travel has come to an end! I have landed back here in the present.

By the way, it wasn't dinosaur poop after all, it was cow dung. I had actually walked right across a cow pasture in the woods. It looked beautiful, simply lovely. Bells ringing everywhere and beautiful cows.

But the dugout canoe on the mountain still surprises me.

So, tomorrow on Day 3, I'll be taking the bus and train to Mezzolombardo. For the next stages with lengths of 22 km, 25 km, and 21 km, I have decided to make them less challenging. I will take a closer look at the planning and reconsider. But one thing is for sure, I won't do something like today again.

Oops, it got a bit long. I hope you had fun reading again. Come back tomorrow if you want to read about my experiences with the Italian public transport system.