Day 9: Around Val Gardena (Italy)
Today reaches the midpoint of our road trip. Surrounded by impressive mountains, we have a chance to stretch our legs and hike. We choose a path just beyond the town.
It is another glorious September day – we’re getting used to this now – and wish we’d ignored Apple Weather’s pessimistic long-range forecasts.
We pass by some ruins that are not worth climbing the steps for!
Ruins on our walk
The scenery around here is really amazing – and the alpine meadows are so green – and give a welcome break from the uphill sections!
We pass some alpine cows in the forest – you would never see cows walking among the trees back in Ireland.
Alpine Cows
Their distinctive cow bells make them easy to find.
Alpine cow bells
The route we’ve picked has plenty of fellow walkers but its never overcrowded.
Hmmm, alerts regarding guard dogs and wolves. Fortunately, this marks the conclusion of our intended route, and we were already set to return here. We feel assured that continuing along the path would have posed no issue.
Warnings signs on our route
We take a slightly different route back – the trail is a loop – though it mostly follows the previous path we walked up here on.
The “highlight” of this route was to visit a small lake – but it is well dried up – with all the warm weather this region has had this summer.
We approach the trail’s end, passing several sculptures on our return journey.
And one final alpine cow (+ bell).
Alpine cow (+ bell)
We make it back to our car and grab a quick bite at the restaurant there just before it closes.
After a quick rest in our hotel after the walk and changing out of our hiking boots it is time to hit the mountains again – this time in our 911 Targa.
As we depart the town, a long line of Aston Martin DB9s approaches. With a lovely 718 GT4 tucked in at the rear of the convoy.
Line of Aston Martin DB9s outside Val Gardena
The mountain passes are amazing this evening: twisty, spectacular scenery and, most importantly, quiet.
There are some great views from the top of the passes.
We even had time to stop and snap a pic of a fox enjoying the warm afternoon sun.
As the sun started to sink beneath the mountains, we pulled in for one last stop.
We moved on – as we needed to grab food back in the town before things shut down – but the light kept on getting better as we dropped down the mountain.
We pulled in again to grab the last of it, but unfortunately had a very obscured view from the trees.
Stats
No refuelling required today.
Today we did 68 km over 2:36 hours, with an average speed of 40 km/h, consuming 24.9 litres/100 km.
