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Week 10 – COVID-19 Tests and the Beauties of Majella National Park
Week 10: Monday 31/08 – Sun 06/09 Fonte Cerreto under the rain – Monday Yesterday it has been raining since 6pm. At around 8pm the rainstorm reached its peak and water started dripping through the lateral and back doors of the van. We realized that both the doors weren’t well closed… This fixed the night was calm and quiet. After breakfast we leave the place and head to Fonte Cerreto. Rain will be falling all day. On Mondays in Italy, especially in small villages, shops and cafes are closed. We decide to drink a coffee in the bar of a deserted hotel. We can sit outside, covered by a roof,…
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Two Via Ferrata at Gran Sasso: Brizio and Danesi. 15km between the rocks and the grasslands
The following itinerary consists in the combination of two easy Via ferrata that deepens in the rockiest part of Gran Sasso National Park (Central Italy). The Via ferrata Brizio and Via ferrata Danesi will allow you to explore one of the most inaccessible parts of the National Park in full safety and with no particular difficulty. The only material needed is a helmet, a climbing harness, a via ferrata kit, some warm clothing (even in summer), water and food according to your needs. If like us you will opt for an early start, you should know that the first part of the itinerary will be mainly in the shadow. The…
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Week 9 – Enjoying the Salty Waters Before New Mountains
Week 9: Monday 24/08 – Sun 30/08 Krapanj Island and its underwater beauties – Monday Another sleepless night and a breakfast under the bit of shadow our camping pitch offers start a long and hot day. A good side of the heat is that we are drying figs that we collected on our way to Sibenik, they look tasty. After a failed attempt to catch a bus from Zaboric to Brodarica, we wait an hour in the shade of the bus stop hoping to catch the next one. At 1pm we finally hop on the bus. After a few minutes we realize we are going too far, when we manage…
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Week 6 – Back to Slovakia
Week 6: Monday 3/08 – Sun 9/08 Crossing Hungary – Tuesday After this quick visit of Ljubljana, we decided to head to Slovakia, and in particular towards the Tatras National Park. We changed our plan at the last minute. Indeed, our first idea was to travel through the Balkans, more precisely through Bosnia and Serbia until Montenegro where we were planning to work in the National Park. However, Bosnia closed its borders as well as Macedonia, and together with the other Balkan countries the Covid’s victims are growing quickly. For this reason, we decided to proceed north east in order to reach Ukraine, one of our dream destinations. The first…
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Day 35 – Velika Baba – New Central Direction
A detailed and complete description This is the description we made of our climb of the famous multi-pitch Velika Baba New Central Direction (Velika Baba Nova Centralna), Jezersko. After a first bad experience on the route we managed to complete this beautiful climb and wanted to be sure no one will get lost on the way again. Our purpose here is not to describe the climb in a perfect way, meter by meter, but is to describe in particular those passages where we got lost and where people can likely get lost. We recommend you to start early, we started at 6am, but consider starting earlier because the weather in…
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Day 29 & 30 – A Meet-Up – Enjoying the mountains
Friends from Asia-Europe Foundation In the past days, G contacted a friend of his who lives in Slovenia. They first met during an international summer school held in Croatia and Slovenia. It so happens that another friend from the same summer school is in Slovenia as well. The result is a nice meet up with Ana -Slovenian- and Pavlîna -Czech- in beautiful Jezersko. And the goal of the day is to enjoy a nice meal in Češka Koča mountain hut. We walk together to Jezersko’s lake to take the path towards the hut. The weather is nice, sunny but not too hot. This is why we are not the only…
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Day 26 – Austrian Afternoon – Eisenkappel
A via ferrata on the river We spend the morning relaxing and working on our computers. For lunch M cooks the ‘Oreilles d’âne’, and G serves his Tiramisù with the coffee. After this light meal, we decide to follow our hosts suggestion and spend the afternoon in Austria climbing and digesting. Our destination is Eisenkappel, 17km from Jezersko. At the border they take our temperature. Along the way, we stop by “Murijev vrelec”, a naturally carbonated mineral water source rich in iron. Anja asked us to bring her back a tank of 5 litres of this water that is supposed to be very good for the health. Once in Eisenkappel,…
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Day 22 & 23 – Our Adventure in Jezersko – Never Again Like This
New Central Direction in Velika Baba These stories of adventurers and alpinists brought us the idea of climbing Velika Baba’s New Central Direction, an easy -difficulty IV- but long -700 vertical metres- climb. Nothing comparable to our guests adventures, but something challenging for us. After having read on the tourist office booklet that it’s the most popular climb in the valley, that it’s bolted from bottom to top, that the way back is easy and spectacular, we cannot wait to climb it. The approach G’s alarms rings an hour later than planned, what we call a good start. After an abundant but quick breakfast we are ready to start walking…
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Day 20 – The Orchard and Wet Climbing
Cleaning the rows At 9:00 we are in the orchard, today is mowing day. We are preparing the orchard for the harvest which will be in about two weeks. We cut the grass, rake it, collect it and pile it in the corners of the field. The weather is not the best, it is sunny then it suddenly rains, then it’s cloudy, then the cloud leave space to a deep blue sky and then it rains again. Just before 1pm we are done, the orchard looks tidy and in shape. For lunch Anja prepares something very typical, they call it the meal of the shepherd, now we cannot recall the…
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Day 5 – Was That Even a Via Ferrata?
The beauty of the Aupa pass Morning is wet but sunny. Since we have no gas we prefer to postpone breakfast to the first village we will meet, which should be Pontebba. The ride is particularly beautiful, especially the hairpin turns that leads to the Aupa pass. The forest here is tall with pines and the forest bed is green with herbs. The view on the peaks that surround us is majestic. Pontebba is a joyful town at the bottom of the Canale Valley. Coffee in the sun is regenerating as well as the toilet break. Since we finally have a good internet connection we decide to sit in the…
