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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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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 17 – Some Climbing and a Lot of Mint Cleaning
7:00am Today we will be working in the afternoon. We are having lunch with Matej and Anja at noon, and cleaning mint all together afterwards. We decide to start exploring the area by doing a morning via ferrata -Ferata Češka koča. For this reason, we wake up at 7am -even if the alarm started ringing from 6:30- drive the van at the end of the valley -10 minutes- walk 15 in the woods and 10 in along a scree to reach the starting point of the climb. We parked at the bottom of Ravenska kocna valley, followed the trail to Zrelo, then the signs of the via ferrata. Ferata Češka…
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Day 8 – Sun is Up/Chill
Some solo time – not much At 10:30 our good breakfast is over. We figured out that ‘orzo’ is the perfect substitute to coffee if you want to consume local and package free -or at least no plastic packaging. We make it in our 35 years old Italian coffee machine that G’s parents offered us. It tastes similar to coffee, the one we bought is made in Italy, is organic and is packaged in a thin paper box. Half a kilo should last some 6 months for us. G chooses to redo ferata Jerm’n, that is actually very quick, in less than an hour he’s back at the campsite. Here…
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Day 7 – The perfect spot
Life is good until the police wakes you up Last night, we were sleeping so well after a satisfying day and a good dinner in an amazing scenery… when suddenly we hear someone violently knocking on the van door. G was in a sleeping coma, while M was afraid that someone wanted to rob us: we both didn’t really understand what was going on. When finally G managed to exit his coma and to ask “Yes?”, from the other side of the door we heard “Policija”. Better the police than some crazy thief. Before to start writing about our interaction with two Slovenian police officers, you should know one thing…
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Day 6 – The Greens and the Greys of Slovenian Alps
Early bird in Austria The alarm rings at 7am after a rainy -and noisy- night. The fun thing is that we got to bed saying that we are glad the van is well isolated, and then spent the night hearing the drops of water hitting the metal roof. After the last breakfast in Italy we cross the border and stop by the first Austrian village to buy rice, vegetables and bread. We follow the road 83 until Villach, where we are supposed to find a gas station selling cooking gas. After a few wrong attempts, we finally end up in the right station where we refill our gas bottle and…
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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…
