Mussolini's monstrous mausoleum

06-10-12

Grappitti

The object for this day's summit involved rather a lot  more driving up and down tornantes than walking. Monte Grappa may be only 1775m high but it does have a prominence of P1456, which makes it a good vantage point. And it seems to have played a big part in the later years of WW1 when the Italians had been pushed back from the Isonzo line.
There is an awful lot of stuff on top of Grappa - including a large bronze battle plan showing where the two sides had ended up entrenched to the north of Grappa on 15 November 1918.  See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Grappa

Grappa wall

At the lower top of the summit ridge, there is a derelict building and mast surrounded by a high fence that just begged to be scaled - so I did, before following the ridge back to the higher top. All along the ridge there were trenches cut into it on each side.

Grappa trench

 The main top is covered by an enormous monstrous mausoleum opened by Benito Mussolini in May 1934.

Where the original natural top was, is difficult to tell. There is a flag near the highest point of the grass within this monstrosity.

Grappa summit - with anyGOML's dream deterrent

Tunnel under the summit

Underneath the mausoleum there are the Italian headquarters left over from the battle of Mount Grappa. I explored some of the tunnels that riddle the hill and there were several cannons still in their original emplacements.

One wasted life - the closest name I could find to mine

Glorious, my arse.

I went up my twelfth Ultra and came down the long way

A sign on Monte Grappa - no sign of Dodici though, because of the clouds

05-10-12

For many of these hills, part of the ascent is driving several kilometres up narrow roads with 20-30 'tornantes'. When the Italians say 'tornante' they do not mean just any old bend in the road, they mean a tight turning of the steering wheel all the way round. As I drove up Val Formica there was a temporary sign that I did not understand and I carried on regardless. Eventually I came to a stretch where they were felling trees and then round the next tornante the road was blocked by several large trees.

Damn - but just a minute, I can see cars on the other side waiting too. A few minutes later the forestry workers cleared the road and let us all through. Magic.
Maybe if I had studied the map more carefully I might have made a shorter walking journey than I did today. However, no matter, it was a grand walk throughout.

I set off on track 825 from Rifugio Malga Cima Larici (1658m)on what was little more than a steep cow meadow. Very soon I was on the ridge at Bocchetta Larici (1876m) - a right turn on track 826 meant I reached the first top Cima Larici (2033m P84) soon after.

The day ahead

Cima Larici

Val Renzola from Bocchetta Lanzoletta

Over another minor top, Monte Erbe, and then a drop down to Bochetta Lanzoletta (1949m) - where a path came up from a much nearer possible starting point. Then there was a steeper and steady pull up to the rocky summit of Cima Portule, complete with a cross (2308m P164). And what goes up, must come down so there was a drop down to Porta Kempel (2144m). Remember this place - it will be mentioned again.

Cima Portule

Cima Dodici from Cima Portule

For some reason the marked trail misses out the next top along the ridge - Monte Trentin Cima Val Della Sbetta - maybe because it is exhausting enough saying out loud its full name. The track makes a long traverse and at times has to go round large sink holes and channels until it joins another track near Portello di Galmarara. Somehow I failed to spot this junction and carried on to meet track 211 near La Forzelleta. Not that it mattered much as that took me up to the top of the Ultra Cima Dodici (2336m P1874) with its two crosses and now familiar signs of military use in WW1.

Two crosses on Cima Dodici

Cima Dodici

I came down track 835 and still did not identify where it met the track I had used earlier. I realised I was back on that track but could not recall where I had joined it again. I then went back to Porta Kempel. The marked track takes you back over the top of Cima Portule. However, the map shows an unmarked path that traverses the length of C. Portule and that path is very clear on the ground. So, I followed it didn't I. All the way I had this slight worry that it would end up disappearing into a sink-hole or a large impenetrable patch of dwarf pines - but my worry was unfounded. It was clearly a maintained track that had been engineered in places. Towards the end there were even the occasional splash of red paint. And then right at the end it disappeared - as I had feared. It did not take much effort to keep going and find the main 826 track that comes off the end of C. Portule and then follows an unpaved road built by the Austrians in 1916 - the Prinz Eugan Strasse.

Prinz Eugen Strasse

Entrance to Bocchetta Portule

This road has a number of military cemeteries along it and at Bocchetta Portule there is a large crag that has been hollowed out and used by the Austrians (and the Italians) as a look-out and for firing cannons from. As I walked along, I was imagining a convoy of military vehicles being attacked by a small group of the enemy hiding in the trees under the leadership of a maverick Frank Sinatra or Dirk Bogarde. Don't worry, I gave myself a slap around the face and soon recovered.

Bocchetta Portule

It was dark by the time I got back to the starting point - good job that Prinz Eugan Strasse was built so well and easy to follow. And that there was no-one trying to ambush me. But it would have been quicker to come back over C. Portule.
The next morning, when I set off down the hill I hoped that there would be no forestry work trapping me up there. No, there wasn't and they seemed to have cleared up almost all the traces of it very efficiently. Phew. On the other hand what is that noise I can hear ahead of me? Around the next tornante I could see a small line of cars travelling very slowly in front of me and then I realised that in front of them were probably 200+ cows being herded down the hill, presumably for the winter. And the noise? Each cow had its own bell.
It took a while to get off this particular mountain.

My name is Bondone, Monte Bondone

04-10-12

Tre Cime del Monte Bondone

Today's mountain is the gondolier's favourite, Cornetto the highest point on the Monte Bondone that towers above the town of Trento and the Adige valley. Another Ultra with a height of 2180m P1685.

Autumn colours at Viote

When I set off from a car park (1525m) near Viote on track 636 there was a lot of cloud about so I did not expect to see much on the tops. The walking started quite easily, then it was quite steep in the woods on the slope of Cima Verde, the first of three main tops (tre cime) on the Bondone ridge. I was soon in the clouds on top of Cima Verde (2100).

Cima Verde

Just occasionally there was a break in the cloud and I saw a view along the ridge or down into the valleys below.
From Verde there was a pleasant ridge walk that ends with a bit of easy via ferrata to the summit of the second summit, Dos d'Abramo (2140m) which had a summit cross with a logbook and a bell. Did I ring the bell? Of course I did.

Dos D'Abramo summit

VF on Dos D'Abramo

From there I had hoped to descend on a harder section of via ferrata - Guilio Segata - unfortunately it was 'chiuso per manutenzione' and judging by the rustiness of the cable that I could see I decided, for once, to obey the sign. The main route on track 636 has some simple VF down to the col beneath the walls of Cornetto (sorry, I could not resist the pun).

Cornetto summit

The marked trail itself does not go to the summit and I wasn't sure which way to go when I reached the wall. The top of Cornetto consists of a big block of rock that has been riddled with WWI tunnels and trenches. Eventually I found a way around the back using a diagonal trench to reach the top which looks like puddled concrete. As ever, there was a cross near the top.

Cornetto summit cross

There was no view because of the cloud and I had to use a compass bearing to get off again on the other side where I found the junction of tracks 636 and 607. I used 607 to go back down and it turned out to be a straightforward well used track that made for easy and quick walking. Towards the bottom I left the track to cut across some meadows back to the start of track 636 - and passed a sign saying that I should not have done what I had just done as it was a botanical nature reserve - oops. And, of course, it was at this point the clouds cleared and I could actually see where I had been.

Cornet shaped mushrooms?

Slaphead mountain

Monte Baldo from north

03-10-12

Lake Garda from Il Pozzetto

I did debate about starting from Lake Garda and ascending the full height of the mountain from the west. However, as I was already on the east side I went for an easier option and started from the road on track 652 and then track 66 up Val Camprone and found myself on the main ridge in no time at all. The ridge has a long and well used path that follows the full length and it was easy walking with occasional views to the west down towards Lake Garda. To get from this path to the main summit of Cima Valdritta (2218m P1950) involved a little easy scrambling.

Cima Valdritta

Cima Valdritta summit

Valdritta

Who would have thought an Ultra would be so easy and so quick. I decided to vary the return route by going back along the ridge past the point where I joined it to the next top, Monte Maggiore/Punta Telegrafo. This was another top that had evidence of WWI trench warfare as well as the obligatory cross. There was a nearby refuge, which despite being closed had a surprising number of people sat on its verandah - yet I had not seem anyone anywhere else on the ridge. From there I used track 652 back to the start point.
 

Monte Maggiore/Punta Telegrafo

Two gentlemen in Verona

02-10-12

Verona's bridge over the Adige

Well, by the time Patrick and I had visited Padava (Padua) and Verona, I was about 'towned' out. I can see why Verona is another UNESCO World Heritage site, it is just that I really do prefer  mountains.

Verona is the place where the fictitious Romeo and Juliet was set. And the Veronese have made sure that they have cashed in on this. In the centre of the tourist quarter there is even a balcony in Guilietta's Casa that attracts many tourists. Alright, I know there is an equally fictitious set of writings that has generated many thousands of buildings, crosses and other contraptions throughout the world. 

At least, Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Bronwell actually lived in Haworth with its Brontë burger bar.

In the Casa is a statue of Juliet and there was a constant stream of (wannabe Jimmy Savile) men in their 50s and 60s having their photos taken fondling the breasts of the statue and being applauded by their wives. I understand that she is meant to be 13 years old - see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliet


Patrick was due to fly back to England in the morning so we parted company and I set off for Lake Garda passing the Romeo and Guillietta campsite on the way. By time I got there I felt it was too late for Monte Baldo's main top, Cima di Valdritta and the top was in cloud (although, in retrospect I realised that there would have been time and as you will see, the cloud cleared later). To while away the rest of the afternoon I decided to have a quick look at the summit of Monte Altissimo di Nago which is the the most northerly summit of Monte Baldo which forms the east bank of Lake Garda. It wasn't until afterwards I realised that, at 2079m with a prominence of P653, it is a Major.

Bocca del Greer

Rifugio Altissimo "Damiani Chiesa"

From Bocca del Greer I walked past the Rifugio Graziani (1617m) on a well engineered track that traverses up the hillside all the way to the Rifugio Altissimo "Damiani Chiesa" (2059m). At the back of the rifugio, the top is marked by an ugly metal contraption.
To the immediate north there is much evidence that during WW1 the hilltop formed part of the front line between Italy and the Austrians. There are trenches, dugouts, what were probably gun emplacements and a chapel.
On the way down the track the clouds on the main ridge of Monte Baldo cleared and I was able to get a view of the next day's goal.

Monte Altissimo di Nago summit

Part of the WW1 military legacy

Monte Baldo main ridge from the north

Not really canals, are they?

30-09-12

Let's start with a bit of controversy, eh? Having spent a day going around Venice it has occurred to me that what are referred to as canals, are not really canals. The land is human-made not the waterway and there are no locks. Never mind, despite the lack of hills, Venice does warrant a  day's exploration.

Copied from the Rialto cinema in Manchester

We did the tourist thing of wandering down the alleys and over bridges -looking for the Rialto bridge, Piazza San Marco and the Doge's palace, avoiding the mask-selling souvenir stands etc. - and then seeing it all again from a vaporetto (boat-bus) on the so-called Grand Canal.

 

Bridge of Sighs

Piazza San Marco on three sides is quite elegant, slightly marred by the sheer numbers of people there, most of whom seemed to be queuing to go inside the rather ugly Basilica San Marco, which spoils the fourth side of the piazza. The facade of the basilica looks shabby and has a rather ridiculous over ornate hodge-podge collection of statues etc stuck on everywhere - reminded me of a fireplace mantle overloaded with cheap souvenirs brought back by the owner's grandchildren.  By comparison the Doge's palace looked restrained and tidy. No idea what the Basilica looked like on the inside, as I was not prepared to wait in the long queue.

Doge's palace