Cold last night? YUP... Frost on the plants, stiff fingers after a short walk and foggy glasses were a sure sign winter is on it's way. Italy is already preparing us for a return to Saskatchewan.
We started our day trying to get information about hiking in Parco Nazionale Della Maiella. A closed information office in Pacentro (the town that claims one of Madonna's relatives lived here) let us on to to Pascocostanzo another 30 km. roller coaster drive down the road. Unfortunately, we arrived in the off season to be skunked again by a boarded up tourist centre. Oh well… Just find a local Italian (believe it or not named 'Luigi') with a modicum of English and a command of International Charades and presto you have the essence of a potential hike. So fire up our van and launch out on what we believe to be the road out of town as indicated by a general broad sweep of Luigi's arm. A few hair pin turns later we end up on an ancient cobblestone path built for a donkey cart. Watch your rear view mirror brush within millimetres of the wall and then end up in a dead end parking lot with the only way out to back up. Oh well again… Now retrace your steps, avoid one-way entrances, make eye contact with a smiling local driver who happily points to the way out of "Central Piazza" and there you go. You have had an adventure.
Ultimately, we did find a promising parking area so locked up the van and headed out. After manoeuvring a Nordic skiing path through a moist open forest of old growth trees we came upon a local farmer who was able to point out the hiking path. This turned out to be high on our list of fabulous hikes. We could see Pesccostanzo off in the distance as we set out.
The well worn trail let us up an open valley looking over verdant farms, bucolic scenes of animals grazing and a green Beach forest with an open canopy filled with shafts of golden light.
Hiking for a couple of hours let us to a steep rocky path near the tree line. Everyone except Pat felt the limits of our oxygen carrying capacity so turned around and started back down. Pat forged ahead and made the summit after encountering recently fallen snow. He took the following pictures to prove to the rest of us that his feet actually touched the summit.
Well done Pat.
Back home we used our generous kitchen facilities to create our own supper of chicken, roasted potatoes, onion and garlic and green salad with fresh basil and parsley from Mike's herb garden here at GiaMia.
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