Vizzavona to Bocca di Verdi

It felt really good to sleep in. Breakfast at the hotel was as plain as the refuges, what a shame. It started raining while eating, which delayed my start by about an hour. As soon as the rain stopped I was out the door and back on trail. The trails in the south are so much easier. It was a leisurely walk along wide, well maintained paths. All of the rivers and waterfalls were overflowing though thanks to the heavy rains yesterday afternoon and this morning, which made some crossings tricky.

I was up and over the Col just above the town of Vizzavona and on my way to the first refuge after only one and a half hours! It was really windy up there though, and I nearly lost my hat so I didn't stay long. On the trail up from Vizzavona I ran into orange and black lizards know as Fire Lizards. They were decently sized, maybe as big as a soccerball.

I chugged right along though until I reached Capenelle, my original destination for the day. It was a ski lift area, and the camping was directly underneath the lifts, not the most ideal. It was also to early to stay here: I think I would have been bored. But this place was known for having good pizza, so I took a break and had a long lunch. The pizza itself was huge! I had to fold the pieces in half in order to eat them, and it was really delicious!

I took my leave of the refuge and started on the way to the next one. The trails were so flat and easy to walk, even with the occasional ascents and descents. I passed many abandoned refuges, who knows how long they've been this way. The route meandered through fields, zig-zagged up and down pine-wood filled mountainsides, and switchbacked down towards deep, dark, forests. I had nice sweeping views of the valley from many places on trail today. Part of the trail required walking on a road for a bit, but not for to long. Eventually I realized that I was alone on trail, and hadn't seen another person in a while.

It rained off and on throughout the day, but I didn't need a rain coat because I was under trees for most of it. It was a very dreary day overall. I was doing good on energy, and was powering through todays portion: it was definitely going to be a double. After a while I started to wonder how far it was to the next place to stay, it seemed like I had been walking through these trees for ages and ages, not knowing if I was even on the correct trail anymore.

For nearly an hour I wandered on, until finally coming across an official place to stay called Bocca di Verdi. It was reachable by road, and I debated going on simply because I wanted to be somewhere more rustic. I asked the guardian how much further to the next refuge, and he said about 2 hours. It was already 4:00 pm by this point and I had just done 17 miles of straight hiking today. Needless to say, I stayed at this place.

Luckily I had also arrived just in time to order dinner. This place has log cabins, and a fireplace in the main building! I could have rented a cabin for myself, but the ground was flat here with tree coverage so I decided to camp it. After getting camp set up I went to the main building and read infront of the fireplace.

Dinner had a lot of food! And chocolate mousse again for dessert!

The sun keeps trying to peak out from behind the clouds. I hope the weather over the next few days is more pleasant. It's going to be windy tonight, hopefully the tent walls won't attack me. Oh and one pair of the socks now has a heel hole. Definitely going to toss them as soon as the trek is done.