Photo taken by Chloekirsten, Seceda
3am the alarm sounded. Not that it was a surprise. I had been in and out of anxious sleep for the past hour- does anyone sleep well before an early flight? Rob and I sat up in bed, like any other day we started with a coffee in bed. Quietly sipping, contemplating the long journey ahead of us. Gatwick to Milan, Milan to the Dolomites. Half an hour later our bags were in the car. The adventure about to begin.
The Italian Dolomites are without doubt one of the most famous mountain regions in Europe. They're part of a national park located in North eastern Italy. Whilst they are a mountain range in their own right, they make up a small amount of the Alps spanning over 3 regions of Italy and extending to 11,000 feet. In this blog post I talk through my memoirs of a very short time in this incredible part of the world on our very own Dolomites road trip
We woke up bleary eyed and tired. The day before had been spent driving through Italy, stopping along the way in various small towns, including a visit to the magnificent Madonna della corona church. The mornings light revealed the camp location we had slept in. We gasped, breathless. There the Dolomites stood, in all their glory. We spent the morning drinking coffee, eating pastries and taking in the views before setting off for our day hike. Alpe di Sui Sui ski town was warm, sunny and lush green. Spring was bursting from every tree and meadow. We drove through the town, higher and higher until we reached carpark at the end of the Alpen line we got out of the car and breathed in the fresh air and began our hike up the panorama trail. The panorama trail lived up to its name. Easy in elevation gain and technicality, it offered us sweeping views of the surrounding mountains and asked for very little in return. The further up the trail we hiked, the more snow was still on the ground. The trail in parts buried itself beneath the snow, showing itself only through footprints that came before us. Once we arrived at the top of panorama, we entered the restaurant, took off our jackets and enjoyed a hot cup of coffee whilst taking in the views and watching the last of the skiers set down the mountain. We finished up and carried on. we played in the remaining spring snow and marvelled at the landscape surrounding us until we had completed our loop back to the car. Our next stop was dinner. We grabbed some cheeses, crackers and fruits and headed to Val Di fines for sunset. Upon arrival, we found
a spot on a neighboring hill with front seat views of the iconic Church of st John nestled in jaw dropping jagged mountains. As the light faded, the clouds set in. A magical sunset was looking unlikely. Then, out of the sky fell a snowflake. Then another, and another. We watched the snow fall over the mountains and ate our dinner, silent taking I'm the scene before us as nightfall crept in.
Photos taken by Chloekirsten, Alpe Di Sui Sui
The following day we prepared for a hike to seceda, starting at col raiser gondola carpark. The hike was set to be the biggest of the trip, so we stopped at a small b&b in the local town to fuel up on coffee and pastries. The hike was long and steep. 2500m high, we stopped at a small cabin for Carbonara before pushing to the viewpoint at the top. When we reached the viewpoint at the top, days of sun filtered through the discoursing clouds, illuminating the jagged rock formation that stood before us. Wind whirled around our ears, blistering from the cold. Before we knew it, the weather had turned and light was deteriorating. It was time to make our descent. Before we could make a mark on our return journey, a snowmobile came from further down demanding we got on, explaining the last gondola was due to leave. We attempted and failed to explain our intent to hike all the way down, eventually losing the debate and boarding the snowmobile. Before we knew it was were being ushered onto a gondola with the operator insisting it would take us to col raiser. Needless to say, we ended bear the bottom of the wrong side of the mountain and this began the journey back over the ridge to the other side. We arrived back at the car, cooked dinner on a camp stove and rested drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.
I expected to ache much more than I did the morning after our Seceda day. After our new morning ritual of coffee and pastries had been conducted, we headed off for a roadtrip day starting off at Gardena pass. The drive saw more jaw dropping mountain scapes, alpine treelines and endless blue skies. We pulled up at a small carpark and headed on a short hike stopping to look at a small local church on the way back to the car before heading to our second stop or the day, a hike through the forests of the Cortina D'Ampezzo region. We wound our way through the trees, up and down the mountains passing rivers, waterfalls and even a pristine blue lake. The hike came as a relief after such an enduring day before, but was a challenge none the less. We finished the day by heading up to passo giau for sunset. Up past the tourism cabin we sat watching the light and mountains put on a spectacular show, the golden sun dipped below the horizon and blue light clung to the clouds and mountains. We waited as the stars began to show, twinkling as we say quietly above the world, above all our worries watching the pastel light fade to dark.
Photo taken by Chloekirsten, Passo Giau
Beautiful words as always xxx