After my peaceful day driving around towns and villages yesterday, it was time for another day of activity. It was a cold morning so I dressed appropriately before leaving the campsite early.
To get to the campsite last night, I'd had to drive through the Passo Gardena. This morning, I went back the same way. Oh it was glorious - mountains everywhere! I stopped on the side of the road to take a few photos.
I drove through some lovely but VERY busy towns on my way to my next destination, Col Raiser. There were people everywhere in hiking gear and with walking poles and big backpacks. I drove past all of them. However, I don't think my GPS knew where to take me and I ended up driving up little back roads, then I popped out on the main road and drove past all the walkers again. Oops!
I finally made it to Col Raiser, which was really a carpark at the bottom of a gondola to the top of a massive mountain, so I forgave my GPS for being a bit confused. I bought a gondola ticket and stood in line. You could walk up and back too, but walking up seemed like hard work, and I was planning on hiking at the top and didn't then want to have to walk back down.
I got into a gondola with a very nice couple from Slovakia who I started talking to. They invited me to go hiking with them, but they had climbing gear and were tackling one of the harder walks so I said thanks and stuck to my much simpler hike!
It was cold at the top, I was wearing several layers and my fleece. It didn't get much warmer while walking this first section either, though that's probably because I was stopping every three steps to take a photo. It was all so beautiful. I'm definitely a mountains girl!
There was a bench at the spot of this last photo so I sat down to take a layer off, catch my breath, have some water and just enjoy the view. It was just amazing. Then it was time to head up more hills!
I was feeling a bit peckish so stopped at one of the rifugios/huttes along the walk. I ordered the most delicious slice of strudel I think I've ever had - maybe it was the walking or the clear mountain air but it was delicious! I ate that, then head uphill again. The landscape had changed to the grassy slopes and cabins that make up the ski fields in winter - it sure looked like it too!
I got to the very top and surveyed the view. It was amazing, really amazing. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe I am really in these places! I sat down and just enjoyed it for a good long while.
Next, it was time to walk back downhill. The downhill walk was not as long as the uphill one, as that meandered all over the hills. It also went past all the lovely little ski huts. It must look amazing in winter. If only I was a skier...
I got back to almost where the gondola went from and realised I was starving so I dropped into another hutte nearby to have some lunch. I ended up getting a big bowl of venison pasta for lunch. Lunch at 2100m above sea level! It was delicious too! Then it was time to catch the gondola back down to where I'd left the campervan.
I got back to the camper and head off to Bolzano. This is the capital city of South Tyrol. I had a bit of a wander around but I'd been so spoiled by mountains in the past few days that I wasn't really that interested in being in a city. Also, there were far too many people around. So I decided that I'd go back to the camper, cover some ground then I would be closer to the lakes, where I wanted to spend the next day.
I drove about an hour and 40 minutes to a campsite. It was up a mountain road and surrounded by mountains outside of Trento. Really good views. I settled down at about 5pm to spend the night after another cracking day!
Campsite: Campeggio Laghi di Lamar
Rating: 8/10. Nice campsite, clean bathrooms and facilities. Pool and restaurant. Busy but the pitches were quite big. Not very private though. All-in-all a decent site for the night