Up and over

We left the hotel all togged up for a wet hike, and having reached the centre of town I was distinctly wetter on the inside than out. It was really humid and the threat of rain hung in the air.

I decided that there was little to lose by taking my waterproof jacket off despite every weather channel predicting wall to wall rain. By the time we were half way up our first climb we had both abandoned bad weather gear. Here’s why.

Lots of clouds in the valley, but hazy sunshine up top. We reached the first col and the picture was deteriorating. It was too late to change our minds, so it was onwards and downwards as we descended into a lovely glacial valley, where we stopped for coffee and a cookie. Lovely though it was, we then had to face another long and difficult climb, with the cloud increasing steadily. Here’s the view from the top, looking where we had come.

We had become used to this pattern of weather by now and expected rain anytime soon. Looking the way we were heading was no better.

We were both in need of food, so disregarding the threatening skies, we had a quick bite for lunch, before descending again. From here onwards the hiking got a lot spicier. We knew there was a bridge to cross but I was expecting something rather more stable.

That was only the start. We had to climb up a boulder field, down which a river was flowing, encountered rocky outcrops with chains to get you safely across with a huge drop below, and more narrow ledges with similar outlooks. Exciting.

In the end we made it down to the hotel we started from, stopping at a patisserie along the way, and then celebrating as soon as we reached our room. It was fabulous.

And it had been dry for the whole hike. Whoever’s looking out for us, thanks!