Day 12 GEA Abetone

We had already decided that we were going to finish our trip at Abetone so today had that end of walk, anticlimactic feel to it.  I had originally hoped to get as far San Pellegrino (at least) but the struggle with accommodation and the time involved in completing some of the stages have left us a couple of days off plan.  Despite the fog we've been lucky with the weather but the forecast for the rest of the weak suggests that this luck is coming to an end.  Also it's easy to get down the mountain from Abetone so the plan for one more day's walking,  and then a trip to Lucca and a day's recuperation before flying home,  makes a lot of sense.

We had also been lucky with our stay at Cutigliano.  Catigliano is not as accessible as it looks on the map and if we hadn't managed to cadge a lift both ways it would either have been very expensive (taxis) or involved some tough additional walking.  Walking all the way to Abetone would probably have been a better option but that it would have been a long day and dependant on a early morning lift up to Orsigna from the owner of the Hotel Melini.

Big ones!

Day 11 GEA Cutigliano

If the weather had been just a bit better today would have been the perfect walk.

Reception area at the Hotel Melini

Day 10 GEA Pracchia

The autumn mist returned with a vengeance today and again we couldn't see a thing.

The first task was to get up to ridge and onto a route which would take us back to the GEA. We identified a spot and managed to persuade our host to give us a lift. Fortunately he agreed to take some money because it turned out to be a long way, very slow, and along a track impassible without a four wheel drive.

Another foggy

Day 8 GEA Montepiano

Bit of a frustrating day today, the weather was poor, we got lost a couple of times, and to be honest I'm just starting to get a bit tired of all these trees, even with their semi-autumn colours.

We were scratching our heads last night about accommodation. The guide suggests that after Montepiano we hit a brick wall in terms of places being open this time of year. There were four Italian walkers in the hotel and one of them spoke perfect English. He soon put together an itinerary for us, corrected the book were it was wrong and found alternatives where there was a genuine problem. Really is nothing like local knowledge, the problem is getting hold of it if you don't speak Italian.

The fog was very thick in the morning and visibility was down to less than 10 metres. Everything was of course very wet and there was absolutely no chance of seeing any of the promised views.

Thick fog at Passo della Giogo

A Vercors Circular

I got a taste of the Vercors on my trip along the E4 in 2011 but felt that I might be missing the best parts.  The E4 took me along the western side of the plateau and although I experienced some of the huge characteristic limestone cliffs and gorges it was the ridge on the eastern side that looked really special.  The escarpment, particularly when viewed from the north from the Chartreuse, looked like a frozen wave magically captured at the point of breaking. Well I’ve now been back, walked my own “Vercors Circular” and can confirm that this is an amazing place.

Day 2 Crete des Rochers de la Balme

Geologically part of the sub-alpine Jura, the Vercors is separated from the Chartreuse, a sister range to the north, by the Isere Valley.  It’s generally described as a plateau but the reality feels more complicated.  Huge cliffs form the north, east and western boundaries but there are valleys on top of the “plateau” running north / south and gorges which slice into it from east to west. Across the valley to the east you have the Alps proper and to the west the Rhone valley and beyond that the Massif Central.