Days 21-22 Munich to Venice - Tarzo

Arriving in Belluno felt like the beginning of the end; after a week in the wonderful Dolomites we're now on the final run into Venice. And the focus of the trip seems to have shifted from scenery to food.

It started last night when we found a little family osteria near the cathedral, the three owls I think, which served perfect Italian food in a really friendly way. We were all gushing about the meal and its amazing value, but when we tried to express our thanks with a tip they insisted on sending us on our way with complementary large grappas.

The weather was raining yesterday morning when we set off but it didn't seem to affect Christine's spirits. She was happily spinning her walking pole, which was closed but apparently not tightened, when the end section shot off behind her and narrowly missed spearing one of two smartly dressed police men. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view they saw the funny side and we carried on our way without even an official warning.

Great waymarking out of Belluno

An easy forest trail

Days 19 - 20 Munich to Venice - Belluno

With the arrival of my cousin Chris and his friend Mike yesterday, the number of English people on the Munich to Venice walk has doubled. Although late, these reinforcements should help us cross the final bits of high altitude walking and reinforce the final assault on Venice.

Yesterday's walk was good. The weather was fine and the scenery excellent, classic Dolomites. Chris and Mike started a little fast for my taste and I rightly concluded that the speed was unsustainable; indeed one of them flagged seriously before the day was out.  For the first part we were joined by Marcus, a German Christine and I had walked with a couple of days ago, a really nice guy, but extremely fast and not a person you should sensibly use as a pace maker.

Marmalada on the horizon

Days 17 - 18 Munich to Venice - Passo Duran

The plan to stay three nights in our lovely lakeside hotel fell apart on day two as Christine's feet became increasingly itchy, and on the third morning we got back on the trail a day early.

The weather forecast was mixed to say the least. Possible rain in the morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon. In view  of  this we decided to take chair lift up from Alleghe reducing the climb to 600m and the length of the walk from 6.5 to 3.5hrs.

Rifugio Coldai

Day 16 Munich to Venice - Alleghe

Alleghe is a lake side resort sitting in the shadow of the huge Civetta mountain.  It's a very pretty place and our schedule involves here for three nights both to rest and to provide a contingency in case we got held up earlier on. Interestingly, although we did have bad weather and had to stop an extra night at Pfitscher Joch, the desire the avoid sleeping in the crowded Dolomite huts has meant we have caught up with the day we lost.

Perfect contour walk with great views of Marmolada

Day 15 Munich to Venice - Passo Pordoi

Continuing with our 'no-dormitory' strategy, today we crossed from the northern side of Sella Ronda to the southern side in one go and are now relaxing in a hotel at the Passo Pordoi.

Sassolungo

Day 14 Munich to Venice - Passo Gardena

Today has been a huge, wonderful day.  The weather changed just in time for us to enjoy what is the best scenery on the whole trip.  What's more, driven on by Christine's desire to avoid sleeping in a dormitory we have walked half way across the Dolomites to a small hotel on the northern side of the famous skiing circuit, the Sella Ronda.

Peitlerkofel in the sun!

Although we had been promised better weather it was the same old mist that greeted us this morning. Then, just as we thinking about waterproofs everything changed, the mist cleared and the huge Peitlerkofel, towering above the hotel was illuminated by the early morning sun.  We could hardly believe our luck.

Day 13 Munich to Venice - Würzjoch

Last night was somewhat depressing.  The cloud had descended and the hut at Kreuzwiesen Alm was surrounded by dense mist.  Much worse Christine and I were in a 30 bed lager or dormitory. It felt like we had been sent to the naughty room as everyone else seemed to have a proper bedroom. What's more the smell in the place was not pleasant, a poisonous combination of damp rotting socks and cow dung.

Cows leaving our dormitory

The surprising outcome, however was that we got a reasonable  night's sleep. Despite its size there were only two other people in the huge space and they had sensibly positioned themselves as far away from us as they could.  Everyone else who had their 'own' room ended up sharing it with one or two strangers, so maybe the 'dorm' isn't the thing of dread we had cooked it up to be.  We even discovered why it smelt of cows, it was because there were cows living in the basement who turned  out, apart from the smell, to be very good neighbours.