Friday 7th September: Weather 10°C up to 15°C: sunny all day: mist rolled in at 5pm
Piamprato to Fondo DAY 19: 13k: 8.30am to 3.30pm: 7hrs: Ascent 850 metres, Descent 1300 metres
Accommodation: Trattoria del Ponte Fondo at Altitude 1074 metres
Locanda Aquila Bianca
Piamprato Church donged all night
Looking down on Piamprato
Fantastic view to Gran Paradiso Park
Ropes, chains and ladders
Blue skies and no rain
Scrambling through mud and brush
Boulder hopping
Panorama of Gran Paradiso peaks
Bocchetta dell Oche 2415 metres
Down the Val Chiusella
Morning tea down from col 11.30am
Down the Val Chiussella
300 yr old stone pont (footbridge)
Good spot for lunch and mapping
Pretty village of Fondo
Trattoria del Ponte
Stone pont in Fondo
Socks washed in cold water fountain
An unexpectedly sunny day and a fantastic walk as we leave the Gran Paradiso National Park and climb out of the Val Soana, over the Col Bocchetta dell Oche at 2415 metres and down a long descent to Fondo.
Our day started at 5.am when we are woken by the church bells. They’d been ringing on the hour all night. But we’re keen to see what the weather is like today as it’s supposed to rainy in which case we’d need to make arrangements. But from what we can see early in the morning, having a cup of tea, its looks like blue sky. By 7am we’re sure it’s blue sky. We’re showered, packed and over to breakfast eager to get going to make the most of teh weather in case there’s a change. Breakfast is a magnificent spread of pastries and cakes and hot tea or coffee.
We leave at 8.30am, on a clear but cold 10°C blue sky day. The track rises sharply and soon we’re looking back on the small village of Piamprato nestled in an upper hanging valley surrounded by high alps. The climb is steep and the views all round magnificent, but soon the climb up the gorge through the crack in the mountains becomes steep, wet, slippery, and overgrown. Very soon our shoes and socks are so soggy they squelch with every step. It’s so steep in places there's a series of chains, ropes and ladders to help with the steep ascent.
There’s fantastic views back to the peaks of the Gran Paradiso National Park as we climb even higher. It takes 2 hours to emerge from the wet overgrown path into the higher meadows, then it’s another 30 minutes of stiff uphill through more open meadows and finally we see the sign at the top indicating the Col Bocchetta del Oche at 2415 metres. It’s 11am and took 2 hrs 30 mins to climb the 860 metres from Piamprato. Very slow going.
At the col, there’s magnificent views all round. back to the Gran Paradiso peaks and down the Val Chiusella. It’s cool and a bit breezy so we descend 100 metres to a nice sunny spot for morning tea - hot milky coffee and tarts left over from somewhere. There’s mist starting to form so we don’t stay long. We’ve been lucky to have such unexpected wonderful weather. The descent down is so much easier than the climb up with a gentle gradient and in two hours we’ve made it half way down and reach Alp Pasquere at 1466 metres where we see the first of the old stone foot bridges . A good place to stop for lunch of cheese, butter and old bread. It’s much warmer now at 15°C and time to check the map to see what the track is like ahead.
Another hour following the stream and we reach the small village of Tallorno at 1222 metre. Then down an old stone mule track with stone walls to Fondo, a pretty village with another old stone foot bridge. We see teh Trattoria del Ponte, our home for the night, but there’s a sign on the door for GTA hikers - open at 5pm. It’s a nice sunny afternoon and there’s tables and chairs beside the stream. But more importantly there’s a fountain over a large concrete wash basin, probably built as a communal wash area years ago. Perfect for washing our saturated smelly socks from the morning’s wet hike up to the col. It takes 3 washes to get to half brown water before we ring them as dry as possible and hang them on a string line to get a few minutes of sun while sorting and blogging for an hour.
The Trattoria opens at 5pm and we’re shown by an elderly couple who run the trattoria up to the third level where we score a room to ourselves and a big double bed with feather pillows and sheets and towels. I immediately jump in the hot shower, then Ian. Then downstairs to have a cold beer and blog some more while chatting to some more Germans who of course are walking in the opposite direction.
Dinner is at 7.30pm with 4 other Germans. First course in spaghetti with tomato sauc or pesto (we choose tomato sauce), second course is a choice of steak or sausage (we choose the sausage as the steak couldn’t possibly be as nice as home), and dessert is an apple and a few plums. We’re full, too full and after a chat with teh Germans who of course had walked in teh opposite direction from Le Capanne, we go to our lovely quiet room and watch a Doc Martin before lights out at 10pm.