Sunday 2nd September: Weather 15°C all day: Sunny most of the day, overcast after lunch
Ceresole Reale to Noasca DAY 14: 13k: 8h: 8.45am to 3.45pm a lazy 13k: Ascent 500 m, Descent 1100m
Accommodation: Hotel La Cascata at Altitude of 1058 metres
Bausano soccer team Ceresole
Sports Village Hotel Ceresole Reale
Stuffing nut bread into back pack
Up through the forests
Back to Lago di Ceresole Reale
Morning tea Pra del Cres 2002m
Not so high Pra del Cres 2002 metres
Short day 2hrs 40 mins to Noasca
Looking down to Noasca in gorge
Deserted village in ruins on ledge
Cascata del Roc
Looking back to Colle del Porta
Runied village Meison
Lunch at Maison
Village of Maison 1582 metres
Down the mule trail to Noasca
Noasca at bottom of deep gorge
Cascata di Noasca
A lovely relaxing pretty day through the pine forests above firstly Ceresole Reale then Noasca. Highlight was walking through the deserted villages of Potes, Capelle. Mola, Frandin Maison and Frango, all perched high on a green ledge above Noasca and dating back to at least the 1700’s, some only recently abondened. We are now down out of the alps for a few days in the deep Valley d’Orca and the landscape is very different. Deep narrow gorges with high sheer mountain sides, pine forests and little villages replace the high snow covered alps and isolated rifugios.
A lazy morning as we know it’s a short day of about 13k and only an ascent of about 600 metres and a descent of 1100 metres. We’re awake at 6.30am and have good internet so time to chat to the kids on Father's day then showering and breakfast. The buffet spread is wonderful with pastries, tarts, croissants, fresh not-too-crusty bread, doughnuts and hot tea or coffee. There’s a boys soccer team having breakfast, with each of their plates full of every kind of tart or pastry. The hotel specialises in sporting teams. I don’t feel so bad about eating one tart and taking a pastry for morning tea.
It’s 8.45am when we leave and stop off at the the very convenient mini market where we buy ham, tomatoes, cheese and a nut bread for lunch and dinner tonight. My pack is overflowing. A short stroll back towards Ceresole Reale before turning up the GTA towards Noasca. The track is an old mule trail and so well graded that it only takes us just over an hour to climb the 500 metres to Pra del Cres at 2001 metres - nothing high today. Just a Sunday walk through the pine forests an deserted villages.
Tmie for an early morning tea of strudel from a few days ago in Pont, and a hot cup of coffee. We’re just about out of the Sunshine powdered milk I brought from home - I didn’t want another disaster like in the UK where the only powdered milk was 0% fat and tasted like um paint thinners. And this little mini market has a tube of sweetened condensed milk which is very very sweet but tastes ok in a cuppa on the track. It’s a relaxing view looking back to the peaks of teh alps over the Lago di Ceresole Reale and it’s only 2hrs 40 mins to Noasca so we have all afternoon to dawdle along.
Descending through more pine forests we meet a young German couple who give us some info on some of our bookings ahead, as they have just come from where we are going, and we chat to them about the High Glaciale Route that they are interested in doing. About 1 hour later we bump into another German couple coming towards us and chat about exactly the same things. Neither couple had seen anyone else on the GTA except for ourselves.
We’re now on the ledge where there are 6 deserted villages, separated by only a few hundred metres of mule track. The buildings are in ruins but some were in use as late as the 1960’s when the school and church in Maison were still in use. It’s 1pm and in the deserted village of Maison at 1582 metres, there’s the old frescoed church with stepping stones outside. Perfect for lunch. Our fresh nut bread from the mini market in Ceresole Reale is delicious with slabs of butter and brie cheese.
There’s a turn off to climb a further 700 metres to Gran Piano where there’s another of the Kings Hunting Lodges and some day hikers who started early are already on their way down. Maybe another time we’ll do it!? The wide mule track down is well graded and eventually it joins a dirt road down to main road in the valley floor. It’s then only a short walk down to Noasca with hundreds of cars streaming down past us. We found out later at our hotel that today is not only Sunday when the day visitors to the Col di Nivolet are returning home, but all workers finish holidays today and start work tomorrow.
On the way into town is the tumbling waterfall - Noasca Cascata and in the centre of town is a mini market that’s open, but we don’t need anything except more juicy peaches which Ian adores. There’s a sign to our Hotel La Cascata, named after the waterfall, and it’s off the busy main road, thank goodness. We can’t believe it’s so busy with at least 200 people enjoying the last of their Sunday lunch. Ingrid, the manager says it’s like this every Sunday. We have to wait til 4.30 for check in to open - obviously the staff are busy with lunchtime guests, so that gives us almost and hour to sit on the lounge in the corridor and sort the photos for the day.
It’s 5pm when we’re shown to our room which is much nicer than we expected with a lovely view down the valley and and ensuited bathroom. A quick shower and down to the bar for a drink, but they are now busy cleaning up after a busy Sunday lunch, so we take the rest of our beers upstairs to have with our picnic dinner - fresh nut bread from this morning, cheese, ham, tomatoes and last nights left over potato salad.
It’s quiet in our room. The Sunday traffic streaming down the valley has ceased and the lunch time guests have all gone. Time to blog and catch up in peace. Surprisingly we have phone and internet connection when we weren’t expecting any. A few more Doc Martin episodes to let dinner settle and it’s bed at 10pm