D8 Rifugio Miserin 24 August

Wednesday 24th August: Weather: 15°C to 24°C back to 12°C at Miserin

Day 8 Lillaz to Rifugio Miserin: Walk 15.1k: 7hrs 30 mins: 9.00am to 4.30 pm: 1 X 30 min stop, 1 x 10 min stop

Ascent/Descent: Ascent 1,435, Descent 576: Total Up and Down 2,011m

Accommodation: Rifugio Miserin

Beautiful village of Lillaz

Lillaz prettied up for Giro d'Italie

L’Etoile du Berger 600 yr old chalet

Rifugio Miserin 5h 25min from Lillaz

Day 8 highlight was climbing up to the Finestra di Camporcher at 2,870 metres and seeing chamois perched on the high rocky peaks before descending an easy few hundred metres to Rifugio Miserin in an isolated valley next to an ancient church, where dozens of hikers had gathered for the night and we find ourselves in a squished dormitory. On the way to the col, we passed Refugio Sogna Peradza at 2,500 metres where we had stayed four years ago, but unfortunately is now closed, so we couldn’t stay there and had to go further to Miserin.

A late start to the day rising at 7am and having a Jet boiled cup of tea. Breakfast is at 8am, a lovely array of muesli, yoghurt, tarts, meats and cheeses. We dawdle because today should be an easy day with a total up and down of 2,000 metres. Our room at the L’Etoile du Berger is 150 Euro, 70 of which was paid by PayPal as a deposit, and 80 euro by cash at breakfast. Adele our host has been super friendly. By the time we pack and leave it’s 9am and as per usual, we take a wrong turn into a private residence and it’s 9.15 when we’re back on track.

It’s a beautiful but steep walk up past the turnoff to the famous Lillaz cascades, then up through the pine forests, looking back at the beautiful village of Lillaz set in a nook of the Alps. Soon we come across a detour - the AV2 is closed due to an avalanche. The detour is also a beautiful track up through the pine forests past isolated chalets, the residence of some older Italians who look as though they have lived there forever. Then on and on and on until we’ve been walking for two and a half hours and eventually get back on the AV2, only to see a sign back to Lillaz for 1hr. So the detour cost us about an hour and a half. But the day is so beautiful, and the walk so easy even up hill, it feels like a holiday.

We reach a small chalet where someone obviously lives and have morning tea at 11.30am - coffee and tart left over from breakfast. Then it’s up and up, and finally we’re out of the pine forest and on our way through barren alpine meadows towards Rifugio Sogno Peradza, the view of the col spoilt by the huge power lines through the valley carrying power from the French Nuclear Power Stations into Italy. We arrive at Peradza at 2.30pm, but we still have a col to climb. So it’s a quick cup of tea and sugary biscuits before taking off on an easy path to the Col Finestra di Camporcher at 2,828m. It’s one of the easiest cols we’ve climbed, with a well graded track through grassy meadows under those awful power lines. Just as we comment that we’ve seen no wildlife today, chamois appear on both sides of the mountains perched on rocky peaks. At 3.45pm we reach the col to find a group of Italians there who have come up from the other side and they're going back the same way.

We can see the isolated Rifugio Miserin down in the Valley. It’s only about a 300 metres descent and there's many hikers mingling outside. It’s 4.30pm when we arrive and greeted by Lorenzo who shows us to our room - or should I say dormitory with 16 bunks set out for other hikers. We grab 2 bunks - me up, Ian down - near a window for a bit of air and light. Then pay 4 euro each for a nice hot shower using our own towels. I have a chux wipe that strips off most of the water, then a square foot of microfibre rag to dry off. Works like a dream and the two only weigh 25gm.

We didn’t have lunch at Rifugip Peradza, just a cup of tea and biscuit, so we head downstairs with a can of beer Ian has carried all day to go with a hunk of cheese and bread, plus a large glass of beer from the bar and sit outside in the cool breeze having “lunch” at 5pm. It cools down quickly so we move inside to the warm dining room to blog and sort photos and talk to a few people doing the Avic mountain circuit. Dinner at 7.30pm is macaroni and cheese followed by grainy polenta and sausages in a tomato sauce, followed by Jam tart which we save for morning tea. After chatting for a while it’s off to bed at 9.30am.

I scored a top bunk, which was comfy enough with my down pillow made of a pillowcase stuffed with our puffer jackets, but the bunk was iron framed and rocked like a boat with Ian moving in the bottom bunk - or so he says he rocked when I moved! Also there’s only one top rail on my bunk and as the double bunk leant to one side, I had that feeling all night of rolling off. Then at 1am, an Italian group who had been outside chatting all night, rolled into the dormitory laughing very loudly with lights blazing. Not a very good night for either of us. Those are the breaks with Rifugios - sometimes we get a room to our selves and sometimes it’s a dorm filled with noisy hikers.