Day 25 – to Ravascletto, Carnia

There was a track at the back of the place I had parked overnight. I looked briefly on the map before taking it, and headed off. It was a drizzly morning, the forest eerily suspended in the mist. Shortly after I started I realised I hadn’t downloaded the offline version of the map I had referred to, and with its being such a simple outing, I hadn’t brought the Garmin.

It was extremely steep, and like many lesser taken routes after the years of pandemic, obstructed by fallen trees and other foliage. The moisture of the tree roots and rocks added to the tricky ascent. Later I checked that it ascended 400 metres in 2 kilometres, so the majority in or around a 20% incline. A good test for the nerve damage in the legs, which they responded to pretty well.

The climb reaches the sleepy mountain village of Fielis, where barely a person was to be seen. The descent path goes through the smaller and even sleepier village of Cougnes, near the church of San Pietro and sits on a cliff edge overlooking the valley, and has loud bells that sound every quarter hour.

There was a cafe open in Cougnes, to which I was welcomed in a grand fashion for an espresso. The owners were prepared for many visitors, this is a holiday weekend in Italy, as Monday is Liberation Day, but shrouded in cloud and at 8C it seemed they would be enjoying only their own company.

I decided to move on. Though an attractive setting, the road through the valley is busy and noisy. Just 15 kilometres away, and west off the main road through to Austria is the ski town of Ravascletto. It has an area of vans, which I settled into, taking a wander into the town at 4 pm when the shop reopened, as they will be shit now for two days. I was back for the afternoon rugby, then headed a few hundred metres down the road to a busy pizza restaurant for a takeaway.

As the evening rain took a grip, I tuned in for my weekly horror movie fix.. something called ‘X’, which ended up being better than its first hour had suggested.