GAS: Montemonaco to Colle le Cese

  

Today was quite an endurance test because it rained non-stop until the final ten minutes of walking, when the sun peeped through as we finally approached our accommodation. 

Another lovely breakfast served by the smiley man at Citadella, plenty of cake, cappuccino and yogurt and even a boiled egg each.  This fortified, we donned all our warmest and most waterproof gear, loaded up with two days’ worth of lunch and set off into the weather. Today was the remainder of one “stage” of the walk plus the whole of the next one. Quite a lot of ascent, but it turned out not to be precipitous as on earlier days, so it was fine. In fact, going upwards kept us usefully warm later in the day when we started to feel very damp inside our coats. We went through lots of lovely, undulating woodland and fortunately it wasn’t really muddy, as there isn’t much clay in the soil. However, the temperature dropped as we got higher, and what with the rain, we couldn’t stop for more than  about five minutes before starting to get chilly.

A brief gap in the cloud

So we didn’t actually stop or properly eat all day - it was just sugary snacks to keep us going. For the second part of the day we were in cloud and rain, and it actually snowed as well, at the top of the mountain.

Jo’s expression says it all

I had wet feet all day in my trail runners, and by the time we got onto the mountain all six layers that I was wearing were damp, plus my baseball hat was soaked through as well. So when the wind picked up it was very important to walk as fast as possible to generate some heat. It wasn’t much fun at that point, but we all soldiered on through. 

The place we’re staying at is a sort of portakabin with one bedroom, a shower room and a kitchen room with bunk beds and a sofa bed. All our stuff is wet, including the clothes that were in our rucksacks (as we only expected a short but of rain today and it was too cold and wet to stop and rearrange our luggage). So the whole room is festooned with stuff that probably won’t dry overnight.

Freezing

We all had a shower on arrival but we didn’t really feel warm until we’d had something hot to eat. I doubt our shoes will dry much by the morning either. On the plus side, tomorrow is meant to be sunny, although we can’t check the latest as there’s no signal or wifi. There’s a gap in the front door that Liz is trying to block by wedging a towel in the crack. I guess they can get away with it because this is the only place you can stay for miles around (very remote here).

All I can say is, well done us! 👏🏼