Today it’s been now exactly 40 days since we’re on our trip. That’s more than a month. 😵 I can’t really believe that we’ve been hiking so long and not even for the split of a second I’ve missed home. Not when I couldn’t feel my feet anymore, not when I sweated so much that it trickled into my eyes or not even when we went a wrong way and had to deal with it. For every pain, every drop of sweat and every hardship we were rewarded a million times with awesome views, fresh air, unique experiences, great talks and nice people. And good food of course. 😉
Today we didn’t wake from church bells but from some dog barking like madly. 😉 Since we wanted to start early today anyway we got up at 6.15 a.m. Breakfast was typically Italian, meaning sweet from the jams to the juice and the muffins but we weren’t hungry afterwards so it was ok. Father and daughter who obviously run the B&B together were in the kitchen with us during breakfast and he was really interested in our trail. He couldn’t believe how much we’ve already hiked. He said that once he walked 10km and that was too much. We couldn’t but grin. 10km is a rest day for us now. 😁
Shortly after 7.30 a.m. we said goodbye and started our way to Gradisca d’Isonzo. Originally we thought that it’d be a day mainly on asphalt. At first we hiked through Cormòns and the surrounding on the street for 2km but then the AAT markings suddenly differed totally from our GPS tracks. According to the original GPS data we should have walked on the street but the markings pointed uphill into a forest path. Well, we followed the markings.
The path was really very nice, all in the shadow of the forest and perfect to hike. I was quite happy about the changed trail. The only thing that was a little disturbing were some shots we heard once in a while from some distance in the forest. As a precaution I shouted “Attenzione” and “Hikers here” a few times. 😂
Every once in a while we wondered whether this was the correct path because it so differed from the track but since there were markings every few 100 metres we assumed that it was perfectly ok. Moreover the markings looked rather freshly painted.
Up here we also had a wonderful view:
After 3km of forest and vineyards the path would lead further on through the vineyards but there was suddenly an electrified fencing totally blocking the path. It seemed as if the farmer didn’t care about the path leading next to his vineyards and tried to shut out everyone.
Since we certainly didn’t want to return all the way we tried to lower the fence to be able to cross it somehow. I know trespassing etc but, honestly, that was our official hiking path and I couldn’t care less about a fence blocking my way. 😬 And I didn’t touch a single grape here! 😜
We had to cross the stupid electric fence at least 4 times before we finally were out of it and on a street again.
Still, except from that it was surely a great path and wonderful to hike!
Afterwards we hiked 3km, partly on asphalt but mainly on a 4×4 road and a forest path until we reached a lake, the Laghetti Rossi. It seemed quite nice but you couldn’t go nearer because it was corded off. According to the AAT app this should be a “remarkable nature conservancy area” but due to the fence we couldn’t see this ourselves. 😉
Then we hiked to the small village San Lorenzo Isontino where we stopped at a nice bar which our guidebook recommended. It was around noon and likely the whole population of the village came for a drink. The barkeeper/owner immediately marked us as AAT hikers and we talked a little in a mix of German, English and Italian. When we showed him our guidebook he was very pleased to read about his bar and translated it for his mother. 😉 Another guest also came around and wanted to talk with us but because of insurmountable languages barriers (he only spoke Italian, we didn’t 😁) he left again. 😉
Upon leaving the village we saw this beautiful tree lined road:
After the village we mainly hiked on asphalt roads in the broad sunlight. We now noticed that it was getting quite hot again.
On entering Gradisca d’Isonzo we walked along a very frequented boring road to our hotel and bought some stuff at a supermarket on our way.
The hotel was quite nice (though nearly at the other end of the town) and the room big with air condition. We seemed to have adapted to the Italian life style and after showering we dozed off for an hour. Then we got into the hotel pool for half an hour.
Since the hotel restaurant was closed today we walked to a nearby pizzeria at 6 p.m. Italians do eat late so we were the first guests. Well, we were hungry after all! We had great pizza and gnocchis and dessert there. And again I had to drink this cool Italian aperitif stuff called Gingerino. It’s without alcohol and quite bitter and nearly of the same colour like Aperol. Yummy! Gotta buy something of it in Trieste when my parents come to pick us up. 😁
Some figures for today:
- 22,8km
- 390m up
- 434m down
- Hiking time: 4h 10m