We were good this morning, we were up and ready to roll at 8am on our way to Gattaia the town that would be the entrance point to Mt.Veruca.(yes another Mt. Veruca. The words we were getting were First Love & Enthusiasm. It rained pretty much the whole time we were driving there and while we were there, asking the locals where the path was for this mountain and subsequent mountains (Alpe di Vitigliano and Femmina Morta) I was told that there was one way in for all three and that it was all walking (at least 7-8 hours in) unless we had a 4x4 and even then it would be difficult because of the rain. It would be a minimum 14-16 hour round trip journey and only if as the local said "we really walked it fast with purpose". When asked if there was any other way, he said "a helicopter". Oh yeah I think I'll take 2 of those lol.
We decided to return at a better time but before we left we found the trail so we would know our starting point for when we return. We also came upon a Beautiful villa that was used for weddings and the such, to get info on a possible ride up the hill in their 4x4 ( still trying to make contact) or even by horseback. They suggested a carriage ride up or possibly donkeys. Yeah, get back to you on that one, the donkeys that is.
There was one more mountain in the area but it didn't seem that anyone know where that one was either although it was close and possibly connected to the others as well. We decided that we will tackle it when we come back to do this area. We will have to pray and see what the Lord provides. We would love to jeep in but the cost to rent vs hiking in and camping (if they allow camping up there) might be our only option at this point.
Onward to Il Muraglione. It was a little place on the top of a mountain with a restaurant, bar & some rooms for rent and a coffee bar not much except for a massive wall (Il Muraglione which means big wall) and waves of fog, it was cold and windy, so we did not get the full history of this place but the wall was constructed by some king from way back when (1836s) for protection. We found a cute little spot in the garden, staked our claim and broke bread and moved on.
Then is was off to Castagno D'Andrea to drive a stake on the Green Line. No biggie, but boy was there just signs of the war going on there. Apparently the Todt, (branch of the Germany Military) loved to blow stuff up and make these huge rock mounds and that was certainly the case in this little bitty town. Everywhere, in every one's yard there were these huge rock outcroppings. It was really amazing to see. They look great now with all the grass and moss growing on them, but image what it looked like 70 years ago.
Now according to the map we could quickly drive 6 km across the mountain road to get to Passo Della Calla but to our surprise that road cuts through a National Forest and was blocked off like the last mountain range and only used by the Forestry Service & Police. So we went to the forestry office there in Castagno D'Andrea and were informed that we had to go down the Mountain and then up the other side. Not a total loss though, we got to talk with the agent (which there wasn't supposed to be an agent because the office was close) she just happened to be there, God is good. We spoke about of our travels and our prayers and she gave us some info about some ongoing trials of the massacres committed by the German soldiers in this town. She told us that the Italian police had listened to conversations of soldiers still talking about keeping their stories straight. Crazy stuff fear does because these ex soldiers are up in their late 80's. Within the next 10 to 20 years this whole generation will be gone and all that will remain is memories from the past, good or bad. There still needs to be lots of healing & forgiveness. Hopefully this new generation will find peace on both sides so they never repeat this tragic story.
So we drive back down the mountain to Stia which is a town right on the Gothic Line and we had forgotten to stake it when we passed through here the first time. So we staked it this time and moved on to Passo Della Calla .
Off we drive and when we arrive at this place WOW!! What a perfect stronghold it is, literally where four places meet. It is a border town not much to look at but an awesome strategic place. Stake, pray & communion
and then we move on. Did I mention it was freezing up here. Not like last May when it was hitting temps of 90-95, no it has to be hitting all of 50-55 if were lucky with winds howling and rain on and off.
After driving up and up and up and getting almost wiped out in a curve by a big rig (yeah Guido had to throw the car in reverse and back down the hill because the truck just kept coming down the into our lane) we saw our very first wild boar crossing the road. Pretty cool, we have seen deer, boar, rabbits & squirrel on this trip. Took us 7 years before we ever saw a deer here in Italy and in just 2 weeks we have seen a whole bunch of wildlife. Hoping not to see any wolves though. Anyhow we arrived at Passo dei Mandrioli and just as we got there so did our ever present fog. We walked up to the crest, staked and broke bread and prayed and ran back to the car. It's like winter out here right now. What is going on, I thought this was global warming?
We made way our way to Ospedaletto which was a spot on the Line as well as our next spot Badia Tedalda. We were so excited that we were making such great headway this day that we decided to continue to what would be our resting place for the night, Lunano.
The scenery along the way was absolutely breathtaking. At one point after praying we encountered a full rainbow and just past that a beautiful waterfall. As we finally made it to Lunano and tried to get a place to stay at a B&B, we encountered the most intense sunset that we have seen in a long time. Remember it has been overcast for all of our trips out. Awesome for hiking mountains but we sure have been missing the sun. In any event 80 euros is too much even if they did have a hot tub, tempting but we opted to sleep in our car instead of trying to drive around to find other places. It was great, Guido made some awesome sandwiches and off to bed we went. This night we slept like rocks.
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