After Cortina we headed south for the final time before turning for home. We headed for Levico Terme in the Southern Dolomites a bit lower down and therefore warmer and perhaps a few less steep hills (not!). On the way down we stopped off at Lagazoui . This is an amazing mountain which was fought over in the first world war with the Italians defending against the Austro-Hungarians – as a result the mountain is full of tunnels carved out as each side fought for control.

Exploring the tunnels

Looking down from top Lagazoui at 2733 m

Evidence of tunnels

After arriving in Levico we have continued our hiking and biking programme, the maps and routes combined with our mixing up similar town names have lead to some slightly extended rides! All good though.

Good to find Rifugio after 800m of climbing for a coffee!

… and a gelato at the end

We are currently in Germany making our way to Dunkirk to catch a ferry on either Friday or Saturday depending how we go, hard to believe we are coming to the end of 13 months travelling.

Perfect pitch

We arrived 5 days ago and are still here!  Only really planned to stay for a night or so however the campsite (Camping Olympia) is in a great location approx 4 km from Cortina surrounded by mountains and next to a fast-flowing river.

I think this is the longest we have stayed anywhere in the last year, I guess a combination of location and the realisation that we are coming to the end of our travels (for now!) means a little time to sit back and relax before returning to the world of work – it’s been a tough year!!!!

We have a pitch overlooking the river with a view of Croda Del Pomagagnon rising directly in front of us to some 2400 odd metres, which at night takes on an almost ghostly / monster like quality.  There are plenty of hiking and riding opportunities direct from the campsite which have been occupying our time over the past few days. To be fair the hiking is better than the riding which tends to be on broad double track / fire road.

Now that’s a view

Transition to warp speed

This is where we went left instead of straight on

Our navigation skills let us down yesterday on a hike down from the top of cable-car Faloria when we missed the path we wanted and spent an hour heading up a climbing route negotiating narrow ledges along a deep gorge before we realised the error of our ways and retraced our steps to find an obvious path!

We also suffered our only real injury of the trip (if you discount my dodgy knee!) – Sharon was stung by a bee on her ankle a couple of days ago which wasn’t a big deal, however after 4 hours hiking yesterday with her boots rubbing against the bite, her ankle and lower leg have swollen up  so today has been designated a rest day (or an excuse to sit in the sun with a book!).

Recovery or soaking up the rays?

Managed to make it into Cortina late afternoon to watch the cars come in from the Coppa d’Oro Bella Dolomiti, which was a road race in the 40’s and 50’s and is now a historic rally / time trial – looks like fun.

A rally with stops for lunch