Sunday, 13 April 2009

Today was a bit of a hump day and nothing went my way, so I made sandwiches for lunch and left at noon to go on a good intense hike all by myself. Sometimes I need my “own” time and I needed a good walk too.
There is a lake closeby, Lägh da Cavloc, but the way there is uphill all the time and with the snow beginning to melt it is hard walking, it’s like walking in thick sand, except sometimes you step up to your knees in the snow. On such a mountain path it is scary when you step in a hole like that.

Maloja seen from the path up the mountain

Zoomed in closer and you can see Geert's barrack in front.

Actually the biggest scare for me was the people doing cross-country skiing down that mountain path. When one of them on speed comes round a corner! They must be very experienced cross-country skiiers. At least some of them shout how many are still coming then you can wait till all of them has gone by.

The mountain path.

In the shade the snow is still hard, but it soon became warm enough to walk in a T-shirt. The sun was shining and the uphill walking must have contributed to the heat. This winter I had more sun in Switzerland in the 5 weeks I have been there, than all winter in BE.
In one and a half hour I was up at the lake. There is a small restaurant which is only open in summer, but most people take a picnic there. No loos of course!

Lägh da Cavloc

I sat there quite a while watching the birds and just enjoying my good luck to be able to do this. Many people throw bread for them and they come to feed about two meters away.

The way down was a easy walk. Somewhere down the path a few italian guys (cross-country devils) stopped and called me, “Signora! …. “ and some things I didn’t understand, but they were telling me to look on the other side of the valley, there were 13 chamois. Nice guys.
When I was down the mountain path I met up with René, someone I have met at another Intersoc hotel before. He was walking with snow rackets. It is funny to see people walk with them and he insisted I try it. After going up to lake Cavloc my legs were a bit jittery and it was rather heavy walking with the rackets.
We ended up at Geert’s barack again. For Intersoccers all roads lead to Geert’s barack. We had our usual large beers and Geert gave us a liquer glass with a very tastefull greenish brew. An older lady who lives somewhere in the mountains picks daisies from very high up in the mountains, above 2000m and put them in vodka.

The daisy brew and the one in the dark cap is Geert.

All in all my day ended very pleasantly.