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Thursday was an "out day" for Liz i.e., she had to take a group out on an organized walk. Fortunately she gets quite a lot of flexibility in choosing what walks she offers & therefore had an extra special plan to take me (& the other guests) up to the Lagazuoi mountain where there are many tunnels constructed in WW1 that you can climb through & explore. Only two other guests had signed up for that walk, a couple of Aussies actually, Monica & David, so the four of us set off after breakfast to be intrepid explorers! :P
Considering how long & arduous the climb down was going to be we decided to cheat a little & take the cable car up…we actually ended up only getting back to the van at 4:30PM so it's a good thing we did! Unfortunately a lot of what I'm guessing would be a pretty spectacular view was obscured by heavy clouds, but it was still a great place to wander around & we got to see the memorial right at the top of the mountain for the soldiers who fought in WW1. It was a LOT colder up the top of the mountain…I went from shorts & a t-shirt to a thermal top + jumper + waterproof + beanie AND gloves!! Good thing Liz advised me to bring warm clothes along…I didn't quite believe her about the drop in temperature until we got up there!
After a quick cup of tea & something to eat we began our venture into the caves. I'm somewhat claustrophobic, so I was a little nervous about this trip, although Liz had promised we that we could take it slow & turn around at any point. Basically you descend into these tunnels that are dug right through the middle of the mountain & every now & then there will be a window so you can see out (& presumably so they could keep an eye on the enemy) but apart from that it's pitch black with only head torches to guide you. For the most part the tunnels are tall enough to stand in thought we all still wore helmets in case of the occasional (or perhaps more frequent) head bump! Fortunately with Liz in front of me & Monica & David behind there was enough light, that as long as I just concentrated on not slipping over on the wet limestone below, I could kind of forget about the fact that I was inside a teeny tiny dark tunnel in the middle of a mountain…
We eventually made it out to a place called Martini's ledge, where you edge your way along a VERY narrow path along the side of the mountain for about 20 minutes until you come to a little house built right into the rock face. It's pretty incredible & it's one of the only locations that was pretty much completely invincible during the war because while you could see everything going on down below, it was extremely difficult for anyone to launch a successful attack on the cabin. It helped the Italians maintain control of that section of the mountains & to ward off the advancing Austrians.
We stopped for some more nibbles at Martini's ledge & then began the LONG descent down the mountain. Part of this was completed inside the mountain down a VERY long flight of VERY steep & slippery stairs (you'd think going down would be a hell of a lot easier than going up, but actually it kills your knees!). Then we came out onto the mountainside & wound our way down a gravel path all the way to the bottom. By that stage the sun had come out, the clouds had cleared a little, & we were able to get a beautiful view of the mountains all around us. Spectacular! :)
We had a quick cuppa at the bottom of the mountain before driving back to Haus Valentin to kick back & relax for the evening. Another refreshing shower, & some chill out time on the balcony as dusk approached was just what the doctor ordered. We had amazing, fresh tortellini for entrée (yes, just entrée!) that evening, followed by meatballs (though we didn't manage many after the delicious pasta) & fruit salad for desert. After dinner the boys (Griff & Callum) donned their pink onesies (complete with love heart sleeves & little Scotty dogs on the front) to entertain the guests at the evening's quiz night. Liz & I stuck around just long enough to get a good look at the onesies (impressive, very impressive), before heading to bed, exhausted after our long day of adventuring.
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