San Pietro della Ienco to Castelvecchio Calvisio
Distance: 35km
03:33 - in a Big Ben fashion, the little church's bell start playing a melody. My pulse goes from 50 to 150 bpm until I realize, what is happening. From that moment on, the bells are announcing every quarter of an hour. That's it with sleeping.
Everything is still damp and it's an uncomfortable start into my day. The weather looks nice though. Only some high stratus like clouds. I continue along the road and eventually join Sentiero Italia, which I didn't want to follow yesterday due to weather and possible snow along the way. The walk today is on high plains, predominantly above the treeline. The views therefore spectacular. Despite Corno Grande, the highest peak of the Appenine, engulfed in clouds, I still get some decent views of the snow covered mountains.
As I make my way down, as usual, cumulonimbus clouds are building up. They are not an immediate threat though. I pass by two middle age looking villages. Pretty spectacular in fact. I decide to have a coffee in the second. Bad decision. The second village looks like a ghost town though. No coffee no nothing. At least I find some water in the cemetery. Like in good old Germany.
Shortly after having filled my bottles, I find a sweet spot to pitch my tent. Sheltered, yet still some good views. A rare combination. It's only 16:00 but my body says: enough! So I pitch my tent. Good decision. Shortly afterwards, a heavy rain shower passes through. With plenty of time left, I start planning the next couple of days. It's straight forward. Only the continously unsettled weather is worrying me a bit.
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Rob (Thursday, 01 June 2023 21:38)
Hello! Hello! Hello! Your field of yellow flowers looks like 'Buttercup' Without seeing the leaf, it looks also like the flower of St John's Wort. One of the best known medicines of man. St John's Wort has many medicinal strongholds. But, my better judgement says "Buttercup". (Butterblümli). Same word. It usually prefers wetter, damper conditions, and quite often heavy, poorly drained soil. Almost clay-like conditions.
We are wakened to steady rain. We are to expect heavy bursts throughout the day. In solidarity, we shall walk in the rain. Not yet, for it is still dark! It is not yet 7.00am. We are reminded that in mid summer this is already long time been daylight. And sometimes we are already seeing TAs off after an early breakfast,.
Another hour or so and we will walk. Solidarity in the rain.
It is warm. Right now it is 15C. We are to expect only 20C today.
We were watching TV last night, and listening to a meterologist, and an astronomer. The subject was "are we now officially in Winter (1 june), or have we been in it for a while?"
I absolutely lost faith with meteorologist because his reasoning for saying we are now in Winter from 1 June, was simply because " it's easier for record keeping if we go by month beginning" whereas the astronomer was going by the moon and stars, which gives us the seasons. That fits perfectly with MATARIKI ... which we are now in. We are in the very early season of Matariki - which is the rising stars of Pūanga (my Iwi call in Pūanga). Elsewhere it is universally called Matariki. Which, as you might remember Sandro, is our handover from one year to the other. The transitions are distinct, because there is the actual farewell from one (old) time before formally welcoming the new time. And this is the new time of the NEW YEAR. Unlike western transition, of the event being a singular overnight event, this is not. This is weeks in the farewell, and the creation of the new. This is. Intertwined with the pagan acknowledgement of mid winter solstice. That in actual time, is now three weeks away. For you that is your mid summer solstice. Your longest day.
So, this time now ' is the time of remembrance. The time of reflection. The time of "letting go". The time of putting away. The time of preparing for new beginnings. And then, when the star cluster (Matariki) is at its apex in our southern night sky, that is our time to begin afresh. Start anew. No fireworks! Fire is the warmth of night that gives us restful sleep in the colder, darker hours. And so it's flame should be enough to give us the glow to the beginning of a new day. The beginning of a new year. And so, the year is transitioned by the seasons passing, marked by the phases of the moon. NOT by the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Incidentally, both those written calendars are in cycle with the moon cycles. Enough of my ramblings.
Oops ... another heavy downpour is passing over.
I know George sent you a photo of what looked like the breed of (3) dogs. They looked similar to each other. They looked like from the same litter. A breed of dog native to those mountains of Italy, and not too dissimilar to a breed of dog you actually have in Switzerland.
Time now is 7.38am. Daylight and wet! We shall walk.