.. exploring beautiful places at home, in the Alps or far away
When the weather in the mountains changed to rain and storm we decided to take the bus to the next bigger city instead of sitting at a mountain hut. So we went to Cuneo! We found a cheap hotel and made some sightseeing. To me Cuneo seems similar to Turin – just smaller. There are piazzas, there is lots of traffic and the main shopping streets are covered by big roofs. So we could walk through half the city even if it was raining or when the sun is burning from the sky 
Because of bad weather we only walked about one hour from Rifugio Gadetta to La Meja. Then we had a coffee and decided that it is too risky to continue. It looked like a thunderstorm would arrive soon. And the forecast for the next days was also not very promising. Therefore we took the bus to Cuneo to make a stop in a bigger city and continue walking when the weather has improved.
The night we spent in our “bungalow” was not as nice as I expected. The first time I woke up at 1:37am…it was a little cold so that I had to take a blanket. The second time I woke up at 4:00am…it was bloody cold – even with blanket. There are always two blankets per person. The stupid thing is if one places it in the other corner of the room. I thought I will not need it but I was wrong. It took me another 20 minutes to finally decide to get out of my sleeping bag to get the second blanket… For a moment I opened the door and looked at the sky. It was a clear night…the stars were amazing! The night sky is not as good as on La Palma…but it is still very good. Maybe I will go here one summer with my telescope…the only question:”How to get here by car?” Anyway…getting up this morning at 5:20 was a pain…at least for me. My clothes were cold, I was tired…and again no coffee this morning. Still I was somehow glad to leave this container and walking finally warmed up my hands and my feet.
For the first 30 minutes we walked through the dark. Then the sun was bright enough. Three hours we walked through a forest and the path always just climbed a little. Probably I am repeating myself…I don’t like walking through the forest because I only see trees…. Anyway…after we reached the first pass on 2200m we walked an old military road down to 1800m. In our 1:50000 map this road looked quite short…but in reality we walked and walked and walked… Finally we climbed up 600m again to 2400m. This was very nice since we had a tremendous view. At the pass we already saw our accommodation for today – just 20 minutes away. The hut lies on a green meadow left and right enclosed by higher mountains. At the hut there are man different animals: They have one big horse and one very very small horse, two donkeys, two dogs, one cat, two goats and one pig And they all are living together like one big family! It is amazing! In the afternoon we ordered a huge plate with salami, cheese and bread…o m g… I didn’t know that we can eat so much 
At 6 am we were on the road. When the alarm clock rang at 5:15am I hated myself 
It was still quite dark outside and quite cold but what we could see the weather looked good. We left the Rifugio at 6am after heaving a quick “breakfast” (actually it was just biscuit with butter and marmalade). We had no coffee since it was too early…what a great day……. (it is hard to imagine what a strong influence a coffee in the morning can have on ones mood…). We climbed up to a pass on about 2850m. From here we continued 20 minutes to the summit Monte Bellino on about 2900m. Here and there we saw some old bunkers…so this mountain probably played an important role in the war. At the top we made a long break. Now I was glad that I got up so early. We were completely alone – the only thing which disturbed the silence was the wind. Up to the horizon in each direction the sky was dark blue – there was no single cloud. I felt I did not want to leave this place again Finally, we had to go…we climbed down back to the pass and then descended through a long and broad valley to Rifugio Campo Base on about 1600m.
Since we arrived at the previous hut we had no mobile signal and trying to call Rifugio Campo Base from this hut also didn’t work – no one answered the call…oh yes…and at first we had a wrong phone number. So we were not able to reserve in advance. The hut has about 35 places to sleep – so we were optimistic that there was still a place for us. And again…we were wrong – it was already fully booked. However, we were offered a “container”. The container had 8 beds inside and was very small. Still we decided to take it because we were completely exhausted. In the end we were still lucky since we were the only guests in this container while the other guests had to share a room with 8 other people – and we even paid 4 euro less per person The dinner was extended to 2 hours! Not because there was so much to eat…just because it took so long to serve it… Personally I did not see many people which were so unorganized, before But beside that the food was quite good. Tomorrow the weather might get worse…so we decided to get up even earlier in the morning. Our plan is to leave at 5:30am with headlights. Again we will miss the breakfast…and the coffee….great…. But getting up early is the only thing we can do to reduce the risk of getting into bad weather…maybe we worry too much.
Today there is not much to write. We just walked for one hour to the last possible accommodation before the “great move”. Tomorrow will be a quite long day and there is no hut and no bivaccio in between. So we will start very early tomorrow to reduce the risk of bad weather. We will leave 5:30am. So today we take a break in the sun with lots of food Our accommodation today only costs 35euro per person – full pension! – and we have a double room! And it is nice! This is great
