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Spain Southeast - December 2022

The sandy beaches of famous Costa Blanca - White coast in the Alicante province are marvelous, adorned with rocky mountains between its huge and wide sections.

Sunset with surfer and the 332 meters high rock Penyal D'Ifac which is a landmark of Costa Blanca
Sunset with surfer and the 332 meters high rock Penyal d'Ifac which is a landmark of Costa Blanca

 

Valencia is with approximately 800,000 inhabitants the third biggest city of Spain. We wanted to visit its old town but we could not find a parking place for our two campers - Marion's sister Jutta and her husband Hermann were with us. Fortunately we had visited the old town with our little daughter in the year 1986. Fortunately we found space for our cars on its southern end close to its modern impressive quarter Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of art and science).

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Catalonia Autumn 2022

The landscape of Spain is very mountainous. Indeed the third and fourth highest European mountain ranges (after Caucasus and Alps) are in Spain with sea-levels above 3400 meters - Sierra Nevada and Pyrenees. Its marvelous coasts are quite often rough and rocky. In the recent years In the last years Spain has built a lot of via ferratas where you might enjoy climbing without a lot of equipment.

Awesome Via Ferrata Cala del Moli on Costa Brava where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean Sea

Awesome via ferrata Cala del Moli on Costa Brava where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean Sea

 

We came to Spain on November 15th 2022 with our camper to enjoy the pleasant winter climate on its southeast and south cost and to follow more ore less our itinerary with our little two daughter Eva (two and a half years old) and Marion brother Tommy in the year 1986. Our first stop was the nice mountain village Agullana which is located few kilometers west of the main border station La Jonquera between France and Spain close to the Mediterranean Sea.

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Mallorca - May 2022

We spent in Mallorca the last two week in May 2022 to enjoy the Mediterranean Sea and to hike a little bit.

Cala Mesquida seen from Talaia de Son Jaumell
Cala Mesquida seen from the little mountain Talaia de Son Jaumell in the southeast of Mallorca

 

There is a spiky mountain range along the northern shore of the island - Serra Tramuntana which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The long distance trail GR221 - The dry-stone route leads from Port d'Antratx (northwest corner of Mallorca) to Polença (northeast corner). This approximately 145 kilometers long hike is challenging due to its remoteness on rough and rocky terrain, and it is barely impacted by mass tourism.

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Italy Tuscany - Autumn 2021

Late Autumn 2021 we returned to Italy again - this time to Tuscany including its beautiful island Elba where we found many superb hiking opportunities, pleasant temperatures up to 20°C and a lot of sunshine for this season.

Alley in Elba (south of Capoliveri) with Monte Capanne on the right which is with 1019 meters sea-level the tallest summit of Elba
Alley in Elba (south of Capoliveri) with Monte Capanne on the right which is with 1019 meters sea-level the tallest summit of Elba

 

Again Marion's sister Jutta and her husband Hermann joined. When we drove through the Alps we had very nice weather which we used for two longer hikes. The first one was around was in Klausen (South Tyrol) around its huge monastery.

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Italy northwest - summer 2021

In Summer 2021 we spent a lot of time in Italy, especially in its Alps in the northwest corner. There are many gorgeous mountains, beautiful lakes with pleasant warm water, the Mediterranean Sea, interesting villages and towns, and a lot history.

Po
Very old bridge in the upper valley of Po

 

We traveled two times to Italy, first between July 19th and August 8th and second between August 23rd and September 26th 2021. Our first itinerary started with witches in western Tirol, Austria where we biked from Serfaus to Hexenseehütte - hut of the witch's lake, where we stayed two comfortable nights with very few people.

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Sweden Central

Central Sweden offers a lot of hiking and mountaineering capabilities along its border to Norway and on the coast of the Baltic Sea. In between the landscape is relatively flat covered by huge forests and with some nice villages and little towns. Its capital Stockholm is located on the coast of the Baltic sea. It is a bustling metropolis with 2 millions inhabitants, a lot of interesting culture, many green parks and some impressive waterfronts.

Roofs of the street Strandvägen of Stockholm

 

After we had crossed the border from Norway on the E14 we turned on the first southern street right and continued to the mountain hut Storulvåns. There was a big parking lot and it was nearly fully occupied. The mountain hut is like a little village with a large hotel including some big buildings.

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Norway - Jontunheimen, Kristiansund and Trondheim

In Jontunheimen are the tallest peaks of Scandinavia up to close 2,500 meters sea-level. This sounds not very high for alpine standards but you have to take into mind that you are much closer to the North Pole. Jontunheimen has some steep, needle-like pinnacles embedded by enormous glaciers and huge lakes. Besides the thinner air these mountains equals summits with 3,300 meters and more sea-level in the Alps.

Reindeer with glacier

 

We decided to head along the eastern side of Jontunheimen because the weather forecast was bad as usual for its western part where the clouds of the northern Atlantic Ocean hit the mountains and stick there. 

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Norway West - South of Sognefjorden

Norway in northern Europe and on the western side of the peninsula Scandinavia is a natural treasure with stunning mountains, deep gorges and fjords, uncountable waterfalls, huge glaciers, and green lush vegetation at lower sea-levels. Its population is besides the few cities very low, its density of people is the lowest of continental Europe. It's famous for bad weather but we enjoyed a lot of nice days in June and July which is quit often the case. And it never gets really dark in these two months - literally you might start a longer mountain tour in the late evening.

Typical Norwegian Cot

 

Before we headed to Norway we enjoyed skiing in the Alps beginning of May 2016. There had been lots of fresh powder and the ski slopes on the Schnalstal glacier in South Tyrol, Italy were more or less free of people!

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Monte Adamello

Adamello is one the most famous mountain group in the southern Italian Alps, closed to the lake Lago di Garda. The highest peak is the Monte Adamello, which is 3539 meters high. It overlooks a vast glacier plateau, the Pian di Neve. Adamello has a very sad history: Many soldiers died there during the First World War; mainly due to coldness, avalanches and crevasses. But there were also heavy fights between the Austrian and Italian armies. You still find a lot of relicts of this war like shoes, barbwires, cooking stuff, stations, ...
 
We climbed Monte Adamello mid of October 2010, which is relatively late for such a big glacier tour. You should have all glacier equipment like crampons, ice-pick and ropes. There are huge crevasses on the Pian di Neve, more than 50 meters deep. So we started our trip which heavy backpacks at the Capanna Stella Alpina, south west of Monte Adamello. The Capanna Stella Alpina is accessible for smaller cars via the Valle del' Igna. It is a very narrow and steep street, starting from the small village Cevo. Our VW California fitted exactly, we were happy that it is not wider! Cevo can be reached easily from the town Lovere at the lake Lago Iseo, driving up the river Fiume Oglio to the town Malonno.
 
The Capanna Alpina is just 1400 meters high, so it is more than 2100 meters to the top of Monte Adamello. Fortunately there are many mountain huts and bivouacs on the way. But we had to carry additional gear like sleeping bag, cooker and all the food.  Our backpacks were definitely heavier than 20 kilograms!
 
On the first day we walked to the bivouac Bivacco Salerno, located closed to the Salerno saddle 3100 meters high. It is a beautiful way along the artificial lakes Lago Salerno and Lago Dasazzo.
 
Lake Lago Salerno
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Dolomites - Piz Cunturines

In September 2010 we spent some days in the Dolomites together with Marion's brother Tommy. Our first target was Piz Cunturines in the Fanes Group. It is one of the giants in the Dolomites, more than 3000m high. And some climbing is required. Fortunately there is an iron rope (Via Ferrata), so no heavy mountain equipment is needed. We started very early in the morning at the Capanna Alpina, closed to St. Kassian in the Gadertal. It was a wonderful day in an archaic environment. We walked approximately 4 hour through a very remote valley, passing the lake Cunturines, to the saddle between the peaks of Piz Cunturines and La Varella. There the ropes begin, also some iron ladders. Then it became very steep, more than 1700m above St. Kassian. The climbing was very motivating, but relatively short. The iron ropes and ladders were in excellent conditions. 
 
Marion and Tommy on the first ladder
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European Alps Article Count: 4

Scandinavia Article Count: 3

Spain Article Count: 3

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