The next morning, I was up at dawn, forgetting I was in the valley of the mountains and it would be quite some time before the little church was illuminated with the mornings golden light.
We decided to take the bus down to Ponte, Italy, and start our trek from there.
Now, according to the map, the trek to Cadarese was fairly flat with a slight downhill grade. Not sure what happened, but we went up and over another steep mountain. The forest was thick and hard to see through the trees, but every now and then there would be a small clearing.
About halfway to the top we started hearing loud explosions every so often, and I will admit, I did duck a couple of times. We couldn’t figure out where they were coming from nor why. Once we reached the top and started our decent we came to a clearing and I found the answer. Do you want to know where that gorgeous Italian marble comes from? Right here!
Getting down this mountain was tough and steep decent. My right knee was still stinging from the twist the day before. I should have taken a few of the ladies offer to wrap my knee, but I didn’t want to make everyone stop. I didn’t want to be a hinderance, we still had a good distance to go. With every planting of my right foot on the rock below, I winced.
Oh the bottom! The glorious flat land of the valley! My step quickened and I was smiling again.
We crossed over a bridge into the village of Cadarese, where we would spend the night and have a layover day before our final trek to Domodossola.
The village of Cadarese was the perfect place for a layover day. There was a world-renowned spa at the edge of Cadarese, PremiaTerme. I was able to schedule an hour in the thermal pools and an hour-long message, and I will have to say at this point of the trek, a message was very much appreciated!
After a couple of very relaxing hours, I spent some time meandering around the village.
A very late dinner was followed by a couple of hours of shut-eye before our final trek, 17 miles to Domodossola. I didn’t want this to end.
You forgot to tell about the thousand steps down in the mist!
Lol! I was trying to forget that part!
My favorite part!!!
My knees didn’t like it.