There are few things more satisfying than using your body to power you through the brilliance of the Italian Apennine Mountains. Your body works of its own accord, leaving your mind free to indulge in the views, in contemplation or in nothing at all. We often throw ideas around whilst we are hiking and many great things have been resolved in the middle of a long walk somewhere beautiful.
The various national parks are all spectacular with amazing trails and views. Of course, being mountains there is a lot of uphill.
Sometimes it’s just a gradual winding incline beneath thick tree canopies through swathes of fallen Autumn leaves.
The silence is complete other than the rustle of leaves under our boots, the air is crisp and speaking seems somehow sacrilegious.
Sometimes it’s a rocky track that goes straight up and never seems to end. Some tracks start out okay then disappear into a goat path where a stumble has you stuck on the side of a hill clinging to a shrub. Sometimes we find ourselves clambering mountain-goat style to the top, where we embrace views of the entire world.
We hike all of these varying from five kilometre walks into town for groceries to twenty kilometres hiking up mountains. Sometimes we feel so great we will just keep going. There is another trail to explore, another village to visit, or a road to follow. We never, ever regret this opportunity to be out in the clean air, with the sounds of far off tractors turning over fields for the winter, church bells over the mountains, cow bells in the distance. Nothing is raucous here, every sound is muted and gentle. Even the birds tweet softly. The sun is more gentle and even though the air is crisp and clear the views are soft.
Unlike other places in the world, Italy doesn’t really do scenic view points from the road. You’ll be driving along and see the most spectacular view and you would love to stop to savour the beauty of it all. Alas, there will be nowhere to stop the car unless you do an “Italian park” which involves just stopping in the middle of the road and making all traffic go around. So hiking the trails is the only way to see anything for more than a passing glance through the car window.
Like most Italian ways, the hiking trail marking way is a little loose and carefree. Carefree because they don’t really care and free because you are free to try to find the trail or get lost.
Maybe we’re soft but when we hike we expect a signpost or a marker at every junction so we don’t end up on the world news:
“two international hikers found lost in the deepest reaches of the mountains within touching distance of a village!”
The “red and whites” became our lifeline. These are two lines of red and white paint that signify a trail that starts somewhere and goes somewhere. There may be signs at the beginning of the trail, but those signs may be (a) non-existent having fallen down years ago and never been replaced (b) facing the wrong way (c) so faded that you can’t read the place names, trail number or distances (d) altered by some hiking enthusiast in niko pen who did the trail and got very lost and only found his way back to civilization by sheer coincidence. (e) nowhere near consistent with the hiking map supplied by the tourist bureau.
So you try to following the “red and whites” as much as possible. Unfortunately when you come to a three way junction in the middle of the hike with no signpost, no GPS coverage and no idea which way is out, the “red and white” may be a three minute walk from the junction on the correct trail. This means that one person stays at the junction and the other walks up and down the trails looking for red and whites. As always, the last trail you walk down will be the one you need to continue your hike.
Sometimes there’s no red and whites, just red. Be warned, this probably means that the aforesaid hiking enthusiast has marked his own trail in preference to the actual trail which he probably couldn’t find. We tried using the reds. It didn’t end well.
There are some trail maps that show trails by number but often they are not accurate enough to point you in the right direction at the three way junction with any confidence. Some areas will have maps on their websites which quite frankly, look as though a child drew then in crayon. There are hiking sites which often are fairly accurate when it comes to where the hike starts, how long it takes and how difficult it is. This is only if someone has done a hike in the area you are looking for.
So hiking in Italy is a little bit of an exercise in trusting your instincts. You might get a bit muddy if there’s been some rain as it’s mostly clay which is like walking in velcro. Likewise your feet might get a little bit wet crossing bubbling streams if you are in the valley. A lot of the hikes use cow paddocks or tractor trails. Some trails will use roads or you will cross over roads with the hike continuing on the other side. Sometimes the red and whites will direct you down a driveway next to a private house. The residents will stare out of their dining room window at you as you walk past. Sometimes you will be sharing the trails with trail bikes, mountain bikes, four-wheel drive vehicles, horses or hunters. Worst case scenario you have to turn around and go back the way you came because the trail disappears into the undergrowth never to be seen again.
There is never a bad hike in the Apennines.
