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A panoramic view of mountain peaks at sunset on the Alta Via 1

Five Days in the Dolomites

Our Wanderlust 4 Comments

The Alta Via 1 has drawn us back to the Italian Dolomites. We’re here with our walking companions, Marc & Miranda, to explore the spectacular eastern Dolomites before the alpine huts close and the summer hiking season ends. Revered for its grandeur, dramatic peaks, deep mysterious valleys, and pale limestone walls that blush pink at first light, the Alta Via 1 stirs profound emotions in even the most blasé of hikers. 

We walked part of this route earlier in the season on our Dream Way journey and can’t wait to see it in a different light, traverse new paths and while away evenings in rifugios with good friends.

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A walker passing high rows of prosecco grapes in beautiful afternoon light

Prosecco Hills Trail, Italy

Our Wanderlust 12 Comments

Prologue

We’re walking the 55-kilometre Prosecco Hills Trail over four days, winding our way through the heart of Italy’s Veneto region. This UNESCO World Heritage site is a lush patchwork of green valleys, forests, medieval villages, and undulating hills terraced with grapevines that produce world-renowned Prosecco sparkling wine. It’s a gentler walk for us, after our Dream Way odyssey across the Alps, and we’re looking forward to sampling the area’s traditional dishes and enjoying a glass or two of Prosecco at the end of each day.

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Blue sky and wispy clouds hang over the green mountains of Mourne

St Patrick’s Way: The Pilgrim Walk

Our Wanderlust 2 Comments

Prologue

The day after the eighth full moon of the year, we sailed across the Irish Sea to walk St Patrick’s Way. The trail connects two locations closely related to Ireland’s patron saint: Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, and Downpatrick, St Patrick’s final resting place. St Patrick was born around 400 CE in Roman Britain. He was enslaved and transported to Ireland before escaping his captors. After studying to become a cleric in France, he returned to Ireland on a mission to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. 

Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s Holy Mountain, is a renowned pilgrimage site where St Patrick fasted for 40 days. We’ve climbed the mountain twice, but to date, we’ve barely set foot in the north, the part of Ireland most associated with St Patrick and home to the entirety of the 132-kilometre St Patrick’s Way. Keen to discover the stories held in the land, we acquire Pilgrim Passports and set out to follow in St Patrick’s footsteps through County Armagh and County Down, weaving our way in and out of villages, through forests, and across mountains that sweep down to the sea. 

A selfie of three walkers outside St Patricks Cathedral in Armagh
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The golden glow of west wall of the Civetta at sunset from Rifugio Tissi

The Dream Way, Part 2

Our Wanderlust 10 Comments

Munich to Venice on the Dream Way: Part 2 (Italy)

Prologue

We’re halfway through the Dream Way (Traumpfad), a 600-kilometre walk from Munich to Venice across the eastern Alps. The German and Austrian Alps tested us with wild storms, unseasonal snow, and slopes so steep that wires and ladders are fixed to assist safe passage. They also provided us with magnificent walking and breathtaking views of some of Europe’s most majestic landscapes. Thirteen days and 265 kilometres later, we crossed the border to Italy.

The Dolomites await. They’re a Natural World Heritage Site famed for their unparalleled beauty and challenging topography. Our first stop will be Pfunders, and from there we’ll start winding our way across the Dolomites. Our final mountain range will be the Belluno Pre-alps, after which we’ll descend to the Piave River and walk across the plains to Venice. We’re pleased that we’ve made it this far, but cognisant of the arduous terrain and high mountain passes ahead. 

Anna and Michael enjoy a wine with the the Marmolada massif behind them
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A Dream Way walker hauling himself up a vegetated mountain slope with the aid of a fixed cable

The Dream Way, Part 1

Our Wanderlust 7 Comments

Munich to Venice on the Dream Way: Part 1 (Germany & Austria)

Prologue

It’s the allure of walking into dreamlike Venice that entices us to set out from Munich on the Dream Way (the Traumpfad). For the German walkers we meet, it’s the desire to make a pilgrimage across the Alps, their spiritual homeland.

The 600-kilometre walk passes through three countries: Germany, Austria and Italy. It traverses the Bavarian Pre-alps, the Karwendel Alps, and the Tux Alps. Crossing the Italian border, it enters the Pfunderer Valley before winding across the Dolomites. Finally, it climbs the Belluno Pre-alps before descending to the Piave River plains and on to Venice. 

The alpine walking season is brief. Start too early, and the high passes are still covered with snow. Start too late, and the alpine huts will be closing for the winter. The conditions were perfect when we set out in early July, but even so, wild, erratic weather forced us to deviate from our planned route on several occasions.  

This isn’t a walk for the faint-hearted, with 27,000 metres of ascent. Often steep, it sometimes requires the use of fixed wires and ladders to ensure a safe passage. Most of the walk follows existing routes; there is no designated ‘Munich to Venice’ footpath as such. In the words of the poet, Antonio Machado: Wanderer, your footprints are the path, and nothing else; wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking. 

What follows is an account of our 34 days on the Dream Way: many of them challenging, and staggeringly beautiful. 

A map of the Dream Way / der Traumpfad route from Munich to Venice
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Anna walking a winding dirt road towards Sutera nestled at the foot of Mount San Paolino

Magna Via Francigena, Sicily

Our Wanderlust 44 Comments

A last wander along the shoreline before we turn inland to walk across the mountains and plains of Sicily on the Magna Via Francigena. Fishermen mending their nets. A large-scale mural; a memorial to the magistrates Falcone and Borsellino, both assassinated by the Mafia. It is bold in its presence and tender in its rendering.

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