Mini Road Trip

We have been very busy since I last posted, Melloblocco was brilliant, such a good atmosphere. By the time Andrea and Steven arrived, the

A classy Swig

Val di Mello

weather was on the mend, we walked up to Val de Mello

Andrea’s mean side

and explored the next valley over Val Malenco, enjoyed the thickest hot chocolates known and had more than one too many drinks at the local Kundaluna bar. Never thought a Mojito could get any better, and then boom! bagged ourselves a free black diamond headtorch, by being within the 1^st 100 to purchase drinks that evening. We finished Melloblocco in style/drunken blur at the La Sportiva party. It started with a treat meal courtesy of Andrea and Steven and ending with exhausted/badly bruised legs from dancing/bench climbing, a bust lip from the formation of an unexpected reggae mosh pit and four bad heads the morning after.

We will be heading back to Mello to meet more friends at the end of May, more climbing, less drinking next time round.

Let the Games Begin…

The Valley

We arrived at Val Masino the same day Paul’s parents left, the plan was to get in some  climbing before the bouldering festival Melloblocco kicked off at the weekend. We took a wet walk from San Martino to Val Di Mello, scouting out the climbing and taking in the scenery. Looking up from the valley you can see hundreds of water falls leading from the snow topped mountains and they all lead into the crystal clear river that runs down the centre of the valley.  We spent the next few days lounging in the van and most of the wet evenings in a local bar wasting time on the internet. On Wednesday the rain stopped and the rock dried, and we were up and ready to climb.

Climbing in the Streets

Huge boulders

As we made our way through San Martino a woman sitting in a local bar looked like she was trying to take a sneaky picture of us. After pointing this out to Paul we agreed it was strange and quickened our pace crossing behind a car to evade her. Only when we popped out the other side of the car she was stood waiting with her phone at the ready.  After a quick explanation we ‘posed’ for a photo and it made its way onto facebook with the tag line.. “The first boulderers to arrive in the valley.”

Lake Como and Company

As promised we have tagged the photo’s from the Camargue into this post, I wish we had captured Paul’s bail from his horse on camera!

Sunset on the Camargue

The Famous White Horses

Riding across the Camargue

Breakfast Time

So after our little disaster in France we arrived in Italy, Lake Como and headed straight to Bellagio, a little village on the fork of Lake Como. Here we eagerly awaited the arrival of Paul’s Mam and Dad. This had been planned for a long time, and it would be an understatement to say we were excited to see them. In a twisted way the robbery had happened with just enough time for replacements and supply’s to be bought by both our extremely helpful parents back in England, and then shipped out with Anne and Eric. After initial hugs and welcomes we found ourselves checked into a lovely little hotel in Bellagio, with suitcases of goodies being emptied onto our bed. It was like christmas all over again.