3 countries in one day
Slovenian days were over and it was time to head West. I was expected at a house South West end of Switzerland and since I avoid toll roads on my trips it would be a long riding day. Cloudy weather but dry, I set a route on Google maps avoiding toll roads and I hit the road. Funny thing is that this led me to the Italian border via 401, an amazing narrow route that I had already done in a previous trip of mine so I had a Deja Vu for a little while. Fantastic one but watch out for gravel bits on corners. Can be slippery af. Later I followed the Tagliamento river and then headed North following its colleague "Torrente Degano". Lovely km by the water and after passing through a bunch of national parks I make a stop to appease my hunger just a few km before the Swiss border on SS40.
Weather was fortunately dry (almost) all the way but the distance I had to cover and the threatening clouds didn't allow much space for stops and pictures hence my harvest was rather poor on that part.
After 400km and 3 countries I finally make it to Mustair, where I would be hosted by one of the loveliest families I have ever met. Rahel, a gorgeous award winning florist was generously willing to host me there but as she would be away on that day she told her parents to to do for me till she'd arrive in the evening. Meeting her parents I got the answer to why this girl is so awesome by all means...Felt like these people would keep their warm everlasting smile even in the worst of conditions but definitely their awesome house helped on that too.
Rahel's dad Felix, is a great gardener by hobby and also artistically gifted - he made this out of motorbike parts :)
Rahel arrived and the evening found me and the rest of the family (she's got two brothers) chatting about what to do next day. "Would you like to join us for a hike up to a lake @ 2500m altitude?"...I could say yes to (almost) anything proposed by a girl like Rahel but this one would be a yes from me even coming out of the lips of Mari Le Pen. I just said "Awesome but...I've no hiking boots and..it's gonna be snowy right?". "No worries, you'll be fine" Rahel said as she walked off the table to answer her phone. Her dad (did I mention enough what an awesome guy he is?) turned to his sons and asked them to give me a pair of hiking boots. They answered in their own language and from the few words I was able to catch I understood why they used no English (speaking English and Greek helps me understand some bits of the rest West languages even with a bit of imagination): They went like "I'm not giving my boots to a Greek". Felix handled it with perfect diplomacy so it all went smoothly as I wasn't offended either. I mean, obviously it's a pathetic narrow minded approach but a pair of brothers at the peak of their hormones with a stunning sister like her can react sometimes in a not super civilised way in the sight of a potential interest of their sister. A couple of months later when I hosted her parents at my place Felix explained to me how different Rahel is compared to their brothers. She's always up for an adventure and travelling to other countries while they are quite the opposite.
Next morning we all woke up around 5(ish) am to begin what would be one of the highlight of my travelling career. The lake we were about to visit is the nature's masterpiece of Lai Da Rims. Parents stay home while me and their kids plus a friendly couple cramped in a Daihatsu Feroza we drive a few km South till we leave the car in the woods to continue walking.
From the very start the whole thing looked promising:
Soon we have climbed high enough so the car looked already tiny:
I was already struggling to climb up with the shoes I was wearing (picture later) but as long as the terrain was dry it was OKish.
The slope was pretty steep and the lack of proper boots made it scary af. If only I knew it would become much worse later!
This was one of the worst challenges. Steep and snowy.
Not only I couldn't find enough grip on shoes like mine but there were times that the ice under the snow broke only to find myself about a meter in it. I came up with the idea of digging holes with my hand on the snow to use as handles but I soon found out my palm bleeding as I was desperately grabbing anything to stay alive regardless how sharp it was. Fortunately I had my motorcycle gloves with me so they made the whole procedure easier and the image of a Swiss helicopter coming to rescue me something more of a stretch of imagination. Still not impossible though - one mistake and you're gone for good up there.
After all these intense experience I manage to make it in one piece up to the lake with the rest of the group. The view kept my jaw dropped for quite some time.
Later it cleared up and this out of this world beauty unveiled its grace:
I haven't yet posted my shoes right? Well, it was an achievement to do it all on this pair:
The water of lake Rims comes from the ice and snow that melts hence it is the purest thing anyone can drink.
Had enough? I don't think so...
Shall I stop? I guess you want some more don't ya?
Images were getting better and better as the sun was rising therefore drying and clearing the air putting a whole new meaning in words like "incredible" "stunning" "extraordinary" etc. It was time though to do something in order to fix the lack of balance between our full eyes and our empty stomachs.
It's grill time folks!
This was meant to be my first time trying out the "grilled banana with Nutella" desert:
As we started going down Rahel told me we'd pick the easy route this time to change as on our way up we used the one for goats. Damn...Next morning finds me and Felix (all kids were away for various commitments) on an unforgettable goodbye scene. He kept waving hands till I lost sight of him as I was driving away...Where to? Stay tuned for part 6 and find out ;)