12 June and we are in Italy. However this is the part of the Alps that was bitterly fought over in WW1withtraces of
trenches etc in all the passes as a record of the fighting that must have been conducted in some very very inclement weather. Ceded to Italy after WW1 the area now is bilingual with such incredible differences even in the names of villages such that the bus timetable has two columns for the names.
Turned east from the Brenner Pass about 20km to San Candido then onto find a parking spot – the sort we like – reserved for campervans at no charge, near Sesto. 
With info from the tourist office and our Lonely Planet Hiking in Italy planned our treks. Fortified for trek 2 with a bratwurst (50 cents extra for a curry bratwurst which proved to be just curry power shaken on top). Eating it Joanna said I looked just like a gnome from a cuckoo clock! – that from a frau 
with (the rest has been censored) ! Trek 2 was what we thought was ‘down’ the valley through meadow etc, proved to be a few kilometres along the river then up, up, and up before the down but scenery beautiful. Up past farm yards, a Red 
Riding Hood house, to a very moving little chapel set in the woods to remember the victims of the war and a message of hope for peace.
Trek 3 was to be a longer slog in the mountains to get close to the regions iconic Tre Cime de Lavaredo -3 outstanding rock formations (one of which David climbed in an another life), however clouds descended, thunder, lightning and lots of rain set in. So we gave up and headed for Cortina through the cloud.
Settled into a camper stop (actually an old airfield) just out of Cortina – felt positive as the clouds swirled around and lifted to give us glimpses of the amazing rock formations that surrounded us.
However – not to be. It rained all night and a visit to the tourist office in Cortina next day confirmed what we suspected ,that we were in for a long period of bad weather. Did a quick tour of the town, coffee and cake in a cosy cafe, bought yet another umbrella and made the big decision to head south for the coast. Leave the mountains to all their clouds and rain.
Made it to a small resort – Grado – a sort of mini Venice – well it is set on a lagoon, with 
canals lined with pleasure craft, half way between Venice and Trieste. Has all the usual Italian beach resort features that us Kiwis find a bit difficult, like paying to sit on the beach, then a bit more for the chair and the umbrella. Of course we don’t- can’t bear the idea, so take our own chairs and umbrella to the free beach,even though it is vastly inferior, and the water only comes up to your ankles after wading 100m. However we have taken quite a fancy to Grado, free place to park with water and dump does help. Have made a side trip to Trieste, with a walking tour of the town. Wow, what a complicated history. A couple of village/coastal walks and now back at Grado. A phone call to the tourist office at Cortina tells us that bad weather is still set in. Seems this is over much of northern Europe, with disastrous floods in France. So we will
keep soaking up the sunshine,swimming and riding our brand new bikes (upright ladies models, 7 gears
plus basket at the front) around this super-flat countryside. A bike ride to Aquileia, once a large and important Roman town with a basilica that has a fantastic third century mosaic very well presented with elevated glass walkways. The Italy/New Zealand football game was entertaining watched outside a cafe. Our smiles at the end of the match were met with a stony silence, wonder why. The Italian press next day said - ‘Italy flop’.
Decided we must move on but low and behold the mountains appeared and half way to Verona we made a phone call to Cortina tourist office, which confirmed good weather, so North we go to our airfield.
Stan ground her way slowly in first gear up to the parking at 2320m altitude beneath the Tre Cime rocks. David of course chose a round trip combining both the suggested routes in 
the guide map. Well we made it from 10.30am to after 6pm passing Refuge Lavarado, lunch in a delightful Refuge Pain di Cengia, (how can we get NZ to adopt these wonderful catered mountain refuges?), a stop at the closed Refuge Locatelli with fantastic views over the Tre Cime. And a bonus was the family of marmots playing in a meadow, like oversized, cuddly meerkats. The recent snow made the traverses very exposed and overall
Joanna found the walk ‘challenging’ (a carefully chosen word). It’s Joanna speaking 
now – in my defence I have to say that I coped easily with the fitness side of climbing up and down 6 to 700 vertical metres but it was the slippery snow on precipitous traverses that had me in a semi panic. However it was exhilarating and I loved it even though it wasn’t always obvious at the time! We spent the night up there with marvellous evening and morning vistas of the Dolomites to compensate for the minus 5 overnight. Next day a relaxed walk up a very pretty valley to the 
Refuge Ra Stua set in meadows with cows and horses. Once again we were reminded of the horrors of WW1, with evidence of Austrian and Italian trenches and frontlines on both our walks. Back to our airfield park and the 24th we quit the Dolomites to head South.
Goodbye the mountains (and Grado/Trieste) - hallo the plains and the lakes.
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