Assisi Diary - Day 32 - In the Clouds

At the start of the day my plan was to hike up Subasio and explore some trails above the treeline.  The weather forecast for Assisi was partly cloudy and mild.  I set out just after 6:00 a.m. and soon saw the "partly" involved openings over the valley but not the mountain.  Optimistically I hoped the clouds would give way to sun on the mountain.  However, an hour later, approaching the Eremo, the sky overhead was drizzly and ominous.
Recalling there is a 7:30 mass at the Eremo, I made my way through the gate, along a path and down toward the chapel.

Silence is requested at the Eremo.  The chapel is beautiful, built so close to the mountain that some of the Subasio stone actually projects into the nave.  There were 19 people there for this morning's service, including 9 nuns, 3 priests or brothers, a group of 6 six lay people who appeared to be brought there by the priest who said mass, and a guy carrying a day pack as if on a hike, this latter fellow being the only non-Italian.  The mass, too, was quite beautiful, with guitar and violin music.

My hope was this hour and a half visit would allow for weather conditions to improve.  They did not; but, inasmuch as hope springs eternal, I continued on upwards, stopping to look back at this view of the Eremo.

Notice the clouds at the top of the picture.  From my vantage point, I looked down on a sunlit valley, and up at a dense white.  After a while the paved road ended, the temperature dropped sharply, a strong wind picked up and I entered into the whiteness, following a dirt road that would, in a couple of miles, pass fairly close to the summit.

Setting off on trails was no longer an alternative.  The visibility varied, but generally was about ten yards.  Here's one of the better views.

My hope was the sky would clear, the wind would diminish, the temperature rise... none of which was happening.  Occasionally the whiteness would brighten, giving, uh, hope of a breakthrough, but by the time the summit drew near, the dense clouds, cold and wind were all in force, making it seem more like February in the Appenines than April in Umbria. 

The last couple of hundred yards to the summit one must leave the road and walk across an open grassy area (no trail), normally an easy stroll with the end in sight.  Today, however, the summit was no place close to being in sight.  So, I set off across the frozen tundra... okay, it wasn't quite that bad... but close, trying to walk in a steadily higher direction since summits, as a rule, tend to be high points, and ambled along through the clouds until finally encountering a trail marker from a different direction and from there altering my course until the summit marker came into view.

Didn't see any other hikers about (of course).  The stroll back to the road was uncertain, as well, although I eventually came upon it in a more favorable spot than what I was looking for.  By now any thoughts of exploring nearby trails were gone.  In fact, most of the next hour felt even more windy and bitter cold.  Finally, descending out of the clouds, I left the road for warmer trails that led back down to Assisi.

So, while the day did not turn out as planned, one might say that with a visit to the Eremo, a summit adventure and a safe return, things turned out even better than one might have hoped.

Ciao.