A Winter Walk from Cortina
This week, we found ourselves in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites, and decided to follow a route we found online for a winter walk.
The route is easy and relaxing, and mostly follows roads, but the paths through the woods can be harder to trace if a lot of snow has recently fallen. Wet ankles await the foolhardy.
Leaving town
We started in the town or Cortina d'Ampezzo, at around 1200m.
We walked to the north side of the town, being careful to avoid the main roads, as the cars had crushed the snow to ice, and many of the roads had no separate pavements. We took the lane to the village of Cadin di Sopra, overlooking Cortina, with views of the surrounding mountains.
The Climb to Lake Ghedina
After leaving town, a path led up the hills to the West. We were the first people to walk it that day, and yesterday's footprints had been softened by the overnight snow.
The path ascends through the woods before joining a road leading to a little lake with, the Ristorante Saliola on one of its banks. The lake was full of both fish and ducks.
We arrived to find a snowman without a face, so pebbles collected from the lake became a nose and eyes. The ducks misinterpreted this as an attempt to feed them.
The descent to the river
After visiting the lake, we returned to the woods, and ascended further to the highest point in the walk, at 1460m. Here, the path forked, and we began to descend to the North, rather than continuing to climb the mountain. The snow was thicker here, and the weather colder. There were more views of the surrounding mountains from this side of the hills, as the River Boite cuts itself a steep rocky valley.
The descending path meets the river next to a campsite, where is it crossed by a bridge. There was plenty of snow to throw into the river below.
Following the river back to the town
We followed the River Boite downstream, South towards Cortina. As we followed the river, our tracks were joined by those of a family of deer, who we had previously seen while descending. At one point we entered a shallow meander in the river alongside the deer tracks - them to drink, and us to find shiny stones.
From here, the path shadows to the river, until it ascends through the woods and emerges onto a blinding snowy expanse.
We took our lunch on the open slope - some focaccie and pastries from one of the bakeries in Cortina.
The path then led back to Cadin di Sopra, where we rejoined our footsteps, and enjoyed an easier walk back to town, as the sun had begun to melt the ice.
