Competitiveness is a bad thing

Day 2 - Stage 2 - Refuge d'Orta to Refuge de Carozzu

We had a hard choice today - high route, or low route.

Competitiveness is a bad thing, and despite aching legs and feet - we took the high route....

The map for today describes a steep long climb, and finishes with a long decent. With the aid of a walking stick found at the Refuge d'Orta, the up-hill walking was a lot easier. In total, this was about 30 mins, as the rest of the ascent consisted entirely of scrambling, where the stick was as much use as a chocolate teapot!

I thought scrambling consisted of picking your way over a few large boulders, but today included free rock climbing up 10ft rock faces!

The last section of the days stage consisted of a down hill scramble (the stick was invaluable) over 2km where we lost 600-700 metres of altitude. Pretty soon, it started to take its toll on our knees and after a couple of hours of constant slipping and sliding down loose rocks, it took its toll on our heads - concentrating on your footing for every step.

By the time we arrived at the refuge de Carozzu, we had nothing left to give.

That evening, sat on the balcony of the refuge, looking west down a wooded valley towards the sea, we were treated to an absolutely stunning sunset that I will never forget. It was a tough choice for today's photo, but this being a back blip - i have the benefit of knowing of at least one future stonking sunrise for your viewing pleasure!

Also today, we met Mark and Joey - an Australian and Scotswoman who were also on the trail. Within 5 minutes of chatting to them, I managed to tread on and break my sunglasses... Despite Tim's best efforts with some spare gaffer tape - I think it might be terminal.....