The park-like garden surrounding Portclew. I had a big room with great views. I relaxed after an easy five-hour walk, climbing 550m and going down 460m. I'm not going to talk about highest points. I have to get used to the different kind of walking and being at 0m once at least every day

Portclew Guesthouse. My posh B&B including a lovely cat. I ate at the "Freshwater Inn", which is a ten minute walk down the road. I ate badly again. One should avoid anything sounding Italian in that area. My "lasagne" would have made any Italian cry. I should have known better after almost two months in bella Italia. But I spent a nice evening with Diane and John who I chatted with on the coast path and met again at the pub. They have a house in Wales with bats. One fell off the ceiling into the gravy. Bat gravy.

Looking back at Swan Lake Bay. I left the coast path there to walk to Westmoor Farm. I hoped to sleep there and had tried to ring all morning. When I got there I was told it was fully booked but they were kind enough to make some calls and in the end found a place for me at Freshwater East, unfortunately a very expensive one.

My walk started with a long beach walk then there were many pretty bays with red rock cliffs like Skrinkle Haven.

I am on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Walking from South to North. In beautiful weather.

North Beach and the habour of Tenby in the evening light. I got to Tenby late because it was a long journey and the bus was almost an hour late. I had only time to find my B&B, get things sorted and dash off to get some food in the "Coach and Horses", the oldest pub in Tenby, which is a pretty medieval town. I ate badly while trying to plan my walk on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Not an easy task with a huge accomodation problem. I had expected the school holidays to be over, which they are not.

Gromit. One of 80 Gromit sculptures that have been designed by various artists and are decorating the streets of Bristol as part of the "Gromit Unleashed" initiative ending 8th September.

Good-bye Italy, hello England. This is the youth hostel in Bristol, a very nice hostel at the waterfront. I am staying here tonight, I hadn't planned that, hoping to carry on straight away to Wales, but that wasn't possible. Everything went well with my journey from Domodossola to Malpensa airport, where I arrived early. Which was good because my friend Luigi came to the airport to see me off and we had plenty of time to chat. My flight with bmi regional was on a tiny plane, but it was punctual and the service was great. When I got to Bristol bus station it was almost five o'clock and there the trouble started. Italian-like chaos with information about buses and schedules, nobody seemed to be able to give reliable information and I am still sceptical about what I have been told. It was too late to get anywhere near Amroth so it was clear I had to stay in Bristol. I have a ticket to Tenby, but only at 14:00 tomorrow, well at least I have enough time to buy the Pembrokeshire Coast Path guide and an English pay to go card for my phone. But I'm wasting almost two days of walking considering that I will be arriving at Tenby in the evening and am still not at the starting point of the path. Well "pazienza" - as the Italians would say. My mind is still in Italy and just to prove the point I am in a dorm with an Italian girl...

Monte Leone in the sun. The last big mountain I saw before going down into the valley. The last big mountain I saw before leaving Italy. The descent wasn't nice, the surroundings were very nice and the weather was brillant, but the path was very steep and entirely a dirt road, later a paved track and the last piece was a 30-minute climb on tarmac.

Rifugio Città di Arona this morning. It is a nice old hut under a new management, friendly people and very good food. Not quite as excellent as La Antica Locanda Alpina at Alpe Devero (I highly recommend the place for atmosphere, hospitality and food), but still very very good. This morning the "gta family" said good-bye. While many continued on the gta towards Gondo I descended to San Domenico to take the bus to Varzo and then Domodossola.

Big split rock after Alpe Pian du Scricc. Behind, with quite a bit of fresh powdery snow, Monte Leone. From there it was an about 30-minute walk to Rifugio Città di Arona at 1760m.

Looking down at Plan Sass Mor and Pian du Scricc. The descent was steep at first, then very soft.

Dominik posing shortly after Passo di Valtentra at 2431m

Almost at Scatta d'Orogna at 2461m. The weather was a mixed bag with lots of clouds and low temperatures, later rain and even hale while walking up to the second col, Passo di Valtentra.

Looking back at Alpe Buscagna while climbing towards Passo Scatta d'Orogna. It was a long but very pleasant climb we did together as a "family", the new "gta family", which will fall apart tomorrow when we all more or less go different ways.

L'Antica Locanda. My accomodation for tonight as also for my walking companions Elena, Meike, Ingrid, Thomas and Dominik. A small Gta family for a few days. This a very rustic and cosy nice place with a warm oven. It started to rain when we arrived.

Lago Devero at 1856m. From Scatta Minoia it was a long descent, at the end on a dirt road, which - following the original Gta - would have led directly to the lake. We opted for an alternativ path on the right side of the lake. A pretty path leading to Crampiolo in slight ups and downs.

Shortly before Scatta Minoia at 2599m. There is a bivak there called Ettore Conti, which I suggest you use only in an emergency because it is dirty and damp and has a mouldy smell.

Looking back at Lago Vannino, rifugio Margaroli and - above on the left - Passo di Nefelgiu. The weather, as yesterday, was better than expected, but not good. And quite cool.

While walking towards the col

Alpe Curzalma on the way to the small col of Scatta Minoia

Rifugio Margaroli (2193m) this morning. Infront Elena and Meike. The girls are two of a bunch of Gta walkers, who met at Capanna Corno Gries and are now more or less walking together and always congregating in the evening. Yesterday I walked for a little more that two hours, climbed 1000m and went down 1150m. My highest point was Passo di Nefelgiu at 2583m.

...and towards Lago Vannino and Rifugio Margaroli.

The view back from Passo di Nefelgiu at 2583m...

Looking back towards Lago di Morasco below and Lago Gries farther up while climbing to Passo di Nefelgiu.

From Passo del Gries it was a long descent to Lago di Morasco at 1815m. Then a rather long climb to Passo di Nefelgiu started.

Lago Gries shortly before Passo del Gries at 2479m. Once in Italy the weather was a lot better, still with wind, but with views and a little bit of sunshine.

Capanna Corno Gries this morning. I arrived at the hut after a three-hour train and bus ride and a short one-hour and 310m climb. The weather was bad and became worse. I woke up to dark clouds and strong wind and wasn't sure if I should go to Rifugio Margaroli or not. Thank god for four gta walkers determined to go whatever the weather. I thought, well when they're going I'll go to. We started off in quite terrible weather, cold wind, fog, slight rain...

Complete change of scene. Albergo "Da Sciolla" in Domodossola. I am sitting in the back now, being stuffed with yummy food. My trek with Maurizio ended earlier than planned for various reasons. Last night I spent in Turin trying to figure out what to do with my last week in Italy. Today I took trains to Novara and Domodossola, tomorrow it's more public transport to Switzerland where I will walk to Capanna Corno Gries and from there on the gta back towards Domodossola.

Bocchetta di Valsoera at 2683m. The path up was very interesting and normally we would have had terrific views, but unfortunately our entire climb was in the clouds. A pity.

Beautiful reflections in the evening sun...

Bivacco Pocchiola Meneghello at 2440m. Almost like the photo I saw at Rifugio Valgravio last year. When I saw the photo I was hooked and couldn't get the idea out of my head to go there. Maurizio planned our tour accordingly and at the second try we finally got there. The photo is - at least in part - more beautiful than realitiy. The lake and surroundings are stunning and so is the position of the bivak. But on the other side, out of sight of the viewer of the photo, are loads of abandoned buildings and structures needed while building the damm. A little depressing. And the bivacco is very damp inside, I suffered a lot of cold again.

When we reached the col the sky cleared giving us a view of the other side and Lago Valsoera below.

Rifugio Pontese at 2200m. And behind the three peaks of the "Becchi di Tribolazione" as well as "Colle dei Becchi", the col we did yesterday to come here. We are enjoying a day of sunshine and "dolce vita", resting and eating and washing our stuff. This is a lovely rifugio. Tomorrow we will ne heading for Bivaco Pocchiola Meneghello.

And a view of Lago Teleccio, the artificial lake below Rifugio Pontese. We are considering to stay a day here to do some washing and the sorts before continuing on our trek with stays at another three bivaks. I thoroughly enjoyed a hot shower after not washing and sleeping in my clothes for two nights. I am also looking forward to some wine...

View down at Rifugio Pontese with its yellow roof. The clouds were closing in on us again and it started to rain when we approached the rifugio.

Ibex looking straight at us. There were loads of them below Colle dei Becchi.

Looking back up at Colle dei Becchi. We descended big parts on the snow which was comfortable after all the big stone blocks in the climb.

Looking back towards the bivak while walking towards Colle dei Becchi at 2959m.

...and the valley below in the morning sun.

Bivacco Ivrea...

A young ibex we spotted while descending from Bocchetta del Ges. There were many of them about.

Looking back from Bocchetta del Ges at 2692m. From there the path took us in what seemed the long way to Piano la Bruna.

Looking back at Lago Lillet and Colle della Terra

Lago Lillet and the view towards Colle della Porta at 3036m

The tiny yellow spot on the left is Bivacco Ivrea at 2770m. We arrived after a more than six-hour walk, a 900m climb and a 780m descent. Once again we hoped to be alone in the bivak, but weren't. We spent the afternoon and night with an Italian couple from Pont in the tin box that was a little bigger than Bivacco Giraudo. And I wasn't as cold.

Looking towards Piano della Bruna and - higher up, where Bivacco Ivrea is - Vallone dei Gias della Losa.

A lovely long path reminding me of the South West Coast Path (only without the sea) lead us towards Gran Piano and the Casa di Guardia Parco, which they are considering to turn into a rifugio, which would be nice.