After I made breakfast for my guests I washed and tidied up and then decided to go back to bed again. I didn’t really sleep, but rested and it felt good. I didn’t see Michele anymore, who had returned from fishing and left a note, not wanting to disturb me. I got up again at nine and cleaned the bathrooms and shower and made a big pot of minestrone in case somebody came by for lunch and wanted something to eat. The weather was very good even though the forecast had predicted rain sometime during the day. And finally around noon someone came by to eat my minestrone. A women and her dog stopped for a break. The dog reminded me very much of Sheba, especially its face, look Uschi:

I had a shower, washed my hair and decided to go for a short walk and test my wonderful GPS in my wonderful HTC smartphone. The wild rhododendron is blooming and looks so nice:

I followed a trace I didn’t know and switched the GPS on. It is absolutely brilliant and I can hardly believe how well it works! I do not have to do anything but switch Twonav on and it immediately shows me the right map and the position I am in (of course that I have the digital maps at all is all owed to Karl in Basel. He has the maps and calibrated them in a way that I could load them on to my HTC. I can not thank him enough!). The small blue triangle indicates my exact position and moves when I move. In this case it would have actually helped me because the path is an official alternative path up to Campo Tencia peak but not marked and, without the GPS, I wouldn’t have known where to cross the river. I feel relieved, feel a little more secure if I get lost, of course the GPS is only an emergency help and if the phone is not charged of no help whatsoever.

I met the sheppard Michele on my way back to Soveltra. We had met shortly last year in September and he stopped to exchange a few words about his sheep and my GPS. Walking back I noticed that the big rock I had passed by earlier was actually a climbing rock, not at all high, but there are carabiners at the top proving that you can climb there. So, dear Ututu, if and when you come here next time, remember to bring your climbing equipment and we’ll have a try. It is VERY difficult to see in the photo, but if you look very closely and use your imagination you can almost identify them:

Just being here and often not having anything to do I take in all the little things, some of them are so obviously beautiful. Like all the butterflies flying around the place all day. So many of them. They love to sit on the walls, and, strangely enough, right on my door step. There is always at least one of them there.

A big part of the day I spend rescuing all kind of insects. Bumblebees, beetles, bees, etc. that have come in and landed in the sink or behind windows they can’t open. Other people may not care or even squash them, but I couldn’t. I’d even rescue a spider if I had the courage. My mouse hasn’t returned by the way and somehow I almost miss it…

My guests arrived at about five, Willi and Therese from Greifenwald near Zurich. We immediately started talking about walking and the paths in the region. A very nice couple over 60 and top fit. They go to the mountains a lot and have been to Soveltra before. Willi will return again in two weeks time with a group of 15 men. He plans to lead them up to “L’Uomo”, a peak at 2484m you can reach on a crest from Passo Fornale, which is on the path from Soveltra leading towards Fusio. He came to test an alternative route. He and his wife Therese had walked to Soveltra from Bignasco instead of, what most people do, from Prato Sornico. Bignasco, which has a station, will be the group’s starting point and seeing there are only a few buses running between Bignasco and only at rather inconvenient times, they will walk from there, which takes at least two hours longer.

We ate together and it was actually the first time I have really sat down in the evening and had a “proper” three-course dinner since the working lot left ten days ago or so. They were telling me about their holiday home here in the valley when the thunder storm came and we hurried outside to take the sun veils down. That is quite awkward and I was glad I had help. We made it just in time before it started to rain. There was a lot of lightning and thunder but not very much rain and the storm was over quickly, too quickly for me, because I love thunder storms, especially in the mountains when I am safely in and not outside, as for example in the “Südabstieg” of the Watzmann, the long ugly descent from that otherwise immensely beautiful mountain, in a panicky frenzy, which happened to my then friend Thomas and me some years ago. Not good.