Down, up and up some more

The previous day’s walk around the Foresta Umbra was a good test for my ankle, and walking on the wood chipped paths was more comfortable than the tarmac roads, but completing the walk was good for regaining confidence in my ankle, and of course the support helped massively. It was good to know that I could walk distances on it without too much pain and little swelling as the next walk was a ‘moving on’ walk, and it was a big one.

Once again it started with a transfer to the far edge of the forest where we joined the San Michele Pilgrim Trail as we headed the relatively short 8.6km to Monte Sant’ Angelo. But don’t let the short distance deceive you over that distance we would descend 315 metres, and climb 485 metres. It was tough as it was also a warm day, and at times I wasn’t sure that I’d ever book another walking holiday again, but the views were fantastic - and there’s nothing like an impending rain cloud to encourage you on your way is there?!

The trail would take us across open farmland and up to Gargano’s highest village, Monte Sant’ Angelo on the southern spur of the peninsula. We had a picnic and our usual supplies to sustain us, and once we found our bearings we were off.

The paths were varied and the sort where you had to look at where you were going. There was plenty else to see, but it wasn’t until the dry stone wall ended that we really got our first view of where we were headed, and what lay ahead of us.

Yes, that squarish looking block of buildings in the centre of the picture was where we were heading, but there was a valley in between us and that. Eyebrows were definitely raised at this point.

But clearly the only option was walking! As we navigated the winding path up, before following the zig zag trails down to the bottom of the valley there was plenty to distract us - and actually walking down isn’t that bad.

We encountered a couple of ‘interesting’ gates, which as we approached looked as if they were simply fences, making us question our capability of following the walking notes. Even when we were much closer it wasn’t obvious how they opened, but of course they did.

But the views were stunning, just look at the sky too - amazing.

Reaching the bottom we decided it made sense to stop to eat our picnic in the relative shade, and before heading way up there. But it couldn’t be put off, and so we started our ascent.

There was a lot of up!

And with stunning views. But still up we went.

It was good to see the now familiar signs to confirm we were still on our intended path, but by now as you can see there was a big black cloud following us.

But only if you looked in one direction, elsewhere there were wild roses and blue skies.

And the largest puff balls I’ve ever seen.

And glorious gorse, and still that black cloud.

And still we went up.

And up. The town was now in sight, but it was still quite a bit higher than us - and more than it looks in this photo.

But we got there ahead of the black cloud, which we were both grateful for.

But there was still more up as we walked through the town heading towards the Santuario di San Michele dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

The Holy Cave, some 86 steps down into the rock is the site of the apparition of the Archangel and the heart of the sanctuary. The Holy Cave became a destination for pilgrims and crusaders, including many Kings, Popes and illustrious figures and it has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.

The steps down were met with some trepidation - as what goes down, must also go up and all that. But the 86 steps down, and the 86 steps up were well worth a visit to this unique place.

We continued on to our hotel passing the Castello di Monte Sant’ Angelo, but by now feeling definite signs of rain in the air so we continued on to our hotel.

By this point we weren’t surprised at all that there was more ‘up’ to do - it was the theme of the day, but I vowed to MOH even if our room was on the first floor I was getting the lift!

We were in our room (and yes, I got the lift) and within five minutes the heavens opened with absolutely torrential rain. I’m so glad it held off, as having to press on in the rain is absolutely no fun at all. But at least we knew our next walk - to the coast - would be downhill, mainly because there was no more ‘up’ left, and we really did feel like we were on the top of the world!

In the heart of the Forest

After heading into the Forest with a dodgy ankle and resting it overnight, today’s walk was a circular 14.4km walk to explore the forest. Predicted to take 4 hours 30 minutes, which both of us knew would be optimistic, even at best.

I’d debated with myself if it made sense to do the walk, but as the notes said that the walk would immerse us into everything the forest had to offer I was keen to see what it had in store for us. It also looked as if the walk was a large figure of eight so, if my ankle was playing up there was an option for us to cut it short as tomorrow was a ‘move on’ day and so I needed to be able to do that.

So off we set.

We took a picnic from the hotel and headed back the way we’d arrived yesterday, this time though taking in more of our surroundings, including these peculiarly ‘ribbed’ trees, but still looking out for the signs to ‘Laghetto’ - or small lake or pond.

Our walking notes told us that the Foresta Umbra is devoid of watercourses due to its karst nature, meaning that the topography is formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite.

Collections of rainwater form though, and they were fundamental for the development of settlements in the past, and still used as a key resource for animals living in the forest today. The largest of these is Laghetto d’Umbra with a depth of a couple of metres occupying the central part of a large sinkhole and the home to carp, the common toad as well as non-native species such as the golden carp, the catfish and the red-eared pond turtle.

Having spent some time at the lake we headed off for our next destination, the temporary waterhole ‘Cutino d’Orti’ but more on that when we get there, as it was truly amazing and like nothing I’ve ever seen before so I was so glad we opted to do the walk.

But we had plenty of forest and forest paths to navigate before we got there, and many directional markings to admire - thankfully today, we were following well signed footpaths.

These views of paths flanked by trees never get old, even looking back at my photos as I write this post I can feel the cool calmness that they exude, which was great then experiencing first hand and also very welcome today as the temperatures have notched up again here.

There were glimpses of sunlight coming through the tree canopy too - whether it was right down to the forest floor or just caught in the leaves, it’s no wonder that we find forests captivating.

We approached the clearing with the temporary waterhole ‘Cutino d’Otri’ and we couldn’t quite believe what we were seeing. We knew to expect a circular shape, bordered by an ancient dry stone wall with two gaps, or passages, which allow wild animals to drink without being trapped in its stagnant waters.

But we didn’t expect this.

It was stunning. The colour especially so.

And mesmerising. We watched the small insects dart about the surface, a toad appear every now and then and make a tremendous racket and unknown creatures below the surface. We even saw a small turtle crawl out of the water to enjoy the sun.

Totally amazing, and not something to miss - even to rest a dodgy ankle.

Eventually we drew ourselves away and headed into another part of the forest, this time to Falascone a further protected segment and a rare example of mixed beech forest. It was as amazing as the rest of the forest, but by now I was keen to get back and rest my ankle as I knew tomorrow’s walk could be more challenging. It was short, just 8.6km but it was the total ascent of 485m and a total descent of 315m that was playing on my mind!

I was momentarily distracted though by spotting a Granny’s Bonnet, and then lots of lichen!

And then there was the road back to our hotel, which was almost as picturesque as being in the heart of the forest. Almost.

See all of my posts from our self-guided walking holiday in the Gargano Peninsular. We started the walk on 18 May 2024, returning to the UK eight days later.

Into the Forest

I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger in my last post, longer than I anticipated too.

In short, a night’s rest didn’t solve the issues I was having with my ankle; knowing that we were heading into the forest and out of civilisation, such as towns and shops, for a couple of days that was a concern.

Thankfully Google told me there was a pharmacy opposite our hotel which opened 30 minutes before our scheduled departure time. So we opted for an earlier than intended breakfast, as we already had supplies for lunch it was down to MOH to deal with checking out of the hotel while I went in search of ankle support, quite literally.

The pharmacy over the road opened on time (phew) and with a bit of gesticulating and some broken Italian and English I was measured for an ankle support, and I left the shop wearing it and with a topped-up supply of painkillers and with more confidence that the day’s 14.5km walk might be ok.

The walk started with a 17km taxi transfer, and we were literally dropped off at a trailhead into the Foresta Umbra - the taxi driver helpfully pointed the way, no doubt noting that this was yet another mad English couple!

So off we headed.

It was immediately different to our coastal walk yesterday, not only in scenery but also in temperature and somehow more tranquil. The Foresta Umbra is the last remnants of Puglia’s ancient forests, with dense and lush vegetation. It contains monumental specimens of beech, oak and chestnut trees, with many secretive and shady paths which would take us (we hoped) to our hotel for the evening, which was located in the heart of the forest.

Our walking notes warned that the route is ‘very remote’ amid dense vegetation, and that the paths were not clearly shown on the map provided. Great!! It suggested we follow the written notes carefully, especially in bad weather or fog, and as the primary reference. Then to top it off it added that there was limited mobile phone coverage in the forest. If I were already unsure, none of that information helped.

The scenery gave us plenty to look at, and while we hardly saw anyone, a few cyclists did go past us and occasionally we’d catch glimpses of others out walking, but none seemingly on the same route as us.

The funghi in one section of the forest was amazing, and these are just a selection of the photos I took. We knew that our hotel for the next two nights offered a ‘forest-to-fork’ dining experience, and we were hoping that mushrooms weren’t on the menu.

We weren’t just looking up at the tree canopy, or for the various way marking signs. Our notes told us to look out for the many wonderous flowers such as violets, cyclamen, anemones, snowdrops and wild orchids. We potentially saw some orchids but the photos are poor, but we were surprised to find snowdrops out in May.

We got the message to go right…

We had a wrong turn or two along the way, which meant some backtracking but we found our way onto the gravel track and then the road in the heart of the forest, known as Baracconi. Then we knew we were close to our hotel.

My ankle held out, the ankle support and painkillers did their job - and actually walking on the forest floor surface turned out to be much easier than the tarmac road, but even so I couldn’t wait to rest it and enjoy a long cool drink from the hotel bar, before contemplating tomorrow’s ‘leisurely 14.4km circular route’.

See all of my posts from our self-guided walking holiday in the Gargano Peninsular. We started the walk on 18 May 2024, returning to the UK eight days later.