A walking holiday in Iseo with wildflowers… Would it be obsessive botanists holding us up, fiddling with tripods and cameras? In practice, it was great walking in the mountains and by the lake, pausing briefly to look at exquisite little flowers and gazing at meadows filled with mauve bugle, purple meadow sage, yellow euphorbia and rock roses, with a vista of lake and mountains beyond.
We were rained on more than I expected in Italy, but went out every day on wonderful walks. The streams across the paths were in full flow. Most could be stepped or jumped over with care, but for the widest ones our intrepid leader, Karen, stood in the middle with icy water over the top of her boots helping everyone across.
Many mountain paths are narrow, steep and cobbled. On several occasions we had been steadily plodding uphill and getting close to the top of the mountain, when we had to stand back to let an Italian lady on a motor scooter chug up past us. Sometimes it was a car that came past us, with only inches to spare on each side between the banks, on its way to a remote chalet.
The highlight of the holiday was the walk to the Pyramide – a freak of erosion where hard boulders are perched on tall slender columns of softer rock. They looked like something Dr Seuss would draw.
All our walks in the mountains gave us wonderful views out over the lake, often to the island of Iseo, which we had visited by boat on the first day. We walked to the chapel on the top then down again to a delicious Italian ice cream to eat on the boat back.
Alison Shingler
Gants Mill & Garden
[...] Powell was on the Iseo walking holiday with Alison who recently sent in her blog post. When Naomi saw Alison’s blog she sent in a couple of photos and a lovely little explanation. [...]