Tag Archives: Alps

Saving a corner of wilderness.

Posted on 29/09/2020 by awtytravels

Regulars of this blog will know that I originally hail from NW Italy. I was born in Piedmont but spent a lot of time in neighbouring Val d’Aosta (also known as Almost Switzerland). A region of glaciers, woods, gurgling streams, … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Uncategorized, Val d'Aosta | Tagged Alps, Annamaria Gremmo, Aosta, Cime Bianche, Climate change, Conservation, Francesco Sisti, Italy, Last wild valley, Marco Soggetto, Mountains, Ski, Skiing, Val d'Aosta, Vallee d'Aoste, Vallone selvaggio, Wild, Wildlife | 22 Comments

The ultimate StairMaster.

Posted on 07/09/2020 by awtytravels

From the comfortable flatness of London, Alpine trekking evokes images of paths meandering towards isolated peaks and a soft mattress of pine needles covering a path running through the woods. Not in the mountains surrounding my hometown, though. Boulders make … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alps, Animals, Bee, Black, Bovine, Buddhism, Cable car, Clouds, Cow, Dublin, Dubliners, Flat, Flower, Hiking, Insect, Italy, Madonna, Mary, Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, Oropa, Paddy, Piedmont, Piemonte, Prealpi, Rice, Rock, Rocky road, Ropeway, Sanctuary, Shepherd, Summer, Trekking, Yellow | 28 Comments

Travels in Italy’s 11th most-visited region.

Posted on 06/10/2019 by awtytravels

There are twenty regions in Italy (or perhaps it’s only 19; Molise’s existence, much like dark matter, is still a matter for debate); together in 2018 they hosted a whopping 429 million tourists, half of them foreigners (of whom at … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alba, Alps, Art, Asti, Autumn, Barbaresco, Barbera, Barolo, Belvedere, Beppe Fenoglio, Biella, Cattle, Cuneo, DOC, DOCG, Dogliani, Europe, Granda, Hills, Horse, horses, Italia, Italy, La Morra, Langhe, Llama, Mare, Modern Art, Monforte d'Alba, Montezemolo, Mountains, Occitania, Piedmont, Piemont, Piemonte, Prealps, Roero, Stallion, Torino, Tourism, Turin, Wine, Winery | 17 Comments

Fireworks, mountains and sleeping elephants. Wrapping up 2017, in pictures.

Posted on 27/12/2017 by awtytravels

The last trip of the year has just ended; the rucksack’s been duly unpacked and its contents unceremoniously thrown into the washing-up pile, hoping for some merciful hands to put them into the washing machine without the whites turning pink … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Europe, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, London, Overlooked locations, Piemonte, Random memories, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, UK | Tagged 2017, 2017 Fireworks, 2017 in photos, 2017 London Fireworks Photos, Alps, Aqespe, Aral, Aral Sea, Aralsk, Asia, Asian elephant, Bactrian camels, Camel, Central Asia, Colombo Fort, Disappearance of Aral sea, Elephant, Fireworks Pictures, Italia, Italy, Jin Mao Tower, Jing Mao tower, Kyrgyzstan, Land Cruiser, London, London Mayor, Mountains, Murghab, National park, New Year's Eve Fireworks, North Aral Sea, NYE, NYE Fireworks, Pamir, Pamir Gap, Pamir Highway, Shanghai, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Sleeping elephant, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan railways, Tajikistan, Train, Train travel, Udawalawe | 20 Comments

The land beneath the mountains.

Posted on 18/12/2017 by awtytravels

That’s the name of my region. The land at the feet of the mountains. Click on the photo to open the panorama In my region, topography is binary. Clear cut. It’s either flat, or mountainous. No middle ground, no rolling … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alpi, Alps, Biella, Bird, Bird spotting, Duck, Emigration, Expat, Fara Novarese, Fields, Fourteener, Geese, Glacier, Immigrant, Italia, Italy, Lake, London, Malpensa, Massazza, Masserano, Massif, Monte Rosa, Musings, nature, North West Italy, Novara, Piedicavallo, Piemonte, Reservoir, Snow, Switzerland, Travel, Vercelli, Vineyard, Water, Winter, Woods | 13 Comments

Licensed to Ill: driving your teenage roads, twelve years on.

Posted on 27/11/2016 by awtytravels

Unlike many of my peers, I wasn’t given a car as a birthday present when I turned 18. Publicly I was saying I didn’t want it but I knew it was a case of fox and grapes with a numberplate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Ad-Rock, Alps, Autumn, Beastie Boys, Clio, Driving, Fall, Golf, Italy, Licenced to Ill, MCA, Memories, Mike D, Mucrone, Northern Italy, Piedmont, Piemont, Piemonte, Renault, Volkswagen | 8 Comments

Where the woods are returning.

Posted on 16/05/2016 by awtytravels

On paper, it was an easy ride. About 9 klicks, roughly 600 meters in elevation, and a smooth return to the waiting car, through the woods, up the ridge and then back again into the woods. The signs at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Abandonmnent, Alps, Biella, Biellese, Bursch, Europe, Federico Rosazza Pistolet, Italy, Piedicavallo, Rosazza | 8 Comments

The alpine tunnel for the afterlife.

Posted on 21/04/2015 by awtytravels

It wasn’t supposed to be dug this high. The idea, originally, was for the tunnel to be at least 400 meters lower, at an easier 1000 meters of altitude, where it could’ve been used almost all year round, but that … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Afterlife, Alpi, Alps, Biella, Federico Rosazza Pistolet, Freemason, Italia, Italy, Jesus, Massoneria, Mountains, Occult, Oropa, Piedmont, Piemonte, Rosacroce, Rosazza, Rosicrucianism, Valle Cervo, Virgin Mary, Winter | 7 Comments

Out of season, again.

Posted on 16/04/2015 by awtytravels

This is the second and last post of a series that I dedicated to mountain villages caught in the ‘low season’, when tourists have already gone or aren’t there yet. In the first post I visited Gaby, a village in the Lys … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alpi, Alps, Campiglia Cervo, Italia, Italy, Mountain, Out of Season, Piedicavallo, Piedmont, Piemonte, Prealpi, Quittengo, Valle Cervo | 2 Comments

Out of season.

Posted on 15/04/2015 by awtytravels

We visit them from December to Easter and from June to August. In the meantime, mountain villages slip out of the back of our minds, into a limbo where we rarely, if ever, venture. What happens up there, when we’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Overlooked locations, Piemonte | Tagged Alpi, Alps, Aost Valley, Church, Gaby, Italy, Lys, Molagna, Snow, Spring, Valle d'Aosta, Valle del Lys | 2 Comments