Page 29 - Army Mountaineer Winter 2022

MISCARTICLE
COWS, BULLS AND OTHER CHALLENGES
Alun Davies
As we walked into the quiet village of Rhémes Notre Dame in the Italian Aosta valley the village clock rang out the time. It was half-past three in the afternoon and still very hot. The sundial on the church spire looked down on us with the inscription “Nos jours passent comme l’ombre” or our days pass like shadows.
We were hiking a high-level route through the Italian alps, and this was day six, so we were now fairly fit. Our route was called the Alta Via 2 which runs across the grain of the Alps and took my wife Isobel and me ten days to walk the 143 km. Much of the route passes through the Gran Paradiso National Park and the paths in many places are well made because in 1856 King Vittorio Emanuele 2 had created a Royal Game Reserve and tracks
had been laid to allow his entourage to move easily between the hunting lodges. This ensured good hunting for the King but also protected the native ibex and chamois which were in decline. The ibex, in particular, was hunted because it was regarded as a ‘walking pharmacy’ as their blood, horns, bones and even droppings were used in a variety of remedies. The paths were now two hundred years old but in parts the ancient paving was still in place; originally laid so that the baggage train of mules carrying cooks, food and cooking equipment could set up in the
The calm before the Storm
Col Fenetre looking down to Valgrisenche
hunting lodges before the arrival of the royal party. When we found these paths still in good condition, they speeded up our pace considerably. On this day we had hiked for about 7 hours over from Eaux Rousses and across the Col di Entrelor (3007m).
Our hotel, the Galisia, was in the centre of this small pretty village and we soon settled in and ordered cold beers to drink in the sunny garden. We chose a table and sat down to relax and stretch our legs after the hard day of hiking. But no sooner
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