'Jotown' and his Worldwide Adventures: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head..

I know I’m up in the mountains…but from early Tuesday evening, until virtually Thursday morning it rained,rained and rained…big stair rods coming down, leaving me no option but to bypass Wednesday (reading ) and wait until Thursday morning to do something !

I have managed to do the crazy Englishman bit, and BBQ each evening ,under my umbrella !, and watch occasional glimpses of sky between the clouds of rain..

So, today, the rain had stopped, although for how long, I wasn’t certain, but determined to at least go for a wander, which is what I did !

I started by 9-30 a.m. walking firstly through the village of Sazos, and then along a trail through the forest, and along the mountainside to Viscos, about 1 1/2 hours walk away (although I did it in far less !) there were occasional spots of rain, but not too much, the worst bit was along the narrow trail, quite overgrown, and all the grasses/vegetation being soaking wet…and in turn soaking me … although without all the rain I wouldn’t be seeing lots of spectacular waterfalls, and thundering streams, which I had to cross in various ways..I was in Viscos by 11 a.m., and had a quick peek into the mountain chapel there – I think called Sts Peter and Paul, although I wasn’t certain… I then continued climbing gently along the mountainside towards Soulom, which was supposed to be another 1 1/2 hours walk away… just as I left the village I could see in the distance some very large birds, vultures of some description, although I couldn’t positively identify them –there were several of them, who flew away when I was sighted… I continued up and into the trees, crossing streams, that were coming out from beneath glaciers in the higher valleys ,although they had that much debris on top you could hardly see the ice above.. although some were more noticeable than others ! I kept on but after more than 2 hours I had still not had any sighting of Soulom, and had descended quite some distance downwards (which I would have to climb back up !), so I decided to stop, have my lunch…and start the return journey, re-tracing my steps, and even occasionally glimpsing some sunshine !, crossing lots of stream beds, where clearly Avalanche’s storm down in Winter – you could see all the bent and damaged trees, at the side of the slopes/chutes. There were also a number of Shepherds huts, scattered along the way, with space for animals and humans, although I don’t think it would be that comfortable… I was soon through Viscos, where I stopped at the fountain for my last apple and then to Sazos and home to Wally for a welcome shower…and it’s still dry, although cold, so I can’t waste the opportunity for my BBQ !