Bolzano - overview so far

Am in bolzano and have internet access again. And, at an estimate, have now walked about 1000km, hurray!

Have not done much apart from walk, eat and sleep - therefore tired, but healthy and not particualr problems so far. Since my last post I have crossed into Slovenia and then Italy, across the Dolomites. Days have been getting longer, close to the kind of distances and ascents that I need to be doing to get all the way round (20 miles or so with anything up to 9,000 feet of ascent). Am starting to find the heat quite a challenge however - since about Lavamund in southern Austria it has been getting hotter and hotter, and in particular very often is totally still and humid - ability to walk uphill is very often limited by overheatibng rather than fitness. Very often getting through 4 or 5 ltr of fluid just during the daytime, and feeling the need to find more places to stay to find a shower (campsites good: have showers but can still get away early to beat the heat a bit). Also, there has been more 'mountainous' walking than previously. Most of the sections in Austria were relatively straightforward (apart from the snakes) and the difficulty could be pretty much expressed as x miles and y feet of ascent. Since then the route has been generally higher and rougher going: more rough ground and / or exposed paths, requiring more time and effort than previously. I therefore feel on balance rather less fit than a few week ago, but this is probably not the case!

Snakes - 7 so far, only one of them (a large, sleepy adder that gave me a bored kind of look and then curled up again) refusing to move from the path when I asked it too. Fortunately not too steep to go around!

The character of the trip has also been a bit different the last week or two. Previous to that my route pretty much followed the Via Alpina exactly, since Slovenia I have used it more as a general line but have made up my own route. Various reasons for this. As a general one, the Via Alpina was marked on all the Austrian maps but not always since, and with the instructions from the internet not always being definitve the route has felt generally less definitive. Then more specifically. In Bovec (Slovenia) I couldn't find any maps for cross border into Italy, so ended up follwoing a minor road (marked on my map of Europe!) to get to Resiutta in Italy. Next, buying maps which didn't quite cover the right sections, so choosing a very close but parallel route instead. Finally, choosing a few alternative paths in expectation of too much snow on a few of the higher passes.

Last one is significant. I have been looking ahead at the route and anticipating any sections that, in the event of my not being able to get through (snow, bad weather etc), would give significant extra milage to either retrace my steps and / or find an alternative route. Am starting to realise that this is quite a long trip (if that's not a foolish comment) - although I am certainly not taking a beeline route (several detours have been slightly longer than necessary in fact), I am definitely looking ahead and ensuring that I go ways where there are alternatives, so that I will pretty much always be progressing in some way shape or form. The trip would just feel too big otherwise. Similarly there will be days when the weather will be too bad to go too high (although so far have generally managed to fit rest days around these), likewise will probably have to push forward on lower routes on these days given the time constraints.

On balance I have ended up doing a bit more distance but a bit less ascent than expected. The VA descriptions seem to be accurate on distance but several times have overstated the ascent.

Whether I will go back to following the VA more exactly we will see - the next section in any case is planned as a make it up as I go, to join the VA red trail in the vicinity of Tirano.