Category: Europe

A Walk in the Dolomites

Posted on Posted in Europe, Landscape, Mountains

Rod Smallwood: Nether Moor Images

The Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009, are dramatic dolomitic limestone peaks in north-east Italy (more about dolomitic limestone after the images). The Tre Cime di Lavaredo (the Drei Zinnen in German) are Dolomite peaks par excellence, and the circuit of the peaks is both very popular and one of our favourite alpine walks. We revisited the Dolomites in September this year and repeated the walk.

The World Heritage site is made up of nine separate mountain groups, and the Tre Cime are in the Dolomiti settentrionali (Northern Dolomites). The area was declared a Nature Park in 1981. The northern part of the Nature Park includes the Drei Zinnen ski area, but the southern part, surrounding the Tre Cime, has no ski infrastructure at all. That does not mean it is quiet – there is a controversial toll road from Lago di Misurina to an enormous car park near the Rifugio di Auronzo, so this walk is by far the busiest we have done in the Dolomites.

Until 1919, this northern corner of Italy was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and it was a battleground during the First World War. The area is riddled with military remains – barbed wire, tunnels, many of the tracks that we now walk along – and 750,000 men died in the futile fighting. The Tre Cime lie on the border between South Tyrol and Belluno, which is the linguistic boundary between German-speaking and Italian-speaking majorities. Very confusing – South Tyrol is Italian, North Tyrol is Austrian. On festive occasions, lederhosen, dirndls and oompah bands give the area a very different feel from elsewhere in Italy. When walking, you are greeted equally with ‘bon giorno’ and ‘grüß Gott’.

The south faces of Tre Cime di Lavaredo from the Lago di Misurina, morning. Only two of the three south faces are visible from here. The Rifugio di Auronzo is just visible directly below the gap between the peaks, and the reflections from the cars could be seen easily. The toll road begins just beyond the end of the lake.

Looking back to Monte Cristallo and the Rifugio di Auronzo. The car park is beyond the refuge, and we are starting an anti-clockwise circuit of the Tre Cime.

The Vallon de Lavaredo from the Rifugio Auronzo.
Trail marker near the Cappella degli Alpinni.

Looking back towards the Rifugio Lavaredo and south face of the Tre Cime from the Forcella Lavaredo.

Rifugio Locatelli from the Forcella Lavaredo. Torre dei Scarperi on the left, Sasso di Sesto on the right above the refuge. We have now crossed to the north side of the Tre Cime, and our next target is lunch in the refuge. The main track, passable by 4WD, is just below the sunlit scree. The path at the top of the scree is more interesting and exposed, but was vetoed on this walk.

The Tre Cime north faces from the Forcella Lavaredo.
Rifugio Locatelli below the Torre di Toblin, from the Forcella Lavaredo.
The Sextner Dolomiten above the Valle della Rienza with the Torre dei Scarperi.
The Tre Cime north faces.
Torre di Toblin and the Sasso di Sesto above the Rifugio Locatelli.

Monte Paterno and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo from the Sasso di Sesto (2539m) above the refuge. This was taken fifteen years ago. The Sasso di Sesto is a superb viewpoint, not very far from the refuge, but is off the main track so is little visited. The Forcella Lavaredo is between Monte Paterno and the Tre Cime, and the main track is clearly visible running across the screes. The continuation track can be seen climbing out of the valley at the bottom right.

Sextner Dolomiten and the Valle della Rienza.
Path junction near the Refugio Locatelli.
Torre dei Scarperi above the Valle della Rienza.
North faces of the Tre Cime from the Col Forcellina.

Torre dei Scarperi from the Col de Mezzo. At the Col de Mezzo we cross back to the south side of the Tre Cime with a couple of kilometers to walk back to the car park.

More about the rock

Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure (the son of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure of Mont Blanc fame) named the rock after Déodat de Dolomieu, who published a description of the mineral in 1791.

Dolomite is limestone (CaCO3) in which some of the calcium is replaced by magnesium to give calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg(CO3)2. The method of formation of dolomite is not known. Interestingly, the conversion of limestone to dolomite is energetically favourable, and there is sufficient magnesium dissolved in sea water to drive the conversion, but the rate of diffusion of magnesium ions into CaCO3 particles is too slow for this to be a significant conversion process.

In England, dolomitic limestone is known as magnesian limestone. It forms a large aquifer beneath Newcastle and Durham, and outcrops in a narrow strip running from Nottingham to Hartlepool. It is the building stone of many fine churches – York, Ripon, Beverley, Selby, Southwell – and was said by Wren to be the finest building stone after Portland Stone. There are two tiny outcrops in the Peak District at Rainster Rocks and Harboro Rocks near Brassington. The British Geological Survey description of these outcrops is ‘Bee Low Limestone Formation – Dolomitic’.

Rainster Rocks

Further reading

The best book about Alpine geology, flora and fauna is Jim Langley & Paul Gannon, The Alps: A Natural Companion, published by the Oxford Alpine Club.

There is a 10-stage geotrail in the Dolomites, with a guidebook and two maps: Dolomites UNESCO Geotrail by Christjan Ladurner and Corrado Morelli, published by Tappeiner. I could not find any way to buy it online, but did find an English-language copy in the Information Centre in Corvara.

I picked up a very fine booklet, published to commemorate the designation of the World Heritage Site, in a hotel in Corvara – but it was in German, and I could not find an English version. However, it is online as an issu e-book.

Picture books are ten-a-penny, but good black & white photographs are rare. I have two books which are of historic interest, showing the Dolomites in the 1950s before mass tourism. It is entertaining to read Poucher on driving along the unpaved Grande Strada delle Dolomiti in his Jaguar, and comparing it with today. Both were excellent mountaineers, but the style is very dated:
C Douglas Milner, The Dolomites, Robert Hale Limited 1951
W A Poucher, The Magic of the Dolomites, Country Life Limited 1951.

The one good modern book of outstanding black & white images that I have found is Monocrome: Walking through the Ampezzo Dolomites by Manuel Cicchetti. Published by the Music Company srl, 40137 Bologna in 2018. I had great difficulty getting hold of a copy of this – I think I found it eventually on an Italian bookseller’s web site, and by the time it arrived I had forgotten I had bought it.

Finally, if you are interested in building materials in England, an old but classic book:
Alec Clifton-Taylor, The Pattern of English Building. Faber and Faber Ltd, 1972.

Image Gallery

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Iceland: fire and ice

Posted on Posted in Europe, Geology, Mountains, Travel

Rod Smallwood: Nether Moor Images

Iceland is just south of the Arctic Circle and straddles two continental plates. The land is still being formed as magma rising at the Mid-Atlantic Rift pushes the Eurasian and North American continental plates a few cms further apart each year. Þingvellir, the historic site of the Icelandic parliament, is located on the Mid-Atlantic Rift. The result is a landscape of extremes – barren volcanic plains; ice-capped mountains; thermal areas; powerful rivers fed by glaciers.

It is generally accepted that Iceland was first settled in 874 CE. The country has had a difficult history, not helped at all by half a millenium of Danish rule and by the climate being marginal for European subsistence farming.

The population was genetically very uniform until about thirty years ago. More than half of the male population had Norse ancestry, with most of the remainder from the British Isles. The women were predominantly Gaels, with most of the remainder being Norse – no doubt a reflection of the Norse rule of northern Britain, Ireland and the Scottish islands.

My focus in these images is on the landscape, not the social history.

The road layout is simple: Route 1, now mostly paved, runs around the periphery, with side roads to the peninsulas. The centre is crossed by unpaved roads, almost all of which are only suitable for high-clearance 4WD vehicles. There are very few bridges over the glacial rivers, and you are not insured when fording rivers. If in doubt, you wade them first to check depth and the condition of the river bed. This can be difficult and scary. I have crotch-high waders – if the water does not come over the top, the Land Rover can cross the river. There is no permanent habitation in the interior.

The Kjölur route is the easiest north-south route across the interior, which is a high altitude volcanic desert as large as Switzerland. Leaving the road is illegal – tyre tracks here will remain visible for centuries. On a busy day you might see a dozen vehicles in a long day’s drive.

Landmannalaugar in the east is a popular destination, with a mountain hut and hot springs. The mountains are impossible-looking pastel colours with very rough lava flows, some covered with bright green moss. The road crosses the foreground.

Rough lava in the foreground of this view in Landmannalaugar. There is a thermal area on the lefthand skyline ridge. This is a wonderful area for walking from the hut.

The power of the glacial rivers is usually very obvious, with huge volumes of grey water carrying rock down to the sea. Here, in Landmannalaugar, the enormous area of the river bed testifies to the force of the river in flood.

The 44 m high, 100 m wide Dettifoss, on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, can now be reached on the true right bank by a paved road, and on the left bank by a much rougher road. The source of the river is Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Iceland, covering 7,900 km2. Most visitors walk only to Dettifoss, a few walk upstream to the u-shaped Selsfoss, and we saw no-one downstream at Hafragilsfoss. All are worth the walk, but don’t expect to have a conversation anywhere near them.

The Leirhnjúkur lava field, near Reykjahlíð, was formed by eruptions of Krafla, the most recent one lasting from 1977 to 1984. We first visited it in 2009. The lava was still warm and glowed red down the fissures.

The largest historical lava flow in the world is the Eldhraun lava field, which is now covered in bright green moss. It was formed by an eruption of Laki in the late 18th century, and covers more than 500 km2. More than half of the Icelandic livestock died as a result of the eruption, and a quarter of the population starved to death.

Álfavatn has one of the small number of mountain huts in the interior. Steam from the thermal area can be seen beyond the huts, next to the lake.

We stayed overnight at another hut, Hvanngil, not far from Álfavatn. The evening light was spectacular.

Evening light at Hvanngil.

There are a few bridges in the interior over rivers which are unfordable. These traditional buildings are near the Markarfjot Bridge on the F261 (F roads are unpaved). The Mýrdalsjökull, a 600 km2 ice cap, is in the distance.

Clearing clouds and the Mýrdalsjökull.

The great basalt plain of Vididalur in the north of Iceland, with the thin ribbon of Route 1 running across the centre of the image.

Lava tunnels are formed by a lava flow where the outer surface has solidified and the interior lava has stayed liquid and flowed out of the tunnel. The lava tunnel at Grótgjá contains a hot spring.

Most of the thermal areas which are easily accessible now have boardwalks and fences to protect visitors. The surface is often unstable and the ground is close to boiling point. The two holes in the foreground at Hverfjall thermal area are filled with boiling mud.

There is a lot of weather in Iceland. This is Búđir on Snaefellsness in a force 9 gale. I have since discovered that this church is a ‘must see’ on photographic tours of Iceland. Needless to say, in a force 9 gale there were no photographers standing around with their tripods.

More weather. Spray being blown across the dunes at Breiðavík in the early morning.

Strandir in the far north-west of Iceland. The trees originate in Siberia.

Further reading

Ragnar Axelsson is an outstanding photographer, with a personal mission to record life in the Arctic before it is irreversably altered by climate change.

Halldór Laxness received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. I find his ‘Iceland’s Bell’ to be bleak, but that is probably an accurate reflection of life in Iceland under the Danish absolutist monarchy.

No visit to Iceland should be complete without at least dipping into the Icelandic Sagas, many of which were first written down at Þingeyrar, the site of Iceland’s first monastery. The interior of the church at Þingeyrar is delightful, and has an alabaster alterpiece from Nottingham.

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Rail Journeys in Europe: Switzerland

Posted on Posted in Cities, Europe, Mountains, Railways

Rod Smallwood: Nether Moor Images

Getting to Switzerland is easy – take the RER from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de Lyon and get on the TGV to Genève or Lausanne. Or for a slower start, get off Eurostar at Lille Europe, have moules frites and a good beer for dinner, next day catch the TGV to Lyons and change to the TGV to Genève. Done.

Lac Léman and the Jet d’Eau at Genève.

A paddle steamer on Lac Léman. The young woman left of centre with her leg crossed is sketching the other passengers. First class passengers are on the upper deck.

Framed pastoral view from the Golden Pass Panoramic train between Montreux and Zweisimmen, on the way to Interlaken and the Berner Oberland. Mother and daughter are bored by the view.
The Schynige Platte Railway, climbing from Wilderswil south of Interlaken to the hotel and Alpine Garden at Schynige Platte.
Schynige Platte station and the entrance to the excellent Alpine Garden.
The view north-east from Schynigge Platte.
Looking south from the Schynige Platte Panoramaweg towards the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. The Panoramaweg runs from Schynige Platte to the Berghotel Faulhorn. The dark mass in the middle distance is the Männlichen, reached by cable car from Wengen, with an excellent walk to Kleine Scheidegg.
Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau from the Panoramaweg.
The Faulhorn (2680m) and Simelihorn (2751m). The Berghotel Faulhorn is just visible on the summit of the Faulhorn.
Early morning at the Berghotel Faulhorn. View north over the Simelihorn to the Schreckhorn (4078 m) and Finsteraarhorn (4274 m).
The Berghotel Faulhorn – the oldest Alpine hotel (1830).
The railcar from Grütschalp to Mürren – maximum speed 30 km/h. Grütschalp is reached by cable car from Lauterbrunnen.
Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau from the high level path between Grütschalp and Mürren. The best views are when walking towards Mürren – use the railcar for the return journey.
Eigerglescher Station on the Jungfraubahn, with the Eiger and Eigerglescher behind.
The Mont Blanc Express to the Chamonix valley at Martigny.
The Glacier du Trient from the path between Trient and the Fenêtre d’Arpette on the Walkers’ High Level Route from Chamonix to Zermatt.
The Fenêtre d’Arpette – you will not be lonely on the Walkers’ High Level Route.
The Matterhorn (4478m) and the Gornergrat Bahn.
Anna views the Gornergrat panorama – Monte Rosa, Liskamm, Castor, Pollox, Briethorn, Klein Matterhorn and Matterhorn. This is a 180° panorama – hence the curved glacier.
The Matterhorn from the Schwartzsee, with the chapel by the waterside.
The chapel at Schwartzsee.
The Matterhorn and Dente Blanche (4357 m).
View north from Schwartzsee towards the Mischabel (4545m).

Travel details

Genève and Lausanne can be reached on the same day from London. The TGVs from the Gare de Lyon travel south very quickly before slowing down through the Jura – book an upper deck seat and enjoy the scenery. For the Berner Oberland you need to get to Interlaken from Montreux, which is further east along Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Continuing on from Montreux, the Rhône Valley heads roughly south until Martigny, where it turns through a right-angle and heads north-east. The Mont Blanc Express is a marvellous slow journey into the Chamonix valley. Further east, the Postbus from Sion will take you to Arolla, and at Visp you change to the train for car-less Zermatt.

Dawdling is recommended – a stop in Paris is difficult to resist. The alternative route to Genève is via Lille or Lyon, both of which are worth a stop – for me, Lille is moules frites and beer, Lyons is Haute Cuisine. Genève has situation, paddle-steamers on Lac Léman, and snow-covered mountains on the horizon – and good food. Lausanne rises steeply from the lake, and the whole of the north side of the lake is vineyards.

Interlaken, as the name suggests, is on the flat ground between two lakes. To the south are the great north walls of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, with wonderful and accessible walking. From Interlaken, the Berner Oberland Bahn heads south, dividing at Zweilütschinen, one half of the train going to Grindelwald and the other half to Lauterbrunnen. From Grindelwald, a train goes up to Kleine Scheidegg, which is also reached by a train which climbs from Lauterbrunnen through car-less Wengen. From Kleine Scheidegg the train tunnels through the Eiger to the highest station in Europe, on the Jungfraujoch. Across the road from the station in Lauterbrunnen, a double-deck cable-car, with a freight truck on the lower deck, ascends to Grütschalp. From there, a railcar, towing the freight truck, trundles along a shelf high above the valley to Mürren, another car-less resort. If you get off the Lauterbrunnen train at Wilderswil, you can take the historic Schynige Platte Bahn up to the hotel at the beginning of the Panoramaweg.

At Zermatt, the Gornergratbahn goes up to the hotel on the Gornergrat, and wandering back down to one of the lower stations gives wonderful views from Monte Rosa round past the Matterhorn to the Mischabell. Cable cars acess high-level walking to the south, closer to the Matterhorn.

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Rail Journeys in Europe: France

Posted on Posted in Cities, Europe, Mountains, Railways

Rod Smallwood: Nether Moor Images

I love wandering around cities – being a flâneur. I suppose, strictly (linguistically?) speaking, you have to be in France to be a flâneur, and where better to be a flâneur than in Paris. Anna and I tend to avoid the tourist attractions, the honey-pots, except early in the morning, and wander around the back streets or along the Canal Saint Martin. The area around Sacré-Cœur is thronged with tourists on a Sunday morning, but not far away there is open-air jazz in a peaceful square, and quiet cafés with not a tourist in sight. Not all the great buildings are thronged – it is usually quiet around Jules Hardouin-Mansart’s stupendous Dôme des Invalides. Whole areas are little known – Ménilmontant has quirky back streets and the Critérium Sauvage des Cascades, and in Belleville there is a wonderful quotation from Averroès (1126-1198) – ‘Ignorance leads to fear, fear to hate, hate to violence. There is the equation’. Surprisingly, even the Palais-Royal is quiet, and if your feet start to hurt, then retire to Shakespeare and Co for a book and coffee.

Metro entrance and a snappy dresser.
Cafe and Perrier advert. You mean to say that you don’t sit around like this with your Perrier water? Quelle dommage!
Canal Saint Martin.
Sunday morning jazz in Place des Abbesses in Montmartre.
Montmartre bar on a Sunday morning.
The Dôme des Invalides at the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris.
Ménilmontant. Notice for the 14th Critérium Sauvage des Cascades. The non-official rules say that the velocipede must have at least one wheel, and be driven by mechanical, intellectual or pataphysical force.
Belleville. ‘Ignorance leads to fear, fear to hate, hate to violence. There is the equation’. Averroès (1126-1198). Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
The grand courtyard in the interior of the Palais Royal. The man (and the running boy) are about to go into the arcade which shelters the shops.
Shakespeare and Co.
Avignon TGV. The photographs displayed along the concourse are from Les Rencontres de la Photographie at Arles.

And so to Avignon – direct from St Pancras International to the great Rhone wines. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a short bus ride away up the hill on the other side of the river. Gigondas and Vacqueyras are close by. And the food is not bad either. Avignon itself is very compact, the main street running from the station (Avignon station, not Avignon-TGV which is a short train ride from the town) to the Palais des Papes above a big square with gardens to one side.

Avignon, the Palais des Papes.
Avignon. Pont Saint Bénézet – the original of ‘sur le pont d’Avignon’ – only three arches, which does not get you very far across the river.
Avignon, Hotel Cloitre St Louis.

And then the Alps, which stretch in a great arc from the Mediterranean to the Swiss border at the head of the Chamonix valley, which is ‘mythique et authentique’ according to the official web site. Access by train is easy – unless SNCF is on strike, which has caught me out. The TGV to St Gervais leads into the Chamonix valley from the west – a wonderful line from Martigny gives access from the east – with Bourg-St Maurice further south, and the line to Turin gives access to the Vanoise at Modane.

The TGV to Turin at Modane station.

I started the Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise – a superb walking tour – by taking a taxi from Modane to Plan d’Amont (€40 for ~45 minute drive). Then gentle walking to Refuge du Plan-Sec at 2350m. I did this in September – after the holiday season, so the refuges are only a third full, and the weather can be very fine, cold at night, but very good temperatures for walking. I was rather worried towards the end of the tour because snow was forecast, and I had to cross a col at nearly 3000m, and did not have crampons or ice axe, but there was not enough snow to be difficult.

Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise: morning cloud at the Refuge de l’Arpont.
Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise: Mont Pelve.
Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise: Mont Pelve.
Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise. The new la Valette hut is in the centre of the image, the remains of the older hut on the higher shelf.
Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise: Ruisseau de Rosoire
Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise: view from the Pointe de l’Observatoire.

If you are not intending to climb Mont Blanc, there are five ways to get above the Chamonix valley – take the train towards Argentière and walk from there; take the lift to the Brévent, with magnificent views across the valley to Mont Blanc; take the train to the Mer de Glace, now much diminished; take the cable car to the Aiguille de Midi (and across to Courmayeur in Italy); or take the TMB (Tramway de Mont Blanc) towards the Aiguille de Bionassay. We have done all of these. Our last trip was on the TMB, which seems a bit like an unfinished project – at the end, the train pops out of a tunnel and stops, as if the line was never completed. Some of the earlier plans included a several hundred meter lift to the Dôme du Goûter. The walking options are limited at this height (2350m) – access to the Glacier du Bionassay, and for those attempting an ascent of Mont Blanc, the futuristic refuge on the Dôme de Goûter.

Aiguille du Bionassay from the top station of the TMB.

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Rail Journeys in Europe

Posted on Posted in Europe, Railways

Rod Smallwood: Nether Moor Images

When I was a kid, cycling was freedom, and, perhaps because we did little travelling, train journeys were adventure. It is difficult to imagine the excitement of travelling from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830 at the start of the railway age. It is pretty humdrum now though, travelling across the ‘bottomless’ Chat Moss in a diesel multiple unit. My introduction to long-distance train travel was in, I believe, 1963. I was a penniless student, and took the cheapest route to Hamburg, overnight from Calais. The third-class carriage had wooden seats, and I think it took 13 hours including a couple of hours stop in Köln. I remember standing in front of the Cathedral and seeing the towers disappearing upwards into the darkness. The whole journey from London took about 20 hours. It can now be done, in much more comfort, in about 11 hours by Eurostar and ICE.

When the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994, I grasped with both hands the opportunity to avoid the environmentally irresponsible tedium of air travel for business and pleasure journeys in Europe. In the past 20 years I have travelled many times, for work and pleasure, to France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. The journey begins under the magnificent train shed at St. Pancras International, designed by William Barlow and Rowland Mason Ordish – the largest single span roof in the world when it was built. The Paris end of the Eurostar route is equally magnificent – the great cathedral-like hall of the Gare du Nord.

The Gare du Nord looks simpler than St Pancras, but also has multiple layers of Metro and RER lines below the main concourse, and is the busiest station in Europe.

Brussels Midi is less exciting, but more convenient, with direct connections to the Netherlands and Germany. There is a direct service from London to Avignon.

Avignon TGV. The photographs displayed along the concourse are from Les Rencontres de la Photographie at Arles.

Some destinations are too far for one day – the TGV from Paris to Barcelona leaves early in the morning, but who would complain at having to spend an afternoon and evening in Paris? The sleeper train to Munich – another magnificent station – allows time for being a flâneur and having dinner.

The train trips usually involve some wandering around cities and walking in mountains. The first two are about France and Switzerland, and amalgamate trips spread over the past 20 years.

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