Italy Road Trip: Views of Lake Maggiore and the Alps From on High.

An excellent pizza in the campsite restaurant with a couple of beers and some vino was a recipe for another night's good sleep especially as the strong wind from earlier died down as dark fell. Up at 7.00 this morning to yet another glorious day. A leisurely breakfast outside in the sun by the lakeside cleared away and washed up saw us back on the short drive back to Laveno, this time for the chairlift up to the 100m summit of Monte Sasso di Ferro perched above the town. Being Monday morning it was much more quiet in the town and we enjoyed our walk along to waterfront and up to the funivie or chairlift. This was excellent fun, especially if you like to be transported up to the heights in a flimsy bucket. Like our daughter, Beth, Heather was well outside her comfort zone and clung to sides of her bucket for dear life while I enjoyed the ride and took photographs. Like Beth, Heather has decided she doesn't do wobbles!! It was all worth it in the end though as the summit station was perched high above the town with spectacular views of the lake and the towering snow clad mountains all around. Before embarking on the short walk up to the final summit we enjoyed an excellent americano con latte high above the lake. Once up onto the top the views were fabulous. We had walked up through beautiful beech woods thick with flowering periwinkle and twayblade still not yet in bud. The summit meadows were full of colourful butterflies: fritillaries, swallowtails, blues and brimstones. I had a lot of fun photographing the resident lizard. Pity I hadn't carried my 150mm macro, then better photographs would have resulted. Soon it was time to make our way down and get some shopping at the local Coop, calling in on the way through town to the hardware store, always a fascinating experience abroad! Once back at the site it was time for a cooling beer or....... Well as Dad used to say- a bird never flew on one wing. After a session photography the nuthatches in difficult contrast lighting, I'm now barbecuing refreshed with another beer.
Our original plan was to move to Grindelwald tomorrow but it seems the weather in the high Alps is poor so we may enjoy the good weather here for a couple more days and then go straight to the Vercours in France on a hunt for Lady's Slipper Orchids.