December brings cold, wind and snow… well bring it on, Father Winter, because that is not going to stop me from hiking! Ok I might have exaggerated a bit… because in reality I am not that hard core and I really don’t take cold temperatures that well (cold feet and loss of sensitivity in my fingers) but a walk in the snow with clear skies and the sun up high is truly magical.
A walk in winter theme, however, needs to be planned well:
(1) correct footwear, if possible snow boots,
(2) correct clothing: thermal pants and t-shirt, thick gloves and socks, a woolen hat, a fleece sweater and a windproof coat
(3) a thermos with warm drinks (tea, coffee or soup),
and
(4) a cabin or other type of retreat with a fireplace to warm your hands and feet during lunch.
As far as (4) is concerned I am lucky to have a friend who is quite the hiking expert. He took us from below the Tabernacolo di Gavigno up to the Eremo di Viandante, following hiking trails 62 and 00:
(Please don’t mind the small detour to the left:Â even great hiking guides can get lost if the snow hides the hiking trail indications :p).
Starting point of this rather short hike of about 10 km is Gavigno.
The snow may have melted on the first picture but the other pictures clearly show that higher up there was more than enough. We continued up the snowy trail 62 until the Tabernacolo di Gavigno:
to then switch to the famous trail 00 which crosses the whole of the Tuscan-Romagnol part of the Apennine mountains.
This part of the hike (approximately 2,5 hours with stops) is more intense since the trail goes up the mountain following a rather steap pathway:
On the way to the Eremo del Viandante, the cabin where you can eat your lunch by a warm fire (if you are able te start it… I needed some help of a friend who came along), you pass by the Poggio Roccomaio and the Monte Scalette.
Feel free to take a break once in a while and admire the wonders nature gives us in this period of the year:
Cherish these images because the next time you do the same trail the views may be very different…
These winter scenes kept us going but at a certain point our stomach also wanted something. Luckily we soon reached the Eremeo del Viandante (or more or less :p)
and gave into our hunger.
Given that the sun already goes down around five o’clock it is important to keep track of time so once our stomachs were filled with a good old sandwich, hot tea and home-made chocolat pie we headed back down.
Nah but we couldn’t leave without a group pic:
Going down all this snow tempted first one and then another… one snowball led to the next and we got ourselves into a classic snowball fight in which it is important not to loose your hat:
Head and head reunited we could go home to enjoy well-deserved hot shower to wash the last snow flakes away…
Walkeattalk.it 
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