This would be Day 8 of our holiday and looking at the weather a great one for heading up high. I’d prebooked a cable car to Col Raiser before heading to Italy, but the booking on this cable car was for one use across the whole summer period, so we could choose the best day. As it was I was keen to just go up on a day were the sun shone and cloud was free from the tops, and we certainly picked a good day. If you read up on any mountain walking across the Alps and Dolomites, the rule is the same, go early and avoid any storms in the afternoons. As it was the cloud did build but no rain or hail fell, I’m putting that down to being early in the summer season and maybe June is a good month for that. June tends to be when the bus routes open, so do the refugios and the cable cars run more frequently. Winter is the real busy time here, with skiing and snowboarding ruling the slopes, but walking in the summer is popular, particularly with the daytrippers and those instagram folk, who are interested in ‘that’ photo. These routes and places are popular, especially in July and August. So June and September tend to be on the edges, places are opening and if you get lucky and the weather is clear, the buses will run and refreshments will be everywhere on the mountains. Enough of the “Wish you were here” holiday sales pitch and on with the walk. We woke to clear blue skies and headed out early, walking the cable car station near Santa Cristina and headed up the cable car to Col Raiser. Wildflower meadows abounded, small houses and huts dotted the lush green hills, paths snaked their way across the slopes, all headed for a destination where views left you spellbound. We headed off, the main routes were marked and labelled, we had an idea where we needed to get to first and picked paths which went roughly that way, all the time necks on full swivel admiring the views. Secada, Sassolungo, Stevia and the Sella range all grabbing attention. We arrived at a col around 2100metres, below the rise of Pic sitting around 2300 metres, we could have climbed that but we turned right and headed upwards to Seceda, all the way getting more excited for a view we’d seen on photos. Seceda sits around 2500 metres, with Col Raiser just above 1900 metres, so you have a bit of a walk and ascent still to get up. Its a far better route than heading up on the cable car from Ortisei to the summit, which has the same sense of achievement as the Snowdon railway (there is a lot of talk of that currently, obviously I’m with the hikers and fell runners who are pushing to the summit past those queueing to touch the top and move on, rather than getting off the railway to take their instagram photos at the summit).

Anyhoo I digress, you soon arrive at the top and look along the ridgeline, its as amazing as you could only hope, you stand mouth open looking at Furchetta, Grande Fermeda and Sass Rigais, as they criss cross each other forming the ridge from your viewpoint. To the north is the Austrian Alps, south Sassolungo and to the right of the ridgeline are the meadows of the Puez Odle rising to Stevia and the Piz de Puez, behind you the Italian Alps, the views are 360 and dialled up to 11. The whole place is as a result of Africa and Europe smashing into each other and the limestone seabed being catapulted into the sky, full of coral reefs, yes its half the size of Mont Blanc, but it looks twice as good here. The name Dolomites comes from the 1800s and a French gentleman called Deodat de Gratet de Dolomieu, who named the rock which is everywhere, and the place is magic. Go up above 2500 metres and you get a moonscape of rocks, dusty trails linking the massifs, whilst the lush green wildflower meadows nestle below. Far too quickly we needed to head off, but not before walking the ridgeline, ahead of us we heard arguing, the result of a hut being erected by farmers, charging 5euros to walk the ridgeline. Previously you could walk across the grass and stand high above the 1000metre drops to the valleys, not now, ropes make you stay on path and the 5 euros seems silly to walk a path with no better views than you have before the hut. We dropped down to a lower path instead and then walked up further along to reach a col viewpoint. It was ok, but not really worth the effort, so we rejoined the lower path heading for Pieralongia and then the descent to Col Raiser again. We were tiring but made it to the Odles hut for refreshments, we could have stopped at 4 or 5 other refugio huts on the way but I feel the drinks are best at the end, so we did. I was a little emotional at this hut, having walked the walk I’d seen for 25 years, despite being thousands of miles from home, in a completely new place, I rarely got the map out, I’d looked at this place so often over the years and knew it like the back of my hand. We headed back down on the cable car and walked out heading for the apartment, turning to my right I saw a bus stop with people waiting. A quick search had a bus arriving in 5 minutes, heading for our apartment. Even better, by staying in accommodation in the area, it gave us free bus transport through the valleys, a scan of the QR code had us onboard and away. A fantastic end to a walk I can’t categorise, it was that good.