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full report
Mt.Bronzone
Overview |
As our first trip outside of the UK we didn't quite know what to expect. We had found some information on this mountain online, and after a brief chat about it, Mike made it happen. It's a peak roughly the same height as Ben Nevis, nestled in Northern Italy surrounded by quaint villages, and incredible lakes. Yes, it was as romantic as it sounds, but we're a romantic bunch so that's fine.
Transport |
Car > Plane > Car
We flew from LDN Stansted into Bergamo (just outside of Milan), which was in size, between Stansted and Southend.
We'd arranged a hire-car, which was awesome, if you like the 'white-knuckle' kind of awesome.
We declined the upsell of "Super Insurance", but like, you should take the Super Insurance.
Cost | £350
Accommodation |
We found our accommodation on AirBnB, a rustic 2 bedroom apartment set a 10 minute walk from Lake Iseo. Having recently searched on AirBnB to see if it's still on there; not only is it still on there, but they even have this photo in the gallery (look close and you'll spot our message).
Our host was great, and there was a small supermarket type shop just up the road too.
Check it out by clicking here.
Cost | £ 110
*(based on 2 nights in Sept 2020)
Mt. Bronzone |
You might share this problem, maybe it's just us. But more often than not actually getting on to the mountain we want to summit can be just as taxing as getting up it. This was, well. Another level.
What we've learnt, is relying on a map which we found on the back of a 'local take-aways' flyer is not wise. Much less useful when on the reverse are discount coupons, some of which cut out from previous guests at the AirBnB. However, it was worth the anecdotes that follow, and really, that's what you're here for.
After enjoying some banging Italian pop music on the radio, we abandoned the car in a remote hillside village, which we could definitely never find again, so don't ask. We continued in the general direction of 'up' in the vague hope that we would find something that resembles a track to lead us to the summit.
What, in fact, we actually found, was a lumberjacks house. Trespassing is never big, or clever, it was however, necessary. Is a barbed wire fence really a sign you shouldn't go in that direction? Well, we hopped it, and was greeted with a really noisy donkey. Which like in a scene from a sit-com we tried our best to "shush", whilst also trying to creep through the (presumably no nonsense axe wielding and angry) lumberjacks yard.
We made it through to the other side unscaved, only to be greeted by a forest, which well, sort of explains the lumberjack yard. Undeterred we continued with our original plan, to follow the general direction, of up.
Feeling totally lost, and getting frustrated, it was at this moment, from nowhere at all, a man appeared. Not being able to speak Italian, we didn't quite know how to say "excuse me we're totally lost, we just want to get to the top of that mountain sir please help" so we opted to make some generic "yeerrherrraaa" noise. Which worked.
Language barrier? psshh. Our mountain man did us well, after laughing at the fact it was obvious we couldn't speak to one-another, he drew a number in the dirt with his stick, and said "strada, strada, strada" accompanied with him pointing in, well, 'that general direction'.
We pointed in that same direction, and confirmed with him "strada, strada, strada!" which we assumed meant "walk, walk, walk!" (stride / strada) but Google Translate has since told us its means 'street' or 'way'.
In any case, we strada, strada, strada'd, and eventually made it to the summit, which is accessed by a short scramble. Two interesting points about the summit, 1. there's a massive bell to ring, and 2. there's a viewing contraption to view the neighbouring mountains, both are very cool.
Mountain Viewer
Total Cost | £500
Fuel, Flights, AirBnB, Calzone, Pasta, & Beers
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