VIc.8    Section Prato di Camponi - Sora   20 km

All night long it rained. And it had become cold. The tent was surrounded on three sides by big puddles. Dressed for the cold weather I started the climb the pass Punta dell'Ortica at 1731 m elevation. The trail went up with many switch backs. Soon I saw the first snow on the ground. Ascending further it became more and more snow and at the pass it looked like winter. This was the second time snow had come the winter.

The way down was through an old growth beeck forest. I hike turned out to be very difficult. There where so many leafes on the ground and no clearly recognisable trail. Due to last night precipitation it was very slippery. There where many motorcycle tracks which did not make hiking any easier. Carefully moving down I finalla arrived at the road Strada Vicinale Lo Bianco. The E1 follows this road for a long time. It is mostly made paving stones and being wet rather slippery. Finally I came down to the valley and arrived at Santuario Madonna della Figura.

By now the rain had stopped and turned into a few showers. Now the trail follows minor roads with little traffic at the bottom of mountain Colle Sant'Angelo. Then I reached the river Siri in the town of Sora. Here I went shopping for food. At a local bakery I had a very pleasant conversation I gat a bread as present. A hiker who done evrything from North Cape to here and wanted to continue to Reggio Calabria was something they had never experienced before. For the night I staid at the B&B Portella delle Fate in the centre of town. I got a huge room and my breakfast for tomorrow morning was already laid out.

Ascent in fresh snow that fell over night

Plenty of fresh snow at pass below Punta dell'Ortica (1731m)

For quite a while I followed the plastered Strada Vicinale Lo Bianco downhill

River Liri in Sora

Richly set breakfast table for tomorrow morning

Comfortable bed at B&B Portella delle Fate