Our own hike in Cogne

 July 14  Thursday

Today's hike is billed as the longest, hardest day.  It is scaled down from the original itinerary as previous groups found it too hard.  well, that sounds a little better.  Nick's knee is bothering him a bit and he has decided that he isn't going on the hike.  Marta says she thinks I can do it but it is totally up to me.  She suggests that I have a talk with my pillow and let her know in the morning what I decide.  My pillow and I have a heart to heart.  I decide that I could but that doesn't mean that I have to or that I want to.  I feel comfortable and good with the decision not to go on this hike.  We plan to go with the group up to Valontey where we get a nice view of Cogne and then take the next bus back down to Cogne and take a walk along the river to Montroz  Ellen sits down with us for breakfast.  We tell her our plans and she thinks that sounds good and decides to join us.  Then Beth joins us for breakfast.  She had been debating about going but didn't want to be the only one staying back.  So she was happy to join our alternate plan for the day.  

It is the same bus and same driver that does the route in the three directions out of Cogne.  Goes one direction out of Cogne, comes back.  Goes the next direction, back to Cogne.  Third direction, back To Cogne.  Repeat.  I think he does that route  three times every day.  All of them involove going up, up, up out of Cogne.  

We get a nice view in Valontey of Cogne.  We can see the exact path that we will take on our own later in the day.  We have about 20 minutes in Valontey before catching the bus back down.  Mimo tells us where is the best lookout point.  It's nice but now has a big old cell tower in the middle of the view.  The town is small and we walk past the church which is closed, and back to the bus stop.  There is some road repair going on near Valontey.  A helicopter flies right over our bus and lands on a little tiny spot to deliver some supplies to the workers.  

A large painted rock

After a short break at the hotel, the 4 of us start off on our little hike.  It starts with crossing the town which is about 3 blocks, cross a grassy area, cross the bridge and turn up stream.  At first there are quite a few people but as we walk, the number quickly thins and we meet the occasional person.  There were a couple of steeper parts but always a fairly wide path. On one of the steeper sections, a dad came by on his bike.  His daugher's bike was tied to his so that he could help her with the steep parts.  When they got to the top of the steep part, he stopped and undid the rope.  

In Montroz, there was a nice little cafe.  We stopped and had a beer or ice cream.  Very pleasant. 

Then ambled our way back to Cogne.  Nick treated himself to a massage.  The rest of the group got back about 4.  They were all happy with their day and we were happy with ours.  

This is our last night in Cogne so go to a different restaurant.  Still owned by Filipo but smaller so the service is a bit faster and the food is a bit better.  It is called The Cave.  From the street it looks like a regular little food shop but you wind back and it becomes a cute little restaurant and there is a cave where they keep the wine.  I realize now that I could have been taking more pictures.....  I had polenta and beef stew that came in a cute little casserole.  Dessert was a pudding that was like melted chocolate ice cream with nice crisp cookies and fruit.  Yum!