Utflykt till Ayamonte, Spanien

Måndag 25 mars
The weather continues to be iffy!
We decided to take the Ferry to Spain.
There, lo and behold! I finally found the tile-covered square I remembered from the last time I was in Portugal, where I thought it was, and one of the reasons I wanted to go here. Turned out it was in Ayamonte, Spain. Of course, that was16 years ago.

Utflykt till Travira

Löerdag 23 mars
Bad weather. We rented a car and went to a little town, Tavira. And stumbled onto a big camera obscura-construction. We were told that the first was built during da Vinci's time.
It was absolutely fascinating! Watching what was going on in real time on a disc, about 2 m in diameter.
The guy turned the objective on the Roof making it possible to see the town 360 degrees around.

Vi kämpar på!

21 mars sunny and a bit chilly in the Evelina
We are still hanging in there. Yoga at 7, Ulla is whining that it's really tough. Malin has been dismissed from yoga class because her back is killing her. She spends a lot of time and money at the chiropractor. Other than that she hangs in there and works harder than the rest of us.
Other then My knee, I am ok.
About 200 people are in our group - of which only three are drinking wine... Hmmm ....

Första dagen

The day started early with yoga, then circuit- training in the gym, then Malin went to runningschool an me an Ulla went to learn trekking Pole school. Never knew there were so many things to do with the Poles.
Then we went for a walk in the town to buy necessities, such as water and wine. And the rain was pouring down.
This morning we woke up wondering how to get out of the bed!
Morning yoga was even more painful. Malin went to the chiropractor,  who excused her for the afternoon activities, so Ulla and I kept her company in her day of rest. So instead we took a slow 8 mile walk to the neighbouring town.
The weather was fantastic Today.

På väg till Portugal

The last glasses of wine before leaving for bootcamp -at least, that's what Malin thinks, Ulla and I are a little doubtful about that -  we probably drink a little more than we exercise.

Sista dagen på Elba

Lördag 29
Today we hiked a small peninsula close to Portoferraio where the ferry to the mainland was. The hike was easy compared to the other days - about 7 km and not more than 300 m up and down.
Picnic and swiming for some, not us however:-( . We finished up with a nice cup of coffe and then the bus picked us up to take us to the ferry.

After we had reached the mainland we drove for about one hour to Castiglione della Pescaia where we stayed for the night. Lovely town. After a nice farewell drink and dinner we went to bed early since we had to leave at 6 o'clock in the morning.

Söndag 30
About two hours ride to the airport outside Rome. Total mayhem at the airport - but we all managed to get on board on time but we had to wait for the luggage to be stowed, so we were a bit late taking off.
Arrived in Stockholm with decent weather and starting to plan our next trip.

Alla bilder på Picasa

Elbas högsta topp - monte capanne, 1016 m

fre 28 sep
Bus to Poggio, a nice little town were we had a cappuccino before we started walking a short distance to the lift in Marciana. The lift itself was very scary, it consisted of small bascets were two of us had to jump into each bascet while it was moving. Same procedure getting off but even more scary because now we had to step off backwards because the backpacks stopped us from turning around.
The trip itself lasted about 20 min. And we travelled so deep into the fog that we couldn't see the bascet in front of us. Not good for people suffering from claustrofobia (e.g. Ulla - I had to share the bascet with her!)

In swedish since I can't trnslate it properly:

Hans deklamerade denna uppmutrande limerick för oss i väntan på linbanekorgen:

En känd alpinist uti Bayern
var alltför förtjust i tokayern
Han linbanan tog
men störta och dog
ty hans andedräkt frätte på wiren!



Well at the endstation we had to climb up to the top were unfortunately the fog was so thick so we could se nothing.
Then Ulla and another lady stayed behind to take the lift down while therest of us started hiking towards monte perone. This was some 500 m down and 200 m up through fields of rocks and cliffs, looking to slide down any moment. Every step you had to be 100% concentrated not to slip and fall down the mountin! We stopped often to rest and look at the scenic views, that we could see off and on when the fog lifted.
As every other day we had a fantastic picnic lunch that Eja (the guide) had fixed. The wine made us a little more relaxed when attacking the next field of cliffs.
Finally we all got home and now we sit on the balcony sipping wine and waiting for dinner.

Elba 27sept vilodag

Today we just strolled around in the city were we live, Marina Marciana. A few raindrops, no sunshine today. In an hour we will meet with the others for dinner out since the food on our hotel leaves a little bit to be desired.
Pictures uploaded to my Picasa

Elba vandringar

tis 25 sep

We walked more than 11 km starting from Marciana up in the mountins. Ulla stayed behind in Marciana because having hurt her knees the day before.

We had a great picnic lunch, italian cheeses and meets and tomatoes, fruit and wine. Ulla had a nice lunch in a local restaurant and took the local bus back to the hotel were we all met for dinner.

ons 26 sep

This was a tuff walk uphill about 470 m more climbing than hiking.

At the top we had a wonderful view and again a great italian picnic. Ulla stayed behind again but joined us the last 2 km. Her legs are getting better. 

It was windy on the top but the weather is nice, warm and sunny.

The group we are travelling with consist of 11 people, all very nice. We have somehow bonded, maybe because of the very strangeous hikes we endure each day. The youngest is 30 but there are also two more ladies that are the same age as us. 

Tonight we are all going out for dinner.

Tomorrow is a day of rest.

Elba - september 2012 med Ulla

söndag 23 sep

Looong journey - left home 3.30 am, flight 3 hours to Rome, bus 3 hours, ferry 1 hour, bus 30 min. Including waiting time, lunch and so on it took 18 hours to get here. But it was worth it!

Sunshine, nice little hotell, fantastic nature, decent room and food.

Måndag 24 sep

Good breakfast, then we started walking uphill, and uphill, and upphill. That was tiresome but the view over the mediterrainien was breathtaking!

After climbing down on the other side of the mountin we had picnic lunch and some of us swam.

But not Ulla and I because we had forgotten our bathingsuites :)

Wonderful weather, waiting for dinner with a glass of wine on the balcony.