- Refuge d’Asinao – Refuge Paliri
- August 2023
Stage 14 of the GR20 involved a succession of climbs and descents like most days previous. We have come to realise that we just need to look around and pick the highest mountain in the area and thats usually where we are heading up and over, after previously hiking over 3 mountains beforehand…and thats no joke!
Just aswell there are many attractive viewpoints on our journey otherwise I think it could be soul destroying.
From the Asinau refuge, we followed the path heading south-west. It descends to the bottom of the Asinau valley. I am always very wary about loosing so much altitude as you know whats coming further on in the day!
We cross the Asinau stream and continue on the left bank of the stream to reach a large forest filled with pines and leafy birches. We have reached the lowest point of the stage.
And then from here it begins, we start to go up in altitude and continue this for most of the day. Its long and very very steep…and this goes on for miles.
Finally, we arrive in Bavella after hours of hiking upwards and it’s A SHOCK: buses, cars, tourists and all the nuisances that go with it! It’s the return to “civilization” after 13 days in the middle of nature. It actually feels weird and I am not so sure I like it!
Still we take advantage of the village as Mike our hiking companion had thought about pizza the whole day and told us it was this thought that actually got him through the hike. So off we went to the pizzeria only to take a seat and wait 40 minutes to then be served and then be told there was no pizza. The looks on our faces must have said it all, we were gutted. Feeling starved we stayed anyway and ordered pasta and two massive plates of fries.
Let me tell you a funny story on our entry into this pizzeria. We were quickly made aware of how dirty we actually were. Previous to this we hadn’t really realised as we were so busy just trying to survive the days and nights. The past few evenings in the Refuges had been pretty poor and tough going. We had arrived in camp latish and what with trying to find a camping spot, food etc and then find the ‘showers’ which are usually miles away from your camping spot and freezing cold and dirty we have tended to not use them, preferring to try and wipe ourselves down and sometimes not!
So before entering we had consciously decided to sit outside incase we stank. On entering the outside area a woman and her husband were sitting at the entrance. On walking in the look on her face said it all when she looked me up and down with utter horror/disgust and nudged her husband so he too could have a good look. I continued walking quickly to the furthest away spot embarrassed by what had just happened and got us a corner table on our own. When we sat down I asked the others if they had just saw what had happened and they had. We had a discussion about how dirty we actually were and agreed we wernt that dirty until Mike said we looked like two miners just coming up from the pit. He then took a photo of both our faces and we had the biggest laugh ever…we were absolutely filthy…and I now wished I had captured it on camera.
We ate our pasta dirty but happy and then left quickly to escape this chaos and get back to the wild.
The route then continued on through a lovely softwood forest whereby we found a pool of water to wash away some dirt!
We then gained some more altitude one last time by climbing upwards to pass the Foce Finosa. From here the Bavella needles are clearly visible, what a stunning sight its absolutely beautiful.
We still have around a couple of hours walking before reaching the Paliri refuge: descent, then ascent, then descent… it’s endless!
Once again we had no high expectations of this refuge and just aswell. We’re starting to get used to it now! The cold shower here is a bit far: you have to go down a dirt and stone path for 5-10 minutes…so we didnt even attempt it and the toilet was disgusting.
Finishing on a positive our natural views from this campsite were stunning. The mountains were beautiful. And as the sun began to set it just got even better. Tomorrow would be our last day on the GR20.
Mary's Outdoor Adventure's 