Sunday 1 July 2012

The roof is complete.  The insurance will pay for the internal decoration.  ‘Better than a kick in the teeth’ as my old dad used to say.  Good workman, quick delivery, clean and tidy - almost too good to be true.  The warm weather that we’ve had during June should help to dry the interior out so the painting can commence soon.

View from Pigra looking SW
A friend took us to the top of Mount Tremezzina, via the top of Mount Lenno.  A little nerve racking, with Andrea constantly asking me if I was nervous!  As long as I looked at the inside of the mountain and all the lovely wild flowers clinging to the crevices I was fine and he was very careful.  From Pigra you drive along the top of a mountain before you begin to climb again.  We came across a field with donkeys, with the majority of them facing in the same direction with their ears pricked up.  ‘Ah!’ I said – ‘Stop for a photo.’ ‘Ooh.’ Andrea said. ‘Donkey salami’.  The sad thing is - he wasn’t joking.



View down towards Como

We passed tiny farms with goats and donkeys in makeshift
enclosures. And when we reached a refuge called Calbiga (Venini), at the end of the road - what a view!  The day was perfect, with barely a cloud in the sky.  Walk just a few yards and look to the left and you can see Lake Lugano and the smaller lakes beyond – turn to the right and you can see Lake Como. We were above Argegeno and you could see the leg down to Como.  Walk straight ahead in between the cattle – docile in character with long horns and tongues and at a point some yards further on you can see as far as the leg of Lake Como that stretches down to Lecco.

We ate sitting at rustic tables with bench seats – it is said that on a Sunday more than 200 people are served lunch.  I was glad we went on a Wednesday – meeting a car either whilst going up or down would have broken my nerve!
A portion between three!
Our cheese starter was delicious and more than generous, so generous in fact I cancelled my second course of home made stew.  I didn’t ask what the meat was when the guy brought me a couple of chunks on a plate anyway!  The guys had sausages – not as your English sausage, more a rough slab of minced meat but very tasty, with polenta.  Now I don’t like polenta – I’ve had it lots of times and quite often it’s stodgy and clings to the inside of your mouth but this was yummy.

I walked amongst the cows with the long horns – I met a young brown cow head on and put my hand out – as you would to a dog you’d not met before.  It eyed me for a while and then uncurled its long brown tongue – I hastily withdrew my hand.  Like a spurned puppy he followed me along the path for quite a way.

It was a lovely experience - one I hope to repeat in the not too distant future.

My friendly cow


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