Slightly later than normal but here is My Ordinary Week 20. It continues from a short break to Tuscany with my wife Louise.
After enjoying our first evening we got up early to have a look around before breakfast. The reason to return in Autumn was to try and see the place with more colour and with a little more weather than the when we were last here in the height of a very dry clear summer.
My first observation was that Autumn hadn’t fully arrived yet and on this morning there was still too much blue sky for my liking so it wasn’t long before we were back in enjoying the hotel breakfast and coffee.
We had a plan in the afternoon as we only had 2 full days and I wanted to make the most of it. I had pinned 2 locations in the summer visit where I wanted to return with more time and no kids to keep out of mischief or danger.
So we filled ourselves up with the late breakfast and made our way to the first location, a disused marble quarry on the road to Massa through the Alpi Apuane. Like most quarries the size and magnitude can be slightly unnerving. This particular one seemed to be popular with the local artists too.
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You could see the odd piece of nature amongst the large slabs of marble as it tried to reclaim the deserted site. Mid afternoon light wasn’t ideal for photography but there was still enough interest to capture a few details.
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There is a sense of eeriness about these empty places and also some sadness as if the money men took all they could from the land and just walked away leaving the rest to rot.
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From here we moved on to a little village called Arni where there was a track up to the Passo Sella, our next destination. We parked up and started the hike up to 1500m, I’ve not been hiking as much as normal since my knee op in April so the fitness has gone a little which meant it was slightly tougher than it should have been, but I used the excuse of taking the odd photo to disguise my need for a breather.
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Reaching the Pass though had it’s rewards and to my delight there was a lot more colour on the trees at the higher altitude.
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It was good to see this place and get an idea of how and when to return for better conditions. With the height of the surrounding mountain tops it was evident that it would be much more suited as a sunrise location and also there is another track from the other side of the mountain that goes through a very pretty woodland so could potentially have some nice compositions in morning light as the mountains above lit up.
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After exploring for a while we made our may back down to the car at Arni and to the hotel for some well deserved beer, wine and pizza in any order.
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The next morning Louise was not for getting up early so I nipped out to a couple of locations I’d wanted to see in first light. Again nothing special but useful all the same.
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After breakfast we went to visit family and with the legs being a little sore after the hike we chose to enjoy the afternoon in the old town of Barga where we were staying and savour the local cheese and hams while washing them down with some fine wine. We also relaxed in the surprisingly warm afternoon sun on the hotel roof terrace where I managed a snap or two of the views, I even found interest in a yellow hosepipe which I think was the effects of the afternoon wine.
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The following morning we were up early to head for the airport and as we left Barga the conditions put on a bit of a show as if to remind me to return, which I certainly hope to do.
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Back to reality and back to work but most importantly back to our girls. It doesn’t take long before we miss the two little rascals.
Photographically that was about it except from one walk around the park on Saturday while waiting on my youngest to emerge from a birthday party. It was good to check up on the progression of autumn although this was before #Ophelia so how relevant it is to todays conditions is anyones guess. A few Sony snaps for reference.
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That’s another week gone and I hope you enjoyed the trip to Italy as much as I did. Once again I thank you for reading #MyOrdinaryWeek and you will return in the future. If you wish to comment or get in touch then I would be more than delighted to hear your views.
Until next week…
