Sad bear and lonely wolf

We are heading to Roma, civilisation, well the start of it (sorry Greece). For now more mountains, and some sad wildlife.

Scanno has skiing, tempting, but frustratingly it is not running, we get a quiet, good night sleep. There are only two other cars left in the car park. I don’t think anyone even notices the two wanderers. So back the way we came, not a chance, we push on, ever upwards. Dora  hates our spirit, always wanting to go up, she would prefer to go down, she likes going down. She reluctantly drags her 3.2 tonne around the next hairpin, up the next incline. She doesn’t seem to get excited by the landscape, does not admire the beauty of it all.

It is not as cloudy as yesterday, but still the mist hangs in the valley. No one is around, not a soul, or a sole, we are a long way from the sea.

Another pass beckons. It never ceases to impress what lies beyond.

The road steepens, and we are high above the valley.

The cloud this morning has been up early, and is scurrying across the crests of the hills. Later it will settle down covering everything in a thick blanket, for now we get glimpses of blue.

Eventually we pass through one valley into the next, always ever more beautiful.

The snow is even deeper here.

And the valley even more isolated.

The poles at the side are almost hidden, no one seems to venture here. Why do they keep it open? Maybe the mayor lives up here.

We are grateful it is kept open, it is wonderful.

And a few more bits of ski infrastructure dot the horizon. All closed. A lone instructor drags a child up for there precarious first slides down the nursery slopes.

We would have loved to play, still another year, they only seem to open at the weekend. We head down the valley and leave the snow behind us.

We head to Parco D’Abruzzo and Pescasseroli. Here they have bears.

No correction.

They have a bear. Thankfully there is only one.

She looks claustrophobic.

She looks bored.

She looks sad.

Apparently she was injured and cannot be returned to the wild…yet? We hope so. She too, needs to wander. Her compound is too small.

Shouldn’t she still be hibernating? What for? She gets feed. While we are there she spends her time drinking. Paw in water, she licks. We get depressed.

Probably not as depressed as her!

I hope our €6 goes into some proper conservation, the wolf if looking much happier. Wolves are pack animals, but this one is on its own.

This is one of those parks they take wounded animals to cure them and put them back into the wild. We hope so. Even if that was the case, her behaviour would have been influenced by the easy living she has got here. Maybe she is better off where she is if she wants to keep alive. SM

She tries to keep clean in her dirt enclosure

But the saddest of all, a dear. Right next to the wolf. Close enough so they can smell each other, see each other; predator and prey separated by a thin wire fence. Pretty cruel really.

We leave fairly rapidly, there is not much to see, which we are fairly grateful for. We head to more satisfying views. Hill towns.

They come thick and fast, as we pass valley after valley, heading towards Tivoli and Roma.

In amongst the mountains, we come across a flat hollow area, completely surrounded on all sides.

And in the centre, a cluster of telescopes, looking in a fairly poor state of repair.

And also nearby, apparently this is part of the Italian nuclear industry!

More hill towns.

Everywhere you look, hill towns. Look over there a ridge, build a town on it.

Every nook and cranny, filled with a hill town.

Even below; hill towns.

But even so, everyone looks strangely beautiful. Run down, dilapidated, chaotic, but beautiful.

This way of building spread like a disease in those times. Being at the top of the hill gave these villages more chances to spot enemies. Now they are competing for residents to live in them. Some of them seem clearly destined to die soon. SM

Small or large, still lovely.

Clinging desperately, not very accessible, not good for old people, all those stairs, but lovely nonetheless.

They are actually quite dense, much denser than an English village; four storeys and narrow streets.

We leave, eventually getting to Tivoli, a town, traffic chaos, quite a shock. We are quite excited, for the next three days we are going to see Roma.

GDR