Who would imagine that a railway once ran just beneath
Monte Cusna, the second highest mountain in the northern Apennine chain.
Starting from Rescadore near Febbio (RE) I took the 609 footpath which picks up the route of a
narrow gauge railway built towards the end of the First World War to
carry timber down to Quara (RE) 16 kilometres away to were the road into the mountains ended (Roads in the high Apennines did not
arrive until the 1950’s).
 |
| Remains of the mountain railway, Febbio (RE) |
 |
| Remains of the mountain railway, Febbio (RE) |
 |
| Remains of the mountain railway, Febbio (RE) |
 |
| Remains of the mountain railway, Febbio (RE) |
 |
| Remains a mountain railwaybridge, Febbio (RE) |
The railway was built on top of an older mule path called
the Via Maremmana for some of the way. In one place the old railway
and the cobbled mule track run parallel.
 |
| Via Maremmana, Febbio,RE |
The next objective of my walk was to reach
Passo di Vallestrina at the head of an
impressive
corrie on the 611 footpath.
The
view towards the pass is startling as one emerges from the thick woodland
in front of the
amphitheatre.
 |
| Lame Grassa, Febbio RE |
 |
| Lama Grassa, Febbio RE |
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
Emerging at the top of the pass I could see the top of the main mountain chain
in front of me covered in cloud caused
by the humid sea air colliding with the mountains.
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
 |
| Passo Vellestrina, Febbio RE |
For the last
part of the walk I descended back down to Febbio using the Passone (the big pass)
one of the most popular routes up to Monte Cusna . This path is much less
interesting than the much less used Vallestrina Pass.
 |
| Il Passone, Febbio, RE |
 |
| Il Passone, Febbio, RE |
 |
| Pian Vallese, Febbio, RE |
