Stone Footballs

I usually try to plan my walks in the Apennines with a certain precision, but  last Sunday at the last moment I decided to do a stretch of the “Sentiero Ducale” long distance footpath just because it was a bit I had not done.

I decided to take the part of the footpath that runs from Cereggio to Taviano in the Enza valley. The walk starts with a long step decent into the valley which can only mean a long climb  upwards to return to the car.  

After a long walk through thick woodland  the footpath emerged out of the forest at a point on top of a rocky spur called “I Pizzoni”  that gave some extensive views of the valley.

 

I Pizzoni, Cereggio, RE

I Pizzoni, Cereggio, RE

I Pizzoni, Cereggio, RE

It was then back into the rather boring forest for a stretch until turning a corner I was confronted with a curious geological phenomenon. The landscape was dotted with what looked like a field of stone footballs. Erosion of soft rocks around pockets of harder rock over time have created this strange landscape. I have seen this type of erosion before in the Apennines, but never on this scale.

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

After exploring the area for a while it was time to continue. The footpath at this point gave an impression of disappearing over a cliff. In fact it was a very rapid decent in amongst the footballs. The path became quite an adventure with stretches along narrow ledges in the middle of cliffs descending  vertically to the river  below as well as a deep gully that I had to climb out of.

The path down Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

Taviano,RE

From Cereggio I had descended almost two hundred meters.   Now after leaving the rugged landscape  the long steep climb back up began firstly to Taviano and then on to Cereggio along the 670 footpath to close the circle.  

Along the cliffs, Taviano,RE

Along the cliffs, Taviano,RE

Along the cliffs, Taviano,RE

Along the cliffs, Taviano,RE

This is a walk that I do not know if I would like to repeat. The long woodland stretches of the footpath were rather boring with little to see, but on the other hand the central stretch starting at “I Pizzoni” along the crest of the cliffs and through the rugged eroded landscape was quite exhilarating.

This time I took a new camera that I am starting to feel is perfect for these walks. The Panasonic Lx100 is small and light with bigish 4/3 sensor and a nice good quality 1.7 Leica zoom.