Yesterday I went for a walk in the mountains. This tour starts from Bocconi (on the road to Muraglione Pass) and the nice humpback bridge that is just below the village (I think it’s called “della Brusia”).
Ponte della Brusia, Bocconi (FC)
It is a nice hike, with the ascent that becomes quite challenging in the final part, towards the ridge tops, which, once reached, you’ll follow for a long time, partially on a forest road, before plunging back downhill, initially following a lovely descending ridge da makes most of the descent quite pleasant. During the ascent, several detours were necessary to get around the landslides that originated during the infamous May floods (there are still several traffic lights on the roadway leading up from Forlì, all due to the restoration works following the flood). Hats off to the volunteers who maintain the trail: they have had to work hard this year. At some point, they had to ‘dug out’ complete new sections to get around the more enormous landslides.
Primroses, wild saffron, and buttercup suggest that, yes, we are indeed entering spring. All of this botanic expertise is due to PlantNet, the app I installed the other day, which works well, except that it has to be online, which is only rarely possible on the trail. Fortunately, it can also be used on previously taken photos, which I did once I was back in Bocconi. I also installed an app to recognize birdsong; it’s called Merlin Bird ID, received a lot of praise, and should work offline, but I have yet to try it.
As is often the case in the Apennines, rural ruins are encountered on the trail.
The best moment was the twenty or so minutes I spent lying down to rest at the highest point before embarking on the descent. I listened to the silence that silence was not: the sounds of the forest, the birds, the wind, the heat of the sun on my skin. My mind wanted to divert to new paths, and I tended to fall asleep several times, but I consciously tried to bring my mind back to listening. A meditation exercise that restored my energy levels: I felt recharged and rested when I got up.
A warm day for mid-March, and breezy with partly cloudy skies.
At the start, be careful not to take the trail in reverse (as I initially did): after crossing the beautiful humpback bridge known as the Brusia, do not take the trail directly in front of you, but turn sharply left, walk about 30 meters above the Montone river, then take the trail to the right, marked “Valbura”.
GPX track and some photos here.