Dolomites Day 3 & Alta Via 1

As it turned out getting to the start went as smoothly as possible despite the fairly terrible Dolomites Bus schedules. The famous Lago De Brais is the starting point for the Alta Via 1 - and we were outnumbered on the bus by the zillions of regular tourists going for the photos and pleasant walk around the lake.  

We could only walk pleasantly around half the lake before we had to take a right turn and walk unpleasantly up our first and only major climb for the day. Just a lazy 900m climb out of the valley which did give us some incredible views along the way.  

Once at the highest point we actually got to descend a little bit before stopping for cold drinks at a refugio.

resting at the pass 

After that we had a gently undulating 5 or 6 k before an incredibly steep drop down the the valley floor. Along the way we passed the refugio that most people stay at on Day 1.   We had a longer walk as we found it impossible to book the refugios we wanted - in fact our initial plans were to do 2 or 3 nights of the Alta Via 1 but it was just too hard to book as an individual person - I think the only way to do it is to go via a 3rd party walking company who already has the spots booked. It didn't matter in the end though - we got a good taste of it in our one night with long walks either side.

After some more nice walking we then had to descend to the valley floor to the amazing Refugio Pedaru - which was a delight in every aspect - incredible views, lovely host, really nice family room with our own bathroom and absolutely sensational food (which we won't look at the cost of).  In fact I had one of the nicest vegetarian restaurant meals I've ever had- beetroot ravioli with goats cheese on a celery sauce base - it was amazing.  

We fell asleep to the amazing views outside our bedroom window.