23rd July 2006

Boun Giorno! We have, 6 days after arriving in Switzerland, reached Italy! We crossed the border at 9,250 ft at sunrise yesterday morning, and celebrated with the traditional triumphant breakfast of curried noodles.

It had been a long 3 days from Martigny, up and down cliffside paths in the sweltering heat, ending each day a little higher than where we'd finished the previous night. This cumibnated with yesterday's dawn climb up what we hoped would be a gentle ski-slope, but transpired to be a 3,000ft rubble-strewn scree-slope which steepened to such a vertical gradient that it almost defeated us. On eventually reaching the top we found two abandoned deckchairs into which we slumped, exhausted, surrounded by breathtaking views of the snowcapped peaks of France to the west, Switzerland to the north, and Italy to the south.



From this mountain-top border-crossing it has been a two day descent to the suprisingly pretty town of Aosta. From here we hope to reach Milan in the next two weeks. We will keep you posted.

Regards,

Andy and Paddy