Visiting Italy's Lake District: Part VIIIa - Soglio and Alpine Panoramas

As we laboriously made our way up the boulder-strewn alpine trails which had from ages ago served as trading routes through the Alps,

it was clear that our prowess and slow progress did not impress some onlookers at all.  They'd seen it all before - hikers come and hikers go, after all.  And we were not toting huge and heavy packs such as those ancient traders had.

The scenery was spectacular.

And such vistas provided legitimate excuses to pause - frequently -

as we continued along the steep trail.

There were little mountain huts in areas where in June, the cows we had seen contentedly browsing further down would come to spend their summers, attended by those who would milk them and use some of that milk for making various fromages de montagne (mountain cheeses).

Some parts of the trail had natural step formations

while others, although narrow, had been fortified to prevent erosion.

The spray from occasional waterfalls would cool us.

At times, it seemed as if we would step off the trail into oblivion.

But at the last moment, more breathtaking scenery would be revealed.

At long last, Soglio, our destination, came into view.

The weary travellers headed into town

and some of us stopped at this little hotel restaurant for an excellent lunch!