We finally made it to our first destination. Val Masino is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been. It’s been described as the Yosemite of Europe, and now I really have to go to California! Soaring granite towers greeted us as we turned a bend into the valley and I still haven’t got bored of the views. It’s an adventure van paradise, easy access to water and toilets, a (cold) river to swim in, huge picnic benches in the shade and a lovely town just up the road from some great bolted sport routes. We’ve spent a couple of days lolling around in the sun, swimming and waiting for it to be cool enough to climb in the evening, or in the slabs that get the afternoon shade. We’re planning some bigger excurusions soon too!

We met some german guys who were much better at climbing than us, but seemed to have less motivation. They were going to climb the impressive Calvocorto, the spire that imposed over the local town, but each morning would instead drink coffee and then go sport climbing. They too had an adventure van and we had dinner with the germans and a couple of swiss girls who were climbing and biking in the area. We were introduced to Brovarian rap and shared some gloomy British music with them, as well as some less gloomy ozomatli.