Into the Forest

I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger in my last post, longer than I anticipated too.

In short, a night’s rest didn’t solve the issues I was having with my ankle; knowing that we were heading into the forest and out of civilisation, such as towns and shops, for a couple of days that was a concern.

Thankfully Google told me there was a pharmacy opposite our hotel which opened 30 minutes before our scheduled departure time. So we opted for an earlier than intended breakfast, as we already had supplies for lunch it was down to MOH to deal with checking out of the hotel while I went in search of ankle support, quite literally.

The pharmacy over the road opened on time (phew) and with a bit of gesticulating and some broken Italian and English I was measured for an ankle support, and I left the shop wearing it and with a topped-up supply of painkillers and with more confidence that the day’s 14.5km walk might be ok.

The walk started with a 17km taxi transfer, and we were literally dropped off at a trailhead into the Foresta Umbra - the taxi driver helpfully pointed the way, no doubt noting that this was yet another mad English couple!

So off we headed.

The path and forest ahead of us as we got out of the taxi, slightly unsure!

It was immediately different to our coastal walk yesterday, not only in scenery but also in temperature and somehow more tranquil. The Foresta Umbra is the last remnants of Puglia’s ancient forests, with dense and lush vegetation. It contains monumental specimens of beech, oak and chestnut trees, with many secretive and shady paths which would take us (we hoped) to our hotel for the evening, which was located in the heart of the forest.

Looking up to the tree canopy
A yellow waymarker band painted onto a tree trunk

Our walking notes warned that the route is ‘very remote’ amid dense vegetation, and that the paths were not clearly shown on the map provided. Great!! It suggested we follow the written notes carefully, especially in bad weather or fog, and as the primary reference. Then to top it off it added that there was limited mobile phone coverage in the forest. If I were already unsure, none of that information helped.

potentially a stinking iris plant with the red berries on show
A freshly grown conifer branch

The scenery gave us plenty to look at, and while we hardly saw anyone, a few cyclists did go past us and occasionally we’d catch glimpses of others out walking, but none seemingly on the same route as us.

funghi growing up/out of a tree's trunk
A different kind of funghi growing on this felled trunk
A closer look at the paler funghi growing from the tree trunk
Looking up the tree's trunk and to the underside of the funghi

The funghi in one section of the forest was amazing, and these are just a selection of the photos I took. We knew that our hotel for the next two nights offered a ‘forest-to-fork’ dining experience, and we were hoping that mushrooms weren’t on the menu.

plentiful trees in the forest - tall and thin

We weren’t just looking up at the tree canopy, or for the various way marking signs. Our notes told us to look out for the many wonderous flowers such as violets, cyclamen, anemones, snowdrops and wild orchids. We potentially saw some orchids but the photos are poor, but we were surprised to find snowdrops out in May.

a snowdrop on the forest floor - in May
A small clump of pink flowering clover growing amongst the fallen leaves
A white flowering most likely Iris

We got the message to go right…

red and white waymarking arrows painted onto a tree trunk - thankfully all pointing the same way
A barrier ahead, with paths either side

We had a wrong turn or two along the way, which meant some backtracking but we found our way onto the gravel track and then the road in the heart of the forest, known as Baracconi. Then we knew we were close to our hotel.

My ankle held out, the ankle support and painkillers did their job - and actually walking on the forest floor surface turned out to be much easier than the tarmac road, but even so I couldn’t wait to rest it and enjoy a long cool drink from the hotel bar, before contemplating tomorrow’s ‘leisurely 14.4km circular route’.