TESSIN - 2004

Do. 8/7 Acquacalda – Capanna Dötra

 We arrive in Acquacalda around noon. It has been raining all day and there is not much traffic on the road. Finding a parking place in Acquacalda isn’t that easy. There are some parking places along the road from Acquacalda to Passo Lucomagno, but these are all for day tourists. We decide to get some soup in Hotel Acquacalda and ask if it is possible to park the car there for a week. That’s not possible, but the hotel owner tells us to park the car a few curves further. After our first Minestrone experience of this week we get dressed for the short walk to Capanna Dötra and park the car. The one hour walk will be the only time we will have to wear our rain suites this week, but we don’t know that yet.

When we arrive at Dötra, we are lucky to meet the keeper who is on his way to the valley. We’ll be alone in the Capanna tonight accompanied by 150 mm of precipitation and a lot of thunder. Since Capanna Dötra is actually located in a tiny village it is possible to eat in the ‘Grotto’, which is owned by 2 friendly people, who unfortunately speak Italian only. During dinner bad weather really breaks loose, huge amounts of rain and thunder fall down on Dötra and the Grotto ends up without electricity. The night in Dötra is turbulent but at dawn it suddenly stops raining and the storm clouds disappear.