Nonio and other sights

Weather continuing hot, dry and bright.

Yesterday, we threw our knapsacks on our backs ("val-deri, val-dera...") and headed off early to the small village of Nonio, on the western bank of the pretty Lago d'Orta.

Expect steep and narrow roads, a place announcing itself as the "village of cats" (although we saw not a single one as Pandissima chugged through in second), and if you're lucky, a magical sighting through the trees of a crone in a blue shawl watching her goats in the dappled sunlight.

Here, at the Località Laghetti, we found man-made fishing lakes, a refugio serving food and drinks, walking routes leading into the quiet of the mountains, and a large number of chappies making lots of noise with guns.

Lunch was in the picturesque town of Omegna, at the northernmost tip of Lago d'Orta, and our afternoon devotions took place back in Carmine, at the S. Messa for the Festa della Madonna del Carmelo. The beaming faces of so many friends and neighbours was a heartening sight.

Our evening meal was attended by terrifyingly large numbers of children, small and a bit bigger, leaving the "play" room looking like a bomb site...