Copyright © Louise Bostock 2007-2013. Please give credit where credit is due.

Wednesday 18 February 2009

The long walk home

Three degrees at 8:00am. Patchy sunshine and, just when you thought it was safe to go out, a gusty wind to rattle your very soul.



First steps on the long walk home.

With grateful thanks to Pietro Bergamaschi and the Comune di Cannobio for responding with such speed to a mother's plea for safety net on this particularly dangerous stretch of the mulattiera. The drop on the left is about ten metres sheer onto rock, and until two weeks ago a scene like this one (without Mama guiding the children with a viselike grip and with a wildly beating heart) would have been unthinkable.

For more on that hill, click here
For more on how B learned to walk up that hill, click here

15 comments:

MsTypo said...

I just read the two posts you linked to and I am officially terrified of the walk up to your home! Snakes?! 200m falls?! Walking up hill for 45 minutes?!

*faints*

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness that nightmare is over and your heart can be still...

Anonymous said...

Scary. I'd NEVER get on that path...and can relate totally to the wildly beating heart.

Great shot, btw....

Rosa said...

Nice photo.
I can relate to this path, as whenever we buy anything for our house in Italy, the first thought is how do we get it home, and will it fit in the narrow alleyways. We deal with the snakes when we get to them !

Joy said...

That is a sweet picture of the two of them on the hill. Glad it's a safer journey now. You are a brave one Louise.


Joy

Debbie said...

Yikes! The thought of that drop makes me shiver.

Anonymous said...

You should, perhaps, hightail it over to my place where some good news awaits... No stair-climbing involved!

Anonymous said...

Great picture of the kids. Pity other children aren't more exposed to danger these days but under supervision like yours.

Caution/Lisa said...

Oh! goodness. And here I was envying the life you've chosen!

Nutty Gnome said...

I've just wandered across your blog and really enjoyed it. it brought back the joy and sheer terror of small children and steep drops - we took First-Born to China and Russia when she was 18 months old and determined to fall off the Great Wall - whaaah!

Loren said...

The drop is frightening! Not a very kid-friendly landscape, but OH so beautiful! What a breath-taking place to raise a family :)

Louise | Italy said...

@ Caution Flag : As my first husband used to say, there's always a price to pay for everything that's worth having. Carmine's price tag includes daily route marches up and down, and a couple of heart-stopping moments along the way (e.g. yesterday B fell in the stream), but it's a beautiful place to be, and beats the pants off central London (my last home) for raising children.

Louise | Italy said...

@Nutty Gnome : Your daughter fell off the Great Wall of China? Was she hurt? That's a pretty big landmark to be falling off for such a little girl!

Anonymous said...

Poor little dotties. They're so small and that hill is so big!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Louise, no she didn't actually fall off the Great Wall - but she did have a very good try! Fortunately, being small and European with blond curly hair she attracted an awful lot of attention - everyone tried to scoop her up as soon as she moved. But she saw a gap and made a bid for freedom - and I just managed to grab her. A bit of a hairy moment there I can tell you!

Wednesday 18 February 2009

The long walk home

Three degrees at 8:00am. Patchy sunshine and, just when you thought it was safe to go out, a gusty wind to rattle your very soul.



First steps on the long walk home.

With grateful thanks to Pietro Bergamaschi and the Comune di Cannobio for responding with such speed to a mother's plea for safety net on this particularly dangerous stretch of the mulattiera. The drop on the left is about ten metres sheer onto rock, and until two weeks ago a scene like this one (without Mama guiding the children with a viselike grip and with a wildly beating heart) would have been unthinkable.

For more on that hill, click here
For more on how B learned to walk up that hill, click here

15 comments:

MsTypo said...

I just read the two posts you linked to and I am officially terrified of the walk up to your home! Snakes?! 200m falls?! Walking up hill for 45 minutes?!

*faints*

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness that nightmare is over and your heart can be still...

Anonymous said...

Scary. I'd NEVER get on that path...and can relate totally to the wildly beating heart.

Great shot, btw....

Rosa said...

Nice photo.
I can relate to this path, as whenever we buy anything for our house in Italy, the first thought is how do we get it home, and will it fit in the narrow alleyways. We deal with the snakes when we get to them !

Joy said...

That is a sweet picture of the two of them on the hill. Glad it's a safer journey now. You are a brave one Louise.


Joy

Debbie said...

Yikes! The thought of that drop makes me shiver.

Anonymous said...

You should, perhaps, hightail it over to my place where some good news awaits... No stair-climbing involved!

Anonymous said...

Great picture of the kids. Pity other children aren't more exposed to danger these days but under supervision like yours.

Caution/Lisa said...

Oh! goodness. And here I was envying the life you've chosen!

Nutty Gnome said...

I've just wandered across your blog and really enjoyed it. it brought back the joy and sheer terror of small children and steep drops - we took First-Born to China and Russia when she was 18 months old and determined to fall off the Great Wall - whaaah!

Loren said...

The drop is frightening! Not a very kid-friendly landscape, but OH so beautiful! What a breath-taking place to raise a family :)

Louise | Italy said...

@ Caution Flag : As my first husband used to say, there's always a price to pay for everything that's worth having. Carmine's price tag includes daily route marches up and down, and a couple of heart-stopping moments along the way (e.g. yesterday B fell in the stream), but it's a beautiful place to be, and beats the pants off central London (my last home) for raising children.

Louise | Italy said...

@Nutty Gnome : Your daughter fell off the Great Wall of China? Was she hurt? That's a pretty big landmark to be falling off for such a little girl!

Anonymous said...

Poor little dotties. They're so small and that hill is so big!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Louise, no she didn't actually fall off the Great Wall - but she did have a very good try! Fortunately, being small and European with blond curly hair she attracted an awful lot of attention - everyone tried to scoop her up as soon as she moved. But she saw a gap and made a bid for freedom - and I just managed to grab her. A bit of a hairy moment there I can tell you!