From Aosta to Nus. (Stage 3 prematurely)

There being only two buses a day on Sunday from Aosta to the Pass, and wanting to make a start in cooler temperatures, I opted for postponing stage 2 from Echevennoz to Aosta until tomorrow. Turns out the Via runs right past my front door, which is actually an ancient arch, and then over the Roman bridge.

 It follows ashphalt along the side of the valley looking down on the town and climbing steadily till it reaches a ru just beyond a farmhouse with beehives and a view back towards snowy peaks.

More lovely little Alpine villages and wooded paths (Oh, yawn!). Faced my first major obstacle at Quart Castle, where the Via is the only path. 

 As the path went round the back of the castle, there was a big fence across with striped tape and no entry signs. This potentially meant a major detour into unknown territory, where be dragons, and with no signs of an alternative route, I feared a long trek down to the valley floor, and no chance of picking up the Via again. Fortunately, a local couple out walking their dog managed to convey that it was because of a collapse of the hillside on a 150m stretch, but the path was, in fact, perfectly passable, and they showed me how to climb around the barrier. There was absolutely no sign of any damage to the path, and, as you can see, at the other end, the barriers were rather half-hearted.

Quite a lot of upping and downing today, on asphalt, but where the path followed the ru, it was often shady, crooked and twisted, but not criminally.

The ru were constructed between the 13th and 17th centuries and run for miles along the sides of the valley, and used to enable the production of fodder for milking beasts during the brief summer months. The local population relied upon dairy products (but rarely meat) from their livestock, so ensuring they were fed during the winter months required well-watered pasture. There was also a network of smaller channels, which no longer exists. On a sweltering day like today, it is very pleasant to walk alongside the clear running water.

And so down into the village of Nus for a long lunch, a litre of water and the train back to Aosta. This evening there was a spectacular storm and the temperature has dropped substantially.