Barefoot to the Gianna Pass

Well as Baldrick is  carving out a new set of pipes (probably from some old boxes bits of string and wire) the weekly jaunt was in the excellent company of Mrs. Baldrick. We went up to the Gianna Pass which is a lovely trip of about 10 kilometers there and back and 756m height gain.There were a few wild campers on the river plain before starting to climb up and there was such an air of peace that I would have loved to sneeze in it. The first part of the climb is in woodland. There’s something really seething about wending your way up through open larch woods early in the morning and it makes the usually hard initial slog very pleasant.. Fortunately  climbing and eastern slope there was no sun until we were well under way but even when it came summer’s back has obviously been broken and it wasn’t that hot. The wind was pretty much constant too.It’s a popular trip during the summer and in fact we met quite a few people, Brits, New Zealanders, Belgians, French and Italians of course all enjoying the excellent weather and the most spectacular views. Though, as usual, everyone is very friendly and chatty I’ll be happy when August comes to an end and I get the mountains back to myself again.I did 375 m in height and about 4 km barefoot.  It was mostly large grain scree which meant added concentration. Crossing a boulder field I stood on a seemingly solid rock which rolled over spiking my heel so my first barefoot accident. I was pleasantly surprised that the only problem I had was with the cold. The ground was freezing until the sun got on it. This morning my feet are a bit sore and like last time I’ll be giving barefoot a rest for a couple of days. People are still interested and curious but not at all critical which I’m grateful for. I had my photo taken of my feet by a party of Belgians though, but everyone smiling nicely so no real problem there but it was still a bit embarrassing. Next August I might have to work out some form of covering; barefoot underneath covered on the top sort of thing so people  don’t notice. At the moment it’s a novelty but knowing me it’ll soon start to annoy me. Mind you after the end of august there won’t be anyone to see anyway.[Image]I’ve started to notice that starting out in shoes I have very little pain but after 5 minutes with no shoes I have no pain at all. The pain comes putting my shoes back on which I did coming down as the stones were too sharp to brake on safely. Literally 3 minutes after my shoes go on, my ankle starts hurting. Next time I’m going to go in boots and see if it’s perhaps just this pair of shoes that causes the ankle problem . Fascitis doesn’t seem to be that painfull today, probably covered by the general soreness of the foot. I get the feeling that the soreness is coming from the fact that the foot is not used to moving, a bit like how your muscles hurt after a day hefting a chain-saw about