Naphthalene Gray Color

'New Year' arround 'Gorizia'

still a dark and foggy day of sirocco , which is suffering from the aftermath of an unnecessary S. Sylvester. It makes no sense to get up early, you just hope for a truce of persistent drizzle to hope to raise the butt off the couch and walk.

The truce came in the early afternoon, aided the unexpected absence of Nico, who started training for a festive lunch with team attached. I am free to leave and to choose the destination, that alone puts me in a good mood.

missing from a lot 'of time from the Holy Mountain, which I always prefer the Sabotino when there are only a couple of hours of time, and that's where I decide to go on this day that leaves no room a clamor of any kind. Then when I get a few hundred meters to gostilna Skalnica, are now submerged in the clouds.

Everything is gray and a few meters on the asphalt paths worries me, because cars do not see me, dressed in black as they are, and I can not wait to get into the woods.

on for long beams of the southern flank of the mountain there is only moisture that wets the hair and rags of cloud muffled the thin shrubs that ooze moisture. The world is invisible but smells like it's hot and wet woods, until I remove the layers one by one and remain in their undershirts to puff.

When the slope becomes more determined to display a ball of liquid light and white, in a moment, I am above the clouds. The groove of the river is choked by a thick gray blanket and only the crest of Sabotino see you leave, while the sky is a sea of \u200b\u200bswollen heaps of rain. For a moment, shafts of light through the leaden clouds to light the raindrops beaded branches.

The heart beats fast for lifting and for a quick thrill that lasts the duration of a hairpin. Then everything goes back still and hushed. Only the ringing of making New Year's Eve shows the arrival at the shrine, crowded with worshipers. Inside the packed church there is a dark shade and a "real" crib with waterfalls and pools of aluminum, stunned by the shepherds prodigy and keep soft lighting.

I'm going to berms and sweet orange drink in the nearby gostilna warm, smelling of fish and the memory of New Year's Eve dinner, silent between patrons and waiters exhausted.

While advancing a pre-dusk, through the new sanctuary awkward, too big and pretentious for this rough top of hard limestone karst, and then walk down a new path alone, with his eyes glued to the ground to avoid slipping on slimy stones worn.

Arrival at Skalnica in a dense fog and a step away from the night, pierced only by milky fog.

DEPARTURE

Gorizia from entering the crossing point of the solvent in the Red House, following the signs for Bovec and Tolmin. No longer the center of Nova Gorica, you reach an intersection at the bridge over the river Isonzo. Ignore the directions to Bovec, Tolmin and Goriska Brda, take the right path for Sveta Gora (our destination) and Lokve. Climb with twists and turns to a restaurant (Gostilna Skalnica) with ample parking right where you leave your car. Then take the paved road in the direction of Sveta Gora (Holy Mountain) and follow it until the first cross of the Via Crucis (m. 360), where you turn left a clear path reported.

PATH

The path, overlooked the first right turn, through long and moderate slope on the south side of the mountain, up to a signed fork , where you take the right direction. Now go up and carried out with greater slope for 200 meters in altitude, until you come out again on the road. Just before beginning the final steps leading to the sanctuary to share in a short 681. To descend, you can follow the same path or take the paved road (3 km) where, for some reason, you do not want to walk in the woods.

CONSIDERATIONS

What about: Just 320 meters in altitude, little more than a walk and, personally, the sanctuary does not inspire me great sympathy: is too large, awkward and lacking in atmosphere. But it has a long history, the view on the north side of Sabotino and mountains to the north is great and the remains of the 1st World War are numerous and, for fans of the genre, interesting. I mean, why not? Among the excursions "arround" Gorizia, is not my favored but there's no reason not to go there from time to time, perhaps completing the hike to the nearby Vodice.