A true path follows no plan…

I am very proud of myself! Yesterday I made it up to the Grande Grotta to practice some shots. It was a long, hard way up, but I did it, and have conquered the fear of heights even more!

As I explained in my Pothia post, the shops here don’t sell camera accessories, so I was unable to get a wide angle lens. I decided to take off anyways and see what I could do with the lenses I have. The start of the walk / hike / climb to the Grande Grotta is about 15 minutes from my hotel. I was unsure where the exact start was when I got there but luckily there were three lovely English climbers about to head off. They invited me to join them so I knew where I was going. I made it about a quarter of the way with them and wanted to stop to get photos of my journey on the way to the top. I was, lets be honest, quite a lot less fit than them, so off they went.

I tied my hair up, had some water, and braced myself for the next leg of this mountain climb – yes, I think you can call it a mountain, or at the very least a very, very, very, huge hill!!

The more I climbed the more I thought I’d actually taken the wrong, and harder way up, as I saw more and more people coming up from the left of me. I literally had to haul myself up and over some rocks on the trail. About half way up I really thought my legs, and especially my knees weren’t going to take me much further.

I was slowly making my way closer and closer to the top. I started to worry slightly about how the hell I’d actually get back down. I stopped for a few minutes just looking up and down and around, then the determination set in again and off I went. What’s the worst that could happen…..erm, let’s not think about that!!!

You really can’t gage how high up I was, and how big the Grotta is unless you are there, standing in it, looking down. I’ve placed my hat in one of the photos, to try and show the distance and sizes of things, but it is still hard to show it all.

So, I eventually made it! I’m stood on a shelf like path, looking up at the climbers inside the Grotta and wondering just how far to the back I can get for some good pics. I’d put my bag down and had my water out when I heard this clip, clop, scuffling coming from my side. When I looked over there is this evil looking goat coming straight for me, with a very meaningful strut on her. She had really big horns too. As I’ve previously mentioned I am a bit of a wuss. I didn’t really have anywhere to go to get out of her way, only a few steps to the right, and then, quite swiftly she had her head in my open backpack, had found my hat and was off with it in her mouth!! Cheeky bugger! How dare she! I need that hat. On instinct I stretched over and grabbed my hat from her mouth as hard as I could, then found myself giving her a slap with it and saying, actually out loud “NO! That’s naughty! Shoo!!!!” I think she got the message as she looked back and give me a right funny look!

So, after that little drama, I stepped a few more metres up and started to find a decent position to get some shots. I really wish I’d had a wide angle lens, but as I didn’t really expect to be taking shots up a mountain under the Grande Grotta, quite a famous climbing route the more I’ve heard since being here, I can’t beat myself up too much. I sat for a while playing around with the exposures, and generally just watched in awe at these strong, fit, skilled climbers. It is truly amazing to see how fast and high they make their way around the walls of rock.

I am so pleased I made myself go all the way to the top. The climbers I met at the bottom did tell me to be careful about where I sat as it’s not advisable to sit directly under the climbers as parts of the rocks and stalactites can chip off. When you’re actually sitting under the Grotta you can make out the huge stalactites formed by calcium salts. It is such a popular area for climbing as there are many different types of rock face. There’s the extremely overhanging areas of rocks with stalactites and the tufa’s, there’s slightly less overhanging areas and vertical, smooth orange and white areas of rock and there is also the grey slab areas with sharp rock, formed and sculptured by nature’s rainfall, which they call “Gouttes”. The rock itself is impressive enough to look at, but seeing it with the awesome climbers doing their thing is quite unbelievable at times.

When it was time to start making my decent back, I was a little worried about the best way to go. There was an English hiking couple who looked like they were ready to take off, but I wasn’t sure which direction. I approached them and asked if I could follow them simply stating “I have no idea how I actually made it up here and have no idea how the hell to get back down!” Probably what this little goat was thinking too….

The couple were lovely and told me to follow them. We chatted all the way down, which was easier in some respects than the way I’d made it up, although it was a lot rubblier and both me and the lady fell on our backsides at one point. I have a few “war wounds” including some skin missing from my right hand and some cuts on my leg, but nowt serious. When we made it to the bottom, we said our goodbyes and they pointed me in the direction of a homemade Italian ice cream Parlour, when, once there I had 2 scoops of the best ice cream I’ve ever had!! Well deserved I reckon.

I felt a great sense of achievement after my day up the Grande Grotta. I am happy with the shots I managed to take but know, with more practice and study, I might be able to return one day, with a wider lens, and get even better ones.

More photos on the “Photography” page