Travelling alone can often result in unexpected deviations from the predictable path, unrestrained by others you can be free to wander unfettered.

One day whilst exploring Lake Como, I took an incorrect mid-lake ferry, intending to head back to my hotel in Varenna. Instead I ended up in Cadenabbia.

I decided to explore this very old part of the region, Griante, with its old winding alleys so quiet and full of history.

I spied a church halfway up the cliff face.

I then noticed a sign, pointing the way, and decided it would be

something I hadn’t expected to be doing. And on my first night in Varenna I had seen the building from way across the other side of the lake and wondered who lived there.

So off I set down the path and onward to the San Martino church.

The walk up takes about an hour. Mostly, other than your own footsteps and panting, it is serenely silent other than the constant chime of cowbell in the paddocks to your right. Paddocks you soon look down upon from above.

Griante is already 50m above sea-level, and by the time you reach San Martino, you are closer to 500m above.

It’s definitely not a walk for the faint of heart, as it is a steady, fairly steep incline for the best part of an hour. But the exertion is worth the effort when you finally make it to San Martino.

About 100m prior to arriving at San Martino, a sign alerts you to the danger of falling rocks, something I was to experience first hand on my walk back down.

I had only been walking for a couple of minutes when I heard a

crackling sound which soon became a roar, as loud as a jet plane flying over. I then saw them coming and managed to hide behind one of only half a dozen or so stone religious dedications to I believe various saints, which I hoped was sturdy enough to cushion any impact and save me.

Luckily I stopped walking when I did or else I’d have been directly in their rapid path.

An English lady disappeared on the same track a few years prior, like me having made the trek solo. Whether it was falling rocks or some other accident, I don’t know, but it made me think how such innocuous endeavors can still be littered with danger when travelling alone.

But I say, all’s well that ends well.