It rained heavily last night and was really noisy on the tipi although I felt safe and cosy inside. I woke at 4 to the sound if the dawn chorus and one bird in particular stood outside my tipi yelling “it’s morning, it’s morning, time to get up, time to get up!!!!” repetitively. 6.30 the first train of the day passed by behind my tipi. I don’t think I mentioned that before but the mountain railtrack is about 50 metres from my tipi. I was a little surprised at first but I found it strangely comforting and got used to the time the train came through each way. They stopped running at about 10.30 and starting again around 6.30 and after a while I hardly noticed them. Going back to the heavy rain I sat up in my sleeping bag to see the rain had come in all around the tipi. It sits on a wooden raised base and Carole told me later that her father should have wrapped the sides of the tipi around the decking and that way the water would not have come in. Anyhow, although it had come in as far as my bed, I was raised up on a thin plastic mattress so was not affected.
It was a beautiful morning after the rainstorm and I ventured down the 150 metres or so through the wood to the washrooms for a shower. The showers were beautifully hot in a large modern wooden building fueled by solar power. Breakfast was as usual on Carole’s decking overlooking the Swiss National Park, which is a huge mountain range opposite. This morning they had a telescope out because Ronata had seen some rare mountain goats way up on the mountain opposite eating the new grass that was appearing through the snow. I took this testing out the 30x zoom on my new camera which isn’t bad as it’s about as good as the telescope!
We called at the ranch to say goodbye to Ava and Andre who were helping the farrier shoe all ten horses. 
Then Carole, Ronata and Danny took me to the station to catch the 11.08 Poste Bus to Chiavenna. After our goodbyes, the Postebus which I had seen recommended on the Internet in a review, wound it’s way through the tiny Tyrollean villages of Engadin.
It negotiated at least ten hairpin bends in one go that should never be attempted by a bus meeting logging lorries and motor bikes! But the views were to die for!! I’m so glad I chose to come back a totally different way to Menaggio where I had left my big wheelie bag. Why oh why did I bring so much stuff?! I decided while in St Moritz that one change of clothes was absolutely sufficient for this sort of trip. Noone sees you more than once anyway so just wash every third day in the hostel. I would discard clothing as soon as possible! Yes, it was very cold in St Moritz and I needed layers and jackets but not any more. Europe looks like hotting up from now on.
I am now sitting back in the Menaggio hostel catching up with blog, and a Merlot to reward myself for negotiating all the different forms of transport to and from my little excursion to Engadin…. ferries, trains, busses and walking with backpack. Actually the transport system so far has been much easier than I expected, even crossing the border from Italy to Switzerland, although I am now landed with some Swiss money the Italians are not interested in. This last picture is Varenna just before taking the ferry back to Menaggio.
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