This walk takes you quite high up in the Gran Sasso mountains (to 2433 metres above sea level), but it is not too difficult or too scary. Drive to Prati di Tivo ski resort and take the gondola up to the Madonnina.

Here's the smart new gondola...

It currently (Summer 2011) costs 10 euros for a return ticket.

Here's the Madonnina... a religious shrine-type thing.

It helps to wear your Lucky Pants on this walk.

Look back after you have started the walk and this is what you will see - the motorway snaking elegantly across the Abruzzo countryside and a lush carpet of beechwoods along the base of the mountains.

Yes, you can still do a fairly strenuous walk in the mountains AND harass your workmates via iPhone, as Marsha illustrates in the photo below.

The first part of the walk looks like this:.

The path gets a bit rocky, but nothing a 'hench' young teenage girl can't handle. Chloe takes it all in her stride, despite being a first-time walker.

Get your husband to run on ahead to buy you a Moretti beer at the Rifugio. (That's what husbands are for.)

Here are the 'facilities'.

The sign at the Rifugio gives times for further walks.

This was 13-year old Chloe's first Big Walk. Here she is looking rather pleased with herself. And rightly so.

There's just a couple of metres of metal wire to help you over a stretch where the path has collapsed slightly. No big deal though.

This walk is really worth doing. It offers a lot of satisfaction and a big feeling of achievement without too much effort and grief! And remember - on a hot day the further up the mountain you go, the cooler it is!