#stagedhike

Between Christmas and New Year, this walking time lies like a slow, steady breath. From Brenner / Brennero, the route unfolds in stages through wintery heights, across open slopes and shaded woodland, leading into Bolzano, a city in the northern Italian province of South Tyrol.

Near Bolzano, the walking grows quieter. A way of moving, carried by the ground beneath my feet and by the feeling of being part of this winter order, if only for a while.

Thoughts recede into the background, in favor of nature.

I love this Yule time, this in-between state of the years - when darkness still holds and nature turns, almost imperceptibly, toward the light.

Between the Years · Travel Journal December 24 – December 29, 2025