Global Sport Stories

It goes without saying, one major draw to van life is the fact you literally have a bed on wheels – that you can of course transport with you wherever you may get to. 

This is truly fantastic, and let me say the novelty has very much not been lost on me – despite the somewhat cramped sleeping position I have had to adopt. However, as two fit and adventurous van dwellers, the idea of a multiday hike with an overnight stop became ever more attractive in our minds. Pair this with the numerous “bivaccos” dotted across the Italian Dolomites and the idea turned to a certainty.

Bivaccos are essentially mountain shelters that come in all different shapes, sizes, building material and colours, as we found out. They differ from similar, more commonly known, mountain hut structures known as “refugios” greatly. 

Often perched high up on a mountain pass, bivaccos are simplistic structures that provide space to sleep for often between nine and fifteen visitors. This comes at no cost and no need to book – you simply turn up hopeful that not all the beds have been taken. This is in stark contrast to aforementioned refugios, which book up months in advance and will set you back around 60 euros for one night.

During our time in the Dolomites, we stayed in three and a half bivaccos (this will be explained) and loved every second of it.

The first of our overnight exploits took us to Bivacco Bedin, which ended up being one of our most physically challenging hikes of the whole spell in Italy. Although hiking up to a shelter to spend the night doesn’t technically constitute a sport, due to the amount of sweat and physical toil it took to reach Bivacco Bedin, I am more than happy to recount our experience on this sporting platform!

Of course we certainly didn’t help ourselves by transporting huge backpacks full of food, water and even an emergency tent – should there be no beds left. We were afterall total bivacco amateurs at this point. 

To our delight though, only two beds were taken, leaving us to choose from seven others; only one extra got taken later than us. As we settled down to enjoy our trangia cooked meal, set in front of an extraordinary mountain sunset, the strife of our journey to Bedin had been forgotten. And just look at the pictures…you can see why, right?

This was a truly magical introduction to discovering bivaccos, and again, I’m sure it now doesn’t surprise you to understand why we swiftly lined up two more bivaccos to explore. Both Bivacco Paolo y Nicola and Bivacco Constanzi were wooden structures, in contrast to Bedin’s metallic shell, this is where the similarities ended though.

Paolo y Nicola we had to ourselves. There was a glorious log burner nestled next to the front door with ample wood to feed the fire. A truly homely feel could be created; in a space where we literally turned up and made it our own.

Constanzi was contrastingly packed to the rafters. Yet where the place may have lacked a little homely feeling, was more than made up for in the form of community spirit. I had a stranger’s dog sleep in my bed for God’s sake! Of course not being Italian, we could barely speak to our new roomies, yet united by the shared achievement of reaching Bivacco Constanzi and our likeminded nature of wanting to stay in a hut with strangers for fun, everyone enjoyed a wonderful night, creating memories to last a lifetime. 

After these three experiences, we simply could not get enough. Bring on Bivacco Valerio Festa. Travelling to this metal, yellow cabin was a rather impulsive, late in the day decision. However, now brave enough to leave the tent in the van, we were quietly confident of finding the place empty on our arrival – which we did! 

A rare blast of mobile signal brought about news of severe thunderstorm warnings however. And not wanting to spend the night stranded in a metal, mountain box, we hastily flew back down seeking the van’s refuge. Now do you see why I say we did three and a half bivaccos?

Hiking to and staying in bivaccos freshened up our routine. We spent a night away from the van, met and connected with more people (and dogs) and saw outstandingly breathtaking scenery we wouldn’t have ordinarily encountered.

As I say, is this a sport? No. But to anyone with a slight slither of love for hiking or the outdoors in general, this really is a must do pass time.