Monteu Roero - La Castagna Granda

Il Sentiero Della Castagna Granda
The trail of the big chestnut
We recommend to start your hike from the historical town center (395mt a.s.l.). You can park your car in the in piazza Roma where you also have public restrooms, a well and two coffee bars (waypoint). From there you need to follow the major road SP29 towards Turin until after a couple of minutes you reach a “nature-made” balcony from which you have a great view on some of the most beautiful Rocche in this area. Continuing on SP29 you need to turn right in a small uphill street toward San Grato, following the indications of the hiking trail S1. Only 600mt later you need to leave the S1 and follow the directions of the sign “Sentiero Castagno Grande“ (see photo). Passing by Cascina Avai on an initially sloping bituminized and later quite steep gravel path you reach a beautiful chestnut clearing. The big chestnut will immediately attract your attention as it is indeed a natural monument. This chestnut tree is about 350/400 years old and thus one of the eldest in Europe (even though not the tallest). This is where the cache is hidden. We kindly ask you to treat the tree with appropriate respect. The tree surely did not become this old to be treated carelessly by geocachers. You do not need to climb or armwrestle with the tree to find the cache. The remaining part of the hike leads thru one of Roero's typical forests. Once you reach the street you have a wonderful view on the castle of Monteu Roero and the old part of Santo Stefano Roero.
For further information on the hiking trail you may want to vist the website of the Ecomuseo delle Rocche del Roero (descriptions in Italian, English and French):
leaflet
map
The cache is a small Tupperware box containing: logbook+2 mini-pencils dice key-chain “Non solo pizza” Looney Tunes game 10 Pfennig coin