After an excellent breakfast we headed off to our next stop: Saint Vincent. Clear blue skies and anticipated low 20s.
About 16 kms and 6 hours later we were hot and tired. According to Stepz that included the equivalent of climbing more than 90 floors.
An amazing day continuing along the hills on the north side of the valley. Lots of up and down. Castles and fortifications, abandoned villages, farms, and old village centres to walk through. A lot more time spent in the sun today, especially in the afternoon, so by the time we arrived at Chatillon, still short of our destination, we had drunk our water and were probably both a bit dehydrated. We should have filled up along the way, or when we stopped for our picnic lunch in the town Chambave. After a late/ second lunch at a bar, we considered our options – follow the recommended route of about 4.5 km, including up the hillside initially to follow a path above the villages, then down again to Saint Vincent; or about 2 kms to follow the main road straight around. Easy decision. I am sure the high route would have been a lot more scenic than the footpath by the main road, but we were done.
Soon we had found a beautiful, very comfy room for the night. A bit above budget but I wasn’t going any further. Collapsed on the bed, filled up with water and only moved again to go in search of dinner: pizza tonight.
The lesson for the day: keeping an eye out for the markers even if you are the person following behind. Although well marked, sometimes if you are distracted by the amazing views, talking, or due to the vegetation growth, markers can be missed, and what looks like the obvious path, isn’t always so. We both missed the turn off down into the fields at the agriturism farm a few kms into our day, just following the road ahead which turned out to be more of a driveway. We soon found ourselves confused, standing, i think, in someone’s backyard. I had previously read of people’s confusion at one of the abandoned villages, ending up at a dead end. DC missed that marker too when he passed, following the more obvious direct footpad straight ahead. I caught sight of the yellow arrow at the entrance to the village, painted on the wall but mostly covered in vegetation, taking you up a scrubby path to behind the village.
Stayed: Hotel Olympic
Ate: I Tre Archi
Buonanotte.
Richo and DC 