Author: richodcblog

It is about 15kms from town to town but covered another 5 kms wandering the town and twice chasing food.

The route today initially winds its way across the valley floor, at times following the river and through fields; other times up the edges of the valley to towns.

The main climb involved today is through Bard. This town is overlooked by the massive Bard Fortress. As it is a glorious sunny Sunday, and market day, we need to weave our way through the large crowds. Long lines at all eateries and stalls, plus at the fortress, so don’t hang around to taste test or sight-see. But on to Donnas, where a section of Roman road remains. Finally to arrive at Pont-Saint-Martin and the old Roman bridge. I love a good bridge. Especially solid stone ones. I am less of a fan of suspension bridges that sway in the wind and bounce, but a solid Roman bridge – fantastic.

Stayed: Crabun Hotel

Ate: Hotel Ponte Romano.  Spaghetti with ragu. Plus apple cake. Delicious.

A presto.

About 15 kms and mostly not so strenuous. Mostly.

Early on in the day we pass through woods of chestnut and oak. Some up and down past autumn-coloured vines, ridiculously picturesque villages, and of course castles.  We walk over an old Roman road with ruts in the rocks from wheels. It is a beautiful route. Although still a sunny day we have a lot more shade throughout.

For the first time i am using two hiking sticks, and today the more level walking allows me to better practice my “il Nordic walking”. Starting to get a good rhythm going.

 

As we get closer to Verres there are two hills to get over. The first not too bad. The last hill of the day though is a killer. Steep, winding, narrow and rocky. I have mentioned previously that we are pretty under-prepared. And once up it is a very steep route down to the valley floor. Very, very steep.  Mostly jeep track, or paved in the steepest parts,  I know it is going to lead to a whole lot of pain tomorrow. (The photo does not reveal the whole truth).

As we wander into the old part of town  for a look around and to go in search of our dinner, we can hear lots of bells echoing through the hills, shortly followed by a procession of cattle right through the streets.

Stayed: B&B Solan

Ate:  Pizzeria Carpe Diem.  Pizza and salad for DC; risotto and hot chips for me.

Buonasera.

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.

From our accommodation across the river, via the Cathedral to chase our first stamp, it was around 19 kms all up today. About 6 hours with rests, taking pics, dawdling up hills etc. on a fine sunny day.  It started cool but the layers were soon coming off.

Through the Aosta valley we will be following path 103. Today that path takes us out of Aosta passing the Roman theatre and arch, and over the Roman bridge. We are soon out into the villages and farmland. There is a lot of up and down as the path generally stays up on the hillside to the north of the valley floor. We pass apple and pear trees, grape vines and vegie gardens and walk through woods, with the regular accompaniment of cow bells throughout the day. We eat our picnic lunch by the Castello di Quart.

By the time we reach our accommodation for the night we are ready for a rest.  So we put our feet up, relaxing on the garden terrace and checking out the view across the valley, past the castle of Fenis to the mountains. Luciano provided an excellent dinner of pasta with salad from his garden. A beautiful home, an amazing view, chickens & dog & cat and his lovely garden.

Grazie Luciano.

Accommodation: Lo Talapan, Rovarey – highly recommended.

 

 

A domani.

So here we are, DC and I, in Aosta, Italy about to start on a walk to Rome almost 1000 kms away. The via Francigena.

We have done plenty of walks before but this is the longest venture by far. We have completed treks in Nepal, hiking in Australia, tramping in NZ and a 250 km cammino from Porto (Portugal) to Santiago di Compostela (Spain).

It was during a day walk in Tuscany four years ago, from Certaldo to San Gimignano, that we saw signs for the VF, and the seed was sown.

Unfortunately this time we are really underprepared. For me a stupid broken toe in the lead up wasn’t helpful. And also overloaded – tried to keep to under 6-7kg for me, and 9 kg for DC, but failed by a couple of kilos each.  Winter is coming, and being cold and wet does not make for a good day of walking. You then add water and some food supplies for the day, and all up those extra kilos feel really heavy.

But…. before we start.

We left Melbourne on Sunday October 1st, 2017, the day after the best day of my life! 🏆🐯.  I packed my good luck, grand final, yellow and black beanie into my bag.

We flew into Milan – a very scenic descent across the north of Italy towards the city, with a right-hand side window view across the Alps.  We have previously caught the bus from Central Station in Milan to the airport; super easy and convenient.  However, our experience this time from the airport to Central Station  – a ridiculously chaotic, totally disorganised situation. The way people were pushing and shoving, queue-jumping and completely disrespecting each other, with really no-one from the bus service providing any sort of organisation – you would think the white walkers were coming.  If I fly into Milan ever again, I won’t be taking this bus trip from the airport.

Before we started walking we took a little trip up the valley to the Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) Skyway. Took my breathe away, and it wasn’t just the altitude and the steps up to the viewing platform.  Highly recommended, especially if like us, you don’t get to see views like this very often in your life.

And then to the walking.

Our aim is to take our time. We have eight weeks to finish if needed so we don’t need to race to Rome. We plan to smell the roses, take in the scenery, talk to the chickens and cows, examine the vegie gardens and have rest days when needed. I make no promises that we will walk every step of the way. We will see how it goes.

The guide we are using is the official guide (Terre di mezzo) which looks very detailed but is heavy. Oh, and cost a ridiculous amount in postage to Australia!

We have the SloWays and Pocket Earth apps, to help us find our way, especially if we get lost. I also have the Stepz app to see how far we walk, and how much climbing we do, but not certain how accurate it is.

And we have our credentials (pilgrim passport) to get stamped along the way.

Siamo pronti! Actually, probably not. But we are starting anyway.

Buon cammino!

Richo.