Pilgrimage from Viareggio to Pisa 30/07/07

I think my eating habits are leaving a bit to be desired at the moment because I am feeling lethargic…I mustn’t be getting enough calories.

I woke up around 6am but didn’t leave the tent till 10:00. I then only made it 7kms down the road before spotting an Internet café and deciding to check my email. I only planned to be there five minutes, but two hours later I was lucky that they were closing for lunch and kicked me out. I don’t think I would have left otherwise ;)

I then only made it 3kms down the road before stopping to eat and read. That soon turned into sleep and before I knew it, it was 5pm.

It was then a long flat walk along the main road to Pisa. The only point of interest was these couches along the side of the road…I thought it was funny that they appeared at regular intervals but it wasn’t a nice place to sit…

I then got accosted by this buxom blonde woman, who ended up being a buxom blonde man, and realized what it was all about. After finding out I couldn’t speak Italian, French or Spanish, she continued to try to seduce me buy making humping actions and licking her lips. Needless to say I politely took my leave, but it was all quite amusing :)

I got there around 18:30 and met this Albanian girl who studies there. She showed me round the sights, but then had to leave as she had other engagements…Thanks Violta :)

I was well impressed by the tower! Pictures just don’t do it justice.

After getting my photo leaning against the tower, there was only one other thing I had to do. That’s “eat a pizza in Pisa”, so it was off to a restaurant. I wasn’t disappointed as the pizza was excellent. I can now die a happy man knowing that I have “drunk “champagne in Champagne”, “had a cappuccino in cappuccini” and “eaten a pizza in Pisa” :)

I could do with a shower but I didn’t want to pay for a hotel. I figured in a touristy place like this they would cost a fortune, so I decided that if there was a campground on the way out I would stop.

There wasn’t so I just camped on the side of the road…

Pilgrimage from Ameglia to Viareggio 29/07/07

Today was a low energy, lonely day…

I have been meeting heaps of cool people but I am yearning to have a social contact that last more than a few hours. This is one of the drawbacks of always moving forward ;)

I wanted to leave early this morning but had a couple of things to do on the internet. Unfortunately, the wireless wasn’t working and there was a sign on the door that said the internet wouldn’t be open till noon.

The office opened at 9am so I figured since I had already bough 3 hours credit (the smallest amount they sold, €10), I would wait to see if they could get the wireless working.

They couldn’t and much to my disappointment wouldn’t give me a refund :( They just told me I would have to wait till noon. I wasn’t happy but then decided that I am not really in a hurry to get anywhere so I should just use this time to catch up on everything, which I did.

The walk was great! It was a 30km stretch of bars, hotels, pubs, nightclubs and restaurants. Being a Sunday it was packed! Luckily, I wasn’t in a sociable mood or I think it would have taken me a week to pass through. It looked awesome!

I still took it easy, stopping a lot, and on one of these occasions saw this little Moroccan guy who must have had the biggest balls I have seen in a long time…

He was trying to set up a street stall but had obviously taken someone’s regular place and there were five big black guys from W. Africa all telling him to move. They only wanted him to move about 10m in either direction but he didn’t want a bar of it. I couldn’t understand what he was saying but he was abusing them all and kept making motions like he was going to slit all their throats :)

I don’t know whether to be impressed by his courage or his stupidity, but finally, after about 30 minutes, they got sick of him and one of them grabbed him by the throat and dragged him down to the beach…

Having just finished a chapter in my book I figured it was a good time to leave. So unfortunately I cant finish the story, but no doubt it wasn’t pretty :)

Since I started late, I was quite happy to walk for some of the night. It was a nice choice as the streets were packed till 1am. I even had an Italian family, who were there on holidays, stop and buy me a gelato. Thanks :)

Finally, the rows upon rows of shops and bars finished with a national park, so I set up my tent and crashed.

Pilgrimage from Manarola to Ameglia 28/07/07

The one condition I had at staying at the apartment was that I had to leave at 7am because my wonderful hosts had a train to catch. It was a struggle I tell you! There was way too much beer and wine consumed yesterday.

I managed to walk the short distance to Riomaggiore and stopped for breakfast. I had a ham and mushroom omelet which was excellent.

I then only managed to stumble another 300m before passing out on the track. I slept for an hour, got up to keep walking, made it another 300m and crashed out again :) When I finally became conscious it was lunchtime.

The track was once again almost vertical and my body wasn’t handling it. Luckily I came across a main road, so ditching the idea of walking over the mountains I headed for the tunnel. This made the walk almost bearable.

This morning when I started walking I thought I would be lucky to make it the 12kms to La Spezia today, but thankfully my body was starting to play the game again. I arrived around 14:00, had lunch and kept walking.

It was an easier walk than the last few days so by 20:00 I had managed to clock up around 30kms. I was pretty happy with that.

I found a campground called “Camping River”, but when I went to check-in they wanted to charge me €32!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! The woman at the counter must have seen that I was about to vomit in her desk because the price soon dropped to €20. Even that is pretty excessive for a campground but I was too tired to argue.

I then met up with this group of Dutch and Belgians who were cooking this big pot of Belgian stew and invited me for dinner. Thanks guys :)

Pilgrimage from Levanto to Manarola 27/07/07

Can Italy get any better??? Today was AWESOME!!!

If somewhere deep down in my subconscious I have any negative feelings towards Dan for abandoning me mid quest, this is where they all get erased ;)

Dan was regularly talking about this place where there are five little villages around some cliffs that you can’t drive between and that we should go out of our way to go there. I only realized two days ago that my path was taking me straight there. I hope you are reading this Dan :)

It’s called Cinque Terre and it is amazing. It was one of the most beautiful walks I have had. I took heaps of photos but they jus don’t do it justice.

I got to the first town, Monterosso, after another tortuous walk over the hills and sat down for breakfast around 10am. Even though I had planned to walk all the way through the five towns today I was still going to take my time and enjoy it.

This is the first place on my pilgrimage where I have met a lot of tourists. Probably 90% of the walkers are native English speakers. I was attracting heaps of attention because of the size of my pack so it was good to sit and chat at every chance I had.

The walk was hard but the views make it all worthwhile.

I arrived in Vernazza just in time for lunch. Pesto is a local dish here, but everyone keeps telling me that good pesto has to be made with a mortar and pestle rather than a blender. Today I thought I would test this theory and I am pleased to say I agree :) This was the best pesto I have ever tried! Wonderful :)

As I was in such a good mood and even though I knew it wasn’t a good idea with more walking to do, I figured I should do a bit of wine tasting. The local wines were great!

After a few glasses it was back to the track for a “sweatfest” to Corniglia.

I wanted to try something in every town along the track so now it was time for some gelato. And then, having enjoyed the wine tasting in Vernazza so much, I couldn’t resist doing it all again here ;)

I ended up spending a few hours sampling as much wine as I could. It was great! It was starting to look less and less like I would make it to the end today, but it didn’t really bother me. I was having fun and according to my map there was a camping ground just down the road.

Well, the campground didn’t exist so I headed for Manarola. I figured I would just bite the bullet and pay for a hotel, even though I wasn’t looking forward to finding out the prices…

When I arrived in town I was standing in the main square, deciding whether to go for another drink or to try to find a room, when the decision was made for me. This wonderful English woman spotted me and on hearing I was walking to Rome decided to buy me a beer. She was great and was keeping the whole place amused with her banter. Sorry I didn’t make it to your show though ;)

When you are going through life with an open heart it is amazing what the world provides. When I think back on the last week I have been overwhelmed by random acts of kindness and generosity. Today was no exception.

A kiwi couple at the bar decided to buy me dinner and then an Australian mother and daughter let me crash at their apartment. You guys are all great! Thanks :)

And Dale…You have nothing to worry about ;)

Pilgrimage from San Salvatore to Levanto 26/07/07

I was happy to get an early start again today because I had the goal of making it 40kms to Levanto. I knew it was going to be hard with a lot of steep hills but I figured it couldn’t be any worse than the Alps.

After a quick coffee and some breakfast it was straight into it. Once again I was walking along the ocean. It was great!

There is a 7km stretch of tunnels which I have been told I couldn’t walk through. Luckily, as I got to the place where the paths split, another walker appeared coming from the other way. He went on to tell me that I “should be OK” walking through the tunnels if I have a torch. It was a 3 hour walk over the top and a 1½ hour walk through the tunnels, so the tunnels won out.

They were all one lane and had lights regulating the traffic. This gave me more confidence, having to only watch one direction at a time. I found out what he meant by “should” soon enough though. Most of the time it was fine but in some places the tunnels narrowed and if a well timed bus or truck came by it was pretty dodgy!

I stopped in Framura for gelato, and ended up spending a couple of hours lounging on the beach. It was great.

And then the torture started!!! The track over the hills was pretty similar to the Alps, as in almost vertical, but doing it in 15-20° is one thing. Doing it in 30-35° is something else! I was close to death! I couldn’t even hold my camera while I walked because the rivers of sweat coming down my arms. It was awesome!

And to top it off I ended up on the wrong track and went a few kilometers out of my way. What a day!

I finally made it to Levanto as it was getting dark. The camping ground was full but as I arrived these three Irish guys were checking in and let me share their camp spot….thanks guys :) They only had a two man tent for the three of them so it was pretty funny.

The place is called Camping Aquadolce and it was really nice, but you pay for it. The cost was a new record…€15 for me to camp for a night! WOW!!!

Pilgrimage from Sori to San Salvatore 25/07/07

Another stunning walk today! This coast is awesome…

I left Christians at 8am, and was just taking it easy and enjoying the view.

After 4kms I stopped at this little Café called the Sports Bar and had some coffee and croissants. I sat outside and had hardly said anything to the waiters at all, so they didn’t know what I was doing, but when I went to pay, the owner came running out and gave me my money back! I don’t know whether he recognized me as a pilgrim or whether I just look poor but it was really nice :) I can’t say too often how generous the people are here…

It was then a great walk, winding around these little coves towards San Salvatore where I have another couch waiting.

At 14:00 and with only 10kms to go I stopped for a picnic lunch by the harbor. The best thing was that I had free internet there so I stayed until my battery ran out :)

I arrived in San Salvatore at 19:00, just as Carlo my host was arriving home from work. He is a really interesting guy. He cooked an awesome pesto pasta for dinner and we had long discussions on religion. Best of all he doesn’t drink so it was good to have a night away from the wine ;)

Pilgrimage from Genova to Sori 24/07/07

I only have 16kms to walk today so I was happy to sleep in and take it easy.

I got out of bed around 09:30 and finally found a Laundromat!!! It was then off to have coffee and catch up on the internet.

By the time I checked out it was 11:30. The one thing I wanted to do before leaving town was get some pictures of the Basilica near my hotel. I went inside yesterday but there was a service on, so I couldn’t get a good look around.

It was well worth it! The churches here are all AMAZING! I don’t think I will ever have to visit another church again after leaving Italy ;)

I then casually strolled through town and down along the waterfront towards Sori. One of the main things I have noticed about European beaches is how developed they all are. There are tennis courts, soccer pitches, restaurants, hotels and even swimming pools all the way to the oceans edge. They must come to places like Australia and thing they are back in the Stone Age.

Upon arriving in Sori I still had a couple of hours to fill in, so I thought would go for a swim. The water temperature was great, a lot warmer than I was expecting and there were even some small waves. All good fun :)

I have managed to find another couch to sleep on and my host this time is Christian. He is a really cool guy and very relaxed. Tonight he is going to a concert with a few of his friends and invited me along.

It was really funny. I forget their name but they were from the Congo.

The bongo player was this young muscley guy in a tight white singlet. He looked like he had been raving all weekend and still hadn’t stopped. He even had a fluoro orange whistle that he blew constantly the whole show while bouncing continuously.

There were also two other young percussionists and the two main singers were probably 40ish. The man looked pretty western and the woman was dressed in a typical African floral dress.

Then there were these two old guys who would have been pushing 70, were dressed from the ‘30s and stood like statues the whole night. They played this wooden box thing that made sounds like a synthesizer, except with a lot less range. The more serious of the two would occasionally look at the crowd with this disapproving look like we were all misbehaving teenagers. It was very amusing but I was curious to know what he thought of their bongo player :)

I don’t know how to describe their music but it was pretty good. They definitely got the crowd going.

Then, when it was time to do an encore the bongo player was straight back on stage. It looked like he was happy to keep playing as long as there were people…actually I think if I came back tomorrow morning he will still be there regardless if he had a crowd or not ;)

But slowly the other members appeared until finally the serious old guy came back out. His performance all night must have been a show because he took centre stage, tied his jacket around his waist and proceeded to dance the night away. What a champion!

Pilgrimage from Molini to Genova 23/07/07

What a beautiful day. I started early, the temperature was perfect and I had a wonderful view.

The only discomfort was a larger climb than I had expected…I went back up to 800m. By the time I got to the top it was blowing a gale, the fog had rolled in and it was freezing. If this is what it is like on the other side I’m not going to be doing much swimming ;)

Luckily it wasn’t. After a kilometer it was back to normal with another stunning walk down in to the valley.

And then there it was…the Mediterranean, or a harbor with the Mediterranean in it ;) But it felt good all the same. For some reason it is very fulfilling to start at the sea on one side of a continent and travel until you hit the sea on the other. It is good for the soul…

It was only 13:00 by the time I got to Genova, so this gave me plenty of time to track down a hostel. Unfortunately, after checking the internet, the only hostel was back on the edge of town where I had come in. I wasn’t going back :)

Italy doesn’t appear to be so good for backpackers but at least if you have a tent there are a lot of campgrounds.

I decided to try my luck with the hotels and wondered around until I found a good deal. This place is awesome! I saw some hotels here that are some of the dodgiest I have seen anywhere in the world!

I managed to find a bargain, right near the station I got my own room for €20. It wasn’t the cleanest but it was by far not the dirtiest I had seen either.

My neighborhood was cool. It was made up of 90% N. African, 4% Pakistani (or S. Asian), 4% Chinese (or E. Asian) and 2% other. It really felt like I was in Africa :) It was even quite common to see the elders in traditional African dress. It was great! It seemed like the only thing missing was some chickens and goats :)

So as they say, “While in Genova do as the Moroccans”, so it was off to find a local restaurant. I found one that looked busy and it was a good choice. I got a big plate of beef, carrots and peas in a curry gravy for €4. I love cities!

Luckily for me it was a Monday night and I was in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood so all the bars were quiet. After wondering the streets for a little while it was off for an early night.

Pilgrimage from Novi Ligure to Molini 22/07/07

I had my alarm set this morning for 5am but when it went off I felt terrible. I still wasn’t feeling good at 7am so rolled back over and finally woke again at 09:30 feeling slightly better. It was already starting to get hot so I figured I would just stroll quietly along, stopping when necessary.

Because I haven’t had a map I have been confined to the main roads. It hasn’t been nice. After about 8kms I spotted a shopping centre and stopped there.

The place was huge and luckily it was open Sundays. They also had great maps, lifting my spirit immensely. I sat down and plotted a nice course for myself through the hills to Genova.

It was great to once again be on a small winding mountain road. I had a great walk following a river and then around 19:00 I heard some music in this little village I was passing through.

Sure enough I had stumbled upon another festival. I couldn’t resist and within a minute of walking in the bar staff had bought me a drink. The Italians are so generous…it’s amazing :)

For a small village in the middle nowhere Voltaggio definitely put on a good party. I was very impressed with the turnout for a Sunday night but I think more than half the people there were staff ;)

The organizer of the festival soon heard I was around, and being an unusual specimen I was soon showered with gifts. It was great! I came away with two T-Shirts, a few free beers, a keyring, and some cakes. Amazing people…Italy is great!

So at least I will be able to walk into town tomorrow with a clean shirt. I am REALLY starting to smell. I have no clean anything :(

I decided I better drag myself away if I was going to have any chance of making it to Genova early tomorrow, so saying my farewells I was back on the road.

I only made it another 5kms before it started to get dark, so spotting a nice spot by the river I decided to call it a night.

The nice spot wasn’t so nice, but probably because of the beers I camped anyway. I was on a slope and my head was about a foot higher than my feet. The ground was also just river-rocks so half my tent pegs couldn’t go in. Lets just hope it doesn’t rain!

Pilgrimage from San Salvatore Monferatto to Novi Ligure 21/07/07

I was happy to get an early start this morning, as I didn’t fancy having the farmer turning up on his tractor and plowing me into his fields :)

It turned out I had walked slightly further than I had thought last night, so I only had 10kms until Alessandria.

It made for a pleasant morning walk because it was still quite cool.

The first thing I wanted to do was find an Information Centre so I could get a map (the shops here only seem to sell 1:10 000 or 1:350 000 maps), and find out where some camping grounds are between here and Genova. I then planned to do some laundry and jump on the net.

Funnily enough, being a Saturday morning, everything was open except the Information Centre and the Laundromat! If I have to wait till Genova to do my washing I feel sorry for whomever I meet between now and then ;)

At least the Internet Café didn’t let me down…

After a pasta salad for lunch and without anything else to do, I decided to start walking again.

My goal was to get to Novi Ligure, which according to the sign on the edge of town was 20kms away. It was of course extremely hot so I was taking it easy.

The Romans must have been busy creatures because there are roads everywhere! Because of this, the signs that show the distance to a town often don’t correspond with each other! Walking without a map isn’t a good idea…

You can imagine my surprise when after 2½ hours walking I found a sign that said “Novi Ligure 21kms”. I wasn’t impressed!

There was nothing left to do other than to go and have a Gelato to cheer myself up. The ice-cream here is awesome and fixes everything :) Sure enough when I went back out to start walking again the next sign I found said “Novi Ligure 12kms” :)

I have found that the heat affects my appetite so it is hard to get enough calories. After another 10kms I was feeling exhausted and thought that I better stop for some more pasta. I was good and only ordered water to drink, but sure enough I was forced to have a glass of wine anyway. The waiter couldn’t bear to see me eating without wine so he bought me one on the house. It’s almost impossible not to drink in this country ;)

It might have been because of the wine or maybe because I forced myself to eat but after dinner I couldn’t make it the last few kilometers to town. I found a clearing and crashed out under some trees.

Pilgrimage from Casale Monferatto to San Salvatore Monferatto 20/07/07

I felt surprisingly good when I woke up this morning. I think I must have been still drunk :)

It was already 11am, so there was no way I was going to start walking until the afternoon. Going back to the internet café I spent a couple of hours playing around then decided to go find a place to crash out again for a while.

The first park I found looked good but as soon as I sat down I was swarmed with mosquitoes. So after another hour of wandering I found an old warehouse, just out of town, which offered me some shade.

I set up there for the day and promptly fell asleep. I was woken by the cops tooting at me. They were just to checking I was OK, and then I didn’t wake back up until 19:00.

The temperature was much more suitable for walking so it was a really pleasant evening walk. I made it about 20kms before the mosquitoes were getting unbearable, so I found a paddock and set up camp.

Pilgrimage from Vercelli to Casale Monferatto 19/07/07

Stefano was around at 07:30 to pick up the keys so it was a good chance to make an early start. I was feeling a bit better but had had a pretty restless sleep.

Dan decided to join me for today’s walk to finish off his pilgrimage. It has been almost a week since we last saw each other so it was good to swap stories. He almost died in the Alps and decided that’s where his pilgrimage really ended. It all sounded pretty wild. I’m glad I chose the route I did :)

As it started to get hot we passed through a little town called Cappuccini, we couldn’t resist having a “cappuccino in Cappuccini”.

It was then a very boring, HOT, straight walk to our destination. And did I mention it was HOT. It was!!! Really HOT!!!

I was taking it easy after yesterday and resting a lot but it still felt stupid to be walking in this temperature. I will have to get an earlier start tomorrow.

About 5kms from our destination, needing to find some shade, we found a McDonalds. We couldn’t think of a more appropriate place for Dan to finish his pilgrimage ;) So after a huge McLunch and feeling very ill we stumbled across to the shopping centre next door.

Dan needed to book some flights and since we couldn’t find an internet café he went and booked at a travel agency. The two girls there were great and even offered us a lift into town. As Dan’s pilgrimage had finished he accepted. We decided to meet back up at the internet café in town.

The last 5kms were easy but when I got to the internet place Dan was nowhere to be seen. I spent an hour waiting then decided I better go find a place to stay. There were no campgrounds or hostels so I had to cough up €40. I wasn’t happy :( but at least the room was nice.

Finally Dan decided to call. Unable to find the internet café he had waited in the town square for me to walk by. I didn’t and he was just about to catch his train so there wasn’t any time to catch up…enjoy your time at the beach :)

I then met up with this crazy Brazilian girl who was absolutely mad…but in a really beautiful way. A very unique young woman.

The group of people she was with were all going to a nightclub out of town and invited me along.

Still feeling the effects of the Sun I didn’t want to drink too much but it wasn’t to be. They obviously don’t get many Australians in these parts because the bar tenders didn’t let me pay for a drink and then the nightclub manager took it upon himself to ensure that I didn’t leave his club alive. He almost succeeded ;) After way too many glasses of Italian sparkling wine I don’t really remember leaving but I know had heaps of fun. Thanks guys :)

The next thing I know I got dropped back into town but couldn’t remember where my hotel was. I had a map but I couldn’t get it together enough to match any of the streets I could see to it. So after God knows how many minutes/hours wondering in circles I finally located it.

I don’t know what time it was but I’m sure there is no way I will be waking up to my alarm at 04:30 tomorrow.

Pilgrimage from Santhià to Vercelli 18/07/07

Just to top off being perfect hosts Andrea prepared me breakfast this morning before I left. You guys are great!

He also must have thought I was underestimating the weight of my backpack because he got out the scales and was right. My pack weighed in at 29kgs!!! I couldn’t believe it. No wonder I was struggling at the start.

The Santhià church is beautiful. It has a painted ceiling and an impressive crypt. They were having a service so I couldn’t get any photos of the ceiling but a woman spotted me as a pilgrim and snuck me downstairs.

It was a straight, hot walk once again with very little to brake the monotony. Thank God for my mp3 player.

I found out why there are so many mosquitoes…this province is covered in rice fields! I didn’t know Italy grew so much rice.

Upon arriving in Vercelli I went straight to St Andrews Basilica which I had been told was a must see. It was pretty cool.

I then decided that it had been too long since I had had a beer for lunch so it was off to the piazza. It ended up being a very pleasant day relaxing and watching the people go by.

My next couchsurfing host was Stefano. He is a very interesting guy. He has studied martial arts for many years, speaks Japanese and does shiatsu, just to brush the surface.

I met him at 18:00 and he took me back to the shiatsu studio where he lets his guests stay. It was like having my own little apartment as it had a shower and all. Thanks :)

Then just after I had a shower Dan rang. He was still in Ivrea but is finally pulling the plug. Rather than spending the last of his money just to get to Rome, he figures he should go and enjoy it. So he is off to Split.

He said he would catch a bus down to Vercelli to say goodbye.

Stefano was having pizza with his workmates later that night and said that I was more than welcome to come along. I said that I would…

It turned out to be a mistake. Just after ordering I started to feel really strange. I got half way through my first glass of wine and thought that I either had to go and throw up, go lie in the car or both. I went and took a five minute rest in the toilet and started to feel slightly better.

I have had sunstroke once before so I was pretty sure this was the problem. I had walked the last 5kms without a shirt and even though I wasn’t burnt I think it did me in.

After getting back to the table I gave up on the wine and started downing the water. It was helping a bit but then my meal arrived. I had absolutely no appetite at all and everyone at the table wanted to ensure that I liked my meal…and since they already thought it was a bit strange that I had stopped drinking my wine I didn’t want to disappoint them any more. Italians take their wine and food very seriously :)

It took me a while but luckily I managed to finish. They were a really cool bunch of people and it was a shame I was not in a more sociable mood.

After dinner we went to pick Dan up in the city center. He is happier than I have seen him since we started. It’s good to see.

I was still feeling like crap so it was straight back to the studio to sleep.

Pilgrimage from Ivrea to Santhia 17/07/07

I’m loving being a pilgrim again! Life is good :)

The mosquitoes disappeared overnight so I had no trouble getting going early. Luckily I checked my map before going too far, as the canal wasn’t actually following the road I thought it was. The map stopped at this point so I had to bite the bullet and walk back the 1km to the main road.

I only made it about 5kms before spotting a café with an “internet” sign displayed. They weren’t open, but they let me sit out the front and use their wireless for free. Thanks guys :)

And success!!! I finally have some couches to sleep on with couchsurfing :) My 6½ hours on the internet yesterday paid off.

I didn’t end up moving again till around 10:30, but I only wanted to make it another 10kms to a lake I thought would be a good place to wait out the heat.

It was a good choice. The water was a perfect temperature so I swam, had a picnic lunch, read and slept until the afternoon. It was great!

When I started walking again at 16:00 it was hotter than ever. I found myself contemplating one of the main points which has struck a chord with me in Buddhism…

“Just to be with whatever is at the present”

This sounds simple enough but is quite hard in practice. I have noticed that when I was in the wheat fields of France, I was dreaming of being in Italy. When It was raining, I was wishing for the heat. When I was in Switzerland, I was longing for the day I would return. And now I’m in Italy and it’s HOT, I can’t wait to get to the beach.

I think that if you choose to live in our society, and not a cave, then it is important to spend some of your time learning from the past and some planning for the future. But it is still most important to spend as much time as possible in the “now”.

I have found a good analogy (someone please correct me if this is the wrong word ;) ) while walking. I have a goal where I want to go to Rome, and shorter goals every day. There are times when I have been daydreaming of being at the beach, or being in Rome, and have missed my turnoff. I can walk for miles in this state…and will continue to walk for miles until I come back to the present.

“It is only in the present that you can be sure you are on the right path”

Regardless of the heat I managed to make good time and made it to Santhià by 19:00.

My couchsurfing hosts were Andrea and Stefani. They were awesome! I could not have asked to meet more kind and generous people. They live right in the middle of town and shouted me pizza and ice-cream. Thanks heaps guys!

The only problem I have found with this area is the mosquitoes. I thought it was just that I was next to a canal yesterday but it appears to be a problem everywhere. I went to go for a beer with Andrea and his local pub was closed, so we stopped at a café. He warned me that sitting outside we would be attacked but I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught that assaulted us.

Between 8-10pm every night the locals all live in fear. It is not safe to walk the streets! I think I lost more blood going for that glass of wine than I would have taking a trip to donate to the Red Cross…

AWESOME :)

Prilgrimage from Cesnoa to Ivrea 16/07/07

I was feeling a lot better this morning but still had remnants of my sore throat. Lets hope it’s gone by tomorrow…

I left the campground by 08:00 expecting to walk the 12kms to Ivrea within around two hours. The walk was beautiful but it started to heat up earlier today as the mountains have almost disappeared and I was out of their shadow by 08:30. I took my first rest at 09:30 with 5kms still to go. I decided to see if I could get internet in the town I was in but was disappointed once again. I still spent almost an hour on the computer though, catching up on my blogs.

By the time I got to Irvea it was just past 11am but I couldn’t find a tourist information office anywhere. The tourist maps didn’t even mark it and nobody knew of one??? Very strange…

I also couldn’t find an internet café and probably walked another 3kms around town before locating one.

It was great though! They charged me €5 for as long as I wanted so I set up for the day. There has been heaps that I have been meaning to do but haven’t had the time to spend on it. Today was the day.

As you have probably noticed you can now track our trip on Google. This was a project I have wanted to do since the start. I have also started to add photos and will be going back and adding them soon.

The other major thing I wanted to do was start contacting people in www.couchsurfing.com. If you haven’t heard of this you should check it out…it’s really cool! I tried to contact a few people in France without success but today I have already had a reply back. This is a great way to get out of the “tourist bubble” while traveling :)

So I finally got the boot 6½ hours later when the shop was closing. It was time to try to find a parish.

As I was entering the cathedral a few of the workers were leaving so I hit them up for some local knowledge. As far as they were aware there wasn’t anyone who took in pilgrims in town but most stayed at the hostel.

Tracking this down was also a mission. The hostel wasn’t actually a hostel at all. I don’t know what it was but there were no signs to mark it out and they wanted €35 for the room. I will wild camp tonight I think.

This also made my mind up about waiting around for Dan. I was planning on giving him till tomorrow afternoon to get to town and I could spend another day on the net, but if I was going to walk out of town to camp I won’t be going back in tomorrow morning. Dan will have to catch up another day.

I would enjoy the company but I feel a bit lost if I don’t move far in a day…

On the edge of town I spotted a canal which had a walkway, I knew this would be perfect. Luckily, I didn’t have to follow it long before finding somewhere to camp…the mosquitoes were awesome! I haven’t been eaten like this in years!

GoogleMaps!!!

Well, I have finally got around to making a map of our journey on GoogleMaps.

Click Here to Check It Out!!! :)

I would have liked to have had it more detailed and truly show the path we took but every time I tried it would give me a headache. So now it is just a straight line from sleeping place to sleeping place but you can get the idea.

I would also like to say a big thanks to everyone who has been posting comments...well, that would be Steph and Tony ;) It is appreciated and the more comments i get the happier I feel, cheers. If anyone else would like to say something please don't be shy...even if it is just to say that I'm a dickhead :)

Take care

ben :)

Pilgrimage from St Vincent to Cesnola 15/07/07

I had a bit of a sore throat this morning when I awoke, so I hope I’m not getting sick…

I had told the people who run the parish that I would be leaving by 6am and as I went to quietly sneak out I noticed one of the women in the kitchen. I went to say goodbye and was pleasantly surprised to find out she had got up just to make me breakfast :) What great people!

The walk was magical with the sunrise slowly highlighting the tall, rocky mountains.

I was however having one of the lowest energy days I have had in a long time. I wasn’t feeling like being a pilgrim today and for the first time this whole trip I was feeling lonely. In Switzerland there were many people who spoke English but here it is all Italian and French. I seem to be able to make my way around combining my basic Spanish with my even more basic French but it isn’t much good for a conversation :(

We have also been told that from the Italian border we should start to find more pilgrims. This doesn’t seem to be the case. Everyone is now saying that they all do it in August. We will have to wait and see…

The funniest part of the day came when talking to this man in Bard, a medieval town with an 18th century castle, and it turned out he had played Sigeric in a movie. Sigeric is the man who started this pilgrimage 1000 years ago by walking back from Rome to Canterbury after he was ordained. It’s a small world…

I made it the 27kms to the town I was aiming for by 13:00 and decided to track down an internet café. There were none to be found so I located a nice spot by the river a fell asleep.

I was surprised when I woke to find out it was 16:30. I had slept for almost three hours! I must have needed it…

It felt like it was starting to cool down again so I figured I might as well keep walking. When I spotted a campground 5kms down the road I went in to see if they had the internet. They didn’t but they also owned the factory across the road and were kind enough to let me use it there.

After checking my email I found out that Dan was a day and a half behind me but he was saying that he “wanted to slow it down a bit”! I figure if he slows it down any more he won’t actually be moving anywhere…maybe that’s what he’s getting at ;)

I decided to stay here the night. It was a good choice as the woman upgraded my tent-space to a caravan. I was very happy :)

The meal at the hotel next door was also AWESOME! I had been told to expect big servings but this was the first meal I hadn’t been able to finish since starting. The set came with a spaghetti marinara entrée, veal topped with ham and melted cheese all resting on a bed of potatoes as the main, a side salad, and peach sorbet as dessert. I knew I was in trouble when the entrée was served in the frying pan and when I went to transfer it to my plate it wouldn’t all fit! It was a plate and a half of spaghetti as the starter!

I don’t know if was the huge meal or the couple of glasses of wine but upon returning to my caravan a dropped like a rock. I was still fully clothed when I woke up again at midnight. Groggily finding my sleeping bag I went straight back to sleep.

Pilgrimage from Aosta to St Vincent 14/07/07

You know when you have had too much red wine to drink when you can’t scrub the stain off your tongue. It was one of those mornings :(

I had wanted to get an early start to avoid the heat but it wasn’t to be. After stuffing around, eating my first gelato (which was AWSOME!!!), and finally getting a haircut, it was midday and 33° by the time I got going.

I had checked with the information center about walking tracks but they informed me the only way to go was along the road. It really wasn’t pleasant.

I stopped for lunch after a couple of hours and almost fell asleep. Tomorrow will have to be an early start.

Another hour on, I was getting too burnt so I parked up in a café to wait out the heat.

It was one of those days that was a struggle from start to finish. Walking on the road was shitting me, the heat was shitting me and everything else I could think of was shitting me…

However all ended well. The last 5kms were beautiful and when I arrived in town the parish took in pilgrims. Things were looking up :)

They fed me a great meal of rabbit stew, cheese and fruit salad. They were all extremely friendly but only one of them could speak English.

And to top it off I had a room all to myself with an ensuite. Thanks guys, you are great :)

Pilgrimage from St Bernard to Aosta 13/07/07

I was woken at 07:00 by the sound of little kids running a muck, but it meant I was ready to leave by 8am.

As I was heading out the woman who runs the hospice spotted me and invited me for breakfast. Thanks :)

The walk down the mountain was awesome. I was soooooo glad I was going down and not up. It was definitely worse than the other side!

It also had a stunning view…Italy was looking great so far. :)

All was going well until I hit this small village in the middle of nowhere and got confronted by these dogs…

I have only had one encounter so far with a vicious dog and that turned out fine. It was when I was walking along one of the canals in France a Doberman looking thing was blocking my path barking furiously. I didn’t know what to do at first as there was no way around it and no owners in sight, so I just said in my head that “if you are still there by the time I get to you I am going to rip your fucking head off”. The dog got the message and after I took three steps towards it, it turned and ran…

Today I wasn’t so lucky. As I walked into this town, a dog ran up barking and growling. I wasn’t too intimidated, as I was confident I could stare it down, but as I walked past it his friend came around the corner and decided to join in the fun. They had me flanked and for a second I lost my confidence. Feeling my weakness they moved in for the kill and just as I had that moment where you know you are going to have to fight your way out of a situation, the owner of the big dog comes sprinting out of her house and threw herself at him. Luckily that took them both off guard and they settled down. After they had been told off they came back over, we shook hands and made friends :) It certainly got my adrenaline pumping!

After reaching the next town I decided to have my first Italian meal. I got a plate of lasagna and a plate of meat and potatoes all for €13. It was great and the staff were super cool as well.

They rest of the walk was pretty painful as it was starting to get hot.

You are probably sick of me complaining about the rain and the cold so from now on I will be complaining about the heat :)

By the time I got to town I was sun burnt and exhausted. The tourist information informed me that there was nowhere that put up pilgrims in town, and no YHA. The cheapest place was €20 so I went for a look.

There wasn’t any single rooms available so being to tired to walk around searching I took one for €35.

I took my dirty clothes down to the laundry and the woman behind the counter said they would be ready in an hour. I had forgotten that time has a bit of a different meaning as you start getting this close to the equator. When I went back to pick them up an hour and a half later, she told me they wouldn’t be ready till Monday!!! After a bit of negotiation she agreed to have them ready by the morning.

Being a Friday night I was pretty keen to go out for a drink but after taking a shower I realized that the only clothes I had were the ones I was wearing…a sweaty top and shorts. I didn’t even have any socks! It saved me from going clubbing anyway ;)

I did however find his great little café with a gorgeous blonde haired, blue eyed Italian waitress, who had couldn’t speak any English, and had absolutely no interest in me whatsoever…it was all good fun though :) The owner gave me a tour of Italy by wine so it ended up being a great night.

Pilgrimage from Orsieres to St Bernard 12/07/07

It was a 6am alarm this morning, as we wanted to be at the St Bernard pass early so we could relax and enjoy it. The weather had also turned good, so it looked like it would be a great day.

We left Orsières by 07:30 and lost the track within 500m. The Father at the abbey had lent us a map so I was pretty sure I knew where to go but Dan was a bit skeptical. There are heaps of different walking tracks around here so it is easy to take the wrong one.

All ended up Ok. Once we were on the right path the views were amazing but once again it was a bit of a climb.

After about 10kms the road split, one path going up over the ridge and the other going down into the valley. Dan wanted to take the higher one but after yesterdays effort I wasn’t keen. So he took the map and we split up.

I had a great walk through the forest next to the river. It was stunning.

There were two meals that we were meant to try while in Switzerland but we hadn’t got around to trying either. One is fondue and the other is rösti. When I spotted a village up above me I had to go have a look…

I was in luck. This wonderful little restaurant was situated up on a steep hill with views of the valley and snow capped mountains. And it sold fondue. I didn’t know what to expect as I had never tried it, but it was awesome! The Swiss get everything right! Funnily enough I use to melt cheese myself as a kid in the frying pan, but I had always just eaten it as is. What a great meal. I could just imagine coming in off the ski fields to sit down to warm up over this.

The walk then took me past a big dam and then towards the pass.

When I left Dan I figured there was only one place I could really go wrong without a map and I just hoped it was sign-posted. It wasn’t and yes, I got it wrong :)

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, as knowing there was a chance I could go wrong I soon realized my mistake. I still thought I could walk around the ridge and meet back up with the path but it wasn’t to be. A raging river of snowmelt soon blocked my path.

Backtracking turned out to be a bonus as a pair of mammut started running around in front of me. Cool little creatures.

So after reuniting with my path it was straight up to the pass.

Because of the recent bad weather everyone had told us that there would be snow on the pass but today was hot. I was lucky to find a few patches but I don’t think it will last the next couple of days.

The summit is really beautiful. The hotels are situated around a lake ringed in by snow-capped mountains.

Everyone who knows this route has told us that we have to spend the night at the hospice on the St Bernard pass. When we have asked if we need to book the reply was always the same, “they always have room for pilgrims”. The father who we stayed with last night, who had worked there for twelve years, even confirmed this when we asked if we should book. But it seemed like tonight was the exception :(

A whole group of school kids had taken too long to walk up he valley and when I went to check in I was told it was full and to go next-door to the restaurant, as they had rooms.

I was expecting it to be emergency pilgrim quarters but it was just a hotel! I didn’t understand so I went back to make sure they knew I was a pilgrim. The woman did, but hearing that I had stayed with the father from Orsières the night before she made room :) The only condition was that I had to eat at one of the restaurants as they already had too many people for dinner.

This suited me fine as it gave me a chance to try the rösti. This meal has a bed of potatoes covered with ham and melted cheese. Absolutely awesome!

I was sharing a room with three kids from Macedonia who all spoke great English and kept me entertained for the night. It was lucky because Dan was nowhere to be seen. I figured it would take him a few more hours than I took but when it started to get dark I was wondering what had happened. Luckily he found a village and managed to borrow someone’s phone to give me a call. He was still three hours away!

There is a chance he will walk all the way to Aosta tomorrow but I have the feeling that I may not see him for a while. He has been considering walking straight to Jerusalem, as Rome has no meaning for him. It will be interesting to read his next email.

And Italy tomorrow!!!

Pilgrimage from Martigny to Orsières 11/07/07

I wasn’t in a rush to get started this morning, as there was a small chance Dan will turn up. I am sure he will get stuck there for a few days…but you get that :)

I finally got going around 11am and it was a beautiful day. It’s around 45kms to the St Bernard pass so if I can get 20-25kms done today I will be happy.

I only got about 1km down the road and Dan called. I was right next to a station and his train was about to leave so I said that I would wait the half hour until he got there. Thirty minutes later I got the call but he had jumped off a station early. It was only three minutes away by train so rather wait for another one he said he’d walk.

An hour later I figured he was a lost cause so started off once again. After another 1km there he was eating lunch wondering where I had got to. It ended up he’d leapfrogged the station I was at and gone to the next one…dickhead!!! :)

So by the time we eventually got going it was 14:00, but we were still sure we would make the 20km target.

Then, we had the great idea that instead of walking through the valley for the first 10kms we could go up over the mountain. What a mistake! After 5mins we had to take our first rest. This was ridiculous. We were trying to scale a cliff by zigzagging up an almost vertical path…and with 20kgs on our backs!

Well perseverance prevailed and we finally made it to the top. Dan was in much better shape than I was. I was hurting. It was time for a beer…

I would like to say the view was worth it but even though it was spectacular, I wouldn’t do it again with my backpack in a hurry :)

We then had a short walk along the ridge before it was straight back down into the valley. I’m sure when I look back through photos and video footage it will be great but I was glad to be back on a more level footing.

It was then a fairly easy stroll to Orsières, this would give us a 30km walk tomorrow.

Dan had he great idea of checking with the abbey to see if we could stay. Unperturbed by yesterday’s rejection we knocked on the door. The Father had seen us walking up the road and was expecting us. What a pleasant surprise. It was great! He cooked us a meal himself and we had mattresses to sleep on.

Dan went to make a phone call while I was taking a shower and came back saying that the town was pumping. He had to make another call so we arranged to meet at this “pumping” bar he’d seen.

Well, I went out and couldn’t find an ounce of life anywhere. To me it looked like a ghost town!

When Dan got back he was surprised that he hadn’t see me out. What a tripper. He still swears that there was a bar full of people in the town square??? :)

Pilgrimage from Aigle to Martigny 10/07/07

It still amazes me that we can sleep-in, while outdoors, with trucks racing over our head...but we did :)

Getting up around 10:00 we attempted to find a track to take us in the right direction. Instead we found a big shopping center so at least we could stock up on food.

Dan has been talking about going back to Montreux for Faithless but I’m not keen. Tori Amos is playing tomorrow night so if I went back I would have to say for that as well…and then probably for the rest of the week ;)

After talking to one of the locals they told him that if he walked much further it would be hard to get a bus back so he was off.

From the shopping center I decided to go cross-country to find the Rhone river. This would be the easiest thing for me to follow. I could see where I needed to get to but the scrub around the track was extremely thick. It was a mission but I finally made it through and it was easy sailing from then on. Apart from the bloody rain!!! When will it stop?

St Maurice is an amazing little town. It has an old church and quaint, medieval streets. From there it was a wonderful walk with waterfalls, high cliffs and the raging river the whole way to Martigny.

I was told by the Information Center that the abbey in town puts up pilgrims but upon arriving the man didn’t speak any English and just looked at me like I was mad. Always worth a try though :)

There is no YHA or backpackers here so it was then off to the campground. I hope the rain stays away because it is freezing up here already.

The best thing is that they have internet, so I have stayed up all night writing my blog.

Pilgrimage from Montreux to Aigle 09/07/07

Well, all this partying finally caught up with me. I felt like crap waking up this morning, but still managed to drag myself out of bed to meet Dan for breakfast. We are supposed to leave today but I am really not in the mood for walking!

I went down to do my blog again, but it still wasn’t happening! I think it is time to stop drinking for a while ;) maybe until Italy…

I met back up with Dan again at around 14:00 and returned to the hostel so we could prepare to leave. After stuffing around for over two hours we finally made it out the door.

Being back on the road again felt good. I think if I had stayed another night I would have been there till the end.

The first landmark we got to was Château Chillon. This is the classic Swiss photo you see of the castle on the lake and the mountains in the background. It is pretty impressive.

Still feeling a bit dazed and confused, we had forgotten our previous lessons. We managed to leave town without a map or any food! Of course it wasn’t long before we were lost. The good thing about being in a narrow valley is you can’t go too far wrong but it is still pretty annoying to zigzag and backtrack. It also didn’t help that it had started raining again :( Luckily, we found shelter in a caravan park café for the heaviest downpour, but we still weren’t happy.

As it was starting to get dark we had no idea which of the towns we could see was Aigle, where we knew there was a hostel. Not wanting to walk in circles we decided to camp under the freeway. The footpath was only just wide enough for the tents but it sufficed. The only worry we had was that the river next to us would overflow. It wouldn’t be pretty…

Montreux 08/07/07

What a night last night!!! I didn’t get home till around 5am but had a ball…

I had arranged to meet Dan for breakfast at 9am and was once again surprised to be feeling OK.

We met a cool young Swiss couple and all went into town for coffee. I started to crash and burn around 13:00 and needed to go for some sleep. Unfortunately, there were about 40 English uni students staying at the YHA and I had promised to go and watch their concert at 14:30. This still left time for an hour nap, which managed to suffice.

After the concert I tried to catch up on my blog but had already consumed a few beers. It just wasn’t working. Sorry guys!

When I got back to the hostel at 17:00 I was just in time to watch Nadal get beaten by Federer again. He has to beat him on grass soon!!!

It was then time to go and party once more…which we did :)

Pilgrimage from Culli to Montreux 07/07/07

Surprisingly when we woke this morning at 07:30 we felt pretty good. A sign of good wine I say :)

The mayor had invited us for coffee at one of the local cafés and since he didn’t speak so much English a university professor who had been at the party came to help translate. Thanks Anne.

By the time we set off for Montreax at 09:00 we were in such good spirits. I had a sense of well being that I have only experienced a few times in my life….or maybe it was just the red wine still pumping around my body ;)

The rain had also disappeared so it is looking like it will be the first day without any rain in over three weeks! About time!

Switzerland had really turned it on for us. The snow capped Alps could be seen in the distance and the lake looked magical.

Once again it didn’t take long to find a winery that was open, so even though it was only 11am, we were in such a great mood that we decided to do a bit more tasting. We couldn’t have picked a better spot.

The house’s back garden bordered the lake so we sat around with a few other Swiss tourists to enjoy the view. It was spectacular! This is really living :)

After an hour or so we grabbed a bottle for lunch and headed off. A couple of hundred meters down the road we spotted a great place to have a picnic so we could still see the house we had just left when we stopped again. It was a perfect pilgrims meal. A 2CHF tin of beans with a 17CHF bottle of wine.

It was also hot so it was time for our first swim. The water was still a bit chilly but it was great.

Two o’clock came around and we were still lying on the rocks 10kms away from Montreax. It was time to get a move on.

Dan has been touting the virtues of Macs ever since I started looking for another computer, but we hadn’t been able to locate a Mac store. And then one magically appeared in our path. It’s never a good idea to make business decisions after a couple of bottles of wine but I couldn’t resist. Today had been such a wonderful day it just felt right to buy one. So now I’m converted. I’m the proud owner of a MacBook!

I now have to catch up on all the blog entries I’ve missed…

Just before reaching Montreax we stumbled upon a campground that looked great. It was right on the lake, had heaps of young people lounging around and was cheap. It was also fully booked :(

We had already rung the YHA and knew it was full as well so this was a bit of a worry. We weren’t even in Montreux and everything was full.

Not to be discouraged we once again contacted the YHA to beg. One of us would be in luck as they had just received a cancellation and had a bed free. We told them to hold another bed for us if one became available and that we were on our way…

Upon arriving there was still only one bed free so I let Dan have it. I knew that I could quite happily go and party all night anyway. The main problem was that I wanted a shower so it was back to the lake for another swim.

The festival is amazing, the Swiss seem to do everything they do extremely well. I am impressed. The crowd is friendly, there seems to be no trouble and the atmosphere is relaxed. It’s GREAT!!!

Dan went to try to see if there was any tickets left for “the Good, the Bad and the Queen” and came back extremely excited scoring two tickets off a scalper for less than they were worth.

Just as we were about to enter the concert, I got a call from the YHA saying they had a bed for me. I couldn’t resist as it meant we could then be able to comfortably spend one more night here.

I missed a couple of songs but the concert was awesome. Thanks Dan :)

It was then downstairs to the club to dance the night away…

Pilgrimage from Lausanne to Culli 06/07/07

As we were only 25kms away from Montreux there was no hurry to get moving this morning. I went to pack my stuff up around 9am but as soon as I began it started to rain. I got straight back in my sleeping bag to wait it out.

I decided I needed a computer, so it was in to town to have a look. The funny thing was that all the shops that I could find were all the same chain. One of the shop assistants told me they had180 stores throughout Switzerland and I think I found half of them just in Lausanne. It was getting a bit frustrating, as they didn’t have what I wanted.

It was around 14:30 when I met back up with Dan and it was time to go PARTY!

Montreux here we come!!!

Ten kms down the road we were into wine country. The first place we found that was open for tasting was like a Co-Op where a different family would sell there wines every week.

Talking to the owners we discovered that UNESCO had just listed the region as a world heritage site. This is because the vines are all on such steep slopes that almost all the work is still done by hand.

The place started to fill up with locals just as we were about to leave, so we thought we should stay and socialize for a little while longer. The owners then came over to ask us to pay up. We thought that we were getting the boot. As we tried to say that we were just about to stay for a couple more glasses they surprised us with some awesome news. The reason they wanted us to pay was because for the following two hours all the food and wine was FREE as the town was having a party to celebrate the UNESCO ruling.

Well, the wine started flowing freely and it wasn’t long before we were acquainted with half the town. One of the locals had done the Camino De Santiago and was extremely excited to share stories with us. After the party he invited us back to his house with a few of his friends for dinner.

We must have made a good impression because as we were leaving to go to dinner the mayors wife came and informed us that the mayor had invited us to stay the night at their house. What an amazing town. We love Culli! Montreux could wait :)

The dinner party lasted well into the night with WAY too much wine drunk by all. It was great! Thanks guys….this was one of the best nights I have had in a long while.

Pilgrimage from Grancy to Lausanne 05/07/07

We were awoken to the sound of cows and horses right on 6am. It was always going to be an early start sleeping in a barn.

The Joyet family was kind enough to invite us in for breakfast. Cedric’s brother also speaks perfect English, as he did a farm exchange with a family in Texas. They all live in this big three-story house, which each family having their own level.

I was thinking of walking back to Cossonay and picking up our trail back at the Crazy Bar but everyone talked me into walking down to Lake Geneva, or Lac Limon as the locals prefer to call it.

It was a good choice! Even though it added about 10kms to the day the view was outstanding.

The locals were all extremely friendly as well, with many stopping to have a chat. It appears that they get a lot of pilgrims heading to Santiago in these parts.

The rain had mostly stopped as we got to the outskirts of Lausanne so we thought we would risk camping. The campground was still a 30 minute walk from the city center but after we dropped our backpacks, we figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

We were wrong! Lausanne is situated on these extremely steep hills. It makes for a stunning city but really hard work to get around. The other problem is navigating with a map. You get to what looks like a crossroads and the road you want is 30m below you!

We did eventually make it to our goal, the Cathedral. The atmosphere was great as an orchestra started playing just as we arrived.

After some Maccas it was back to the campground to do some washing.

Trying to write my blog as I was waiting for the clothes to dry, my computer completely shat itself :( It had it coming so it was no surprise but I still wasn’t happy.

I needed something to cheer me up and it came when I sat down for dinner at the campground restaurant. They served horse! I have wanted to try this since first getting to France but hadn’t had the opportunity. It was great!!! I don’t know why more people don’t eat it…

Pilgrimage from St Croix to Grancy 04/07/07

After a good night sleep, a big breakfast and a hot shower it was once again time to face the weather.

We were in great spirits as Dan had just found a brochure for the Montreux Jazz Festival and we would be passing through just as it started. The line up is amazing with Chemical Brothers, Beastie Boys, Norah Jones, Prince, and heaps more. The only problem is that it runs over two weeks. Will we be able to drag ourselves away or will we get stuck?

The walk from St Croix down the mountain was absolutely stunning!!! The track took us into a big gorge with high cliffs, waterfalls and forest. The rain stayed away for the first couple of hours but then it was once again pouring.

We have been living pretty cheaply so when we saw a sign for roast beef 16CHF we couldn’t resist. After stripping off our rain gear and finding a table we were very disappointed to find out that the roast beef had run out and they only had chicken!

All ended well though with the meal being superb.

A couple of kms further on we came to a town called “Orny” :) What a perfect place to sit down for a beer and try to chat up the “Orny barmaids”. But it wasn’t to be. There were no bars to be seen and no Orny barmaids :(

The rain was coming in waves and the times it cleared up gave us the most amazing view of the mountains. Switzerland is a gorgeous country.

Coming into Cossonay at around 18:00 we were soaking wet and decided find a hotel for the night. It wasn’t our lucky day as even though the town had a gym, many restaurants and even an English pub there were no hotels. We couldn’t believe it!

All was not lost though. Just across the road was Cossonay’s own “Crazy Bar”. What an appropriate place to go and drown our sorrows with a couple of pints of Guinness.

After talking with the owner about the lack of places to stay in the town she went on to ask some of the other customers where the closest places were. It was looking like we had another 15kms of walking to do but then one of the farmers piped up and said we could sleep in his barn. He lived 4kms away, which meant we had to get a lift with him in his car. I wasn’t going to at first but after looking at our map it would actually take us further away from tomorrows destination so I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Cédric is a champion! An extremely friendly man who when younger drove a car down to the North of Africa and lived there for three years. He couldn’t speak any English so after showing us the barn he left us to make ourselves at home. He even left us a bottle of there family made wine to drink before bed. The kindness of people never ceases to amaze me!

The funniest part of the day came when Cédric’s parents came home and thought they had sprung us hiding out in their barn. Luckily his mother spoke English and after we explained the situation they saw the humor in it.

Pilgrimage from Pontarlier to St Croix 03/07/07

There was excitement in the air this morning, knowing that tonight we would be sleeping in Switzerland! The weather was also looking great so it should be a good walk.

Breakfast was served at 7am and then it was off to find to do some last minute shopping (we have heard Switzerland is crazily expensive) and find an internet café.

The shopping went well with me buying a new hat and some more tapes for the video camera but in the whole of Pontarlier there is not a single place with public internet access. I wasn’t impressed ;)

We timed it perfectly. Just as we left the hotel it started raining. Fancy that…

The walk first few kms were pretty flat but then we were in to the mountains. It should have been extremely enjoyable but the pouring rain and icy wind fixed that.

We were trying to make it to the border without a brake but 4kms before it we were too cold to go on. There was nothing left to do other than find a bar and have a couple of cognacs ;)

After de-freezing our blood it was off to the bus shelter for a picnic lunch.

I can’t believe that we are trekking in the middle of summer with our thermals on and are still cold!!!

Regardless of the cold we reached the border in high spirits. The immigration office was closed but luckily for us the restaurant 100m into Switzerland wasn't. It was time for our first Swiss beer :)

Upon reaching the first town, St Croix (pronounced “Saint's Crotch” in Australian), we figured it was stupid to try to walk any further in this weather. Normally it rains for an hour then stops, rains for an hour then stops but today was just rain and wind, rain and wind. Not a good day to be a pilgrim!

Luckily Saints Crotch has a YHA so it was off to defrost once again.

We have also found that the Swiss are use to walkers, so when we walk into a bar or restaurant dripping wet and smelling like a compost heap they still just smile and say “welcome”. We love the Swiss!

Pilgrimage from Ornans to Pontarlier 02/07/06

I awoke at 6am to the sound of heavy rain, so it was once again time to roll over and wait for it to calm down. By the time I awoke again at 8:30 it had stopped.

Everything was a bit wet so it took a while to pack up.

We were both really looking forward to today’s walk as it was going to be on the walking tracks the whole way. Finally, no more bitumen!

The first few kms were pretty hard as it was all up hill but the forest was amazing. I wish it had been like this the whole way. It beats the wheat fields any day!

We were both in great spirits when suddenly we came across a town that wasn’t on our maps. Being unable to spot any walking track markers were a bit confused. Studying our maps a bit harder we realized that we had taken a wrong turn and were miles of course! What a bastard! :)

So, just as it had been looking sooooo good we were back to the bitumen once again. It also meant that we would have to walk an extra 5-10kms.

We made reasonable good progress and staggered into Pontarlier by 20:30. The McDonalds on the edge of town was looking mighty tempting but considering this would be our last night in France (YES!!! Our last night! I never thought this day would come!!!), we thought we should go and splurge and eat something nice.

The walk into town was quite a hike and after following the signs to the YHA we were at a loss as to where they were sending us. We couldn’t find it anywhere! After asking one of the local shop owners we were dismayed to find that it was closed for renovations.

We had also spotted signs to a camping ground so we headed over there. Once again after about 2kms walking we ended up back at the YHA construction site. The signs to the camping ground had taken us in a huge circle! I couldn’t believe it! It felt like someone had us on “Candid Camera”.

Dan was getting rather irritable and I was starving so we figured we would just go grab a bite to eat and work the accommodation out later. It was already 21:30.

While looking at a menu posted in a window, we spotted the room rates for the hotel next door. It was only €55 for a twin so we figured this would be us. It was a good choice.

It was then straight downstairs to have dinner. Just to top the night off the kitchen was closed! We should have gone with the Maccas!

The only place we could see that was open was a kebab shop. Funnily enough Dan had sworn not to eat another kebab until Turkey but he was too hungry to argue. It appears that we were just destined to have a kebab as our last meal in France…

Pilgrimage from Besancon to Ornans 01/07/07

It was another late start today…

Dan and I were still recovering from our big Friday night so we were quite happy to be moving slowly.

It wasn’t until around noon that we finally started out of the city but within a couple of kms we thought we better stop for lunch. At 14:00 we started proper. We thought we had 33kms to walk till Ornans, which is where we wanted to spend the night, so it wasn’t looking like we would make it.

After 9kms we saw a sign to Ornans which read “15kms”. Checking our maps we were extremely happy to realize we had miscalculated and that we did in fact only have another few hours walking ahead of us.

It has been good having someone to talk to again. I was starting to go a little crazy walking by myself ;)

Ornans is a wonderful little town with the feeling of being a summer holiday hotspot.

We rocked in at 8pm and Dan decided to get a beer….Yes, only Dan :) After an hour of lounging round we then headed out of town to find a campsite.

We thought it would be quite easy to find a suitable place along one of the many walking tracks in the area but of course we were mistaken. There was nothing other than thick forest or paddocks full of cows. We were soon running out of daylight and to make it worse it was just starting to rain.

Right on dark we found a patch of plantation pines and setup there. They offered us just enough cover to get the tents up without getting too wet.

Besancon 30/06/07

Today was a complete write-off!

The only reason I got out of bed at all was because the reception kept on calling me to pay for another night. It didn’t help that I kept saying “ill be right down” and then I would roll over and go back to sleep :)

So at around 2pm I finally dragged myself down to the reception and figured while I was up I better get to the supermarket to get some food. It will be Sunday tomorrow so if I miss the shops I will probably starve to death in the hills.

I then decided to get another couple of hours sleep and at about 18:30 started getting hungry. Dan was only just arising himself so we went to get pizza.

Being Saturday night we knew that we should really go out and party again but neither of us was up to it. I figured that if we didn’t party once in a blue moon that would be OK. Luckily for us tonight is a blue moon :) After a couple of glasses of red wine it was back to bed for an early night.

Renee has decided that every full moon she will say a prayer and send me out some good vibes. It was really nice to know that while I was lying in bed looking out the window someone was sending me some good energy. Thanks lil p :)

Pilgrimage from Oiselay-Et-Grachaux to Besancon 29/06/07

I woke up to my alarm at 05:30 but it was freezing cold and my legs were still hurting. There was no way I was getting up yet!

I ended up sleeping till around 9am and then, knowing that I wasn’t going to make it to Besancon before lunch anyway, I took my time packing up and leaving.

It’s funny…I wanted to grab a cup of coffee but the first two towns I got to only sold food!!! I couldn’t believe it!

I ended up finding a coffee at a hotel in Cussey-Sur-L’Ognon. The owners were extremely friendly and said that they quite regularly get pilgrims coming to stay. They also showed me a route to take to Besancon that would keep me off the main roads.

Following their advice I was soon within the suburbs. Besancon is quite a big city and it took me almost an hour to find the city centre. Dan must have been tuned in because he called just as I was arriving. It ended up that he was only five minutes down the road.

We decided to go grab a beer (my first in about 4 days!), and then went back to the hostel. His foot seems to have healed fine and he is in much better spirits.

Being Friday night we figured we had to go out and party so after a few pubs we ended up getting extremely shitfaced at one of the local dance clubs. It was great!

I didn’t get home till around 5am…

Pilgrimage from Grenant to Oiselay-Et-Grachaux 28/06/07

Noel had to leave for work at 06:00 so it was a 05:30 wake up call. He made me a wonderful breakfast but since he didn’t speak any English the conversation was quite limited.

I was in great spirits as I started walking and managed to get about 10kms before having my first rest. I wanted to get within about 20-25kms of Besancon so I could arrive there by Friday lunchtime. This would give me time to track down Dan.

When I left Grenant I was under the impression that Besancon was only about 60kms away. This meant that I was planning to walk 35-40kms today.

While I was having my rest I started calculating the kilometres on my map. Every time I did Besancon was getting farther and farther away :( It ended up being about 80kms from Grenant! Lucky I had an early start. I was now looking at walking 55-60kms…

I tried to make 30kms before lunch but it wasn’t to be. At 26kms my legs said enough, so I set up for a picnic lunch. I was soon fast asleep and woke up freezing cold. Putting my thermals on and jumping into my sleeping bag soon fixed that problem and I ended up sleeping there for 3 hours.

It is strange though…here I was, the middle of a summer day in the South of France, wearing thermals and wrapped in my sleeping bag. Something was just not right!

When I started going again my walking legs had done the runner, so I was left to hobble. I started getting blisters and it wasn’t looking like I was going to make the 55km mark.

Another 5kms on and my legs came good again. This was a relief. I still had plenty of time so I rested a lot and ended up walking around 56kms.

I found an empty paddock at 22:00 and collapsed! I was buggered!

Pilgrimage from Rolampont to Grenant 27/06/07

Today was what being a pilgrim is all about. It was great!!!

I woke up at 6am to the sound of rain so I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I awoke again at 9am the rain had stopped so I set off by 09:30. It was only 10kms to Langes so I was still confident I could make it there before the shops shut at noon. I needed to get a map.

I had a pleasant stroll down the canal and made it to the city limits by 11:10. Once again the city was built on a hill so from here it was straight up. My stroll suddenly wasn’t so pleasant :) Upon reaching the top I was faced with an impenetrable wall between me and the city centre. The only entrance I could see was being repaired and was blocked off. Not knowing whether to go right or left I took a guess and unfortunately ended up going back downhill. It did however lead me to another entrance so it was another hard slog back up to the city. I made it just in time, managing to find a shop selling maps right on noon. I then had a quick look around. Langes is a cool little town.

From here it was another pleasant walk through the forest. It kept threatening to rain but luckily it was holding off. I got another 25kms before coming around a corner I spotted Grenant bathed in a pool of sunshine.

The town was picturesque and was emanating good vibes. I had a feeling someone was going to offer me a place to stay so I thought I would head to the church and see if I could find the priest.

I didn’t even get that far. About 50m into town a group of guys spotted me and came out to see what I was up to. They couldn’t speak any English but were extremely friendly and before long I had half the village around listening to my story. Luckily one of the women there was a retired English teacher so she acted as my translator.

Then showing great hospitality I was invited in for cherry pie and wine. It wasn’t long before I had offers of a shower and a bed as well. What a great town! Thank you all :)

Noel was the man whose house I stayed at. His family was away for the night so I got a room to myself and an extremely comfy bed. Pilgrim heaven!