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.