Pilgrimage from Camerata Nuova to Castellafiume 26/09/07

Emillio drives the school bus in the mornings so it was once again an early start.

The walk was amazing! I followed a dry riverbed up through a gorge and didn’t see a single person the whole way up. It was a really peaceful morning and I was feeling great when the valley opened up to these big plains with wild horses and cattle grazing.

My map wasn’t corresponding to what I could see so I was soon well and truly lost. I stumbled upon a little shepherd’s hut where I stopped for a rest, and while I was rummaging through my bag the cows must have thought I was there to feed them. Before long I was surrounded. The head cow with her big horns stood about half a meter away waiting expectantly. It was slightly disconcerting…

Luckily they let me leave without incident but I did pick up a big stick as I walked away just in case. Not that I think it would have been much good to me if they decided they wanted to keep my pack.

I then walked for another hour before coming across a crossroads with a bigger dirt track. The choice was up or down so the down obviously won out :) I was very pleased when a car drove past and I could ask for directions to confirm I was going the right way.

It wasn’t long before I was back in civilization but I was feeling well and truly buggered! None of the restaurants were open in Cappidicia so I was forced to have a couple of beers for some calories instead ;)

The next town was only 2kms down the road so I went to try my luck for some food there. I was in luck. I got a big plate of spaghetti and half a litre of wine, even though I only ordered 250ml, all for €7. What a bargain!

Darkness was descending as I set off for the last 6kms but after the wine it didn’t really faze me…

It was looking like rain so I was going to try my luck with the parish but the first house coming into town was a bar. I couldn’t resist :)

A couple of glasses of wine later and Franco, the bar owner, offered to let me camp out the back. So there was nothing left to do than wait for the bar to close…

As everything was winding up a young couple heard what I was doing and decided that I could stay in their mountain chalet for the night. It was great! I had the whole place to myself. Thanks guys!!!