Eva on the Via Francigena (and beyond)

Song of the Day: Uncertain Smile – The The

“A howling wind that blows the litter as the rain flows / As street lamps pour orange colored shapes through your windows / A broken soul stares from a pair of watering eyes / Uncertain emotions force an uncertain smile”

A great song that always, inexplicably, reminds me of Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series…and, possibly, my favorite song by The The. By the way, despite sounding like a band name, The The is one guy,

I was up before my alarm after sleeping surprisingly well in the hostel, despite the normal issues of snoring etc. So, not wanting to make my roommates I dragged my things into the breakfast area, where Patrick also was getting ready for the day. As I packed and made tea, the other pilgrims filtered in and soon it was Joanne, Mariella, Daniel, Patrick, and I sitting together and preparing.

Once it was light out, I said my goodbyes, gave Patrick a fist bump and a promise to be his advance scout, and headed out with the promise of a long day ahead, and a sizable blister on my left heel. The first cafe I passed was open, so I stopped in for a cornetto and cappuccino, though this ended up taking much longer than anticipated. Finally I was out and heading through the bustling streets of Pavia, full of children and young people of all ages headed to school. I made my way up the main street and cut through the university campus — very different from Harvard’s, and 300 years or so older! It’s a lovely spot with nice courtyards and 3 medieval towers.

I then spent 45 minutes or so walking along the edge of a busy road, some what zoning out as I was protected by sidewalk. I should add here that today I was not following the official VF trail, instead using a Maps.Me shortcut that I hoped would save a few miles, since I had to walk all the way to Miradolo Terme. I had given it a cursory glance last night and there were only 2 areas I was worried about: a section coming up where the sidewalk ran out, and another section that seemed to be on a busy road.

The first section was about as bad as I expected. I was in the middle of rush hour, and this was a busy lane of traffic in each direction with no shoulder to speak of. I mostly tried to stick to the grass on the side of the road, but that sometimes was so overgrown I had to tightrope-walk the white line. Luckily due to traffic, the cars had mostly slowed. Unfortunately this situation also meant that, given the morning dew, my shoes and socks were once again fully soaked.

Thankfully this section was over in under 10 treacherous minutes, when I arrived at a roundabout and crossed over to an area with sidewalk. From here I cut through some industrial outskirts before taking a barely-there path back into the rice fields. It occurred to me that, given it was hunting season, I probably would be better off sticking to the official trail, but I was relieved to see “hunting forbidden” signs posted periodically.

The next section was lovely, as other days have been. Slightly hazy morning light, the bright color of the rice fields, you know the drill by now. And the walking was peaceful — I didn’t see anyone else and if I didn’t look to my left, where I could see cars crawling along the highway, I felt like I was the only person on the planet

Just as I was starting to lose focus, I looked to the horizon and gasped. A ways away, just faintly, I could see a murmuration of starlings. If you’ve never seen this before, it’s fantastic — the birds move together throughout the sky creating patterns. It looks like a piece of cloth rippling in the wind. It’s funny actually, I had just been thinking about the starlings yesterday as I thought I heard some. They migrate south to Italy for the winter, and in Rome in November and December you can barely hold a conversation walking along the Tevere or waiting for a bus outside of Termini, the din of the starlings is so loud. But, it’s all worth it at sunset, when from Gianicolo or Giardino degli Aranci you can watch the murmurations over the Roman skyline. As I make my way south, I had been wondering if I would cross over with he starlings during their migration — it seems like the answer is yes.

I soon found myself in the town of Albuzzano, where I stopped in the first open bar, since Google maps wasn’t showing many options. In the end this maybe was a mistake — they had no food and it was completely dead and a bit strange. I sat outside and charged my phone while drinking a Fanta and didn’t worry too much about it. On the way out of town i realized if I had waited a few more blocks I would have had many other options — oh well.

The next section was road walking on a quiet highway until the outskirts of Filighera. I had been telling Patrick last night that, occasionally, I miss the French section of the Via — I liked the challenge of forging my own path every day. “But, if you ask me again tomorrow maybe I’ll regret it.” As I limped along the road, I thought, I didn’t mean I wanted the return of the blisters!

But, so it goes. I quickly made my way through quiet Filighera and back into the fields, where I passed another cascina which had a gate across the path — there was a clear footpath around it which I followed. An angry German shepherd growled and barked at me as I passed. It was getting hot now, and I pulled out my umbrella for the extra bit of shade as I crossed fields — the rice here had already been harvested — and walked parallel to a railway line. I started to get a bit nervous as I realized that before the next road-walking section I would need to cross the tracks — I could only hope the path Maps.Me gave me had a legit crossing, and I wouldn’t have to just pray and run.

Luckily, Maps.Me had thought of this and was bringing me to a tunnel under the tracks. Unluckily for me, there was a tall, locked gate blocking the path. I cursed as I went to ensure that there was no mechanism to open the lock. I could probably squeeze under the gate — I definitely couldn’t get over it — but I didn’t think my pack would fit. And, I was concerned about there being a gate or a fence on the other end, effectively blocking me in. I pulled out the maps to see what my options were. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really a way to re-route — there were no other ways to cross the railroad tracks other than clambering up and over them, and I was hemmed in by a creek that none of the paths crossed. Ugh. This meant I would have to backtrack.

So, frustrated, I turned around and retraced my steps, 30 minutes or so back to the cascina and then another 15 minutes into the town of Belgioioso. I was hot and starving and headed into the nearest open place — a pizzeria — for food and a cold drink. As I tucked into my Fanta and Margherita I further assessed my options. I could re-join the VF path here relatively easily — but given the heat and the extra 2 miles I had just walked, I didn’t really want to push it. So, I decided I would take the train to skip over the part I had just walked, and then finish out the stage walking from Santa Cristina to Miradolo Terme. Unfortunately, the trains only run every hour and the next one was leaving in 20 minutes. I hurried to pay and speed-walked to the train station, which had no ticket machine. The train pulled up as I arrived and, after some struggles, I managed to buy a ticket online as the train pulled away. 5 minutes later — as a reminder, it took me 45 minutes to get here — I was at Santa Cristina and off the train.

I crossed the tracks and pointed myself in the direction of Miradolo. It was HOT hot now, and within 20 minutes of walking I felt myself starting to show the early signs of heat exhaustion. I continued to chug my water and clung to the minimal shade of my umbrella. Even so, I started to feel really nauseous, and spent much of the end of the walk just trying to keep myself from being sick.

I limped my way into Miradolo and up a hill (a hill! The first in days) to my Airbnb, where Angelo and his chocolate lab Zelda happily greeted me. He and I chatted a bit about all sorts of things — US politics, school, Italy — and I did some planning for my next stages.

I’m totally exhausted and in need of a rest day, if that wasn’t already clear. Originally I had planned to do a semi-rest day by walking to Piacenza, staying there overnight, and then taking the train to Fidenza to save a day of walking. But as it turns out the largest antique market in Italy is currently happening in Parma, which means that city and the nearby cities are fully booked. Literally there was not a single hotel vacancy online in Fidenza — I found one hotel / restaurant who maybe had space but said they would call back to confirm, and I never heard back. So, I found an Airbnb in Piacenza and (hopefully once it is accepted) will do a rest day there, then take the train to Fidenza the next morning ahead of the 21 mile (!) walk to Fornovo di Taro.

With that somewhat cleared up, I headed into town for a pizza and then came back for an early bedtime. I think I need it.

Final mileage: 18.36mi
Walking time: 7h 40m
Elevation gain: 150 ft

Accommodation: Airbnb in Miradolo Terme — perfectly serviceable, Angelo and his dog were very nice.