Day 39: Stage 33: Orio Litta, 16 km, sunny, 29°

Short, But Sweet!

My buddy Rob shakes his head when I jokingly suggest that any stage under 15 km is a rest day, and almost not worth getting out of bed to walk. Today was 16.2 km, and all kidding aside it was definitely worth getting out of bed for, or at least that’s how it seemed to me. Before starting this journey I decided that I was going to enjoy every day, and so far I have. I was also not going to force long stages, though there are a number of them along the way. On past walks I would’ve walked the short stage plus the next one in a single day. That would’ve forced me to rush through what I walked today, and by taking my time I was able to see things that I might otherwise have missed.

They were only six of us in the very humble ostello last night. It wasn’t a particularly good ostello nor was it very clean. We sort of had the feeling that the people looking after it had tired of their roll and were just going through the motions. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the ostello where I am tonight is one of the best I’ve ever seen on any of my Caminos. It’s outstanding! My room tonight. 

View from my room isn’t too bad either.

The ostello. My room is the top 2 windows. Same on the other side so lots of light and a cross breeze. 

Last night four of us went out for dinner together, a couple from Gibraltar and a fellow from Argentina. The first effort I had with pizza in Italy wasn’t particularly successful, but the pizza I had last night was a significant upgrade. I understand that the pizza gets better the further south you go in the country,  probably at its very best near its home in Naples.

A couple of photographs from last night.

Having a short stage to walk today meant that I didn’t have to get out of bed too early. I actually slept better than I expected even though the bed wasn’t the most comfortable. I had a window right above my bed which provided a bit of cool air and fortunately no mosquitoes. They are a real problem here, but it seems that the worst of that season has thankfully passed. 

It’s Sunday today, so of course nothing is essentially open except cafés or bars in the larger towns. With this in mind I purchased some fruit late Saturday and had something to jumpstart my day. However, no tea!

Heading out of town I crossed the railway tracks, and it turned out that I was to cross the same tracks three times.

The sun was up early this morning with no clouds in the sky. It was going to be a warm day.

I could see things were changing a little bit topography wise which surprised me given I was close to the Po River. A little cart went by me full of harvested grapes. Even my early morning brain realized that there must be vineyards in the area. Brilliant deduction!

Passing through a town with red and white ribbons everywhere I finally figured out that they were celebrating the grape harvest. Probably something that has happened for centuries in this area. The only difference is that the harvest is happening earlier than in past years because of global warming.

I heard a lot of motorcross noises coming from not far away and as it happened I ended up walking right past where it was all happening. As I said, a short day, so I stood and watched the action for a while. That was fun!

Shortly after leaving the motocross I happened upon a beautiful male pheasant that just slowly moved away from me, but strangely didn’t fly away. I slowly followed it for a time and it let me get closer. The hen exploded out of the tall grass startling me as I wasn’t aware she was there. A nice interaction with the male who might have been trying to draw me away. 

At some point I came across the Costello di Chignolo Po which in its day was called the Versailles of Lombardy, 17th C. All the who’s who types came here to hobnob. Sadly it’s progressed into a very sorry state, it’s become a convention center, sigh. At least is still standing and looked after which is a good thing.

I was getting lots of comments from people as I passed today, supportive comments. At one point this cyclist pulled up beside me and warned me to be careful crossing the bridge ahead, and he also told me where to off after crossing. This was in my guidebook, but it was nice that he actually stopped to tell me…like I was a little boy,

From there I was onto a dike which led me most of the way in. 

It was a really enjoyable walk along the dike with agricultural type things happening and cyclists waving to me as they passed.

They’re only three of us in the ostello tonight. Susanna from just south of Montreal, Stephan from Italy and myself. A little bar across the way is open for dinner tonight and I spoke with the owner and between us we managed to sort out that there is fresh pasta and a salad available tonight at 8 o’clock. So we will head over there to enjoy a meal. The Wi-Fi at the ostello is very poor, and I’ll probably go across to the bar for a glass of wine at some point and see if I have more luck there. Otherwise, I’ll be posting this tomorrow when I’m in a bigger city. 

There’s something kind of special happening during tomorrows stage. A long-term mainstay on the Via Francigena hasn’t been able to happen for the past month and a half. More about that tomorrow with hopefully photos and some video too! This was a short, but very nice day!

September 12th: I’m just posting the stage from yesterday, Sunday September 11th.. I’ll be posting todays Stage 34 in an hour or so.