Day 41: Stage 35: Fiorenzuola D’Arda, 33 km, Sun, +30°

Better Than Anticipated!

As I said yesterday, Piacenza is a beautiful city with a great vibe. I walked around the city for a while up and down the streets looking for a place to buy bananas for today and a bit of food for my dinner. I didn’t really want go out to a restaurant, and I managed to find some tinned Salmon and beautiful local brie cheese to put on some crackers. All that together with a cold beverage made for a more relaxing evening. The restaurant scene on my own begins to get a little tiresome, and it’s been nice to have company for dinners the last two or three nights. A sense of community while on a distance walk is a very pleasant component of each walk I’ve undertaken.

While I was out I managed to enjoy the street scenes and I had a really nice visit to the cathedral where I was also fortunate to get an additional stamp for the day. I missed seeing one of the other special churches because it closed earlier than I expected. Sometimes it’s difficult to do everything, but I guess this means that sometime in the future I have a good reason to return. 

Obviously this is the inside of the cathedral. There was a small service going on in one of the side chapels, but I was pretty quiet as I walked through. Others were doing the same.

The painting on several ceiling areas and in the dome were actually quite spectacular. The stripe floors are also unique in my experience.









I was a bit surprised to find as much stained glass as there was here. This too is a bit unusual, and the first real glass I’ve seen in Italy on this particular trip.

The crypt was pretty nice as well, and reminded me of the underground cisterns in Istanbul except of course these ones are intended to stay dry.

I’d expected todays stage to be as disappointing as yesterday was. My guide said nothing to dissuade this expectation and spoke about the high amount of pavement walking and areas of traffic. It actually rated this stage as moderately hard, but I’m assuming it’s only because of the distance. Otherwise it was pretty straightforward and yet again flat. 

I set off this morning at about 7:30. 

This of course is Remus and Romulus, the symbol of Rome. I was a bit surprised to see it as far north, but perhaps I misunderstand its meaning. I guess I’ll have to Google it at some point.

Walking out of Piacenza was almost as ugly as walking into Piacenza. It’s fortunate that the centre of the city is so beautiful, otherwise it would be an experience to forget. To the left of me I had trains racing by in both directions, and to the right there were trucks and cars flying past as well. I had this little walking path down the middle which served it’s purpose. 

Definitely heading in the right direction! I’ll be passing through Parma tomorrow afternoon, and more on this in the moment.

It made me feel pretty good to see the mountains showing themselves today. They are only two stages away and there’s some excellent climbing through the Apennine Mountains! I’m looking forward to that.

I then stepped onto a fast-moving Highway with a very small verge on the side. This went for a number of kilometres and it was not at all enjoyable. Several of the drivers got extremely close to me, and I noticed it was usually distracted drivers on their phones. I think the people that have organized the Via Francigena need to take a hard look at some of these areas and find a way to make it safer for the pilgrims. Otherwise I’m afraid that what has happened elsewhere is soon and inevitably going to result in a death. That would be extremely unfortunate and needless. There were a few moments that were extremely dangerous and I’ve walked many busy highways in the last 10 years.

At one point when I saw these folks harvesting tomatoes I stepped away from the highway and waited for a small break in traffic so that I could take this picture. It’s amazing to me that a machine can harvest tomatoes without damaging them. It’s tough enough for me to do it at home by hand!

Once off the highway the walking became a lot nicer again. There was a nice track that lead all the way into Ponte Noori where I visited this nice old church hoping to find a stamp. While I didn’t find a stamp I did manage to lose Annemarie‘s sunglass strap. It hasn’t worked properly the entire trip so I was actually happy to see it depart. 

There was a nice little market happening while I walked through town. I thought to stop here for a break, but I was feeling strong and I wanted to make time before the heat of the afternoon arrived. My plan was to arrive at the end of the stage somewhere just after 13:30. 

I bumped into Stefan and he was sporting a new hat! Poor guy had to wait for me to take his photo! We agreed that we both have nerdy walking hats, but that they are extremely necessary with all the heat. I even had my sleeves on all day, something I don’t always do, but I knew it was going to be a hot one. 

I did eventually take a five minute break to relax and eat my banana. The potassium is really helpful for avoiding leg cramps and besides, it helped reduce the weight I was carrying. Bananas are a walkers friend! I had more water than usual today because of the distance in the heat. I typically carry and drink just over a litre of water each stage, but today I was carrying over a litre and a half. 





At some point I went off track today when I was putting some sunscreen on my face in the back of my hands. A cyclist went by and was gesturing back the other way, but I was playing some music and I couldn’t understand what he said. I looked at my app and realized that I was off course, but that if I stayed on the road I was presently walking that I would end up back on the prescribed route. After all, all Roads lead to Rome! 



Just after this beautiful orange house Pierre, who I met yesterday caught up to me. As it turns out he’s a very strong walker and has put in some 50 km stages. I move along fairly well, but not as quickly as I use to. An admission that I might be getting a little slower than when I started this gig 10 years ago😂🙏

Caitlin, I took this picture for you because I know you love the old doors, as do I. I particularly liked the textures.

A few random photos from today’s walk. Peter and I were enjoying conversation all the way along. He hosted me to a cold drink at some point when we start about 7 km from our destination for arrest.





I snapped this shot of Peter, and as he did I should’ve taken a selfie of the two of us when we finished the stage. I don’t do a lot of selfies, so my mind didn’t go there. I was pretty tired at the end and thinking only of a cold drink and getting my pack off. However I do have some pictures from the boat crossing yesterday and I think I posted one with Peter‘s face on it, the young fellow with the beard, not the other older fellow. 

Close to the end of the stage we actually had to cross an arroyo just like in Spain. The only difference, no water was flowing. Apparently in the wet season it’s too dangerous to cross here and you have to go up the road further and across the bridge and then walk back down. But today, after a long drought I think we had to step on two of the stones to avoid a bit of mud. A little anti-climatic I thought😅

There are fields of tomatoes! We actually tried one from the discarded pile. The fruit was extremely warm after sitting in the sun and it wasn’t as sweet as I anticipated.

Pierre and I said goodbye to each other after exchanging email addresses. I think he’s a prime candidate to walk the PCT in the western US and he seems quite interested, so I will be sending him some information about that walk. I really enjoyed our walk together and it was great to have some company. We chatted the whole way because Pierre fortunately for me has great English language skills. For me it made the day and the stage much better than anticipated! At the rate he’s moving I don’t believe our paths will cross again on this journey, however, unexpected things always seem to happen on Camino and I’ve learned never to discount anything. 

I found a vending machine and drank an orange sport drink just about as fast as I could manage. It seemed to revive me a little bit, and as I walked on I came upon an oasis. I’d been talking with Pierre about this very thing. About how I hadn’t sampled the gelato nearly as much as I had intended to. I went in the door and asked for chocolate and lemon, but then we got to talking about combining flavours. We agreed the pistachio with chocolate would be a much better option, taste wise. So that’s what I ordered, the grande size! The lady was a real sweetheart and also attached a lump of lemon to my cone. It was indeed a little bit of heaven! It was also my lunch! 

As I sat there with delight eating my gelato I noticed on the door that the store would be closed tomorrow. Had I had come by here a day later I would’ve missed this amazing experience. What a shame that will be for those who follow tomorrow! I also noticed that there were a string of awards stuck on the glass door. As far as I’m concerned they earned each and everyone of them!

So I’m in my simple little room beside a bar/restaurant. I’ve had my shower, washed my clothes and now almost finished the blog. Tomorrow after walking 21 km to Fidenza I’ll visit the renaissance church in the village and then catch the train via Parma to Bologna. I’m taking a three day break from the walk, not because I need to, but because I had planned to do this before leaving home. On this particular adventure I was open to additional side travels to see some places that have been on my list for sometime. Hence the earlier visit to Zermatt. There could also be one more depending on how I’m feeling when I reach Lucca. 

I will of course eventually post tomorrow’s stage on the blog and I will also share my side trip experiences. On Saturday night Costanza, a friend that Annemarie and I met while walking across Sicily in 2018 will be joining me. She and I will depart on Sunday morning to walk over the Apennine Mountains, along the Mediterranean coast and eventually to Lucca. I’ve been very much looking forward to this, and I think Costanza will help to make this section of the walk a lot of fun. She’s about 20+ years younger than me and lives and hiked in the mountains of the Tyrol area in north east Italy, so I’m a little worried about keeping up with her. However, I’ll do my best!💪😂

On that note, our friends Corie and Jim are going to cross Sicily on the same route we did. They arrive in Rome I believe Thursday or Friday of this week, and I know they will have a wonderful time on that journey. Sicily is an amazing place and very, very different from mainland Italy. It’s like a separate country, and we think of it as such.

That’s it for today, and I’ll connect next from Bologna once I figure out how to get there!