Day 9 - Viverone to Santhia - Tuesday June 23, 2015

It was unbearably hot last night. Our choice was to have the room accessible by people in other rooms connected via the balcony, or have the door and window open into the room but the air flow impeded by metal shutters. I think as the summer progresses we will have to forgo safety for a livable environment.

Standard breakfast at 7:30 and on the road at 8:08am. Hotel Royal really was a very grand hotel right on Lake Viverone, we’re sure it will be very busy when summer holidays officially begin. Quite a climb back up to the via Francigena, but we passed a lot of stores, bars, and a super Mercado on the way out of town, which allowed us to stock up on water and supplies for lunch. We actually saw one of the hotel owners at the super Mercado, she had sped off (go granny go) in her car just as we left the hotel.

We continued to climb up to a church upon getting back to the Way, but that ended up being pretty much it as far as climbing went for the rest of the day. Stopped for coffee in Cavaglia, where there was a via Francigena information place, but no one was there! Too bad, I’d really like to get the guide book that Robert (the Irish Pilgrim) has.

We walked 19.6km today, and climbed 469 meters. It was a hot 28 degrees.  

I have to say that a lot of very wealthy people live along the via Francigena. We have walked past numerous beautiful mansions, lovely gardens, high fences, security gates, and barking dogs.  The hyacinth in particular are in their glory at the moment, as are the azelias, roses, geraniums, sedum, and many annuals. I have never seen so many roses in full bloom in all my life. I think the gardens in Italy can’t be beat!

Of course the towns all have narrow cobblestone streets and European buildings like in Spain.

Today, after complaining we never go past stores and restaurants, we went past a lot of them, and  in many cities. The Way was also very well sign-posted again, requiring virtually no consulting of the detailed and confusing route notes.

Today we saw a very cute bunny, rice fields, wheat fields, fields of soybeans, the most incredible square foot vegetable garden, lots of farms, farmers, cows, tractors, and expensive cars.

We got to Santhia around 12:30 and although the town looked like everyone was having siesta, a lot of stores and restaurants were open. No problem checking right into our hotel, which is right beside the train station.

After we got showered and cleaned up we wandered around the city and ran into Robert at the hostel! He gave us each a badge to sew on our backpacks re the via francigena, which we really appreciated. We went for coffee and were joined by his Italian friend Hugo. Had a lovely chat with them over coffee for several hours. Hugo said he is not religious but is walking the via Francigena for spiritual reasons. The conversation then seemed to drift into a discussion of all the failings of organized religion.  Of course with an Irish (protestant) man and an Italian, they had a lot to say about that. Nothing we haven’t heard already!

Robert thinks he will carry on until July 2 and then go to Logrono and join up with some friends on the Camino. He doesn’t have enough time to get to Rome anyway.  We hope to see them in Vercelli. tomorrow, and the next day in Robbio. After that I think we will lose them, because we are taking one day to go from Robbio to Garlasco and they are taking two (more about that later.)

I had a lovely supper of pasta, scallopine, and salad; and, Russell had risotta and mushrooms, pork, and zucchini. While we were eating Hugo came in to check out the restaurant, someone had told him it had the best regional food in the city. He said he and Robert would come back there later to eat, but we were finished before they arrived.