We are on week two now (but 7th day walking) and
our week two package of instructions includes maps for the day, so no need to
destroy any books to get the maps. Again today, we more or less ignored the
instructions and simply followed the GPS, but the instructions do occasionally
come in handy.
We made really good time today. We walked 26.8km at a moving
speed of 4.5km an hour. It took us a total of 8 hours, moving for 6 hours. We
followed the river Dora Baltea again for part of the day today. The first thing
we noticed walking out of town was that if we had gone just a bit further
yesterday down the main drag we would have found a store selling fruit! We also saw the famous Pont St Martin roman
bridge, which is 31 metres long but reported as being longer depending on the
source.
We followed the Carema direction at first, on the ‘Il
Sentiero dei Vigneti’ trail along vineyard terraces. We were passed at an
ancient church by two pilgrims while I stopped to use a washroom at a municipal
office parking lot. The surprising thing, again, is that we never saw the
French couple along the trail today, even though they left the hotel shortly
after we did today and said they were going to Ivrae today as well.
Major climb up from
Pont Saint Martin, beautiful walk through the vineyards, and large
descent. We have figured out that in
ancient times people liked building churches and chapels high in the mountains,
and the via Francigena is going past every one of them. After a week we are getting pretty well
conditioned for the long climbs, but the steep descents remain a problem! Very hard
on the feet. The other major problem I am having is with the bursitis in my
left foot – walking on concrete really gets that going and it is a bit of a
show stopper. If it gets really sore I have to sit down for a good 10 to 15
minutes and then it’s okay for about 4 to 5 km. We had a long walk along a
major highway today, which aside from being really hard on my bursitis, is very
frightening. There are a lot of motorcycles in Italy, and they seem to like
passing cars on curves on a solid line.
We went through a trailer park today, and we are very
grateful for our provincial parks. At
the park we went through people had their trailer up right against cabins, which
was interesting, but they were all very close to one other, and few trees for
privacy.
We climbed up to quite
a number of churches
and castles today, climbing a total of 588 meters, making this the easiest climbing day so far, but still a lot of climbing. At one point we went past a zipline and rock climbing park with a lot of families out for fun. We stopped and had our lunch in the picnic space below and then shortly later passed an agrigelatino establishment, where we stopped and had a delicious Italian gelato treat. While enjoying our gelato two pilgrims walked by outside – we waved and pointed at the gelato but they kept going.
and castles today, climbing a total of 588 meters, making this the easiest climbing day so far, but still a lot of climbing. At one point we went past a zipline and rock climbing park with a lot of families out for fun. We stopped and had our lunch in the picnic space below and then shortly later passed an agrigelatino establishment, where we stopped and had a delicious Italian gelato treat. While enjoying our gelato two pilgrims walked by outside – we waved and pointed at the gelato but they kept going.
Shortly after, we passed through the village of San Germano that
was having a major fair with food/ artists/ crafts/ agricultural displays etc.
and a lot of people in attendance.
Of course near the end of our walk we had another major
climb, past the Montalto
[DL1] Dora
Castle, the Santa Croce Chapel, and the San Pietro Martire church. What fun
would it be getting in to town without an incredible view?
Our lodging for the night is the eclectic BB Spazio Bianco,
in the ancient part of Ivrea, and a literal Fort Knox. We have noticed that in general Italian’s are
very security conscious, with large gates/ security camera’s, dogs, etc.
Unfortunately, Ivrea seems to be subject to an excess of graffiti artists, with
a lot of the city defaced. The old city is very run down, but still very busy,
even for a Sunday.
We had a very inexpensive dinner today – a hamburger! They
had run out of hamburger buns, so we had focaccia bun instead, but it was very
good, and comfort food!
The hotel is a bit of an art gallery and they had a changing
of the art today. Lots of people in attendance. We were invited but too tired
to go!
Ivrea is famous for Olivetti typewriters! Apparently Olivetti
was very concerned about his workers, and established a major socialist city
where everyone was taken care of! He
died in 1990, good timing really, since the day of the typewriter was coming to
an end, but it seems like it was a major blow to the people of Ivrae, who are
still trying to redefine themselves.
It is one of the nicest hotel rooms we have ever stayed
in. Postmodern, we guess would be the
best way of describing it.
Very comfortable and interesting art work, books, etc. everywhere. We were right across from the police station, which is apparently where Napoleon had stayed when he was there, during the period when the French controlled the city from 1800 to 1814. Ivrea is also apparently well known for its horses. At some point there was apparently 1 horse for every 20 people.
Very comfortable and interesting art work, books, etc. everywhere. We were right across from the police station, which is apparently where Napoleon had stayed when he was there, during the period when the French controlled the city from 1800 to 1814. Ivrea is also apparently well known for its horses. At some point there was apparently 1 horse for every 20 people.
In our first seven days, we have walked about 150km and
climbed almost 5,000 meters.
Glad to hear you are treating yourself to a Gelato after all those metres logged on so far! Good luck with the feet. What a wonderful way to experience history!
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