Medesano to Cassio 19/8/17

19/8/17 Saturday
Day 21

Medesano- Cassio 30+km (maybe 40 km)

Cloudy

Up 0500.
Outside Medesano Sloways app indicates right uphill so instead I elect to take Cicerone's flat, boring route in the dark.
Walk in darkness to Felegara. Breakfast at a bar but I'm confused with signs. Wish there was one route in one direction! After Felegaro I continue on a cycle path but have taken the wrong direction, re-read instructions, re-trace steps, then I'm on a gravel track way off-route.
9 km are repeated.
Left heel is burning.
Left hip is burning.

I thought the Ostellier was asking for 60 Euro for a bed! I was so desperate I would have paid it.
Arrive Cassio Hostel 1720 after having been on the road for 10 hours.

I'm stinking filthy while sitting on the edge of my bed writing this.
I had every reason to be worried today: the last 7 km stretch as described by Cicerone as a quiet road was besieged by menacing motorbikes, I slipped in my sandals (worn out of necessity) all day on difficult terrain, walked the wrong way three times and retraced many kilometers though I had been on the correct route on two out of three occasions. After Respiccio I took the riverbed which was almost impassable. I used my pole to slash at thistles and thickets, threw my pack over fallen trees and scratched and clambered at roots and branches as I inched my way through bog and over boulder along the bottom of this overgrown river track long unvisited by humans.

Cicerone and GPS directions both confusing. Rubbish heaps dumped in the bush. The threat of rain this morning. Mule track extremely difficult with steep terrain and boulders. So glad for free water at Sivizanno and to have the use of a walking pole.

Talked to God today.

Many steep climbs, looking more like Tuscany now with villages huddled in valleys.
Tractors turning hillsides on impossible gradients. Villages of Bardone and Terenzo tidy, pretty and quaint.
Given a private room at the Ostello.
Most difficult day of penitence.
Invited to sit with Italian pilgrims at restaurant. I hear singing from there as I fall asleep and it continues almost until daybreak.

God listened today.

5 Drinks
6 B/F
16 Ostello Cassio
15 Shared dinner Cassio





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Left then Right: Via Francigena pilgrimage in Italy. Buon Cammino.

This is about a long walk I took to celebrate the exquisite perfection of being alive.   I have written a simple account of my walk from Switzerland to Rome on the Via Francigena pilgrimage which I traversed July-September 2017. Rather than being a travel blog, it instead describes my feelings and encounters along the way. ‘Left then Right’ may be interpreted as ‘Wrong ‘(way) before ‘Right’ (way) as was the typical course I took due to my directional-dyslexia disorder. Or it may be interpreted as purely putting the Left foot ahead of the Right foot, step by step. Both of these could be considered accurate of my trajectory along the 1100 km which culminated in my arrival in Rome. Walking is the most mindful, often painful, but definitely meaningful, activity I can think of to align body, mind and spirit with the universal forces of humanity and divinity. Buon Cammino Laura. T. Rust
Read more

Rome 20/9/17

Image
20/9/17 Wednesday 6 th Anniversary of my father's death In Rome I attend the Papal Audience with my Danish comrade. How apt to see the Papa of Rome on a day when the memories of my own father are so poignant. It is momentous, sublime and surreal.
Read more