Piverone to Santhià – 17 miles and 7.5 hours.

We stayed at the fantastic Ostello La Steiva in Piverone. Lucky for us they were open. Rolling in during siesta hour can be tricky because most towns completely shutter down. There were three dorms. One was taken by a single man. Bill and I shared an eight bed room and the other three shared a multi bed room. It was spotless! We were told when we first got there that it was men on one side and women on the other. Upon us having a discussion about that they kindly told us to sleep wherever we wanted.We decided the previous evening that if we could find a store we’d buy snacks for dinner – retire early and start at dawn to ward off walking longer in the heat. Normally dinner starts between 7:00-7:30 pm which means a late bedtime.

Getting to bed early worked well only to have a local band practice the same stanza over and over again until 11:30 pm. Excited by the success of their play they chose to stand under the dorm windows chatting until Darrell shushed them at 2:20 am. HA! The alarm went at 5:45 woke Darrell, Roxanne and Chappy to a bat bouncing off the walls of their room. What an eventful evening.

The sunrise start was stunning.

They’re back…..Bill decided it’s time for his flip flops!

Today is a holiday. Saint Rocco day. Most businesses are closed. Towns decorated with flags and colored plastic dish ware using their hometown colors.Cornfields, hay, kiwi plants, rice fields and some sort of lower growing fuzzy beans were all around us. We walked briefly near the highway and along irrigation ditches full of water.

Does anyone know what a wifferdil or ditherloop is?

Photos are in order – follow along.Pooped out as we crawled into Santhià.

Not a pretty town but it had a perfect Albergo.

Shower, clothes washing and the bar…

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Paige is standing in the remains of the 9th century Romanesque church on a dirt road outside Piverone. It’s the celebration of Saint Rocco and Bill is standing in the confetti. Coffee Americano

The church in the town of Cavaglià is lavender. Vineyards, kiwi orchards, rice paddies, corn, farmhouses and rural roads.