Lucca to Altopascio – 11 miles in 6 hours – Monday September 24thOur time in Lucca was fun. We actually had two days off from the Via.

Today started with a lovely cloudy morning that turned into hot sun and no shade by 11:00 am.It was a mixed bag – residential, farm land, industrial and commercial areas – lots of olive trees.We met a new pilgrim from the USA. It was her first day on the trail, she’s ultimately walking to Sienna and looked like we did on our first day. Clean, fresh and eager!

As Bill and I walked today we talked about time off vs walking daily. This break was necessary as a couple members of the Fab Five had body parts that needed resting. The respite was wonderful but today I found my pack feeling heavy and my joints needing some oil. By hour five I was longing for a train heading towards the Amalfi Coast.

I think our bodies and mind get in a groove with a daily grind. The break feels relaxing and freeing but is there a price? Bill posed the question to all of us a few days ago. How many days off in a row before you chuck the whole thing and travel? One day is necessary but what happens if you take 2, 3 or 5?

HA! You wouldn’t believe the stuff we can think about out there on the trail. Talk about monkey mind!

The weather channel says the temperature should drop by 13 degrees tomorrow. Yay!!! Currently it’s 85 and feels like 88 (according to the app). It will be interesting to see what this does to our energy level.We entered the province of Florence and are sleeping at the Albergo Paola. It’s a one star that’s better than some three stars we’ve stayed in and here why (click on the word why).

* Hey thanks everyone for all the comments and emails. It’s great hearing from you.

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Four wheelsFrom Lucca walked to AltopascioThree wheelsThis bell tower is in Altopascio. The bell is called “Smarrita” the bell of the lost that rang at dusk to help pilgrims lost in the fog and the woods.

Enjoying Domenica (Sunday) in black and white…and color…

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Walk and biked the tree lined Lucca Wall

The only way to fix a flat tire is to pump it up – right? There’s lots of fresh air in one of our favorite cities in Tuscany.

Lucca with an Renaissance era wall that’s perfect for a bicycle ride which surely beats walking!We hopped on a train and headed south. It wasn’t hot enough so we decided to go even hotter!

Fiorenzuola to Fidenza – 9 miles by foot

There was a happy face in our sink this morning.Today it was hot and humid by 9:30. Darrell learned that the weather is not normal for this time of year.

We started walking through town to an overpass to roadside walking through farm land with huge old stone buildings. It was what novels were written about. I longed for a family to invite us in to sit down for lunch in the shade of their tree. A long table with bottles of water and wine, fresh vegetables, homemade cheese, fresh baked bread and farm raised meat to greet us. Yup. It ended there. A longing – a mirage in my mind.The humidity causes the horizon to be misty and our bodies to be soggy and heavy.We encountered seven other pilgrims along the trail and met the nicest locals today. They all think we’re nuts for walking to Rome but smile at our tenacity.

4 miles short of Fidenza one of the Fab Five had a tire blow out and the owner of the restaurant where we stopped for lunch drove us to our final destination.We found the closest place to rest at the Hotel Astoria.Roxanne’s post and photos:

Walking out of Fiorenzuola d’Arda

The Abby of Chiaravalle della Colomba

Rural road to Castione Marchesi

Today was a zigzag…Walk then a boat ride across the Po River (with two fun Italian lady pilgrims). Walk again – then a train ride to Fiorenzuola. One final walk right to the Hotel Concordia.Right after taking the picture below I slid a couple of feet down the boat ramp and my phone went flying in the air towards the river – miraculously it landed on a small patch of reed grass and didn’t get wet.The boat captain took us to his house to sign his guest book and to get stamps in our pilgrim passports.10 miles by foot.

Our guide books said the walk from Piacenza to here is dangerous – lots of highway situations. We walked for miles along the highway on the Camino de Santiago Portugues because of flooding and agreed that this time we would avoid it.

The scenery is slowing changing.

We saw alfalfa fields today and also confirmed with a farmer that the beans are indeed soy (good call Cathy).

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Villa Litta Carini in Orio Litta

Boat ramp in Corte Sant’Andrea where the Fab Five crossed the Po River by boat

Captain Danilo

Walked to San Nicolo and took a 15 minute train ride to Fiorenzuola

Santa Cristina e Bissone to Orio Litto – 10 miles in 4.5 hours The misty cool morning and the presence of hunters brought a smile upon my face. Hills! There’s hills on our horizon. Just wait! We know they will test our stamina but we are looking forward to them.

This is what betraying the train warning sign looks like when you’re carrying a backpack.Improv on the Via….

We’re going up the Po Po

In a bo bo

In search of a bottle of vino

So we can take the traino to the next stopo

Along with the Rich and the Hones who are looking for ham con mayoThe crossing guard got a text message!There’ll be days like this, mama said…Tonight we are in another super clean donativo sponsored by the local municipality. The mayor, Luigi, came by to greet us.

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Green in Santa Cristina e BissoneMosquito repellentPheasant hunter near Miradolo TermeSidewalk cafe in Miradolo TermeCusani Castle in Chignolo, PoHostel in Orio Litta

Belgioioso to Santa Cristina e Bissone – 8 miles in 4 hoursIt was such an exciting day! We had the rare opportunity to walk through RICE and CORN!Oh and BEANS!If it wasn’t for the mosquitos that ate us alive we might have been able to finish the day by sleep walking. It seems as if we’ve plowed this trail for days. It’s only the new bed each night that tells me we aren’t walking in circles.

Bug spray you say? This nasty army of blood suckers plugged their noses and bit away – resistant to deet. The good news is that we registered the fastest miles per hour on the whole trip!I kid about the rice, corn and beans. The truth is that it’s beautiful – not just the landscape but the fact that we are all doing this together, we’re healthy, we get to visit, laugh, share and be still within ourselves.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. ~Sarah Ban BreathnatchWe’ve all become huge fans of clouds and wind because the sun slowly sucks the life out of us like an aging helium balloon. Lucky for us the weather Gods has given us plenty of cloudy mornings.Tonight we are staying in a church donativo. All five of us are in one room. There are 10 in the building and there’s one bathroom.

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Walking out of Belgioioso into the corn and rice fields of the Lombardi Plains

Irrigation

Corn harvesterCoffee with heavy creamSidewalk cafe in Torre de’ Negri

Beautiful in Santa Cristina e BissoneGelateriaFive beds and one bathroom hostel in Santa Cristina E Bissone

Pavia to Belgioioso 12 miles in 5.5 hours.

We have walked 175.6 miles so far.

It took 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk out of city of Pavia. School kids filled the streets. It was great fun watching them full of energy visiting and chit chatting.Neighborhoods.More rice, corn and beans but not prevalent like before. Boy is it flat! There’s not a hill in sight.Most of our walk was on pavement which takes a toll on the body.Belgioioso

What’s the town name? Bill “Bela Lugosi boiled bouillabaisse”.We’re staying at La Locanda Della Pesa an Albergo. Super clean room with two beds and a private bath. I rate it a 9 for the comfortable beds (yup 2 twins) and cleanliness. Bill rated it a 9 because he found a fork on the floor with food on it. Darrell rated it a 7 because it didn’t have air and Chappy gave it a 6 because it doesn’t have WiFi – so he thought… now it’s a 9.

Did you know that Italy has red wine that’s frizzante? That means wine with bubbles and chilled. That means yucky. That means we always forget to ask when we order vino della casa (house wine). That means we drink it anyways.

I rather like bad wine . . . one gets so bored with good wine.

Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield 1804 – 1881

Darrell tried to swirl the bubbles out.

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Paige rates rooms one through ten. If it’s rated six or below, Darrell requests a Paige pillow sniff.Yellow church in San Leonardo

Yellow home in Belgioioso

Postman in Belgioioso on yellow bike

One ear kitty in Pavia

Yellow church in Pavia

Domenica (Sunday)

Gropello Cairoli to Pavia – 12 miles and 6.5 hoursThe scenery changed today – large farms, narrow country roads and woodsy paths next to the Ticino River.Early this morning rice was still king and corn its queen. Shotguns echoed around us as camouflaged sportsmen hunted for pheasant.Approaching the noon hour we approached the Ticino River – silent fishermen cast their lines while motorboats scared the fish away.

Bicyclers ruled the road ande trails! Occasionally scaring the $h!t out of us.It is remarkable how new scenery stimulates the mind and body – it’s like a shot of adrenaline!Hello Pavia and the Hotel Excelsior.

Ever wonder how we do laundry?

In the sink –Wring it out –Lay it on a towel – Wring again – Hang –Roxanne’s post and photos:

Harvested cornHarvested riceLombardy Plain irrigation canalTicino RiverPurple tractorPavia, a college town on the Ticino River

Tremollo to Gropello Cairoli – 8.1 miles in 4 hours

You should see us trying to communicate. In these small villages English is not spoken. We use a mixture of English and Spanish hoping something will click.

Last night at dinner we were trying to derive what type of meat was on the pasta. Resorting to sounds we all mooed. The waitress giggled and in perfect English retorted “Bambi”. It was delicious.

Giuseppe uses a translation app on his phone and communicates perfectly.I think our brains knew we had a short walk and shut down our bodies right out of the chute.

Bill said “Instead of posting photos of this day just tell people to look at yesterday’s photos.” Think Groundhog’s Day.

Rice fields, irrigation canals and cute towns.The mosquitos are back!!! If you stop to take a photo the flies and mosquitos will take you down and eat you alive. Especially by the piles of poo!Pheasant tracks galore.Beautifully overcast most of the day.

Life is easy peasy on a Pilgrimage. The guys figure out how far to go and where we’re sleeping. We eat, walk, buy cigars, walk, eat, walk and eat. Chit chat. Walk alone. Walk in groups. Simplicity at its bestWe now lie on the bed in the Hotel Motel Flower (no lie).

Our hallway tonight:Our hallway the night before:

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Another fine day walking through fields of rice cultivated in Italy since the 15th Century.

Irrigation canals

The town of Garlasco

In the town of Tromello

Nicorvo to Tromello – 14.6 miles and 7.5 hoursIt rained last night which made for a wet but pillowy soft walk on the grassy trail. The foggy sunrise was magical and just a tiny bit eerie.

Quickly our shoes became soaked.

Once the sun came out our shoes dried out and our clothes quickly became soaked.Today there were two train crossings. At the first one Chappy became impatient waiting so he crossed the tracks only to tell us no train was coming….. blah, blah, blah.He didn’t cross early at the second train.

We met up with two pilgrims that we saw over the past few days. Simone is from Italy and Art is from the Netherlands. Simone stepped out and Art ended up walking with us for a couple hours.For those who have asked we have seen pilgrims everyday but yesterday.

Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson and Beyoncé helped me get my groove on. I wore my earbuds so not to ruin people’s zen however it was way difficult to keep from singing out loud. Walking in a straight line with a backpack and dancing without exerting too much effort is a wee bit challenging too.Tonight we’re sleeping at Hotel Dica di Tromello and Giuseppe is our hostRoxanne’s photos:Rice mill.

Welcomed soft road between rice paddies.

During a coffee break in the town of Mortara we again meet a Via friend.

More Via friends.

Italian tv time.

Vercelli to Nicorvo – 14.8 miles and 7 hours

We spent the night at the Hotel Garda near Milan’s Central Station. Bill and I stayed there last November. It’s simple but clean. We cranked on the air conditioning and shivered the night away.

Up at 5:50 am for a train bound to Vercelli. Back on the Via.11.2 miles and 6 hours.

We started walking through the bustling town of Vercelli (the rice capital of the world).Then teetered on the shoulder of a busy road and timely jay walked as a police car pulled up to the intersection. They smiled and shook their heads in disgust.This lead to a gravel road that meandered through fields of corn and rice which soon became fields of neglect. It was hot and humid. Gravel is a bugger to walk on for any length of time. It surely conditions every single muscle from the knees on down.A pizza and salad lunch was in the cute town of Palestro. You know what they say about eating your way through Italy. Good golly we surely can’t be walking enough to offset the calories.Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock – all playing at different times like Row Row, Row Your Boat. The cadence of walking sticks. Apparently, 4 out of 5 hikers recommend them. However when going down steep muddy trails the remains 20% wish they had them. I love the sound. It’s harmony to my ears.We strolled into the heart of Robbio where a bunch of men were visiting outside the local cafe. They were excited to see us pilgrims and wanted to know where we were from and told us we’d be staying across the way. However the lady who was to let us in the donativo (donation only dormitory) told us we only have a reservation for one not five. When asked if there was another place in town they all chit chatted amongst themselves and the gal got on the phone to arrange for us to stay in another donativo four kilometers away. One of the men kindly offered to drive us there in his van.

So here we are in the tiny town of Nicorvo. We’re in an Ospitale – which translates to hospital which translates to a place to take care of pilgrims and run by the church. Three of us are in one room – two in another and we share one bathroom. The town has one bar and one restaurant which is all we need.This is what an evening looks like. Laundry, bar, C rated movie in Italian, killing flies, visiting, drinks and more food!

Roxanne’s post and photos:

Thank you Primos for the side trip to Milano.♥️

To return to the Via Francigena the Fab Five took an $8 train ride from the city of Milano to the city of Vercelli. From Vercelli we walked out of the Piedmont farm land into the Lombardi farm land.

Italian teenagers like French fries and put them on pizza and call it Pizza Americano.

Corn.Farm Houses.Rice.

In the town of Palestro.

Pizza Americano

Last night we stayed at the Albergo La Vittoria. Wonderful! Right next to the train station. Rooms were clean and spacious. Dinner was perfect.

Two different books we use for reference said the next segment was dangerous and had no shade. Tired and weary we decided to go to Milan and give ourselves a break.After witnessing the beautiful church in Cavaglià Bill and I thought Darrell and Roxanne might like to see the Duomo.

Hello Milan – the big hot city that you are. One of our favorite cities for shopping and eating. This time it felt so strange coming from walking in the countryside.

We saw, ate, gelato(ed), haircut(ed), ate, drank, ate and are going to bed quasi early.

We’re staying the night in Milan then hopping on an early train back to Vercelli to start the Via again.Roxanne’s post and photos:

The man on the bicycle stopped to read the obituary notices on the town bulletin board.  The Fab Five did a Bill and Paige Zig Zag on a $10 train ticket from Santhià to Milano to visit the Duomo Cathedral, galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle shopping mall, the Opera House and to get hair cuts.

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.

Last night we stayed at the Hotel Ponte Romano. Our room had a king bed, twin bed and a crib. We have a grandchild due in a month and wondered if it was a sign. It made for a great clothes drying rack.

We started the day with resolutions to our clothing snafu. After three attempts by me to get the wine out of my shirt Bill told me to throw it in the shower with him. He removed the stain and is now is our official clothes washer.

On our way out Roxanne and I decided to look under the cars nearest to the hotel for Bill’s boxers. Roxanne happened to mention how clean everything looked and at the same time I spotted a public garbage can. Voilà! Right on top were Bill’s britches.Verres to Borgofranco d’Ivrea – 10 miles and 6 hours with our normal stops.

The temperature and slight breeze was wonderful if not for the humidity. We all experienced our own personal sauna.

The Via signage changed to fancy signs and the path was clearly marked except for one time where we had to read about the one kilometer walk on the shoulder of a busy highway.

Hillside terraced vineyards ruled the day.

By the way Italians do not stop for people in crosswalks and there’s some kind of fascination with Snow White’s dwarfs.

Roxanne’s post and photos:

The Fab Five are feeling the luck of the Romans today because this morning near the Pont Saint Martin 1st Century BC Roman Bridge Paige retrieved Bill’s underwear that had fallen three stories out the hotel window the night before.

Woot woot! What a marvelous day.

11 level miles from Verres to Pont Saint Martin.

The morning temperature was absolutely perfect for walking warming up as the day unfolded. If we could just hit the pause button on the morning thermostat.

The Dora River has the most unusual but interesting and unique color. We spent time trying to figure out how to “explain” the color to you and gave up opting for you to figure it out by looking at the photos.Tomorrow we will officially leave the Aosta Valley where water fountains (not like home – these are large granite tubs per se where water constantly flows out a faucet and is used for drinking and washing) are found just around every corner and there’s water, water and water – gushing, falling and meandering.Constantly finding ourselves with grins on our faces as we marvel in the sheer beauty of Italy. Some of the details… most homes have flower boxes bubbling over with color. If there’s space there’s a garden. Walls are decorated. The vineyards are geometric works of art. The old stone buildings (be still my heart) tell stories. Roofs are made with heavy and huge rock tiles – the best have some rusting around the edges. There’s so much more for later…Bill – Your kisses are sweeter than hône.

Austin Powers – Do I make you hône baby?

Bill and I had tiny snafus with our clothing today. I knocked my red wine glass over towards myself consequently shattering the glass and wearing the wine. Bill decided to dry his undies in the window and the breeze carried them away.Sadly the view from our room (above) is of a 2000 year old year Roman Bridge. Hope the actual white noise from the flowing river doesn’t keep us awake tonight.

Roxanne’s photo: