27 km
This is the farthest I have walked in one day yet!
After an organic vegan breakfast with Pina and her family and the other guests in the house next to the yurt, Simone and I walked the remaining 5 km into Camaiore, where we stopped to pick up groceries for our picnic lunch. We said hi to a Finnish pilgrim (whom we never saw again) and first spotted Sava, bandaging his feet on the bench in front of the cathedral, with a pained expression and a very heavy backpack.... He won't be going far, I commented, not knowing that we would end up spending the afternoon walking together!
It was hard going that morning, uphill to Montemagno and through the woods along paths and minor roads, once again in hot and humid weather.
Roadside chapel in Camaiore
The sweaty climb up to Montemagno
It was getting toward lunch time and we were looking out for a good picnic spot when it started to rain. The shower only lasted a few minutes, but during that time we saw a sign saying PILGRIM HOSTEL - 200 METRES. We arrived to find a 40-bed hostel complete with kitchen manned by two volunteers from Monza who provided us with wine and water to go with our meal, fruit and coffee afterwards, conversation and advice. If they'd known we were coming, they said, they would have cooked a hot meal for us too!
With the hospitalers in Valpromaro
We were just about to pack up and be on our way when in stumbled the man we had seen back in Camaiore sitting on a bench next to a very heavy backpack, tending to his sore feet. Sava turned out to be from Serbia, though he has lived in Vicenza for 30 years, and he had walked all the way from Venice in the time it has taken me to walk here from Chiavari, covering up to 50 km a day! No wonder his feet were sore!
Walking with Sava
In the afternoon we walked together, through a varied landscape of cultivated fields, villages and forests.
Squash of various kinds
Wild cyclamens
The final stretch coming into Lucca along the banks of the Serchio River
New pedestrian and cycling bridge completed in 2012
Outside the gates of Lucca
The church of San Michele in Foro, right around the corner from our accommodations
Our accommodations in the pilgrims' apartment provided by the Misericordia, strung with our washing!
We sat in on a choir and orchestra rehearsal in the nearby church
Piazza Anfiteatro by night
No comments:
Post a Comment