33 km 💪
Sembra sempre impossibile finché non viene realizzato
(It always seems impossible until you do it)
- written on my espresso cup at breakfast
It seems impossible that I have walked almost 800 kilometres since Rome!
It seems impossible that we have only three more days to go before we reach Santa Maria di Leuca: the southernmost tip of Puglia!
It seems impossible that today we walked 33 km in the wind and rain!
But we did. Leaving Lecce behind, walking once again through olive groves devastated by the xylella plague, stopping for a break in the villages we passed through on the way. First in Merine, then at the café across from the castle in Acaia, which had a beautiful stamp for our credentials, and finally in Vernole to eat our picnic lunch.
With the appetite of one who has been walking for more than a month, I had devoured my packed lunch as a midnight snack the night before... But I found the perfect replacement in the bar in Vernole, a rustico, made of puff pastry filled with tomato and Béchamel sauce - a very filling savoury snack!
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| Vernole |
It was beginning to rain harder by the time we arrived in Martano, so I went straight to my B&B. At six p.m. we all met in the town centre for an aperitif offered by the two Claires, who have been walking with us since Bari, representing the French Fédération Grand Randonnée. They explained the Federation's work and its trail marking system, which is perfectly clear and standardised - unlike the multitude of different trail markers used in Italy! I also love the Federation's guidebooks, the topoguides, which are small, lightweight, and contain not only trail maps but information on lodgings and services - an indispensable companion for anyone walking long-distance trails in France. I first discovered this series of guidebooks in Saint-Gilles and treasured them for the rest of my walk across France towards Santiago in 2017-2019!
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