Ya no camino; el camino me lleva
— Alejandro Jodorowsky, Piedras del camino
There were ten of us at the Ostello della Cisa last night: in addition to Mariella and myself, Michelle and Peter, there was a couple from Montreal, Michel and Lynn, and an English couple we had not yet met, Sean and Ann - all walkers - as well as a Swiss cyclist on his way to Rome and a motorcyclist, also Swiss, who lives a nomadic life working on the road as a professional photographer. The ten of us emptied a few bottles of wine over dinner together in the hostel dining room (there not being any other options up here at the pass!) and spent a very pleasant evening.
We breakfasted at 7 on croissants, cappuccino and the remains of last night's bread, and then set off to walk the remaining two and a half kilometres from the hostel along the road to the top of the Cisa Pass.
A surprise awaited me: my husband Silvio had cycled up to the pass to meet me!
We walked up the steps to the chapel of the Madonna della Guardia, and then I stepped through a magic portal that instantly transported me from the region of Emilia Romagna into Tuscany! 😄
Silvio then continued on the cycling route while Mariella and I followed the trail through a beautiful wood of beech trees and a dark, cool coniferous forest.
Our paths met again at Righetto Pass, where the walking trail crossed the road. Here I caught up with Sean and Ann, and we walked together on the most scenic section of today's stage, traversing mountain meadows with sweeping views of the valleys and the surrounding peaks.
After this we began a long, steep, rocky descent. I was too busy watching my footing to take many photographs! 😄
I caught up with Peter and Michelle by the fountain in Groppoli, and descended with them to a wobbly suspension bridge over the Torrente Civasola stream.
After coming through the hamlet of Groppodalosio we crossed a beautiful stone bridge, built in 1574. We sat down for a leisurely lunch break on the other side as we were quite tired from the steep descents and uncertain footing of the path.
Sean and Ann joined us, but I had not seen Mariella for a while, and there was no cell phone service where we were sitting; that and the sight of a tick walking across my hand convinced me to get up and moving again!
I sprayed on some insect repellent in case there were any more ticks in the woods and moved to a place with cell service, where I learned that Mariella had got onto the cycling route instead and was following that the rest of the way to Pontremoli. It must have been a lot shorter, because by the time I reached Pontremoli she had already met up with my husband there, and he had given her a lift - they were already both back home! 😄
Mariella's walk ends in Pontremoli, our starting point for the Via del Volto Santo together in September 2020.
I continued wakking with Sean and Ann on an ancient cobblestone road through the woods, crossing several more stone bridges.
The last of these - to make a long story short - was the 16th-century Ponte del Carmine, the bridge over the Magra river leading into the city of Pontremoli. The name comes from the Latin pons tremulus - wobbly bridge - so the original bridge over the Magra must have been much less solid!
The bridge was hard to photograph because of all the trees! After crossing it I passed a couple of derelict buildings and then the lift to the castle housing the Museum of Stele, which I would have liked to see, but it was getting late, I was tired, and the town's pilgrim hostel is no longer located in the castle, as it used to be. I walked along Via Garibaldi through the old town, stopping in at the 17th-century cathedral in Rococò style and then crossing another bridge back to the left bank of the river, where the pilgrim hostel is now located in the Capuchin monastery.
And where there was a chestnut festival taking place in the park across from the monastery! I knew the monks would be at Mass until a quarter to six and so I stopped there for a beer and a delicious snack, which turned out to be dinner: roast chestnuts and castagnaccio, a very simple flat cake made from chestnut flour, olive oil and water, raisins and pine nuts, served here with fresh ricotta cheese.
At a quarter to six I crossed over to the monastery, where I found four of the others sitting on the steps waiting - they hadn't received the information that the monks would all be in church for an hour, and not answering the doorbell or the phone! Within a few minutes we saw the congregation leaving the church and the doors to the monastery finally opened. We were duly checked in, credentials stamped, paid our fifteen euros and were shown to our rooms - lovely private cells for one or two people, on the top floor overlooking the cloister!
Passo della Cisa - Pontremoli 25 km
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