Italy to Santiago II Part 1: Via Domitia Day 12 Oulx - Cesana Torinese

Perché vengo a rischiare così facilmente la mia vita, quando potrei starmene tranquillamente a casa?

Lo stesso istinto che mi spinge a sfidare la morte per amare la vita, a cercare il freddo per amare il caldo, a stare da solo per amare la compagnia, a sopportare la fatica per amare il riposo, a salire una cima per il suo versante più difficile per amare il più facile…

(Why do I come here and put my life at risk, when I could stay quietly at home? It is the same instinct as drives me to challenge death in order to love life, to seek out the cold in order to love the heat, to be alone in order to love company, to bear fatigue in order to love rest, to climb a mountain peak by the most difficult route in order to love the easier way...) 

- Ernesto Lomasti, mountaineer (1959 - 1979)

A short but challenging stage, including what may be the steepest slope we have ever climbed on a Long Walk!

We began the day over coffee and croissants with our 85-year-old hostess at B&B Alba Serena in Oulx. Rossana is a lively lady with a twinkle in her eye who lives alone in a large house and offers one of her bedrooms, as well as an attic apartment, as a B&B not only to help pay the bills but to meet travellers of all kinds, and have her morning coffee in company! 

We bid her goodbye and headed through the centre of Oulx and up through the old town, continuing to climb out of the town and through the adjacent hamlet of San Marco.

Soon we were far from civilisation on a pleasant forest track with fantastic views of the snow-capped mountains ahead. We have now left behind the busy motorway and the construction sites for the rapid railway line, which curve away toward Bardonecchia and the Frejus tunnel.

The trail took us down to the floor of the valley, proceeded parallel to the highway, which we could hear but not see, and then veered steeply uphill on a dirt trail made slippery by rocks and autumn leaves. In this section of the trail I was too busy huffing and puffing and watching my step to take any photographs! There were no trail markings until we got to the top of the climb, and it was so absurdly steep we wondered whether it really was a path at all... but when we got to the top and our route levelled off, there it was: a signpost for the Via Francigena, pointing the way we had come from and the way we were going. It would have been nice to have a signpost at the bottom, too! And at several other spots previous, where there were intersections of trails with no indication which one we were supposed to take. I followed the gps track, but the gps signal is not always accurate in the mountains; a couple of times we went a few hundred metres in the wrong direction before realising and turning back! 

Resting and recovering at the top of the big climb

Pretty mushrooms

Our efforts were rewarded with a flat, easy trail along the side of the slope and beautiful views of the mountain landscape. We continued along this easy and pleasant trail to Solomiac, a largely abandoned hamlet of stone houses, and Mossieres, a slightly larger and more inhabited village, where we stopped on a bench for a picnic of cheese and crackers and fruit.

We followed the road out of Mossieres down to the highway, crossed it, and continued through an adventure park and along a trail beside the river and then along the road into Cesana Torinese. 

Arriving in the town centre, we stopped in at the tourist information office to stamp our pilgrim credentials and then sat down in a cosy café to celebrate our arrival with a beer. We got chatting with some local people at nearby tables who were curious about our route and our experiences along the way. One of them had a son who had walked the Camino de Santiago, and so he had a general idea of what it's all about! 😁

We crossed the river and walked a few hindred metres further to our accommodation. The place where pilgrims normally stay, the church-run Casa per Ferie Frassati, offers a special deal for pilgrims on foot but is currently closed: in between the summer season and the ski season, there are not many tourists around, and a lot of hotels and restaurants close so the families that run them can take some time off. We found a place that is open, though not particularly welcoming: a woman dressed in work overalls opened the door and let us in, took our details and our money and then disappeared, going back to her renovation work, or whatever she had been doing before we arrived. 

Our room at Casa per Ferie Rosaz, the only remotely affordable option in this ski resort town,  is rather more spartan than we expected for the price we paid - but to compensate, we have a balcony with an amazing view over the town and the Alps!

The view from our balcony 

Oulx - Cesana Torinese 18 km