Steven – Page 2 – Following your feet

Day 178: Pavia to Gropello Cairoli

My wife had her second shingles vaccine yesterday and had had a rough night and was not feeling well. We felt it was probably just the side effects of the jab, and it would be silly to cancel when flights were booked, and she was fully fit tomorrow. It was with some concern that I…

Day 177: Ilanz to Chur

I had a good nights sleep at the monastery, and went down to a good, but very quiet breakfast. There were more people at breakfast than at dinner last night, but nobody said a word. I hadn’t finally decided whether I would split today into two parts, walking ca. 25km and doing the rest tomorrow,…

Day 176: Disentis to Ilanz

Day 21 and the penultimate day of the 9th leg of my Sagres to Rome and Home walk. Today was very much a walk in two halves. The morning mostly along roads passing through small villages, and an afternoon along a path close to the Rein Anteriur river, with little to see, not even the…

Day 175: Acquacalda to Disentis

Wow, what a stage. This is certainly one of the most memorable stages I have walked, from the harsh terrain at the top of Lucomagno to the green rolling hills of the lower Alps. And throw in two suspension bridges and crossing a snow covered path with a drop on one side, this really was…

Day 174: Acquarossa to Acquacalda

Day 19, and I walked from red water (Acquarossa) to hot water (Acquacalda). Today was the day I was looking most forward to and the day I was most worried about. Today is the first day of two, where I will walk over the Alps, more precisely the Lucomagno pass (or Lukmanier in German). Today’s…

Day 173: Sementina to Acquarossa

The sun was shining this morning, which was a nice way to start a day where I will, depending on my legs, walk 42kms. As I get closer to the Alps, there is a gradual elevation from 230 to 570m. If my legs aren’t up to it, I can catch a bus and make up…

Day 172: Rivera to Sementina

Sementina is a kilometer or so off the trail, just outside Bellinzona, but I chose it to overnight after a short stage (18km) as there is a Tibetan suspension bridge close by (3km and 300m climb away) which I wanted to walk over. My worst fears for the day were confirmed when I woke up…

Day 171: Ponte Tresa to Rivera

Welcome to Switzerland and welcome to the rain. After a more or less rain-free walk for two weeks, and as soon as I enter Switzerland, it rains. It was a 5 minute walk to the border withe Switzerland. Walking was quicker than driving with a long queue of Italian cars driving into Switzerland, probably for…

Day 170: Santa Maria del Monte to Ponte Tresa

It was quiet at the top of the sacred mountain of Varese, and I had a good nights sleep. After a solid breakfast I was soon on my way. Walking up the mountain yesterday, I was thinking I could have taken the bus and funicular up and walked down today. Today the bus departures were…

Day 169: Castiglione Olona to Santa Maria del Monte

A yoghurt, donut and bottle of pear juice were the sum of this morning’s breakfast – not great, and my early morning nourishment as I set off on day 14. I walked back to the old village. It was packed with stands selling all sorts of art and second hand stuff. There were already quite…

Day 168: Buscate to Castiglione Olona

My 13th day walking and another bright and sunny day as I rose for breakfast. More UAE cyclists turned up for breakfast, probably flying into the close at hand Malpensa airport. After an excellent breakfast, I walked through town, which didn’t seem to consist of much more than a main street. Only the baker and…

Day 167: Morimondo to Buscate

I woke this morning, and was surprised to see that a market was being set up on the square in front of the hotel. I hadn’t heard a thing. At breakfast I met the two other walkers who stayed here last night. The Italian lady left just as I arrived for breakfast, whilst a Swiss…

Day 166: Torre d’Isola to Morimondo

I was up early this morning, and off to the laundrette, before joining a long queue at the bakers, having breakfast and saying hello to the owner of the room I was staying. She had sent me lots of info about Pavia during my 3 day stay. I took the bus just after 10am, back…

Day 165: Pavia to Torre d’Isola

A very short day, just more than 10km and more or less no elevation. The plan was to get to Torre d’Isola, eat lunch and catch the 1.30 bus back to Pavia. From today onwards, I am no longer following the Via Francigena, but instead the Via Francisca del Lucomagno. It is an ancient Roman-Longobard…

Day 164: Chignolo Po to Pavia

It was 40kms from Chignolo Po to Pavia. As I left this morning, I was planning on doing 22km to Belgioioso, but I ended walking to Pavia. A very long day, but a day where I met several other walkers, mostly from Holland. I was staying in Pavia and therefore needed to take the train…

Day 163: Piacenza to Chignolo Po

A long, pleasant stage, primarily walking on a poppy lined dike close to the river Po. The B&B had an excellent breakfast and I was met by a warm and sunny morning as I left the B&B. A couple of kilometers through the outskirts of Piacenza, passing the station, before crossing the ca. 2km long…

Day 162: Roveleto to Piacenza

After 6 days averaging 30km a day, 17km should have been easy. I left a 8am and arrived at 12.30, so it was pretty much as expected. But perhaps the most boring stage ever – which is partly my own fault. But a nice afternoon in Piacenza, made up for the walk. As is often…

Day 161: Fidenza to Rovoleto

After leaving the Apennines behind in Fidenza, I enter the Po valley where I will walk for the next seven days. I can understand why I have met a number of people starting in Fidenza going south, today’s stage is as fat as a pancake, where the biggest climbs were the overpasses over the motorway/railway…

Day 160: Fornovo di Taro to Fidenza

I left the B&B after a good breakfast, 30 minutes after my Italian fellow resident. It was a steep downhill into Fornovo di Taro and the bridge across the relatively wide river Taro. I visited a church in town, before crossing the bridge. I then followed the river on small dirt paths for the next…

Day 159: Berceto to Fornovo di Taro

After a good nights sleep, it was sunny but cold as I went down for a pleasant breakfast. As promised The owner of the agritourismo drove me to top of the hill, and dropped me off at the spot where I left the Via Francigena yesterday, thus cutting 150 steep meters and 1,6km off todays…

Day 158: Pontremoli to Berceto

There wasn’t a lot of choice for breakfast, and the hotel certainly wasn’t used to feeding eight hungry Norwegian cyclists – so the options were soon limited. Today’s stage has caused me a bit of a headache. The official stage is 29km and a massive 1500m in elevation. I hadn’t experienced 2nd day tiredness yesterday,…