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 few kilometers, the river on one side and trees on the other. I passed a large industrial complex, with an empty block of flats, possibly where the workers had lived at some point. I met today’s first walkers, a German couple on their way to Rome. We chatted for a few minutes, its always nice to hear other people’s plans.
I needed to cross a small river, but luckily I could balance on stones so I could get across relatively dry shoed. It was a beautiful sunny day and I took a short break to take off the fleece I had started with. It was perfect weather for walking. After the pleasant walk along the river, I was back on tarmac, a combined walking/cycling path away from the road. As I passed through La Carnevala, I met Mariette from Holland on her way to Lucca, where she will start again next year.
I left the busy road in Medesano, after passing the hull of a ship, a memorial. I stopped for a drink at a bar, and chatted with an Indian working here. He was so proficient in Italian that he’d hardly spoken English for years – and he had difficulty finding the words. Out of town and I walked along a dirt track, past a horse stable, where a man came running after me to tell me that Rome was in the opposite direction.
I was climbing now, towards a giant cross at the top of a hill. I met Marco, an Italian on his fifth day, on the way up today’s first climb.
The path turned off before the cross, so I took a detour. The cross was perched at the top of a hill and must have been visible for miles around. The were plaques surrounding the cross depicting the Easter story.
Back down the hill and at the bottom another stream, but without stones to step on. It was either shoes off or wet shoes. I choose the latter, but they got somewhat wetter than I had hoped. I was shaking my feet to get as much water out of my shoes as possible, when Brooks showed up. He was from the US and had started today.
I walked a couple of kilometers with wet shoes before taking a break in the shade of a giant tree. Whilst eating my light lunch, and drying my shoes, a Belgian couple passed by and we chatted for a few minutes. They had been underway for 4 weeks from Reins in France, with a couple of train rides in between – the Saint Bernards Pass isn’t open yet.
This was the last of the Apennines I would be walking, and as throughout the views were fabulous. It was downhill initially along a wide dirt path and then on a backroad through the countryside.
I met Giovanni after about 24km and at 2 in the afternoon. He had started today in Fidenza, but he was delayed starting due to delayed trains. He still wanted to get to Fornovo. He was walking for a week before travelling to Denmark and Sweden thereafter.
Back on roads, and with ca. 8km to Fidenza I passed a Osteria. I arrived at the same time as a Swiss lady walking from home to the coast somewhere after Sarzana. I ordered a sandwich, and coffee. We chatted away. She had decided to walk as she had been seriously ill last year, so she left exactly one year after her illness to celebrate that she now is well.
Refreshed after a chat, sandwich and a drink I walked the last 8kms to Fidenza, thinking of the Swiss lady’s final remark – we must do things while we can, it can all end so unexpectedly! I still had another 8kms into Fidenza, which was entirely along roads. I walked through the outskirts towards the centre of town and was surprised to see so many bicycles and also paths for bicycles – and it was all ages cycling.
In Fidenza I was staying in a hotel in the centre of town. I showered, gathered all my dirty clothes and walked to the closest laundromat, where with detailed help from the owner, I managed to get them washed and dried – I think the owner thought I’d never washed clothes before, but he was very kind and interested in why I was in Fidenza.
Clean clothes, I had an excellent pizza and walked to the town square where a DJ was playing dance/electronic music, but nobody was dancing! I stopped at a bar and saw Napoli play football. Back past the square, the techno DJ was still playing and still nobody was dancing. Luckily, back at the hotel, I couldn’t hear the techno beat, perhaps due to my earplugs – I learnt next morning that it had kept a Dutch couple, a week into their walk to Rome, awake.
It was another long day, 34km and sunny and hot. According to the forecast, it’s going to get hotter. For the first 5 days I’ve walked an average of 30kms per day. My legs are fine and no blisters. And no rain in sight for the next week.