My third trip along the Via Francigena took me across the Po valley, along the Aosta valley, over the Grand Saint Bernard Pass ad following the banks of the Rhône before arriving in Lausanne on lake Geneva.

This stage took 15 days, covering ca. 375 kms with an elevation gain of almost 8.000m, and took me through Italy and Switzerland.

I walked through the rice fields of the monotonously flat Po Valley, passed forts of the Aosta valley, passed over the Grand Saint Bernard Pass (at 2.473m) and then walked downhill towards Lausanne and Lake Geneva.

The Via Francigena is an historical pilgrims path, stretching 2.230 km from Canterbury to Rome, it crosses 5 countries, 16 regions, and over 600 municipalities, from plains to hills and mountain passes. I have now walked 1.135 of 2.230 kms between Canterbury and Rome.

Known as a trading route since the middle ages, the route was in fact a multitude of routes leading to Rome. The current Via Francigena is accredited to Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury, when he used the Via Francigena to travel to Rome for his consecration by Pope John XV. He recorded his return journey, and the places he stopped, in a document which is now held by the British Library, and is now the base for the path travelled by many pilgrims. 

Walking north, I was walking against the tide of walkers going south towards Rome, and it was really nice to stop and chat, even though they wouldn’t be people I would meet again, as they would if I was going south.

On the down side, there was no or very limited infrastructure on some of the stages, Italy, like the rest of Europe, is experiencing the closing down of shops and bars in smaller villages. Likewise the rice paddies of the Po valley, also became a little monotonous.