21st May 2015 Pietrasanta to Valpromaro
19km
Good but somewhat cooler weather, day ending quite cloudy & cool
Shorter version: started out later than I’d have liked and walked along the main road, then took smaller roads to Camaiore, more across country finally to Valpromaro. Met at hostel by a couple of Spanish hospitaleros…dinner provided! All going well & looking forward to Lucca tomorrow night.
Longer version:
After an Italian breakfast (there was even vanilla icing sugar to sprinkle on the breakfast offerings on the buffet table!), I finally set off, later than planned as I couldn’t get myself organised. As I was paying I spoke to the young woman at the desk of the albergo & remarked that she seemed to do everything so was she part of the family? She replied that the young owner (I think his mother was in the kitchen) was her fiancé so I said that young men in Italy seem to have much luck with their fiancées to which she agreed. I walked right through the centre of town, past the beautiful cathedral once again and then on the main road which was a fairly challenging experience – in the last 2 days I’ve had several experiences of drivers not respecting pedestrian crossings, even if one is on it…so one has to have one’s wits about oneself all the time.
As pilgrim Charles had told me to avoid part of the marked path because of trees being across the paths after the recent horrendous storm (I’ve seen fallen, broken, and uprooted trees everywhere for the last few days so was this from the storm I encountered on Friday?) I fortunately could see another way to go on the map but wasn’t exactly sure of the distances to the turn-off. To cut a long story short I did an extra km until I found the right little road and then it was fine.
I had to walk up and down a few hills but I encountered several people
– a farmer planting his organic cannellini beans who had worked for the World Bank and other NGOs in South America (he said his Spanish is much better than his good English…),
– a bike rider going north on the Via Francigena to whom I explained the problem of broken trees further on and who set off but 5 minutes later was back saying he was going via the coast instead (only a couple of km away) but I couldn’t work out how he could negotiate some of the paths I’d walked with a mountain bike,
– a German couple who were holidaying here for 6 days and doing local walks but were interested in the Via Francigena
Walking in an area of small farms, little villages with prosperous looking houses and beautiful gardens with an abundance of flowers and fruit trees, set into the beautiful hills all around, was very agreeable, but no bar anywhere… I also encountered a few people who “weren’t from here” when you asked directions… Then I came to the SS1 (via Aurelia going to Rome) but crossed over it and walked on a path along a canal parallel to it. This was fine until I nearly jumped out of my skin with the barking of an ugly dog in a property running along the canal.
I can’t understand why the whole country needs to have such aggressive animals and I finally shouted back at it & then saw the owner standing outside her door but making no effort at all to call to the dog… Otherwise it was lovely walking along by the very clean stream on the path which eventually turned into a little road, all the time hearing the buzzing of the cars speeding along the road.
Eventually I arrived in Camaiore after midday without having had my morning cappuccino… This is a lovely little walled town nestled in the base of hills (and Sigeric did in fact stay here overnight in 990) with churches dating to the 13th century. Then one of the highlights of the day occurred – an excellent sandwich lunch from the little grocery store… We now have good Tuscan bread and I asked the lady to cut me a good slice for a sandwich of cooked ham and fresh ricotta which she did, weighing each element, and then I bought a cooked artichoke and a big pickled onion and a piece of Parmesan cheese – all this cost €4.40, a bargain for a queen’s lunch!
Now, where to eat it I asked them as I needed a cup of tea…no problems they said, go to the bar further on next to the church. I tentatively asked the owner (as he was also selling sandwiches, but not as good as mine!) if I could eat my food and buy a pot of tea and he said no problem & he’d stamp my pilgrim passport as well. So I sat there at the corner of the main square and the start of the main pedestrian street running right through the town, and enjoyed my feast watching all the life going on around me.
I walked out of town on this very long main thoroughfare and continued on for another kilometre until I came to the “chiesetta” of San Rocco. The lady in the grocery shop opposite was bringing in her wares to close for lunch.
I spoke to her to confirm about the church and lamented “It’s closed” to which she replied “I have the key” so she opened it up and we went inside. She explained a little of the history of this 17th century church, about how a flood had gone through it and all the frescoes had been lost but some years ago after it was renovated some of the frescoes could be seen again (not sure how) but what I saw were lovely.
I saw the sculpture of San Rocco and then she showed me the building next door which had been built at the same time.
Outside her shop her daughter had painted some signs giving the mileage to the following stops in each direction on the Via. It was all very moving and gave new life to my feet as I still had 10km to walk. I chose the longer option to be off the road, not many footpaths, and walked through woods, beside streams, and then went up a long steep path until I came out on the top at Montemagno and had a glorious view right down the beautiful valley. There was also a delicious water fountain there.
From then on it was mainly down the provincial road which was a much less busy thoroughfare until I finally reached Valpromaro where I am spending tonight in a hostel. When I arrived I walked into a bar to get a cup of tea and it was a strange place (with a strange bar man) like something off Route 66 in America with several wooden posts with signposts to many cities in the USA, all pointing in different directions, with much paraphernalia linked to motor bikes all around, not good vibes and I did not receive the normal scontrino (official receipt) for my tea and the money was simply dropped into the till.
I went on to the hostel where I had the good surprise to be greeted by a Spanish couple who are “hospitaleros” which means they give their time to welcome & look after pilgrims (meals, etc) for a donation. This is a system which exists on the Camino in Spain at the albergues which welcome pilgrims and which are staffed by volunteers from all over the world who have walked the Camino themselves. For a donation, all is provided. One can’t reserve so it a case of “first in best dressed” but they assured me that there is always alternative accommodation provided if an albergue is full. It seems a lot of Italians go to do this in Spain so they encouraged Pilar and Alfredo to come here for two weeks as the first such experiment on the Via.
This hostel, although not enormous, is very well set up with a big kitchen, as well as a dining room/pilgrim relaxing room, laundry, etc, as the church next door also uses it for meetings, etc. I am the only pilgrim tonight and have had a delicious paella with chicken and peas and a salad and cake. They will prepare breakfast tomorrow. I also used the washing machine to give half my clothes a good wash. I think I have been very fortunate as they have made me very welcome (& I wouldn’t have wanted to eat at the bar). It seems Gonzalo spent a night here last week (he simply popped his head in the door to say Hello as he was going further on but when he heard the Spanish he was in for the night!) and another German pilgrim from the Cisa Pass was here last night.
Then a young man Mirko from the village came & asked us to go to the Rosary in the church next door which we did (he was indeed fortunate to have Pilar’s beautiful soprano voice, singing the prayers in Spanish) and he prayed for pilgrim me. He then very seriously presented me with a special attestation from the ostello stating that I had stayed there and said I would be able to participate in some visit at the cathedral in Lucca free of charge. A nice finish to a good day & now to bed…as the bells chime 23h00.
PS Pilar was a teacher of French so I didn’t have to struggle with my forgotten Spanish and she mentioned that the village was pleased that the bar had opened up recently which will give a new life to the village (where there is already a grocery shop) but it doesn’t seem to me to have the feeling linked to all the other bars I have seen, as a hub of social contact. When she explained that the bar owner was from Naples I wondered and had bad thoughts…not good for a pilgrim!