20th May 2014 – 14.9km from Ivrea to Piverone
Today I left Ivrea on the southern route (Sigeric’s route) towards Santhia but because there is not much accommodation on the way I had to book a B&B at Piverone (up on the northern route) which took me a couple of km out of my way as the one place which has a B&B on the southern route was booked out. Before leaving the hotel in Ivrea I met a German couple who had walked from Aosta and were looking at the southern route as they thought there would be too much traffic on the other. They intended to get to Santhia in one go which is quite a distance!
Surprisingly I have never seen other “pilgrims” walking the Via Francigena so far, so I have had the route to myself!
So off I set and as it was quite late I had to have my morning cappuccino before leaving Ivrea ( also because there were no bars on the route I had chosen). The weather was overcast but warm & then it continued to try to rain but not enough to make me pull up the waterproof cover of my rucksack or to get out a rain jacket. After 30 minutes of this there was no more rain. The country was very flat & the mountains disappeared into the distance.
I walked along tiny flat roads among fields of wheat, already about 2 feet tall and a gorgeous bluish-green, and fields of corn, not so advanced. And to my pleasure there were many gorgeous brilliant blue corn flowers (in the wheat fields & not the corn!) as well as some poppies. Many many roses in all the houses/farms I passed.
One thing about the Italians is that they often don’t know the names of the roads on which they are driving or which are near their homes… With my change of plan I tried to book accommodation with the least detour so I could get back on to the route again tomorrow and this meant navigating using a local map of the area (as there are virtually no signs on the tiny country roads) so when nearing where I thought the destination was I had to turn on to a dirt road whereas all the others had been paved. I came across a construction site with modern wire-enclosed boxes and two work-men cleaning up the site & the boss in his big Mercedes. When I asked if this was the road to Piverone, they said they weren’t from here & were just the construction company building (wait for it) a very modern refuge for an association looking after stray dogs. What an impressive place it was. But the boss insisted on looking on both his iPhone & also the SatNav (I said I’d just go on & see but ‘no’, I had to wait while he tried to find where we were & what places were around us) but this wasn’t conclusive so I finally (after about 15 mins) set off & the road became tarred again ( the boss said that if I didn’t find it and came back that way he’d drive me there but am not sure how he would have done that). I arrived near the main road where I thought Piverone was but no, when for the last couple of km I’d been having pains in my Achilles’s tendon, it was up on top of a hill…so up I went bravely & arrived in the beautiful little piazza of the village only to find out the B&B was further up the hill again. So I sat down & had a big pot of tea to give me the strength to go on… When I got there it was worth the effort as it was a gorgeous restored old place ( not cheap!) with a beautiful grassy garden on the side of the hill and the room was 4 stars! So I had a shower & washed clothes as it was a warm sunny afternoon & then I connected to the wifi to get your welcome emails.
Have since been in touch with my physio/Nordic walking teacher & friend to check out the pain in my leg & perhaps I have a problem with my Achilles’s tendon (which may be my own fault as with all the problems I’ve had with my feet I had forgotten to do the obligatory stretching routine after walking for the day) so…not sure what the next step will be.
Not much history today except to say that I was intrigued by seeing in every town/ village in the Val d’Aosta that there was a street named E. Chanoux, so I looked up this person on the internet. He was a lawyer who at 21 had already written a thesis on ethnic minorities & who became a politician & was in flavour of autonomy for the Val d’Aosta region (which speaks French) & perhaps even in its becoming a part of France. Unfortunately he was captured as a resistance fighter by the Germans & killed in 1944 in Aosta at the age of 38. He has not been forgotten in the region.
Have come back to the trattoria in the town square for dinner & this was definitely not a culinary experience although it was very pleasant sitting outside! The night however is fresh & earlier I had thought of sending a couple of warmer clothes home in order to lighten my heavy pack but will think again… However I must admit that I stole a cherry out of a basket of cherries on a table at the entrance to the restaurant so they must be ripening already.
It is so peaceful in this little hill-top piazza on a beautiful evening with the church bells pealing out the hours & a few local people with children coming & going that one can’t really believe that there is a world of problems not so far away. How privileged I am.
So will now return to my 4 star room & send this off ( no wifi in this restaurant) and we will see what tomorrow brings… I certainly don’t want to get into a chronic problem with my Achilles’ tendon… If I walk tomorrow to Santhia I may continue along the northern route (now that I am on it) as it may be shorter than going back to the southern route ( & I have a new local map to guide me).
