22 km — 35oC and sunny — We saw no new pilgrims today.
(By Laurel)
Check-in at yesterday’s hostel was perfunctory, but today’s was the extreme opposite! When we walked into Corte Sant’Angelo, we were warmly welcomed by the couple running the restaurant who provided us with the hostel key. At the hostel itself, another couple hospitably showed us around the building, inviting us to use the washing machine and make our meals using the groceries provided in the kitchen. The husband beamed as he revealed to us, in Italian, that he is a Templar Knight. Wow! We’ve never met a real knight before!
We enquired about booking a boat ride to cross the Po River tomorrow morning, as many pilgrims do. With a dismayed look, the wife explained to us that, sadly, the river is too low this summer and so the boat isn’t operating. Therefore, we’ll walk all the way.
Showers done and we headed back to the restaurant, as we’d made a lunch reservation for 1:00. The family-run eatery has a very traditional ambiance, with two cute aged dogs snoozing at the side. What a nice meal we had there — ravioli with meat sauce and a local red sparkling wine, well chilled, to wash it down. A friendly customer at another table did translations for us; he had worked for a while in the Alberta oil sector.
Back at the hostel, a trio of French pilgrims — Yvan, Jocelyn, and Daniel — was also staying the night. We had first met them in Vercelli a few days ago and had occasionally seen them on the trail (we refer to them as the “Three Musketeers”). Together, the five of us cooked our own communal supper and ate al fresco in the hostel garden.
By the way, I should mention that Corte Sant’Andrea is a one-street town with a population of ten people and a few dogs.
Early morning, heading out from Santa Cristina e Bissone
Top photo: a row of low hills to our side — first hint of changing topography from the absolute flatness of the past few days; our path today, however, still kept to the flatland
Bottom photo: a short section next to the highway; unfortunately, with quite a bit of litter
A couple of old villas that we passed on the way; clay building materials, crushed and now used as road fill; a nice VF marker on our path
Two methods of irrigating corn
Arrival at the hostel in Corte Sant’Andrea
Jim is your knee now wrapped also? It looks like you are wearing a brace in one of the photos. How many more stages? Brenda and Cheryl asked when you will be coming home;) Happy Canada Day and of course Brenda's birthday. xo
ReplyDeleteMy knee is fine, I just needed a little more support to lift my leg. We return to Saskatoon on July 27.
Delete