Today I’ve been walking again with Alessandro and… Well, for me it’s always more beautiful when we walk together, even if so many people say that the best thing is walking alone! Today’s stage looked relaxing when we got up this morning: 20 km in the plane on the Via Francigena, in the middle of paddy fields and along the Sesia’s embankment. And until Robbio it was exactly like this: the herons were flying away, the frogs were splashing into the water while we were passing by, the silence was complete and the trail was easy to follow. But from Robbio to Palestro, the perdition: thanks to the friends of the Venice Way To Santiago we managed at least the exit from the village, but after that, we found ourselves, following the indications of the guidebook and those things they call “maps”, wandering in the middle of the paddy fields full of water in a maze of canals.
We randomly arrived to a small trail that exits from a farm, we followed it westward, we climbed over a canal in south, and the miracle happened: after one hour there was a signal of the Via Francigena! And so, hop! We turned 180 degrees and we finally found the right way… Maybe Roberto was right yesterday night and the grappa took its revenge making us miss the right direction, but the fact is that we still need to understand the meaning of the indications of the guidebook.
In Palestro, around 12, we had a snack…and suddenly, my father’s car appeared on the road and on board there were also my mother and my granny. We all agree to meet again in Vercelli. So, after pulling our backpacks on again, we started walking on. After a few moments, we met our third pilgrim heading to Rome (we met the first two yesterday in Mortara): a French man who was having lunch at a pic-nic area. From that moment on, the Way followed the embankment of the Sesia river: the heat was growing and our walk looked longer than what we expected… but it didn’t really matter: at 14 we arrived at the end of our 26 daily km and we entered in Vercelli.
Tomorrow I have to stop for a couple of days: we need to rescue our car, which broke on the highway last wednesday. Tonight I’m going back home, I will wash my clothes in the washing machine and on wednesday morning I’ll be back on the Way!