Today I’m very happy to be here, writing: the walk I’ve faced was the hardest one and maybe the one I was most scared about. And, unexpectedly, was very good and I liked it a lot!
In the morning, I was a bit worried about the weather, but in the end, it was quite good and gave us only a bit of wind. I left Oulx and Giancarlo with Stefano: we han to face the steep climb to the Montgenevre Pass. We started with a smart pace, along the SS24 and leaving it to get to small groups of houses spread on the side of the mountain. Not listening to Giancarlo’s advice – we are two blockheads, but I like the hazard – we faced the Gorges of Saint Gervase, a track that runs parallel to the road, in a rocky gorge where a wild creek flows. At the end of the trail, we had overcome the 800 metres of difference that separate Oulx from the Montgenevre… and we almost had fun!
After this sweaty climb, we crossed the border in Clavière and reached the village of Montgénèvre, where I realized that the first part of this long travel was behind me… it was quite an emotion!
After lunch, a voice called on us: Roberto, who is going to walk with us to Arles, managed to get here hitchhiking and now is ready to start his own walk!
The downhill to Briançon lasted a couple of hours and, after walking through the citadelle, here we are at very kind priest-doctor’s house: he welcomes the pilgrims with an excellent community dinner… We couldn’t fall better than this!
Now, we are ready to deal, from tomorrow on, with the Via Domita!
