Tag Archives: travelogue

Day 16: Savines-le-Lac – Notre Dame du Laus

27 November 2014 admin Leave a comment

Today we had a very beautiful but hard walk because of the difficult gradients we had to face. An other quite important element, today, was the weather that, over the last two days, completely changed: the cold air coming down from the glaciers has been replaced by a warm wind the warms up the grass and dries the air in our throats and the ideas in our brains.

As it’s becoming usual, I’ve been walking with Roberto, while Stefano is still dealing with some physical problems that, we hope, are slowly getting solved.

Leaving Savines-le-Lac behind us was not really a pain, despite the beauty of the place: the reception, yesterday, almost didn’t exist, except for a kind lady who tried in every prossible way to help us find an accomodation, but came up against a wall of rubber…

On the opposite, today, after many uphills and downhills, we arrived at the sanctuary of Notre Dame du Laus. We were tired and sweaty, since we had found some relief only in the cold water a lady gave us, when we passed in front of her house. Here everything is well organized and they gave us an accomodation with half board for 24.50€ each… and we are sleeping exactly over the cell of Bénoite!

Tonight, after a moment of prayer in the church of the sanctuary, we also met our first pilgrim in France: it’s Ignacio, a guy from Argentina who is walking from Santiago to Jerusalem.

This post is a bit of a nonsense, I know, but I’m literally falling asleep…

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Day 15: Embrun – Savines-le-Lac. It should have been an easy one, but…

23 November 2014 admin Leave a comment

This morning, we got up fresh and relaxed after spending the night at the Hotel Le Tourisme in Embrun. We had breakfast at the bar, took some pictures of the first bronze shells and said goodbye to Stefano’s boots. We were in a good mood, ready to face a beautiful day and quite a short walk, that would lead us to the Boscodon Abbey. At the exit of the city, we separated: Stefano wanted to wait for the cathedral to open, while Roberto and I, we had already visited it yesterday evening.

So the two of us started walking down from the hill where the centre of Embrun lies and then up in the woods that circle Boscodon. We both recommend you to follow the red and white signs, so that you will not live our experience.

At a certain point, while we were climbing on the side of the hill, we noticed that the GR was cutting the turns of a concrete road, setting quite a ripid trail in the wet wood. Hoping to find an easier path, we started walking on the concrete, checking sometimes our direction with the GPS. At a certain point, we must have misunderstood: the GPS device was showing that we were walking on the wrong side of the hill and the abbey was now in the valley next to the one that we were following. It was not too bad, apparently. The stage we had planned was short and making a bit longer wasn’t a terrifying idea. So, we asked the GPS navigator to guide us to the abbey and it instantly elaborated a track across the woods. It was clear and easy on the map. But on the ground, it disappeared after 200 meters: instead of walking on an easy trail, we were walking in the high and wet grass and later in the wood, crossing creeks and fences. After 15 minutes, we managed to get to a small dirt road near to some houses: the one we were looking for. We started following it and it looked all right. For 5 minutes.

Then we found a closed gate in front of us and, behind it, we couldn’t see any road. The lady we found in the next farm explained us that we should open the gate, follow the road, follow the creek, get to the bridge, take on the left … et voilà, l’Abbaye!

We showed her that the road was closed and there was no sign on the ground: she replied that “they” – probably the gods of the roads – should come and sign it again. She closed the gate behind us and simply went away.

And this is where our adventure really began. As we had guessed, the road didn’t exist any more: it was covered by the grass and the wood and it was impossible to follow it. Following tracks, probably made by some boar, we went downhill to the famous creek and, after half an hour of trudging and slipping, we crossed a small creek: we could finally see the abbey in front of us… the direction was right! We started climbing the hill in the direction of the houses but, when we got at the end of the climbing, Roberto told me to stop: we couldn’t go further, there was a vertical cliff cut by another creek, that reaches after a few meters the one that we had already crossed. And after reaching it, the water fell down for some 15 meters. We had to get over the cliff, going back to the first creek and reaching the second one’s shores.

After some more trudging and slipping we are on the shores of the second creek. We now had two possibilities: fording the creek throwing some rocks in the water or crossing the chasm, passing on a truss that supported a big tube. Sincerely, I found the truss option terrifying, but the water was flowing too fast and fording would have been really dangerous. And Roberto looked enthusiastic of our strange bridge. So, one foot after the other, we arrived, like two survivors from Vietnam at the feet of the Boscodon Abbey, a place of meditation and prayer.

It’s a pure romanic monument, without frills, and it welcomed us with a comforting silence. After thanking Holy Mary and the Child for guiding us there, safe and sound, we had a light lunch and changed our socks.

After a while, we could start walking again and after a couple of hours, we reached Savines-le-Lac and the lake of Serre-Ponçon. Savines-le-Lac is a recent village, built for the people of several other villages covered by the water of the artificial lake. It is a turistical center, but it doesn’t really welcomes the pilgrims: even the youth hostel closed up some time ago and the pilgrims must rest at the normal hotels with normal prices (that means very high!). Not really thanks to the help of the Tourism Office, we managed to find a room at the Hotel Les Sources and we spent a relaxing evening chatting… Before sleep, just a thought for my friend Eva and her baby Alberto, born in Budapest 3 weeks ago: one of the best things of my coming back home will surely be meeting him!

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Days 13 and 14: L’Argentière-la-Béssée – Guillestre – Embrun

21 November 2014 admin Leave a comment

After one day of silence, I need to take a step back: the evening when we slept in L’Argentière, the owner of the gîte (quite a kind of a woman!), told us that yesterday it was the Feast of the Ascension and that all the gîtes would probably be full until monday… This, obviously, didn’t cheer us up, so, quickly enough, we tried to work out where we could sleep in the following nights. Thanks to the employee of the Tourism Office of L’Argentière, we have a bit forced the priest of Guillestre to host us in a parrish room. So, yesterday, we walked for 22 wonderful km along the Valley of the Durance, to Mont Dauphin, where Roberto was kindly bitten by a dog in a heel, while he was taking a picture of a sundial. Then, we had lunch, trying not to fly away because of the strong wind and, in the afternoon, we reached Guillestre, to meet Stefano and the good priest.

The dinner was a bit difficult: after trying to find a place in 4 restaurants (really, all the restaurants in Guillestre), we had to go to a snack-bar, the only one willing to welcome us. At 20:30 the priest arrived and gave us our mansion: a catechism room with large wooden tables and a small toilet with a kitchen corner. Tonight, we couldn’t have a real shower, so we went to “bed” (or to table) straight after dropping our backpack on the floor, probably like the ancient pilgrims were used to do pretty every night.

This morning I was more tired than yesterday, with my left hip completely rigid, but a warm tea restarted my engine. Stefano spent a little time taking some pictures, while I went on with Roberto, with 2 goals clear in my mind: 1. Solving the accomodation problem for tonight 2. Buying some food.

It’s useless to say that we failed both our goals: none of the gîtes answered the phone and the only grocery store we met, after 20 km, was closed. Anyway, we were prized by the pretrifying source, geological wonders and breathtaking landscapes.

Since now I’m writing from Embrun, from a king-size bed in a 5-places room that we will pay as a triple… we have nothing to complain about!

100DaysOnTheWay, History and Legends, Travelogue

Les Vigneaux: the fresco of the vices and virtues

20 November 2014 admin Leave a comment

A legend says that monsieur Carle, a very important man from Les Vigneaux, president of the provincial parliament of Grenoble, wanted to leave an indelible mark of his life in the memory of his fellow citizens. He decided to ask a young Italian painter to paint a fresco to decorate the southern facade of the church of Saint-Laurant: since he was firmly convinced of the fidelity of his wife Louise and of his own blamelessness, he picked the theme of the vices and virtues and charged his wife to watch over the works.

The beautiful Louise didn’t turn out exactly insensitive to the beauty of the young Italian and seduced him within a few days. Still not satisfied, an evening when her husband was in Grenoble, he took part in his place to a party at the house of the Lord of Rame. No need to say that, in the absence of her husband and of her lover, the Lord of Rame took care of the lonely woman.

Still not happy, on the next day, Louise went supervising the work of the painter with her new lover, rousing in the heart of the young painter a wild desire of revenge. So the fresco was completed with the portraits of Louise, in the shoes of Lust, monsieur Carle, in the roles of Anger, and the lord of Rame, with the appearance of Pride.

When the husband was back, he say the fresco and understood what had happened. In turn, he meditated revenge. After paying and sending away the painter, he made fast his wife’s mule for several days, and then he invited Louise to go with him to visit a village not far away. As soon as the thirsty mule came near to a creek, Louise lost control of the animal and it drag her into the water, drowning her.

The revenge of the betrayed husband was so consumed, and he got away by having a Mass said for the deceased wife in the church of Saint-Laurant.

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Day 12: Briançon – L’Argentière-la-Béssée

20 November 2014 admin Leave a comment

Today, I will be short and I leave you with some pictures. The stage has been very beautiful, short enough to give us some time to rest when we arrived. We’ve been walking for the whole day in the Vallée de la Durance, which is a very imposing river that will flow along our path for several days. The landscape was very beautiful and the Way was quiet and ell signed… Now the mission to find an accomodation for tomorrow! If I can, I will write something more, later, about the dance macabre of Les Vigneaux.

100DaysOnTheWay, Senza categoria, Travelogue

Day 10: Susa – Oulx

23 October 2014 admin Leave a comment

This morning I opened my eyes and it looked like it was afternoon: heavy clouds and a thin rain reminded me that I am on the mountains and the warmth of the paddy fields is behind me! Despite the urge to roll on my side and go back to sleep, I got up and ready: I must always keep going! It was Suor Bibiana who made me smile with a good breakfast (enough for three people with the celiac disease!) She also found an ultra nonagenarian priest who blessed me: my first blessing!

After breakfast, I left: the rain wasn’t nothing terrible and in half an hour it was off.

The stage today was very beautiful, even if it was very difficult and longer than the guide book said: it was more suitable to the hikers than to the pilgrim with a big backpack: it is necessary to pay close attention to the stretches in the woods, where the path becomes narrow and slyppery, especially in this weather! Anyway, I went through the silent woods of Val di Susa, disturbed only by the works for the TAV and by the highway. I saw waterfalls and lakes and I walked through small villages, half abandoned, but full of charm because they are the witnesses of a time when the mountain still was inhabited.

I saw the Fort of Exilles, where they say that “the Iron Mask” was imprisoned. Today it is the kingdom of many signposts saying “Once upon a time in Exilles”… Once upon a time, there were many activities in this small village that a few decades ago counted more than 3000 souls, but today there are mostly closed shutters. Nevertheless, it’s in Exilles where I met the first people who precisely asked me if I was going to Compostela. And the urge to sing the pilgrims’ song came to me: a song that I learned in Grañón. Maybe, thanks to my magic voice (!), I could witness the escape of two chamois and a lot of squirrels along the Franks’ Path that crosses the Natural Park of the Great Wood of Salbertrand.

Now I’m resting at the Salesians’ in Oulx, together with two more pilgrims: Giancarlo who is walking to Rome, and Stefano, who will walk with me from tomorrow on.

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Notes about my Way in Italy

Aside 13 October 2014 admin Leave a comment

These first 10 days of walk in Italy were, on one hand, very beautiful, and on the other one, very difficult. They were very beautiful thanks to all the friends I met for the first time of after a long time we hadn’t seen each other, for the time we shared and for the love I received and I gave. It was wonderful to see how this “strange” experience I am living is arising so much enthusiasm and the curiosity of many people: their support repayed the loneliness and the fatigue. And I also learned new things: for example, do you know that the hikers in Piemonte should thank all those volunteers who go doing ranze runze? This means that they go cleaning and fixing the markings on the trails… Carlo taught me this very nice word! And Accob too does ranze runze on the Via Francigena, even if his tools are a bicycle and the markings he leaves on the trail… that’s true, because the ways don’t get marked by themselves!
On the other side, these first days of walk, that are about the 10% of the total, put me on the test. This surely is a very different experience from the Camino Francés, where the keyword is compartir. A part from the people I wrote about and from my family, I cannot really say that there are many people with whom I could share. A few km from Susa, we asked for information to a boy and he simply told us: “I didn’t really believe that somebody walked the Francigena”. And indeed, during 6 days on the Via Francigena I’ve never shared the bedroom with anybody else than Alessandro, and I met only 5 other pilgrims while I was walking. But, contrary to the current position, the Francigena (at least for what concerns the part I walked) is not very expensive: on 6 stages I had to sleep in a B&B only once, paying only 20€ for a studio flat. All the other nights, the hospitality was granted to the pilgrims on donativo (the Spanish way of saying free offer). By the way, it is also true that people still look at the pilgrim with curiosity, or maybe better: like a “strange” person who wanders among fields that he doesn’t know… as the word “pilgrim” means. In terms of education, awareness, dissemination and promotion, there still is a long way to go, but the heritage that we have is very rich and the way is walked mostly by foreigners who are better aware of this than we are.
A last thing that is very clear to me, after these first ten days is that, for me, getting older means learning to deal with the stress of the separation, from my relative, for whom I’m worried, of course, and from my husband, who I miss in the same way I would miss a harm… In short, my 30th year gave me realization that I can no longer walk with my backpack emptied of the worries about my home, like I did in 2008…

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Day 6: Castell’apertole – Torrazza Piemonte. But you are young!

26 September 2014 admin Leave a comment

Today, again, my walk ended, with my great surprise, by lunch time. Now I’m writing in the paradoxical, but comfortable and welcoming, room that don Patrizio prepared for the pilgrims, among of the typical formica cabinets and mirrors that you can find in all the sacristies, beds and folding camp beds, baskets of paper chains survived from the village fete, paintings to be auctioned, and so on… Don Patrizio, a priest from Rwanda, has been welcoming here the pilgrims who go to Rome and to Santiago from 15 years and provides them with part of his own house, with a bathroom with a large corner shower! On the other hand, they sent him to work in a parish entitled to Saint James… what else could he do?

Today the walk was pretty relaxing and it helped me recover from the bad experience I lived yesterday, walking along the busy provincial road: today, I mainly walked on dirt trails, along and across artifical channels (among which the Cavour Channel, that looks more like a river because of its width) and crossing a fields of rice, wheat and corn… it was so rich to remind me the fields of the Old Maggot, in Tolkien’s Shire! But I can swear that I didn’t steal any carrot!

From Castell’apertole I walked, in something less than a couple of hours, to Lamporo: a nice village grown along a channel, with three churches – one of them entitled to Saint Rocco, another one is build across the channel and the third one faces it -. Then, I walked on through the fields, following the accurate and poetic signs, where I could read quotes, blessings and poems, and I found myself in Saluggia, at about 11:30. For all I knew, the stage would have to be still rather long and in the town I found the market open and crowded. So, I bought something for lunch and I sat eating on the benches with the elders of the village.

“Are you a pilgrim?” “Yes” “Where are you coming from?” “From Castell’apertole” “And where are you going?” “Today I’m going to Torrazza Piemonte” “So you have a short way to go: it’s only 5km” “Have I?! I was under the impression that I still had twice that distance!” “No, no… But you are young, you’ll do it!” …I can also be young, but the stretch I need to walk is the same…

After lunch, I put my backpack on my shoulders and I started looking for the signs of the Via Francigena that, naturally, doesn’t pass through the center of Saluggia, theoretically condemning the pilgrim to avoid benches, fountains and shops where he could buy something to eat. I cannot find the signs. I walnder for a while, until some people tell me that to go to Torrazza there is only the provincial road: “There was also the descent of the stones, but after a while it is interrupted… well, but you are young…”. Finally I find two old ladies: one of them tells me that, sometimes, some people with the backpacks pass walking under her house. Her friend gives me some directions and I found arrows and yellow pilgrims: I can start walking again! Here there is the descent of the stones: it’s a small downhill, paved with small coloured stones, then the road turns, following the railroad… and ending in the bush! Those who plan to walk this part of the Via Francigena are warned: it’s clear that they don’t often pass to clean the trail, so the bushes are taking back the terrain… It’s better to wear long trousers or, if you prefer, to follow the provincial road, since it cannot be longer than 2km!

When I came out of the bushes I still had less than 30 minutes and I arrived in Torrazza Piemonte… and so, I arrived early again: better, since a storm started, my legs are going to relax before the Val di Susa! But I am young, where is the problem?!

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Day 5: Vercelli – Castell’apertole. Back on the road!

25 September 2014 admin Leave a comment

Today, I had planned to walk about 27.5km from Vercelli to Castell’apertole, but, to tell the truth, it seems like the distance is much shorter: about 23 km. So, it was a short walk, but there is a lot of work to do on it, to make it better: the Via Francigena exits from Vercelli following the road to Trino (SS465) for about 3km, a stretch of walk that is really stressful, since there are many many cars passing by, especially in the morning. After this first part, the pilgrim needs to take the provincial road to Larizzate, Lignana and Castelrosso and, after something more than 20km on a very busy paved road, the Via Francigena leads him to a service area that is the door to Castell’apertole.

The weather was hot and sultry today, but, like pretty everyday, I received some beautiful gifts from the Way. At the station, I met Wilma and her boyfriend, who have been walking with me for the first hour of walk. It probably was the hardest hour, since we had to walk along the statal road! After saying goodbye, I walked alone for less than 2km, when I saw a lonely biker riding slowly in my direction: it’s Accob, who, increduloud for the sadness of this stage, made me the great present of accompanying me to the goal, dodging cars and trucks along with me! He also gave me a very beautiful red bandana he had prepared for me and that is now hanging on my backpack: in this way, if you will see me passing under your home, you will not have any doubts about the identity of the pilgrim who is walking in the “wrong” direction!

As usual, the human aspect and the meeting I am doing, made my day a special one and, while chatting and drinking a Coke, I finally arrived in the B&B room where now I’m relaxing a little bit, countind the mosquitos I will have to smash before night… They will probably give me back half of the money I paid for the room, only because I’m making it mosquitos-free!

A touch of colour: while I was registering at the B&B, my eye fell on the copy of Zdenko Jakob’s identity card, who precedes me of a few days… It’s nice to know that, in the end, we are on the same trails and we are dealing with the same problems! Who knows if we will manage to meet between here and Lourdes!

Tomorrow, Torrazza Piemonte is waiting for me, while, on Friday, I will arrive in Turin! Buen Camino!

100DaysOnTheWay, Travelogue

Day 4: From Nicorvo to Vercelli

18 September 2014 admin 1 Comment

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!