Tag Archives: Vercelli

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

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!

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Day 4: From Nicorvo to Vercelli

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!

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