It was a rough start for many reasons. For some reason, likely the microwave pizza we ate late for dinner, neither of us slept well. It was hard to get up and get moving. In fact despite getting up easily at 5:30am because we had a long day ahead, we didn’t leave the parish house until nearly 7am.
We began our trip today by walking through a marshland. And yes, it was incredibly muddy as well as buggy. The mosquitoes were everywhere! They especially loved Mark. I could see them landing on his clothes to nibble him.
Clearly in the near future, we will have to add bug spray to our list of must-haves. The last couple of days there has been a noticeable increase in mosquitoes. We are hoping to wait until Italy before we need to purchase bug spray.
We pushed ourselves really hard this morning or at least it felt like that. We had to take several short power breaks. Neither of us was feeling the groove, but Mark was struggling with some additional neck and back pain.
The majority of the day’s trip was covered prior to lunch, thank goodness.
The agricultural fields are beautiful, but it seems to be endless at times. The flat land seems to go on and on. Landmarks in the distance never feel like they get much closer. The walk can be discouraging at times.
We finally stumbled onto the campground! We were not sure that it even existed, but hallelujah it does! It is a really nice place too. We ended up renting the pilgrim camper for the night. I have no idea if this is a normal place or luxurious, but my observation so far is the French know how to camp. There are cabins to rent, a nice restaurant on the grounds, a bar on the grounds, laundry facilities, shower facilities that are way beyond clean, and even an indoor pool.
And yes, I did take advantage of the laundry facilities. A working washer and dryer are never something to be overlooked I have learned. The blessing of clean clothes is one of many little things I take for granted at home but not when walking long distances.
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There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep to clear your mind, wash away the doldrums, and see things with a renewed perspective. Take some time to change your perspective…walk backwards or sideways; skip; dance; stop on the trail, bend forward, let your hands maybe reach the ground and look at where you’ve been by looking through the space between your knees. OK, maybe that last part is for Allison. Change your perspective. 🙂
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Hahah. Definitely only for Allison!
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Hang in there! Better days ahead. Praying you rest well tonight & more exciting blessings tomorrow.
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Love and miss you girl! Take care be safe and have fun! 😘
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Looking ahead, the Google Maps images suggest there will be more wooded terrain and, as you pass Tiergnier, (low?) hills that will provide more scenery changes. I hope that will provide you some encouragement.
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It does. We like low hills!
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I saw that you did 2 stages in one day, 43 km! Amazing! this would be 10 – 12 hours walking…
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We did, but not on day 20 (unless I’m forgetting something). We were crossing the Apennine and the midpoint was closed. There was nothing open midway (there was but we didn’t know about it). It was a HARD day. But we made it and it made for a great story. Tons of elevation that day as well.
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