Day64 Pavia to Miradolo Terme – Pain

It was a tough start to a tough day this morning. Last night the sound of traffic well past 4am made sleeping difficult. It didn’t help that I had a really bad headache (likely due to dehydration).

We taped our morning update from the Ponte Coperta (covered bridge) which had been constructed in post war period. The original medieval bridge had been bombed by the allies during WWII.

I was disappointed to have missed touring some of Pavia’s sights (this happens too often due to fatigue and a busy schedule). But today was to be a long day and we didn’t have a place to stay for the evening yet.

Morning Update

Much to our disappointment when we called at 9am, we received the news that our intended place was closed. This left only one viable option – going 20+miles yet again in the hot sun.

Mid day update

As I mentioned, I wasn’t feeling great anyway and this really hurt. My headache continued through the day and the glare and heat made the miles drag on. To make matters worse my back began to ache and for the last 8miles was actually spasming occasionally.

Our only different wildlife sightings were all dead things. Except a very colorful caterpillar. FYI, these are the crawdad guys that I mentioned yesterday.

We stopped to rest at Belgioioso and had a pizza and coke. We ended up only eating half a had the rest for dinner. It was labeled a cheese and wurst pizza. Turns out it was hotdog. So I had my first hotdog pizza. It wasn’t bad at all.

We stumbled into our original destination of Santa Christina (still an hour and and a half short of our final destination) and had a sit for a bit. We had a sports drink and an ice cream and enjoyed listening to all the local men sitting outside playing cards.

The last 1-1/2hrs seemed to take 3. I was very uncomfortable; but there was nothing to do but plow on. We made it to Miraldo Terme and did our best to do our chores before crashing and attempting a nap. As it happens, Jean Yves and a Belgian pilgrim Steven ended up at the same place, so there was no rest to be had.

But getting out of the sun and just lying around did wonders. All seems to be better now and I think with a nights sleep we will be ready to go again. Tomorrow is a short day !! Yay. The first we’ve had in a while. However it is predicted to be quite rainy. It’s amazing to think we’ve only had one real full day of rain this entire trip. Time to unpack the rain gear.