Day 1 Cammino del Salento

Alternatively titled "what the hell were we thinking" 😅

We thought some marathon walks around Paris and Lecce would be sufficient warm up for day 1. Let me tell you, it was not.

Today we did about 26 km of trail, plus about 5 more km altogether. All under blistering, unrelenting sun. I knew this first day was long, but was really eager to walk out of Lecce and get to the shore.

The outskirts of the city were the usual, graffiti tagged buildings everywhere, uneven pavement and potholes, unkempt boulevards. I don't think Italy or maybe Puglia has all that much money. Or if they do, it's not going into infrastructure.

As we move fairly quickly out of the city, there are wildflower fields on both sides of our path, interspersed with olive tree groves.

The day is still and hot, with rare sight breezes wafting the heady floral fragrance of banks of jasmine bushes or warm sage leaves, crushed underfoot.

We have a few trail companions widely separated. It's nice to see this trail beginning to pick up.

There's a bit of a congregation of hikers when we finally reach the brilliant sea. Baking sand soft underfoot, we are not the only ones dropping packs, tossing off shoes, and rushing to cool our feet in cool, clear waves.

Sand flies busily defend their territory however, which forces a continuation we're a bit reluctant to begin. There's at least 9 more km to San Foca.

We were definitely dragging as we finally trudged up to the hotel door. We'd had help from the hostel last night booking this trail affiliate. A warm welcome is best demonstrated by its host, who rushes out bottles of water and chilled sweet sparkling lemonade.

Now I remember who we do this: because it feels so good when you stop 😂Read more