Ivrea

Madam was early but not too early. I was grumpy but, I thought, not too grumpy. Just non-communicative I would describe it. Anyway she left. We had breakfast and left too.

Lovely day’s walking again. Varied terrain. Plenty of churches to look at (or not). The route seemed to dive up the side of the valley to a church and then come back down again. Because it was a relatively short day this sort of thing was tolerated. The alternative of staying on the valley floor would have involved walking on a busy road for long periods.

Luckily folk in Italy don’t usually acknowledge passers-by to the same extent as in France because we came upon some sort of sponsored walk which involved about 500 folk walking in the opposite direction to us on the same path. The thought of saying 500 “Buongiorno”s beggars belief.

Stopped for lunch in a beer garden selling street food. Had meusa, a type of very flat corn bread, similar to an Indian dosa, filled with salami and Philly. Water rather than beer although the beer looked mighty tempting.
Much the same walking in the afternoon just a bit hotter.

The best we could do for much-needed ice cream was to call in to a large Lidl on the outskirts of Ivrea. Slight danger that we might have had to buy a packet of 6 ice creams but did eventually manage to get individual own-brand Cornettos. Cold and refreshing and as good as their 79cent price tag would suggest.

Tonight we are in the Ivrea Canoe Club hostel. Bit of an institution in the pilgrim world. Great view of the canoe folk from our window during the day but at night it sounds like you are “sleeping” right beside Niagara Falls.

Dinner in a nearby restaurant was fabulous. Seafood spaghetti with profiteroles to follow. If Italy continues as it has started I am going to come back very chubby indeed, walking or no walking.Read more