Piacenza

Up early as I had a ferry to catch. The purists might be going “what?”, “sounds like cheating to me!” etc but the official line is that it is not just ok it is actually far more historically accurate than not using the ferry and going over the Po river by a large new road bridge. There is evidence that Archbishop Sigeric, whose route back from Rome in 990 is used as the basis for the Via, used the ferry at this place to cross the Po. So there. And it is shorter.

But I had to get a friendly waiter at lunch the day before to phone the ferryman and book a space. Just as well as there ended up being 8 pilgrims and I don’t think the boat could take many more. He only goes once a day, at 8.15am and it was about 3.5 miles from where I was staying. Hence cappuccino and croissant and walking before 7am. Have to say that although it is truly grim to be up that early the walking is fabulous. So quiet and a lovely temperature.

Please take note of the positioning of the sun behind the church spire in the photo. Takes extraordinary skill that does. And a certain amount of luck.

Pleasant enough 20 minute ferry trip then a degree of faffing while we all paid and he gave us our stamps and recorded our details in a monstrous ledger. Undoubtedly the highlight of his day. Meanwhile I am becoming concerned about how 8 pilgrims will walk from there to Piacenza where undoubtedly we would all be staying the night. Luckily common sense prevailed and we set off separately in our ones, two and three if you see what I mean.

Arrived at the “BnB” at the back of 1pm, in time to have a quick shower and still make lunch. Requested a small portion of spaghetti after seeing the mountain being served to a neighbour. That did me fine and I declined a second course. Amazed to see my neighbour finishing her plateful and then having an even larger main course. Don’t know how these folk manage it.

Small quandary in the afternoon. Once washing done and short nap taken I was faced with whether it was worth a 2 mile walk back into town to check out the cathedral. I know many of you are really keen to get as many different church photos as I can manage so I got the shoes back on and went back. As extra incentives I got myself a haircut and an ice cream. Not at the same place you understand.

Amused by the umbrellas strung up in some of the streets. Obviously not as windy here as at home. Can’t imagine that lot lasting long in a Scottish blustery day.

Didn’t feel I needed any tea other than a 1.5 litre bottle of water. That should make sure I’m up and down like a yo-yo all night.Read more