Provincia di Piacenza

True enough. There is always someone. In this case both of them. Not that they were together at least they didn’t seem to know each other on yesterday’s ferry but they each must have decided that 6am was a fine time to get up. I think they and everyone else staying here had left by 6.45am.

Possibly unconnected with the above, but I briefly wondered which of my night-time activities persuaded the guy in the lower bunk below me that it was worth his while getting up in the night and moving his mattress and himself onto the floor for the rest of the night. He may not rush to get the bunk below me next time.

To be fair I am going to try very hard to make sure there isn’t a next time. Dormitories have become my least favourite booking option.

It was just as well that I am perpetually dehydrated as a night-time visit to the loo could have been fatal. Both for me and the guy trying to sleep on the mattress on the floor. Even in daylight getting safely off the top bunk and onto the floor was not straightforward. I am sure the grandkids could do it in an instant but this old man found it surprisingly difficult. Give it a go yourself sometime. And then try it in complete darkness while needing the loo quite urgently.

Left before 8am and had the usual brekkie while sitting in the main square. For the first few hours it was delightfully cloudy. I wouldn’t say cold just a very nice walking temperature. Heated up a bit later but never as hot as recently. I think this was the last of the very flat days. There are some hills that are looming up. As usual with life I am looking forward to the change but very quickly I’m sure I will be moaning about the hills.

The only accommodation I could get for tonight is a motel about a mile and a half out of town with nothing nearby. So rather than have a 3 mile walk for dinner I planned to go straight into town, grab lunch, check out the cathedral, buy some stuff for tea and go to the motel and stay there for the rest of the day. And start booking more non-dormitory accommodation.

The lunch bit worked. I was standing looking a bit vacant in the centre of the town checking out my phone for likely restaurants when this old lady started chatting me up. And when I say old I mean pushing ninety. She was most insistent about something, I just didn’t have a clue what. We tried French. Hers was a good bit better than mine but we still weren’t making progress. But she wasn’t close to giving up on me. Eventually she tried accosting anyone else passing to see if they could speak English. Soon there were 4 of us. It turned out she was simply asking what I was looking for. I said lunch and the 3 of them went into an animated discussion about where to send me. Consensus reached and she dragged me off. The other two made their escape, finding my predicament quite entertaining. We went down one street, then another, and another and finally reached a trattoria but she wasn’t finished yet. She insisted in coming in with me. I was convinced she was going to join me for lunch. At what point does this become sexual harassment I wondered. She grabbed a waitress and had a long conversation, but finally seemed satisfied that I was going to get my lunch and so she left. Quite extraordinary. After all that the lunch was fine and a good bit cheaper than the fancy places in the centre of town, catering for tourists. This was very much for locals, to the point that the staff seemed to find my presence a bit odd. Or maybe it was just my girlfriend.

Bit of an anticlimax after that. The cathedral was closed and I didn’t pass any food shops on the way to the motel. So, no tea.

Had a thunderstorm later so I suspect I could be in for a change in the weather as well as the terrain.Read more