11th June 2017 - Verres to Pont Saint Martin

11th June 2017

Verres - Pont Saint Martin - 18kms

Today has been a funny sort of day. It started very badly. As my cold and cough was not getting any better yesterday we bought an over the counter remedy. I took this first thing in the morning and was soon violently sick shortly after. It appears we misread the Italian "take on a full stomach" for "take on an empty stomach". Back to Italian classes then! Once recovered we left some 90 minutes later than planned.

The route we took followed the Dora Balthea river, with the river on our right hand side and fields on the left, with mountains all around. Truly beautiful! In Echallod we saw but did not have to cross the rebuilt Romanesque bridge which straddles the Dora Then on to Bard, a medieval village set in a deep gorge, with Forte di Bard perched on the hill above. The first fortress dated from the 11th century but was razed to the ground by Napoleons troops in 1800. It was rebuilt in 1838. There used to be a hospice for pilgrims here run by the Knights of Malta.

Near Donnas we were thrilled to be able to walk over a stretch of a Roman road, a feat of engineering as the road had to be built halfway up the left side of the hill in order to pass a large rocky promontory. In Donnas we stopped for a light lunch of Merenda Valdostana, an Italian version of Ploughmans lunch!

It was here that we had a very nice surprise. An anonymous donation of £36.79. Unusual amount I hear you say! Yes but just the right amount to take our fundraising to exactly £2000, our fundraising target. After this news all my morning woes evaporated and I felt fine again! This same donor made a substantial donation yesterday but obviously got his sums wrong and made up for it today! Thank you so much for supporting our little adventure, yet again!

After lunch we were just 3 kms away from our final destination of the day, Pont Saint Martin and a beautiful Roman bridge from the 1st Century! It was open to traffic until 1836. We can see it clearly from our hotel bedroom window.

A domani!