14th June 2017

14th June 2017

Ropollo to Saint German de Vercelesse - 25kms 

Left after a superb breakfast and had the obligatory selfie with our hosts. The morning involved a LOT of climbing, which first thing in the morning after a sumptuous breakfast was not very welcome! Then more woods, again with lots of mosquitoes. This time we were better prepared and got off reasonably lightly. 3.5kms later we arrived in the first village on this route, Cavaglià, which boasts a nice red-brick castle, the Castillo Rondino. Then more goat tracks, fields, woods and rice fields until we got to Santhia, where we had lunch. There we met a nice old gentleman whom we had said good morning to earlier that day somewhere else. He remembered and said how nice it was to be greeted that way. He wished us well and could not believe we had walked all the way from the UK!

The afternoon was quite boring and very tiring. Basically eight kilometres just going through rice fields. We are heading in the direction of Verselli which is the rice capital of Italy. Rice fields as far as the eye can see. Impressive but not if you are walking in 30C heat with no shade! Arrived in San Germano di Versellece, where the hotel we wanted had closed. Had to go to another with bad reputation run by a Chinese family. Not enough hot water in the shower, shower head sprouts water everywhere, wifi too weak to be able to post anything in Facebook etc etc. Still a bed to sleep in and a roof over our heads. Tonight there has been a big thunderstorm. We hope this will help to clear the air a bit.

A French couple we have been walking with on and off over the last few days have said they are considering going back home unless the heat subsides! Oooooh, so tempting......BUT NO!

Tomorrow we go to Vercelli, 20 kms away