DAY 86 – VERRES TO PONT-SAINT-MARTIN

Our most avid readers will have spotted that we had only walked to Chatillon yesterday, and yet we started from Verres today. The intervening section from Chatillon to Verres is 20 kilometres long, on the south facing side of the valley so in full sun all day, and billed as “challenging” which we understand to mean lots of ups and downs and rugged paths, like we’ve had for the last two days.

We have found 12-13 kilometres of challenging walking to be our limit in the current extremely high temperatures, and Tom’s calf has played up under the strain. So, we decided to leave out the section to Verres and plan to do it when we return in the autumn, when hopefully the weather will be cooler and Tom’s calf will have had a break.

We decided to make an early start today, to get as much walking done as possible before the sun came over the top of the mountain. As we are walking more or less south, and the valley is narrow just beyond Verres, the sun didn’t hit us until 0915 and the wind also kicked in earlier today at about 1030, taking some of the sting out of the sun’s heat.

The valley is dominated by the Aosta motorway, which blights many of the small villages it passes, with the roar of traffic bouncing off the steep hillsides producing a stereo effect. Unfortunately traffic noise had bothered us for most of the night too as our pilgrim hostel was sandwiched between railway and motorway, and our room was on the motorway side of the building. We did not sleep well. The ‘hotel’ was very basic, but not cheap. Ablution facilities were communal, no plugs in the basins, and not even seats on the toilets!

The lady of the house and her daughter were delightful and welcoming, while the man of the house was surly and impolite. Having been offered breakfast from 0600 we opted for 0630 in order to get a few km under our belts before the real heat of the day, but he took 20 minutes to serve us! Even then it was with little grace and absolutely no “prego”!

His final trick was to leave the security gate at the end of the drive locked when we left, so we had to walk back to the hotel to request it be opened. Without even an apology he pressed the button for the vehicular (not the pedestrian) gate so by the time we got there it was already closing and Tom had to run to stop it from closing again, jarring his calf in the process.

FUTURE PILGRIMS – BE WARNED, DO NOT STAY HERE. OTHER PLACES ARE MORE DESERVING OF YOUR BUSINESS.

Once clear of Verres, we started by walking down to the river Dora Baltea which we then followed through flower meadows for a while. As we’d seen higher up, the river was white/grey with silt. We assume it’s snow melt coming down as there has been no rain for some time.

We then crossed over the motorway, back onto the eastern side tucked under the mountains. At this early stage of the day, before the haze built up, we had a good view down the valley which is relatively wide at this point.

The first small village of Clos de Barmes was very proud of its wine producing heritage, and there were many vines being grown on small plots throughout the village.

Further along this side of the valley we came to the village of Arnad which has some very interesting old buildings and a fine example of a Romanesque church. Indeed, it is described as the prime example of a Romanesque church in the whole Aosta valley. Sadly, despite its significance, a notice said it was closed to visitors due to vandalism. Tom has left them a message suggesting that keeping churches open to people should take priority over preserving objects, otherwise the Church as an institution will die. Perhaps it already has, here? Higher up the valley churches were open and seemed much more vibrant.

Before leaving Arnad we were again struck by the notices we have seen in every Italian town and village announcing deaths and funerals of local people, several of whom have lived into their nineties, but a few have been much younger. We assume these notices take the place of our newspaper announcements, and they probably reach a wider audience. We would like to think that there was a good turnout for the funeral of the lady who achieved one hundred years old. What a good idea they are.

The path then took us back across the river, onto the western side of the valley. En route we noticed more of the signs we’d seen earlier, stating that an organisation was promoting the reopening of the Via Francigena after Covid brought pilgrimages to a halt, and no doubt decimated tourism generally in this economically deprived area. Typical bureaucrats – or perhaps politicians – to publicise their achievements without any obvious evidence for what THEY have done!

We had to tramp down a minor road, and then onto a dirt track alongside the motorway for several kilometres. It was not very interesting, and the dirt was pebbly so we had to be careful not to skid or twist ankles.

Arriving at Hone we first walked through an area used for burying the 93 victims of a cholera outbreak in 1867. It now seems to be an area of allotments used for growing a range of vegetables and flowers. There are no obvious graves, but it may be that burials were hastily done in the circumstances and therefore the graves are unmarked.

In Hone we found a delightful little alimentarium, just like an old-fashioned village shop at home, and bought some tinned fish, nectarines and tomatoes to supplement our bread and cheese lunch. The tub of margarine had to be thrown away yesterday as it had become completely liquid and would have ruined everything else in a rucksack, but Julie spotted a small block of Philadelphia cheese to liven up dry bread, instead of butter.

From Hone we recrossed the river back onto the eastern side of the valley and walked up through the historic village of Bard, which also has a very impressive chateau guarding a turn in the river. Unfortunately we didn’t feel we had time to visit the chateau today, but it’s on the list for a future visit.

At the top of Bard the beautifully laid stone paving came to a sudden end and we had to pick our way down a very steep slope back almost to the level of the river. In fact, at the bottom we found that some of the river water had been diverted through a concrete trench – presumably for irrigation – which we walked alongside briefly before tackling another very steep climb back up and onto a vineyard terrace.

And then, just around the corner we came upon a section of Roman road, complete with wheel marks and an entrance gate into the village of Donnas. Very impressive feat of engineering, and amazing to walk on a road made so long ago.

Donnas itself retains its medieval character, and rather than dicing with traffic on the busy modern road the VF took us through the old main street which is full of historically important buildings. As we had noticed in Aosta, a lot of imagination and style seems to go into the ironwork on balconies. We had a sense that there may be a bit of competition!

On leaving the historic part of Donnas we then had a long trudge through urban streets on said busy modern road to get into Pont-Saint-Martin. In the full heat of the afternoon it was tiresome and tiring, and we weren’t surprised to see a sign stating the temperature was 35 degrees Centigrade. In fact the forecast had been for 40 degrees so it could have been worse!

We’d not seen any public water sources since leaving Bard, and we were down to dregs of warm water in our bottles. As it was a Monday when lots of businesses are closed for the day, and the middle of the day when those that are open take a siesta, we couldn’t find a cafe/bar to buy a drink until we were almost at Pont-Saint-Martin. We sat down gratefully for refreshing orange juices and a litre of fizzy water, before tackling the last stretch to find our accommodation.

Just outside the cafe was a monument to the members of the resistance regarded as liberators at the end of WW2. This is the first such monument we’ve seen, though we were aware that some of the people living in these valleys, with their knowledge of the tracks linking into France and Switzerland, were involved with the partisans who were working against Mussolini and his right wing associates.

Finally, we got to the Roman bridge over the river Lys. Our accommodation was further on down the hill on the other side of the river, tucked away on a quiet back street, so we’re hoping for a better night’s sleep as long as the temperature cools down as well.

Highlights of the day were the pretty historic village of Bard, and the Roman road.

So, today was our last day’s walking for this stage as we plan to get the train to Turin tomorrow and onward to Paris and home on Wednesday. At this point in the last stage to Bar-sur-Aube we had mixed feelings about returning home. This time however, the heat has really got to us and we’re definitely ready for a break. In an ordinary year one is warned not to attempt crossing the Po valley in August on account of the heat. This is an exceptional year and the heat has clearly arrived early. We look forward to returning later in the year when it is cooler.

So what about the statistics? We have now walked 1447km of the total distance from Salisbury to Rome. That represents 59.8%.

So, three countries done; one to finish. 60% of the total distance done. Highest point done. It’s all downhill from now! But that will have to wait for some cooler weather, and of course for us to build up a few more days Brexit credit.