 |
We did something unusual and left very early this morning: 6:30. Early departures had been a common practice for us on the Camino, usually to beat the heat of the day. Two things have been leading to later starts on the Via: free breakfast (most of the places we have stayed include breakfast in the lodging package), and the fact that our destinations usually won’t let us into our accommodations until after 2:00. There is nothing worse than showing up somewhere after six to eight hours of hiking --- sweaty, exhausted, longing for a shower and a change of clothes --- only to be unable to enter the night’s domicile. Therefore, since we can’t usually get in early anyway, we have tended to make a later start each day.
But today was different. The temperature was again predicted to be ferocious, and we had the longest stage of the trip before us. We were walking to Ronco (home of the Ronco Veg-o-Matic --- “It slices, it dices, it cuts Swiss Cheese and Speck in twelve different shapes.” If this little town didn’t invent this and other helpful kitchen appliances, well, it should have). Our guidebook, which tends to underestimate distances (at least when compared to my GPS) claimed that we would be walking 30.7 KM. A brisk day’s work. Consequently, we decided to beat the heat and make an early start.
Ravenna was lovely and quiet as we began our hike between its stately buildings. Early morning sunlight illuminated the circular brick campaniles, and a light breeze stirred in the near-empty streets.
 |
| Mary and the Church of San Vitale |
We walked down the Via di Roma, passed through the Porta Nuova, and headed through the suburbs. Once again, in the interests of future Via walkers, this is a long stage with virtually no facilities. It is also mostly exposed to direct sunlight, although there were a few shady spots. The point is simple: take a lot of water, don’t expect to be able to refill water bottles on the way, and don’t expect food or accommodation. You are on your own after the Ponte Nuova.
After crossing the bridge, we were faced with the need to cross the now busy rush hour traffic on the statale. There was no crosswalk, and the cars were flying past us. We waited for a break in both directions, and didn’t secure passage until a kindly man saw us and stopped. We hurried across the highway, up onto the levee of the Fiume Ronco (Ronco River). For approximately one kilometer we walked on grass, but the levee road quickly turned to asphalt.
Here is another warning about this stage: it is nearly all on asphalt. More than thirty kilometers smashing down, step after painful step on this unyielding, soul-sapping surface.
Ouch.
Deja Vu
The suburbs quickly faded and we were soon in the countryside, walking on the river levee. The scenery was consistent with what we have been seeing since Padova: farms, trees, and occasional glimpses of the river through the brush. Mary was attacked by mosquitoes, but they left me in peace.
We rested, around the 10 KM mark at a nice dam. I always like to get dam pictures. There is nothing like hydroelectric portraits.
Dam on the Fiume Ronco
One interesting thing about the road we followed for most of the day: it was really no bigger than a bike path, about an average automobile in width. You would think that such a narrow road would be reserved for bicycles and hikers. You would be wrong. We spent the entire day diving into the grass as cars, vans, and at one point, a semi-truck, came barreling down the road at us. I’ve made this point before, but one of the big differences between the Camino Frances and the Via is that on the Via you will spend a lot of time sharing your walking surface with fast moving motor traffic. Today, the only time we didn’t have to dodge cars was on the grassy part of the levy at the beginning, and during our final stroll into Ronco, where we had a bike path separated from the traffic.
Not Our Trail
A small highlight: for the first time since Bassano del Grappa, I could see the faint outline of hills in the distance. After weeks languishing in the flatlands, enduring straight road fever, we are finally approaching mountains and hills again. Of course, it is much harder to climb slopes; I hope I don’t regret my enthusiasm for this new topography.
We were both very footsore by the time we reached a junction in our path that was labeled “Coccolia.” According to Mary’s Google maps, we could leave the Via, take a bridge over the Fiume Ronco, cross the very busy highway, and, if Google was right, find a small bar where we might stop for refreshment. We gambled and went off-piste. As it turned out, Google was right, and we did find the bar. We shrugged out of our backpacks and began gulping bottles of water. Mary supplemented her aqua naturale with a brioche, and I paired my aqua frizzante with a chunk of focaccia bread.
Lovely.
Before we returned to the trail, I took advantage of the bathroom. A sign had been placed over the toilet which informed the patrons that they should clean up after themselves. If they did not, warned the sign, they would do well to remember that the hands of the person who would have to clean up their mess were the same hands that would be making their coffee.
A salutary warning.
Onward. The day grew hotter. Our steps grew slower and more painful. The last five kilometers were grueling. We simply ran out of energy under the sun’s rays. My feet felt like baseball players had spent time warming up their bats on my soles. Mary was in bad shape as well.
Deja Vu (Again)
Finally, we limped through Ronco (saw no Veg-o-Matics) and crawled through the front door of our hotel.
Another very hard day. I think that if I was writing a guidebook for the route, I would create a multi-factor designator for the difficulty of each day’s stage. Our guidebook classifies each stage as easy, medium, or difficult, but as far as I can determine, this is only based on the hilliness of the day’s stage. So, for example, today’s stage was classified as “easy” when in fact it really wasn’t. It was long (33.6 KM by my GPS). There were no places along the designated route where one could refill water bottles or buy food. It passed through no towns. It offered little shade from the sun. It was almost completely on asphalt roads that were shared with cars.
Balancing all of these factors, I think today was more of a 9/10 on the Goodrich difficulty scale. Yes, it was flat, but there is more to hiking than hills.
Our hotel in Ronco was a bit quirky. It had a motion detector in the room that turned on the bathroom fan when it detected movement. If I stood up and walked toward the door, it also turned on an overhead light. What this meant, was that if either Mary and I rose to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, the light and fan would come on, something that was guaranteed to wake the other. We could find no way to disable this useful feature. I did find that if I raised my shoulder when I rolled over in bed, I could turn on the fan (but not the light).
The other fun thing was that the hotel was filled with a large group of men in their late-twenties, early-thirties. At first I thought they had come with a tour group to visit the famous factories that produced the Veg-o-Matic, but I later learned they were construction workers. In either case, they spent their early evening drinking in the bar, and by 10:00 they were hooting and shouting up and down the halls of the hotel, as if it was a fraternity house.
I should be more indignant about this, but, in fact, wiped out by the trail, Mary and I fell asleep quickly and heard no more of their hijinks.
Today's Distance: 33.6 KM
Total Distance: 629.4 KM
No comments:
Post a Comment