Tuesday, August 19th
Rich joined us on our walk today as it was relatively short (10 miles) and relatively flat (@ 700 feet in elevation gain). On our way to Pont-Saint-Martin we walked through the town Borgo di Bard and spent some time at the fort there, which dates back to the 6th century when Roman soldiers were garrisoned here. In the 11th century the site housed a medieval castle and in 1800 it took Napoleon’s 40,000 soldiers more than 2 weeks to dislodge the 400 Austrian soldiers defending it. After capturing the fort, Napoleon had it dismantled, although it was rebuilt starting in 1830. Over the years it’s been used as a prison, a military depot, and now as a museum and exhibition center.
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| Walking along the Dora Baltea river, the Aosta Valley's major waterway |
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| Pilgrim mural in the town of Arnad |
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| Our first view of the Bard Fort (Forte di Bardo). When Jerry took this picture we had no idea what it was. |
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| View of the Dora Baltea river flowing through the town of Borgo di Bard |
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| Look closely at the picture over the door... it's Geppetto carving Pinocchio |
Wednesday, August 20th
Our 14.5 mile walk today was along mostly paved roads under a cloudy sky that threatened rain most of the day (although it didn’t actually start raining until we were walking into town). It was pleasant walking with the temperatures in the 70’s. Our route information indicated an elevation gain of 1017 feet, but my Apple Watch registered 1629 feet. I’m going with the Apple watch.
We left the Aosta Valley and its mountains and are now in the Italian region of Piedmont, which means “at the foot of the mountain.” This is an apt description, as this region is surrounded by the Alps on three sides. According to our route information, it doesn’t look like we’ll be traversing mountains for at least the next few days.
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| View of Pont-Saint-Martin's namesake bridge |
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| We've seen a number of churches along the way with painted frescoes. These were the best preserved we've seen. |
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| We've also seen numerous terraced vineyards like this picture. Part of the Via Francigena route winds through vineyards like these. |
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| Scrambling up a rocky incline (P.S. To my C2C hiking buddies: although a scramble, this wasn't anything like the mountain scrambles in the Lake District) |
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| One of our last views of the Aosta Valley |
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| The interior of one of the churches we passed today and were fortunate enough to enter. To date, most of the churches have been locked. |
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| Another castle in the distance |
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| A sculpture of the pilgrim icon we've been following along the Via Francigena |
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| Piazza in Ivrea - our destination for the day |
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