Sunday, August 17th
All I can say is, this trail today kicked our b**ts (or at least mine)! Steep climbs in the beginning were challenging, but doable. The issue didn’t seem to be the elevation gain, but more a combination of the heat (high temps today were in the high 80’s, but felt more like low 90’s), extended periods of walking on asphalt with little shade cover, and non-asphalt terrain that was difficult to traverse. We also made a few wrong turns and had to backtrack a ways to get back on the trail.
All of this is leading to the confession that we didn’t make it all the way to Chambave, but had to stop in the town of Nus, @ 3.5 miles short. Thankfully, we had a driver scheduled to meet us in Chambave to take us back to our hotel in Aosta. He was very accommodating and picked us up in Nus instead.
When all was said and done, we walked @ 15 miles with @ a 1600-foot elevation gain.
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| Our first climb of the day - up and out of Aosta |
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| Mountain views |
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| Jerry caught this picture of Becky walking along the irrigation canal. This path was @ a foot wide with a steep drop off on the right-hand side and the canal water on the left. We had at least 2 miles of this. It was quite the balancing act! |
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| This pilgrim icon will be our guide along the Via Francigena trails |
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| From the smiles on our faces, you wouldn't believe we're very, very hot and very, very tired |
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| A view of the valley below |
Monday, August 18th
Oh boy! We thought yesterday was hard! Today was a killer! I can barely move my legs. They are going to be so sore in the morning.
The weather was hot again, but we had a breeze most of the day, which turned into a strong wind by the afternoon, helping to keep us cool. We were also in the shade a lot more today than yesterday. We walked @ 8 miles this morning before stopping for lunch and all of us felt pretty good (Rich excluded. He didn’t walk either day and I’m so glad he didn’t!). We were halfway to our destination and had already climbed 1300 feet, more than half of what was supposed to be the elevation gain for the day.
The trail got harder and harder after lunch: steeper climbs (with a lot of false summits) and rockier trails where you had to be very careful of your footing going downhill. For all of my whining about the difficulty of the trails, the scenery has been beautiful: breathtaking vistas of the mountains and the valley below plus numerous views of castles/fortresses in the distance.
Total mileage today was 17.5 miles (we made a few wrong turns and had to backtrack) with 2800 feet of elevation.
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| A pilgrim sculpture in Chambave |
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| During our hikes both yesterday and today, we heard and saw lots of water. This was the largest waterfall we encountered. Would have been a perfect spot for a picnic lunch. Too bad it was too early in the day. |
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| Another mountain and valley view |
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| One of many castles we saw today |
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