Abbots Way - Part I
This year we tried the Abbots way. I say "try" because the past records of my travel companion in completing trails are less than immaculate. Luckily the promotion from Pilgrim to Abbot seemed to have worked its magic: he was focused and resolved as hell. A couple of collapses under the heat (let me remind you that the guy was carrying 2 stone-like backpacks, front and back) could not stop him. The Devil's temptation promising the "girls of the Francigena" (after days with no one in sight) could not distract him (let's say that I managed to motivate him to control his senses and stick to his guns). The tornado of "disorganization" that made us stuck for 2 days in Bobbio could not demoralize him. The hideous beast attacking us during the night in Cervara couldn't scare him (...more or less...)
Against all odds, we got from A to B and can now place a solid tick in our experience checkbook.
My notes are sparse and scribbled. A part of them was lost or stolen, so - mind you - I am reporting the bare essentials. It all started in Pavia where I had arrived hitch-hiking with friends G & A. Yes, you read well, Pavia. A place that only mosquitoes find interesting and where crazy minds can go on holiday. And on holiday to walk. Under the sun... The reasonable mind of A was shocked at this revelation. "If you worked harder all day, you'd choose something different" he uttered wisely.
Seyi was late (what a primadonna!), the excuse this time were the italian trains. The dinner outdoors was average and mosquitoes could be cut with a knife. Luckily, the most appetizing of the four seemed to be the exotic Seyi who could not stop a single second shaking his arms in an attempt to cut the black cloud hovering around him by means of a sweat-laden handkerchief.
We run back to the hostel, and the only event worth noting is my realization that I forgot to buy earplugs for this trip. The added value of the sleepless night (for 3 of us) was the motivation to get up earlier than planned, so that we had plenty of time for a (more-or-less) joyful breakfast. To be even more beloved, our friend Seyi decided to offload 3 of his XIX century books by bestowing one to each of us as a gift. It was impossible to refuse. Any attempt from my side to receive the load..ehrm..gift two weeks later proved vain.
The first day was pretty flat and tough. We said bye to G&A and set off under the scorching sun, starting to have fun "our own way". Only the occasional plum tree kept us company on an otherwise tree-less landscape. And then the miracle: as we lied half unconscious collapsing under a cypress tree near a farm....I hear "Look, they're kicking us out". As I follow the finger of my mate I notice a man walking briskly towards us. "Are you OK, do you need some water?". We didn't dare to refuse. What happened next, left us both astounded. I cannot find better words to express it than "liquid paradise". The guy filled our bottles with ice-cold sparkling water and topped that up with apricots and peaches! Ahhhh... I can still feel the tickling of the bubbles and the cooling effect of that delicious nectar in my mouth! "Just what the doctor ordered" we both caught ourselves screaming at the same time. No other drink will ever taste the same after this, we now have new golden standards...
Such a remarkable refueling gave us energy until the next stop: some abandoned plum trees that we promptly looted. Then a stop at a gas station, where my mate bought another bottle of sparkling water in the vain attempt to recreate the previous experience. All those gases and plum fermentation materialized slightly afterwards as we marched into the city of Broni. I turned around and noticed my mate collapsing unconscious against a post. I sprayed his head with sparkling water and the bubbles woke him up. Thank God he's up again and we keep plowing.
We got to a nice hotel up a hill and enjoyed a quiet evening. In the morning we exaggerated with coffee making and overheated the coffee machine producing a power cut. The whole place was dark and my phone unable to charge. As I was cursing at my mate and getting cursed in return, we decided to hurriedly leave the place, hoping that the other guests we were sharing the place with (some construction workers) would be blamed in case some cheese in the fridge would melt and all. In the panic that ensued, Seyi entered straight into their room instead of ours but unfortunately (for me) they were already gone.
The day was hot, hilly and away from civilization.. until we got to a massive shed with benches apparently funded by the EU. Such a temple seemed to us completely oversized given the remote location. We even found a fountain where to refill our bottles. Unfortunately, EU bureaucrats and designers did not consider flies and horseflies, bugs that literally infested the place. Resting proved impossible and my companion had to engage into fully fledged duels with a couple of nasty horseflies. Needless to say, we soon found ourselves having to briskly retreat.
We needed to plough south to reach a reasonable spot where the third member of the team could join us: Elisa. We opted for the famous fairy-tale like town of Nibbiano. Who does not know Nibbiano? Elisa was coming by bus from Piacenza's Francigena's pilgrims hostel.. leaving at dawn to come and reach us. She reportedly had to shake Don Giuseppe (the hostel's manager) off her shoulders when going to the bus stop to meet us. The elaborate lie to Don Giuseppe was that we 2 were arriving in Piacenza to start the Francigena, rather than Elisa setting off to Nibbiano. "Why don't you wait for them in the hostel, they need to pass here on the way anyway..." "mmm, Don, I wouldn't want to be unwelcoming, they come from countries with different hospitality traditions...maybe we'll be back for coffee, all right?"
This elaborate manipulation of reality was needed to ensure our Elisa a pilgrim spot at the hostel without revealing her abbot identity! It was part of a greater plan to deliver her smoothly to a meeting location in the middle of nowhere. Incredibly, it worked like clockwork and at 8am we were already getting our coffee in a lively bar and then set off scrambling up some hills.
