No-one was opening for coffee before 6.30 tomorrow so I asked the owner of a cafe if he could open at 6.00 and there he was with his freshly baked croissants at 5.45. We started out on a large highway and Sabine now has the book and navigated well – no getting lost. Out once again amongst the bare fields and tomatoes to the horizon past large farm houses and tractors, a few trees and the now very close Apennines – still no hills, let alone mountains, no canals or water of any sort.
We asked a woman for directions when we hadn’t seen a sign for a while and she and her young family joined us for a km. Our friends sing a lot so we had lots of French songs and a few words from me in Italian that Pavarotti would have choked at. They set a lively pace today because an increase in kilometres early allows us to escape the mid 30s heat of the day. We still have not passed or been overtaken by another walker (this would not happen in Spain or France) 10 days now – I think it is mostly because we leave early.
Sick bay report: Corrie’s blister is starting to mend and her swollen ankle also.
My cartilage free foot is pain free, as is my bursa and my heel pain is mild – the drugs have been good friends. Our other friends have walked from France so are now seasoned, they are also fine with the heat (mostly), and drug free and no issues.
