The long gentle downhill slopes continue along shady pine needle paths. Our pace is closely mimicked by a small canal streamed off to follow the same contours. This gentle slope allows a metre wide and deep waterway to feed the pastures below, and remains true to us on our small path for many kms.
Eventually we dip down from our 500 metre high valley edge through these watered pastures, their towering irrigation sprays offering us a brief cooling period beyond our shady path. We meet up with our Aussie friends nursing muscle soreness from the journey down the mountain peak,then chat briefly to a Belgian couple who have also stopped for a coffee break.
Apart from that, our social time consisted of confirming directions for our track and for our coffee; Italian croissants have not improved.
Now down to the valley floor, but with the terrain still falling away gradually, we sense our Aosta home as a steep rise followed by a deep drop, taking us through familiar streets and sights. Corrie gets a whiff of our past lodgings here and we’re there.
The same receptionist was there, and after discussing our payment taken by our booking site she said “you owe one euro for city tax”. She collapsed with laughter when Corrie said: “can you wait until we go to the bank?” I thought it was good – but not that good.
Our plan now is whether we finish where we started last year in the Vercelli rice fields … but we suspect the summer sun will have its own way. Tomorrow’s low temperature will entice us, but we will monitor it day by day. After that there are some other cool parts of Switzerland to explore and some cool friends, so we’ll look at it day by day.
