I was sad to leave my hosts this morning (see the previous post), after a jolly evening with my four hosts and members of Riccardo's family. I took up the path on the doorstep, and, at first, it wove along narrow grassy shelves through orchards, and the neighbouring hamlets.
There were bridges over small streams (there's been very little snow or rain this winter),
and soon some steep climbing, and for most of the day the path followed old cobbled mule tracks,
winding through woodland, now steeply up, now vertiginously down. My heart went out to those mules of old, clambering up or pitching down, under heavy loads, and I was glad of my day pack.
This stage is the demanding back end of the walk down from the Cisa Pass, and I would strongly recommend breaking it in two, if you are carrying a full pilgrim's rucksack; it's fine as an exhilarating 11km to Pontremoli, but after the preceding climbs and descents, I'd suggest it would be the last thing you'd want.
It's also goodbye to the alpine heights, a last lookout over a muggy valley, before the coast starts to appear in the next few days.
Once ensconced in my Airbnb palazzo, and my luggage delivered, Riccardo suggested a local restaurant, which I went to, and discovered him and his family already eating, and they kindly invited me to join them, so it wasn't quite goodbye, with their excellent company to enjoy again.
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