I Would Walk 1000 Miles

I left Giuliana’s parents’ at 7:30am and began walking north towards Turin (or Torino as it’s known here). I was aiming to do two days’ walking in one day - a total in excess of thirty miles. Halfway, I switched from sandals back to boots as I developed a nasty blister on my left foot, but the change in footwear seemed to sort it. As I proceeded from town to town along the SR20 road, I discovered that most of the towns in this part of Italy don’t have free water fountains! Or toilets, come to that. I also discovered that once you have a blister on the sole of your foot, it’ll just keep growing if you keep walking. I reached a pleasant town called Racconigi around 6:30pm and talked to a lady in a supermarket who’d been taught English in 1985 at school. She didn’t do too badly talking to me. I’d put her English at least on a par with my French. Outside the shop, I found a quiet spot and burst the huge blister on my foot - much better. I know, I know, but I simply couldn’t walk any further with it full. I made it to Carmagnola around 8:30pm this was originally the target for day seven so I was understandably pleased. Until it seemed everywhere was closed. Eventually I found Speedy Pizza from where I had a rather delicious margherita. After a 45-minute rest there, I had to find somewhere to camp as darkness was falling. Of course, now I discovered that the entire town centre was open… Eventually, I found a spot just off the main road behind a billboard. The grass was lovely, soft and green. It was just out of sight of everything. Ideal. I didn’t even bother with the tent, just unrolled my sleeping back and crawled in, using my long-sleeved top as a pillow. I was asleep surprisingly quickly. Then I found out why the grass was so green and lush. When the two water sprinklers came on and deluged me. Bugger. I raced around and gathered my stuff before it got too wet and staggered off looking for somewhere else to sleep. Finally, shortly after 1:30, I found a shelter near some houses which looked like a market stall with nothing in it. I threw down my sleeping mats and collapsed on them. The roof came in handy when it rained at 5am.