I was afraid my knees would have been damaged by yesterday so much that I might hardly be able to walk this morning, but that wasn't the case. They weren't too happy about going down stairs but otherwise okay. Everything was drenched from the night (valley and next to a river), so I had to pack a wet tent again.
My grocery plan had not taken into account that I would be here on Sunday (and all the stores are closed on Sundays), and also not that yesterday would be so long, so I didn't have enough food left. I figured, I'll just find a restaurant and eat a pizza or something for lunch. I'll be in the vicinity of villages for most of the day, shouldn't be hard.
Also, yesterday I had an overdose of having to think about every step, watching my feet all the time, and steep slopes up and down, so today I partially avoided those. Not completely, because walking on roads all the time is boring too (and sometimes dangerous, as there isn't always a sidewalk), but some paths through the forests I just skipped.
So first there was about an hour of road, and I saw a lot of lizards warming themselves on the concrete sides of the road, then hastening away when I approached. Next came some forest. Unfortunately, with the forest also came the stinging flies. That remained the case later in the forests, and although the insect-repellent spray helped, as soon as I stood still I was besieged. This also made finding a place to take a break in the forest almost impossible. There were however many, many pretty streams and waterfalls that I enjoyed looking at. I was a little sad at seeing the mountains, knowing I wouldn't be up there anymore (though glad I wouldn't have to do such a climb today). But the good part of walking down a valley with a river was all those streams and waterfalls.
Unrelated, I also seemed to have walked into very, very catholic country. Little chapels everywhere and half the villages and streets are called after one saint or another.

I came past a restaurant and a kiosk that were still closed. In the village where I had hoped to eat lunch, there was nothing at all. I ate some of the last food I had, thinking it would tie me over for the next two hours, until I got to a larger town which would certainly have a restaurant.
Those two hours became something of a challenge. This path was forest and up and down, but also beautiful. However, it was getting close to 15.00 and without a proper lunch I was becoming somewhat weak.
Finally I reached Cavergno, which was bound to have a restaurant. It did. But it was temporarily closed. The next one was closed due to vacation. The next one didn't look open but also didn't look like they normally cooked any food at all. The next one, and by this time I was getting a bit desperate, was open, but told me their cook didn't work that day, so the only food they had was buns with meat on them. It nearly made me cry, until I decided I'd just cook what I had planned for dinner on the spot, and see about the restaurant that was advertised to be close to my Airbnb tonight.
So I got water (still wasn't sure if the water from the fountains was drinkable so I did filter it just in case), then sat under a bridge in the shade and cooked something like soup. Took a long time, first to cook it without adding heat all the time (takes too much gas so I just let it sit), then for it to cool enough so that I could eat it. But by 17.30 I was able to move again.
The last 45 minutes was climbing steeply through a forest. Which made me quite glad I had opted not to do that for most of the day.
Then I found the Airbnb and it's an amazing place, old and lopsided house, with a lot of hippie and geekiness thrown in, a large garden with fruit and vegetables, and a wonderful view. And an awesome host who when I talked about not having had enough to eat went to make me bread with homemade zucchini paste and tomato sauce. So I didn't even have to go to the restaurant anymore. Tomorrow, the stores are open again and I'll get food. Now I've had all kinds of hurry, weather, delays, no food, and having to let people know when I'd arrive because I booked a sleeping place in their house. I'm done with being in a hurry. Tomorrow, I'll camp, there's no bad weather, the stores are open, I'm not going to be in any hurry at all.

Geschreven door Jewaontheroad