There is always a thought that people might be doing a pilgrimage because of something that has happened in their lives.

The first time we walked the Camino we met quite a few people who had reached a point in their lives where they needed to take a step away and re-examine what they were doing. Others were taking time out after a loss or break up of relationships, and so on. Over the years we have met many who fit into those sorts of categories alongside people who had just retired and people who were fulfilling a long held ambition.

This is not to say that everyone on pilgrimage is like that, just that there is often all but significant proportion of people like that.

So far, on the Francigena we have not found anyone who has given us a reason like this for their journey. The closest was a cyclist from Denmark who is a young man, not more than thirty years of age who is a chef and had spent a year or more in an obscure town in rural Norway as a chef as a way of exploring a new way of looking at his work and was now cycling the Francigena as another part of his process of discernment. He was not troubled, just looking for an adventure and possibly a new route through to the next part of his life.

Of course, there may be a number of those whose paths have crossed ours who are seeking solace, answers or some other thing but were not with us long enough to share their thoughts with us or felt that our language skills and theirs were not up to such discussions, anyway.

So, the people we have met are busy enjoying the hike, or have a goal to get to Rome or Sienna, etc within a limited time frame. They are happy, are good company and most of them are faster walkers than us, so after a few days they hop one stage ahead and are away.

The other fact is that there are so few fellow pilgrims on this Way that we have not really seen more than a small handful for any more than a few days at a time, and only a portion of these are walking for more than one or two weeks so if they don’t speed past us, they jump on a train and go home, instead. Difficulties of finding accommodation also mean that there are times when everyone on the road at a given time will be in the parish or municipal hostel as that is the only place to stay, or they are spread across a mixture of hotels, B&Bs and apartments so you might see one or two walking the same streets in a town then not see them again until the next hostel stop.

Pilgrim numbers are much bigger in Italy than in France or Switzerland so tonight will be our first night with something like a full hostel. We are in  Orio Litta, on the night before we cross the River Po on the famous small ferry and there’s an American couple we’ve walked with for a day or so, a young Italian Man (ditto) and a French couple who are doing the Francigena on bikes. The young man, is finishing his walk in a couple of day’s time and the Americans, Ab and Laura hope to go to Rome. We, as you know, hope to get as far as Lucca or Sienna but are unlikely to get much further.

The beautiful Municipal hostel was very busy when we arrived as the hall next to the hostel bit was full of people from the town celebrating the national day for Grandparents (2^nd of October). So it was all a little bit chaotic and lovely (with three plus generations wandering about, little children dressed in their best followed by parents and sometimes grandparents, people moving in and out of the hall, and occasional toasts, announcements and speeches all accompanied by loud talking laughter and cheers – there was even a “hip hip hooray” by the full hall…).

In a few days we will be escaping the lowlands of Lombardy and we will be very please to leave them behind. Despite strong anti-insect sprays we are both royally bitten by a variety of the nasty beasts. I caught one on my neck this morning that had been enjoying its breakfast and it was an ugly, hard bodied creature rather than the gnat and mosquito variety, but it did the job just as well. The beasts bite through my socks and my T shirt, which makes it harder to even provide adequate protection, so the best policy will be to get out of here as quickly as we can. It makes the long, indirect routes we are taking even more frustrating than normal. We have good meds to reduce their effects, of course, with antihistamine (cream and tablets) and hydrocortisone. We also have a French gel that is really good called Apaisyl – especially good at reducing the itch and swelling.

There are many places in Northern Italy, even in this part of it, that we want to explore further (in a way that avoids the flies – so especially not in the Summer)in Pavia was lovely (the apartment we used was not so, if you are planning to go there contact us so we can guide you away from there). The university was just starting up and we watched the new students as they met and wandered around in small groups and gathering in bars, etc. glad to see they were not being restricted by the dreaded effects of Covid, etc, and there were particular groups celebrating graduations and, like in other parts of Europe, the graduates were wearing their laurel wreaths on their head very proudly, surrounded by doting parents and siblings. The Castle we visited was being prepared for a freshers fair with dozens of stalls going up along the arcades forming the inner courtyard and it helped make the whole city buzz with life.

The city’s university buildings are glorious and I could see how towns like this influenced the people who built Edinburgh and designed the older University buildings there as well as influencing places like Cambridge and parts of London, too. The whole of the old part of the city is worth exploring and we loved some of the churches and the Cathedral, too.

Remarkably, when we were walking around the outside of the Cathedral I noted how the building seemed reflect the much more modern style of industrial architecture where the building exposes and makes a feature of the exterior by revealing the purposes and processes carried out inside the building. The raw brickwork with the rows of tall cylinder shaped sections of wall revealed the series of chapels that ran along the interior walls of the church. Then when we visited the Castle museum we found an extraordinary, large wooden model of the Cathedral which was constructed during the buildings conception and design and discovered that has never really been completed and that work was still going on to build it in the early twentieth century – the model was built in the early sixteenth century….

The back story to places always gets to me.

Which brings me to the back story of this particular blog.

While not really finding anyone who expressed any desire to “find themselves” or deal with tragedies, or any other such thing by walking the Francigena, that doesn’t mean that no one on our walk is in any of those categories.

Both Alison and I re looking forward to this pilgrimage for a number of reasons. We (Alison especially) have suffered a number of losses of close people in a fairly short period of time and we needed the space to help deal with and process this as well as take time out to pray and reflect. So, as I’m sure you are already aware, we have been doing just that.

We have also not been able to do such a long walk for quite a while and have missed this very much as we find the concentrated time together something special, along with sharing the journey and the adventure together too.

And I have needed this time to reflect on my work, on my ideas, my priorities and what is left for me to do in the time that is left to me. I turned 69 on the first stage of the walk from London to Dover and the time around my birthday revolved around the effects of Alison tripping up and badly cutting her arm, which turned out to be just another reminder of our growing vulnerabilities. Something that shouldn’t limit us but help us choose our risks and our adventures. So, the time is being actively used to try to listen – to each other, to our thoughts, hopes, desires and ideals.

I have always said that you shouldn’t expect a pilgrimage to change you or give you all the answers. But it is where the next journey can begin. So, I am hoping and praying that this journey together is a good launch-pad for the next set of adventures in our life together.

And I think I can’t really ask for more, can I?