Day 2: Bitetto - Cassano delle Murge ~ 26 km

Today's post is going to be a short one as not much happened. I left my hostel later than I should have, at 9am. I immediately noticed how sore my feet are, which was not the best start, knowing I had 6 hours of walking ahead of me.

 

The first stop today was by a medieval castle that was in the middle of nowhere next to the Cammino path.

I love how in other countries when archeologists find anything they immediately think 'Amazing. We must find out everything about this landmark. Then make it into a touristic attraction and charge people for it.' Whereas in Italy 'Oh look another remarkable piece of history. Vabe.'

Italy actually has over 6,000 abandoned old towns. There's an interesting Yestheory vlog on this. I have noticed too that smaller towns and villages here are abandoned and only the older generation lives there still. Even though the towns are full of history dating back to hundreds of years. 

Leaving the landmark, I have crossed many olive trees and pretty fields. I saw two more black snakes today too (don't tell my mum). I definitely noticed today that my energy level was a lot lower than yesterday. I have blisters on the sole of my feet which made every step today quite painful. Which is over 35,000 painful steps. It doesn't help that my bag is definitely way too heavy. But at least I know that everyday as I eat more and more of my food supply, the weight of the bag will be lower and lower too. 

When planning to do the Cammino Materano I didn't know what to expect, how many people would be doing it at the same time, how busy the roads will be. But now having been walking it for 2 days I can say with confidence, this is a very quiet Cammino (as Camminos should be). When walking today over 6 hours, I have only seen 5 people all of whom were farmers working on their fields. This was very liberating as you can do whatever you want all day. You can sing out loud, dance, no one will see you. However, it's also slightly scary to think that if something bad happens no one will come your way for at least a few hours. But this aspect of the Cammino definitely differentiates this Cammino from the Cammino di Santiago. My friend Ella is currently doing the Cammino di Santiago and says that it's super busy and it is very hard to find accommodation and get some time to yourself. It won't be like that here. 

Today was a very challenging walk and it often made me wondering why I am doing this to myself as today was definitely more painful than joyful. I had to stop very often because I felt like my body is giving in and I'll might fall over. But now that I managed to finish today's walk I am very proud (but I hope that from now on it will only get easier, which it most definitely won't 😄). 

When finally arriving in my hostel for the night (which is the basement of a cute Italian couple) two surprises were awaiting me. 

                                        My hostel

One, is that the reason my right foot hurt so much today is because there is a 5cm big blister on it that made walking difficult (I won't show a picture for everyone's sake). 

Two, just when I was checking my accommodation for tomorrow I realised that I do not have one. Because I missed a day when planning, and all my accommodation for the rest of the Camino are booked for a day later I actually arrive. Given I spent a week going back and forth with hostels, hosts from Couchsurfing and priests (yes), this was very upsetting news. Tomorrow I'm going to be staying with a host from Couchsurfing who was kind enough to host me tomorrow instead of the day after. And after that I'm considering taking a day off at one of the stops so I don't have to rearrange all the other accommodation for the rest of the trip. We will see. 

Sadly, according to the weather forecast the good weather is going away tomorrow and it's going to rain. Very much not looking forward to that.