Day 3 - Cassano delle Murge - Santeramo in Colle ~ 23 km
This blogpost will be longer than usual, but full of adventures. To describe today, I'm going to use a quote that's very fitting from one of my favourite series.
Look how big they are!!!
In the morning I managed to bring forward my night stay in Altamura and I can stay two nights at the next stop in Gravina in Puglia. So I don't need to rebook my other bookings after that. So thankfully my miscounting the days problem was solved easily.
Sunbathing little lizard
You can see how close I was to Santeramo if I decided not to follow the map.
Aroma B&B
It not only gave me shelter but was a very cute terrace with books and plants.
She ate it in a minute
In full rain gear
The trail was completely flooded after the rain and I had to cross the rain ocean making my boots soaking wet
Armando's farm
A very cosy bed in the stable
My roomie
"A morning can start off like any other but by nightfall… things have occurred that could change a course forever.” (Anne with an E)
I set off from Cassano delle Murge a bit late at 9am because my host at the next stop could only host me from 8pm. So I thought I am in no rush, it's a beautiful day (was very surprised by the weather) I will just take my time.
I past through a very cute early morning market and admired the massive cherries on display. I had to resist all my urges not to buy some (I love cherries) because my backpack was heavy enough.
After a couple of kilometres I noticed immediately how much more energy I have than the day before. I realised the main reason being is the change of scenery. Yesterday the path looked the same throughout. And while the olive trees were beautiful, but after 6 hours it was quite demotivational to walk with the same view. Today however I mostly walked through forests and it was so beautiful.
What I really like about solo Caminoing (what a strange word) is that I can stop whenever I feel like it, as frequently or non-frequently as I want. Everyone has different energy levels and when you hike with someone else you need to adapt and stop when they want. But this way I can go all day without stopping or stop every hour. But of course there are many downsides too to walking alone, like not sharing experiences or having nice talks.
There are so many of these green lizards everywhere on the walk. I counted over 60 of them since I started the walk and I had to give up, there were just too many. They really overpopulated the area. I was very happy today that I managed to take a picture of one of them (see below).
Yesterday I also learnt from Rocco (one of the Italians) that the big snake I saw first day is a common snake in the area but is non-poisonous. Just looks big but harmless:)
The scenery was so beautiful today, just like out of a fairytale. Flowers, butterflies everywhere, blue skies.
I was really enjoying the walk, until I saw this.
A very random storm in my direction on the left, while the sky was blue on my right (like in the previous pictures). It was the most unusual moment.
I came to a crossroad where I could take a quick road into Santeramo in Colle if I decided to abandon the Materano and use Google Maps. Or I could go left and walk for another 2.5 hours in a circle and get into Santeramo.
It definitely felt like a big decision I needed to make on the spot. I decided to follow the Materano road thinking Google only predicted little rain and the whole day was so pretty; I can survive a little rain. I felt quite prepared too and had a rain cover for my bag and a raincoat for me. I was determined to do the whole Cammino and not "cheat" even if there's a storm brewing. Not sure if that was a mistake.
As I started walking, after 15 minutes it was clear that this is more than "a little rain". It started lightning all around me and my brain went into panic mode. I am generally quite scared of lightning even indoors but being so exposed to it all by myself, no one around me, I was terrified. It felt like one of my worst nightmares coming true. I managed to get my phone out quickly and tried to look for any buildings around me. It was interesting how easily politeness barriers were demolished in my brain and I went into survival mode. I was ready to knock into strangers' house, in a foreign country, and ask if I can stay there for a while while the lightning stops. Had it not been such a scary situation, I wouldn't consider doing this. However, sadly there were no buildings anywhere near me. I found a B&B along the path, 15 mins walk from me. Realising it's my best chance, I covered my ears to control my fear (to not hear the thunder rumbling) and just prayed to mother nature to keep me safe.
When I finally saw the B&B I instantly started walking towards it, but realised I can't find the entrance. There were no trees covering me while trying to find the entrance and it made me feel very exposed to the lightning. So I thought I'll just hide under one of the small apple trees in the orchard (knowing you shouldn't be near tall objects as they're more likely to be hit by lightning). I didn't know what to do, and suddenly I felt like all my worries are pointless. The only thing I could think of was how to find shelter as soon as possible as the lightning kept coming closer and closer. Suddenly I noticed an entrance to the B&B and saw that it has a big terrace. I could not have been more relieved. The B&B was closed but I could take shelter on its terrace. I send my deepest thanks to Aroma B&B for the shelter I much needed. I felt as if someone was really looking after me, 'a guardian angel' so to speak because it was incredibly lucky that I had this B&B close to me and that it had a terrace. Most parts of the walk are really isolated without any houses, especially not B&Bs nearby. Just like meeting the Italians when needing to cross the bridge, help came exactly when I needed it.
As I looked around I noticed that I'm not alone. There was someone else taking shelter under the terrace.
The most devil looking cat I've ever seen.
It was a very unhealthy looking stray cat that could have possibly had rabbies so I wanted to keep my distance from her to avoid scratches. I had some butter in my bag though (see Pavlina it was worth carrying it over 70 kilometres 😂). The cat was clearly very hungry and it felt good that I could help her a bit.
After an hour of waiting, the thunders stopped and the rain was less heavy. So I decided to finish my trek for the day. It was only 5pm so I still had a couple of hours before sunset and I only had 1.5 hours left from the trail.
This experience really made me reevaluate the whole Camino. Seeing the weather forecast full of rain and thunderstorms I'm debating if I should stop walking. There's nothing I want more than to finish the whole walk but doing it while there are thunderstorms might be too dangerous. I decided I'm going to see how the weather goes and if I can complete the walks for the day before the rain starts. So that's the plan now. I'll see how it goes. And who knows maybe the weather will be better in a few days too. But there's also a possibility that I won't be able to complete the Camino with this weather. If anyone has any advice on this please let me know :) As for tomorrow according to the weather forecast it will only start raining at 11am, so I'll try to get there before 11 (which is near impossible unless I don't stop at all). Or at least if I get close to the next city there will be more places to take shelter under.
Being soaked but had nowhere to go (as my host was only free from 8pm), I was really grateful to Giuseppe and Rocco (they asked me to mention them in my blog, you're welcome Giuseppe lol) who let me come to their B&B and change into dry clothes. They were very kind and even carried my backpack (as I could hardly stand on my feet from the walk).
I didn't have lunch and had a very hard day so I could not wait for dinner and to eat something finally (especially after burning 3,600 calories). We had dinner together and then my host Armando, and his students (will explain later) picked me up with their car.
For the night I used Couchsurfing. For those of you who don't know, Couchsurfing is a traveller app where people let other travellers stay at their house for free. Many of you might be very suspicious of this asking 'Why would anyone do this if they don't get anything in return?'. And that is a fair question, that was my first thought too. But most hosts are 'surfing' (stay with other hosts) too so they understand what the community is about and want to give back. I have used Couchsurfing in 6 countries and met the kindest people and only one of them was slightly weird. All other people so far have been extremely kind and made my stay very authentic to their countries. Staying with someone on Couchsurfing is like staying with your foreign friend who shows you around in their countries. As a woman of course you have to be more careful and selective, there are definitely creeps out there. But if you read the references of a person you get an idea of who you're staying with.
Just in the case of Armando. He had amazing references and I understand why. He took me to his countryside family farm, and immediately as we met he offered that I can stay longer than one night if I want (which is a very trusting offer, given we just met and he doesn't know me). He was so kind to come and pick me up with his car and even the next day as I wanted to leave early to escape the rain, he drove me to the centre at 6am!!! What a guy :)
I literally just arrived in his farm, met his animals and went to bed but the night spent on his farm will be very memorable. Armando is a professional horse-rider (he's in his late 20s), and teaches horse-riding too. He has horses, pigs, dogs, geese and who knows what other animals.
I slept in the stable with the horses, which was so cute. I could hear his horses crunching their grass while I was falling asleep.
During the night I could hear nature around me, nightingales, owls and his dogs barking 😂
It was time to go to bed after a very eventful and scary day but full with adventures. Determined to escape the rain I plan to start walking at 6am next day. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier 🤞🏼
23 kilometres here I come.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete