Aosta to Verrès with a stop in St. Vincent

From Aosta to St. Vincent, I had two options: One that takes you up several steep climbs and then down steep descents or the bike path along the river, which was actually longer but would avoid the climbs and the descents. Normally, that wouldn’t have interested me, but my feet were still complaining loudly and climbing is fine, but descending wrecks them, so I thought it best to go with the bike path.

I left Aosta early and headed out on the bike path along the Dora Baltea River, which is running fast right now with the last of the snow melt.

A bike path is smooth and relatively flat, but the pavement exhausts you after the first several miles. Unfortunately, it just kept going and going long after I was sick of it. Fortunately, I finally reached the Castle of Fènis, which is the primary reward for taking the bike path. I was able to have my lunch sitting under a tree in the shadow of the castle.

Saint-Vincent is filled with large, upscale hotels, and surprisingly, a casino, which is one of the largest in Europe. Saint-Vincent has a large thermal spring that has been attracting visitors since the 18th century, and it is a gateway city to the Alps.

By the time I made it to Saint-Vincent, though, I had walked 37kms on asphalt on a hot day, and I wasn’t interested in gambling or thermal springs.

From Saint-Vincent to Verrès

The walk from Saint-Vincent to Verrès was mercifully shorter than the day before, and although the terrain was more challenging, it was a much more interesting walk.

I hadn’t read the guide closely, so I was surprised to turn a corner on the trail to see the 11th-12th century Castle of Saint-Germain on a bluff just ahead of me. The trail took me to the foot of the castle, but the trail into the castle was closed for repairs.

The trail to the castle leads up from the Saint-Germain church, and there is a fountain there where I planned to refill my water bottle, but when I got down, a man was washing some canvas with soapy water in the fountain tub, and the water was only trickling out of the fountain itself. He quickly offered to let me get some water, and he even turned up the volume of the fountain by turning a hidden valve.

While I was filling my water bottle, a group of 10 – 15 people with half a dozen or so Alpacas walked up the road to the fountain, and I was quickly surrounded by people and Alpacas. A man from Aosta who spoke fluent English explained that a local farm gives Alpaca tours. The farm owner was keeping everyone busy feeding and watering the Alpacas who had all been recently sheared causing them to look like they were rocking 80’s haircuts. And l can attest to the fact that you cannot be surrounded by Alpacas without smiling.

Frustrating hotel situation provides several positive things in return.

I was thankful to arrive in Verrès early to allow me to get some rest since I hadn’t slept well the night before, and even though the day’s walk had been shorter than the day before, it was still hot and challenging. When I arrived at my hotel dreaming of my shower, however, I was surprised to see that the hotel had been closed for a long time with no sign of reopening.

After a frustrating hour on the phone with Hotels.com, I was finally able to convince them I I should receive a refund for my room, and I was able to book a small apartment since there weren’t any other hotels in town. The apartment manager, though, said that she couldn’t get to town to let me in for a couple of hours, so I decided to walk to a local café to have a coffee. While having three coffees and several large glasses of water, I chatted with a very nice couple from Turin who were in Verrès for the weekend escaping the heat of the city. They were trying to let traffic diminish a little bit, and they were both suffering the “We had a great weekend, but tomorrow is Monday” blues.

When I returned from the restroom after my first coffee, there was an old man sitting at my table who had thought I had walked off and left my sunglasses and my book on the table. He didn’t speak English, but I told him I was walking the Via Francigena, and he said that he had been born there 80 years ago, and he had walked all over the surrounding mountains.

The barista then came out and talked with me for 20 minutes. She is the young woman who had recently immigrated from Argentina, and we had a fun conversation about the local culture and the challenges of being a young immigrant in a small village.

When I finally checked into the apartment, which was the same price as my hotel room and much nicer (plus, it was actually available), I was pleased to see it had a washing machine, so I was able to wash all my dirty clothes.

My hotel room not being available ended up being a very good thing. Becca describes that as “good bad luck”. I have to agree.

Next up: Verrès to Pont-Saint-Martin and Ivrea