The daily wonder, insights, challenges and photos of my journey from Rome to Canterbury on foot
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After yesterday's rest day, it felt good to get back on the trail this morning with the Devil on my back. The rain that was forecast never fell. Instead I was blessed with sunshine for most of the day and a mild 18 degrees. Perfect walking weather for my final hours beside beautiful Lake Geneva before I headed south away from the lake in the valley between the mountain ranges.
Read MoreVevey was definitely the right place for me to have a rest day.
I woke up at 7am but managed to sleep for one more hour. I indulged myself in a long and slow breakfast in my hotel. Coffee, orange juice, croissant and bread with butter and jam. You always pay extra for breakfast in hotels and it generally isn't value for money which is why it was an indulgence.
Read MoreToday was stunningly beautiful. So beautiful that any pain and tiredness were just over-awed. I walked beside the calm silvery waters of Lake Geneva. I climbed up high into the vineyards. I watched in awe as the haze cleared reviewing the jagged shadows of the Alps. I ate my jambon et fromage sandwich amongst the hillside vines siting on an old brick retaining wall, dangling my feet over the edge towards the vines below and was dazzled by the view.
Read MoreToday was a relatively easy walk through woodlands with a few steep climbs, alongside from village to village until I found myself walking excitedly downhill to Lausanne. It was cloudy most of the day. The sun looked like a small silver moon. I still managed to get sunburnt.
Read MoreToday has been filled with highs and lows. It started low when my Camelbak hydration bladder decided to leak inside The Devil which I discovered after I geared up and was about to leave the room with a suddenly very wet and cold bum. I have walked at an altitude of 1,000 metres, literally in the clouds. I have picked my way down rocky steep slopes wincing at the pain in my knees. I have walked through Autumn-kissed forests on leafy carpets the colour of a burnt sunset.
Read MoreThe hills are alive with the sound of cow bells. No, I am not in Switzerland yet, but the cows in this area wear bells. It was actually quite useful this morning when I lost my way in the forest. I followed the guidebook directions and all was going well until they didn't make sense anymore and I found myself on an overgrown path that seemed to be heading in the wrong direction.
Read MoreIt has been an action-packed couple of days. The rain has returned but after catching up with Jacques in Besancon I now have The Red Beasts Mk 2. I was feeling a bit sad to say goodbye to Mk 1, they have been with me for 780 kilometres supporting me as best they could. But Mk 2, they are very red, very firm, very cushioned and having been christened in 4 hours of rain and mud and wet grass, I can say they are 99% waterproof with just a small leak in the left boot near the small toe.
Read MoreOh what a day. It started off with me waling 20 minutes in the wrong direction when I attempted to leave Dampierre-sur-Salon this morning at 8.10am. When I realised my mistake, I actually laughed in amusement and turned around and started marching back into Dampierre and out the other side. It could have been worse. I could have realised my mistake in 40 minutes or an hour. This little mistake added 3 kilometres to my 26 kilometre walking day.
Read MoreI slept in today, to all of 7.30am, but I lay in bed for another hour, enjoying the stillness, not needing to start walking until after 11am at the earliest. I rolled out of bed tentatively, expecting the electric pain to shoot through my feet upon the first steps after yesterday's epic walk but there were a couple of twinges in each arch that ceased after the first few steps. My body is finally conditioning to the long distances.
Read MoreKym Wilson is an Australian writer, coach and pilgrim. In late 2013, she walked 2,022 kilometres alone along the Via Francigena pilgrimage trail from Canterbury to Rome seeking inner wisdom and healing.
