Thursday 6th September: Weather 16°C down to 10°C: Overcast, misty, drizzly rain not too cold
Ronco Canavase to Piamprato DAY 18: 10k: 10.45am to 1.45pm: 3hrs: Ascent 600 metres
Accommodation: Locanda Aquila Bianca Altitude 1550 metre
Hot coffee 10.30am Air BnB
Air BnB dog Pax
Mini market is closed Thursdays
Wet start from Ronco Canavese
Panetteria for bread cheese genepy
Home grown bullocks hearts
Small village of Balme
Valley fork Campiglia or Piamprato
Picturesque walk Torrent Soana
Village Fontanetta on Torrent Soana
Arrive Piamprato 1.45pm
Pretty village of Piamprato
Arrived just in time before rain
A lovely pretty walk up the Soane Valley in misty rain. Though the 10k walk was along the quiet road, there were very few cars and it was just a lovely relaxing walk and not to cold at 16°C.
Our Air BnB is so quiet, we both sleep in til 7.30am. I needed a good nights sleep and wake up feeing much better. Though we brought our own breakfast from the min bar last night, Manrita has supplied enough breakfast for 4 people. We weren’t aware that this Air BnB provided breakfast as not all of them do, even though the name is BnB. We have a cup of tea followed by muesli and yoghurt before packing, showering and making a few phone calls home because Ian has good phone reception. It’s 10.30am when we leave and say goodbye to Pax. Manrita and her husband have gone to work at 8 oclock.
First stop is the mini market to buy lunch and dinner for tonight as there’s no shop in Piamprato and we I don’t need another big meal late tonight. But the mini market is closed on a Thursday and today is Thursday. We’ll make do with what we have in the kitty, we think, but a hundred metres up the road is a sign to a Panetteria, a bakery. It’s in a back street and obviously the locals know where it is because it’s busy. We stock up on cheese, ham, fresh bread and a small bottle of Genepy, a herbal liquor was have had in several places.
The walk up the road is very peaceful with very few cars. It’s a lovely walk beside the Torrent Soane through quiet villages. It’s misty rain but not cold at 16°C. Soon we come to the fork in the road to Campiglia to the left or Piamprato to the right. Taking the right turn to Piamprato, the road steepens and at times is 20% gradient. Through the next village of Fontanetta, and after more up hill road walking we reach the upper flat valley of Piamprato. The temperature has dropped to 10°C and the mist is rolling in. We arrived just in time before the rain set in.
The village is small and we soon see teh sign to Locanda Aquila Bianca, an agriturismo place I had booked on booking.com. It’s not busy and someone from teh bar takes us across the road to a secondary building, and up to our room on the second floor. It’s so cosy and warm inside. First thing is to shower and wash before settling on the bed to sort photos and blog for a few hours before trotting over the road in the misty rain to the bar where we settle on a cold draught Italian ale with a few chips that is the standard aside. We don’t have a reservation at the Poste Tappa for tomorrow night and ask the manager to make a phone call for us to Fond which he does. Theres; only 6 beds in Fondo and we don’t want to miss out. We don’t have a tent so there’s no alternative.
Back to have a picnic dinner in a warm cosy room. Bread, ham, cheese, tomato at the early hour of 6.30pm before retiring to watch two Doc Martins. The weather forecast for tomorrow isn’t good and we know it’s a difficult steep climb out of the valley. We’ll make Plan B if we need to in the morning.