so I got the lovely directions from my hotel woman... and followed..first it was a walking path next to the road..passing an italian golf course... I saw a few people walking or jogging for exercise, they looked at me and my pack and walking stick with a bit of curiosity....then the path ended and I had to walk along the side of the road... I walk against traffic when ever possible..have I mentioned this already?...the path turned into a blooming steep hill..too early in the morning for me...but I did it..i was walking into S Mariano...once in the town, I got confused..there were radiating streets(again) and i kind of loose trust in myself when i hit these...too many to choose from..and even with the guidance i'd gotten I was unclear what the town square was from which I was suppose to take the right-turn? I asked a bus driver he got me on the general road...then once on... I asked an elderly man, who spoke in whole paragraphs of italian to me, and this is after we established that I did not understand a lick of it....he was kind enough, was trying to send me back from where I came...and I belief said something to the equivalent of 'well, if you dont want to take my adivise..be on your way then...he patted me on the shoulders both comforting and dismissive...' then i asked some construction workers.. again lots of words I did not understand, and a wave into a general direction...wished I had listend to 'learn italian while you drive' more... yes I do!... I went into a farm field I saw some farmers working on their grape vines about an acre away from where the road was... I hesitated, then I decided better to check one more time, even if it was 'negative miles' to go to their spot..super kind guys... they told me in more signs than words.. I was so going in wrong direction... so glad I followed my gut and asked them...finally I was on the road to Solomeo... the next town I needed to pass through.... hesitation, more than walking in the wrong direction is what is taking up time in the mornings it seems. ...i thought it ironic that two days in a row...towns confused me... I think part of prob is that towns have star like radiating streets that even my walking detailed map does not show...and basically I am green... lucky for me I have no shame asking anyone, for help and directions...language barrier be dammed... so the day went much more smoothly after that... oh one other thing... I keep trying to find these 'walking paths' but even the locals dont recognize em...i think this is all part of my lack of experience...much of my current route does not have special walking paths..but I do try to avoid the thicker yellow roads on the map cuz it means more car traffic...if it is the thinner lined white roads it is much less hectic...but the map does not have street names so it's not always clear I found it...so I graze past Solomeo, to my right and try and get on to a lesser used arterial... I am trying to go past a town called Agello.. the map and what I experience seems to match for a while.. I am now on little used farmer road.. I try to ask, just to be safe, the local farmers... again much kindness and much words and a wave in the general direction I think I should be going... I end up climbing a mean hill and end up in Agello anyway... I confirm I have not gone negative miles..but I am bit put out, because it means i am not reading this map somehow correctly or that somehow something did not quite fit..is it the map or me? ..anyway.. I arrive on the top of Agello and it's 'lunch time' you know the hours between noon and four where everything absolutely everything is closed. I tried to ask this women pumping gas into her car,at a total self serve station... but apparently I was inconveniencing her, prob the first person i've met, who's truly not nice... surprisingly, to my own judgment...this dude in sleazy sports car, much more helpful yes the way to Lake Trasimeno this way and only seven Kms...okay I go...now down hill... walking is beginning to hurt... but two hours? Okay., I can do that.... it took at least another hour before I could actually see the lake... I ran into the alternative route that was off-road path,once I was way committed to the actual road. I complained to this alternative road that it was just too difficult to find and follow and now it was too late... apparently talking to inanimate objects helps me somehow...
then finally signs for the camp ground..Village Italgest... I dont mind admitting that by this time I am limping from mostly blister pain... I get there... it is the poshest camp site I have ever been to. There is a store, there are hot showers, there is a video arcade, internet, restaurant, dog baby sitting and in summer pool and summer camp for kids.. I dont have a particularly private site but I am only camper... the camper vans are in a different segregated section.. the whole thing costs elven euro...but there is no price gouging at the store and the showers are the cleanest most plentiful and hot i've seen even in hotels...
up till then I had not actually ever checked to see how difficult it was to put up my tent..it wasn't ...lucky for me...oh and it was around four in the afternoon now as I sat up camp... I buy provisions at store, shower, internet... and bed... sleeping on hard ground with my sore feet and legs takes a while...but I do sleep and deeply... I did get the mid evening chills.. I thought it was just because of sleeping outside but in fact I think it's the body having some sort of reaction to what I am doing to it..since it does it even in the safty of warmer rooms. oh and i had this rather large male cat come visit me...friendly but pushy... he kept trying to get in my tent...i told him 'not on a first date'...
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