I got a slightly late start out of the hotel..i missed what ever breakfast they might have had...lately its just been sweet pastries and weak lattes so I am okay for missing it. I found a cafe along the way... it had morning rush but I was able to get extra strong coffee...then from there like it's been usual for the last few days I walked along the coast... within towns there is usually a nice palm tree walk along the park running along the beach... once you get to the end of town usually marked by a cliff and sharp turn, there street gets narrow.. sidewalk sometimes even goes away and I walk along the minor highway around the cliff to the next settled area with more tamed beach and small towns.. usually one street in from the beach is were the center of towns can be found, with a zoned area just for walking.... in some cases at the center of which is the clock tower and the church...Currently at the beach various businesses are preparing for the impending summer season...sand is being shipped in and spread... Cabina's are being fixed and repainted..chairs and umbrellas set out... it seems some towns are almost completely done with preparations and in others it looks like they are just getting started. Currently along the coast is the weird ocean plant washed up everywhere it has a strong fishy smell and looks grey from a distance.... as I would discover close up it looks like some sort of jelly and most of them are blue rimmed with clear centers.. pretty but strong smell and it seems like something is causing them to land on shore...Today again I was not feeling very strong, the weight of my pack was bothering me... I was carting around still semi wet clothes that had not dried from the night before... I had a sore ankle and wrapped it up in an ace bandage to hold it stable and that fortunately really helped... again as I reached the cliff area on one of the stretches I was confronted with my fear of heights... this time it was through an industrial harbor area where huge shipping crates were being off loaded... the road rose above it and again what felt like too narrow a side walk with too low a railing... I feel foolish as I walk awkwardly as close to the inside as possible but I am going to do what feels safe..i have done work over my life to try and desensitize myself as much as I can to heights..but right now I feel very re-sensitized and it does not seem to diminish..i have learned from someone who was studying psych that fear comes in waves...so if you can wait to let the peak of fear ebb, you can take action between those waves.. I only subtly notice these waves and basically I just want to get those stretches over with...i stopped in Celle Ligure at a little church which was dark and simple and felt more like the inside of a womb than my usual feel of inside a skull. I did a little 'ground and center' while there..and that no matter what, always helps.
..i eventually walked through Savona...it was a very long town.. I did not check out it's center though it seemed to have many tempting things to explore including a castle and the antique core... I walked along the coast and took photos in passing .. with some regret... the town's sidewalk along the coast ended and somehow I got out on the beach which is not good hiking ..i found a cafe with cabina's where people were still preparing the place for tourist season.. they were open for water and pop, so I stopped and rested.. the owner had that 'backpacker' look... a bit younger...so I asked him how much it costs people to rent a chair for the day once tourist season starts. He said that usual price is 12 euro for the day..but most people come for the season..the season lasts three plus months from June to September. I was trying to imagine working in a country where taking off three months to hang out on a rented beach chair for three month is normal. He said people will pay 700-1000 for that beach chair for the season.. the Cabina's are for changing..and if you want an umbrella it's extra... he wants to come to seattle soon to drive along the coast to san francisco with his parents. It might not happen this year since his dad is ill, he gave me his business card and asked I email him when I return home..when he heard that I was walking from Assisi to Santiago..he said a few times 'That is a good idea!' … coming from seattle still has cache thanks to curt cobain and nirvana... as I am learning... again..I was on my way.. i had taken a lot of little breaks today cuz I felt I needed them... I knew I had only a little more fuel in me...on the very end of Savona's limits I started seeing camp grounds ..these are not romantic, even if they are right on the beach...they are heavily wired and hooked up trailer parks with little sense for the aesthetic....spaces are piled on top of each other and landscapes if they do exists are obscured by wiring... these are not necessarily 'bring your own' mobile home or trailer -affairs... instead you use the ones they provide. You rent them kind of like a cabin.. but the camp grounds do take some tents... I found a third camp ground that had a less depressing slightly creepy feel.. the man found me a spot outside the trailer park gates by the beach with a man-made sand barrier protecting me from high tide... the man helped me set up my tent, clearly surprised that I seem to know what I was doing.. I was glad I got to camp on sand..even though it does get in tent.. he took my passport and insisted on holding it for the night...up till now I have not allowed anyone to do that...i've paid up front just to get it that night... but I did not see the harm... there were a few shops in the area so after realizing that again no restaurant of pizzeria was open yet.. I gathered from bakers, cheese shop, and veggie stand what would be my dinner... I did get a hot shower because the man showed me how to use the coin machine.. there was a little man who spoke no english who introduced himself to me he was from Milano... I had told the first man my confusing family.. I was american born in germany, my dad is american, my mom is german born in Milano...so this man felt a kinship to me because of my mom's milanese birth... he and the man running the place were buddies and they were co-parenting a little kitten who's mother was sick, if I understood..the main man said he was only taking care of it for a day or two till the mother cat got well...it was a cute little predator...clearly only recently having opened it's eyes..
because it was getting chilly and dark I went to bed early... I think camping is damn good for that...
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