DAY 166 - VERONA TO DESENZANO DEL GARDA: 23 MILES (46,000 STEPS)

5 October, 2011

23 miles (Total: 1651.3 miles) 46,000 steps (Total: 3,605, 201 steps)

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy and they say that storms can whip up across the lake in minutes; so when you see clear blue skies you cannot be sure that you will have good weather. All seemed to be going well for the walk, encouraging news on the campaign, health issues managed etc. but during the day there were some swirling weather fronts which came down from the metaphorical mountains:

The first and most devastating, was the news was that a friend had discovered that a cancer which we had believed had stopped growing five years ago, had suddenly and brutally returned, and by the time it was discovered, the cancer was inoperable. I want to believe that this cancer can again recede and want to communicate that optimism and faith to my friends, but his message was so clear as to make that option totally inappropriate. Life is a desperate place without hope. I spent much of the day considering how best to respond and concluded that all I could muster was empathy to let them know that I share their devastation and bewilderment as to why such bad things can happen to such good people.

Next, and a long way behind, my rucksack straps had been really digging in more than usual on this stretch.  They are far too narrow for the size of bag and I have discomfort throughout the walk as a result, but just as I reached Castelnuovo, I felt shooting pains ping-ponging across the tops of my shoulders. The feeling was just like the leg cramps I had experienced in Croatia, but this time they had moved to the shoulders. I ripped the bag off and it dropped to the ground and I started doing vigorous butterfly movements with my arms. A car stopped and a kindly man, Josef (we were to meet again on the shores of Lake Garda), came across to talk to me and check I was okay.  The conversation helped take my mind off what had happened and I reached into the bag for paracetamol tablets and took two. I walked on, but gingerly anticipating the next spasm at any moment – although it twinged, it never came.

Given the general feel of the day, I was ready to drop by the time I reached Sirmione, which is a beautiful town on the edge of the lake and clearly a popular place with the well-healed. I tried three hotels and could find nothing under 100 euro—twice the top end of my daily budget.  So I had to walk on a further five miles to the outskirts of Desenzano before finding a place that was within my budget, but only then because the owner spoke good English, was interested in my story and receptive to my presentation of a crisp 50 euro note. I was very hungry, having not eaten since breakfast, and normally I decide where/if I can eat once I know how much my accommodation is. I went out looking for a supermarket, there was none, not even a cheap pizzeria.  The only place I could find was a Chinese restaurant, where I ordered spring rolls and Chicken and sweet corn soup and went through all the complimentary breadsticks on my table . . . and the table next to me.

I returned to my room and found a good connection to the internet. Things were looking up at last. I had developed a problem with accessing my flikr account in the morning and Michael Green had managed to get an email back with instructions as to how to change the password. This I did and uploaded the photos of the day and added in some descriptions and then noticed that I could only see the 20 or so photos that I had uploaded and not the 650 from the journey which were there before. The thought of losing the pics of the journey with accompanying descriptions, names and places seemed to sum up the stormy weather of the day. I wrote to Michael again in the sure knowledge that if anyone can find a way around this problem then he will.

I then pondered how insignificant those problems were to the news which my friends were having to come to terms with and I felt guilty and sad. I didn’t sleep well on account of shoulders and don’t feel much better this morning, in fact I am writing this because I don’t much fancy the idea of walking at all, but experience has told me that on days like these the last thing you need is your own company—so I will go out and join the traffic and head towards Brescia.