May 1, Villar Mazarife

We had a setback first thing as Meryl's pack had been causing pain in
her shoulder so Gary re-arranged her harness for her. This proved
successful and Meryl had a better day.

In beautiful sunshine we strolled through poor farm land until we
reached the small village of Occini. We stopped for a lunch made from
rolls, ham and cheese we'd bought the day before. From here on the
land looked much better. Soon we arrived at Villar Mazzariffe where we
found a room with 4 beds. Today's walk was about 16 kms and took us 4
1/2 hours including our lunch stop.

After showers and a rest in the sunny court yard we were about to head
off to explore the village when a man road past and did dressage
practice on a beautiful horse! The village is a real farming town with
tractors parked in the yards but very prosperous looking never the
less. We've seen several new houses built entirely of granite. They
build to last.

At the centre of the village stands a church that was built in 1352.
The front edifice sports two big bells and three active but ancient
looking stork's nests. We had our evening meal at the pub next door.