Salurn/Salorno – Trento April 27

In 1494 Albrecht Dürer also walked this way going to Venice to study the paintings that were being done there . There was a big flood in the valley and he had to walk higher up as I have been. He did some landscapes of local scenery around Trento like the one above.

I left Salorno and headed down the valley along the cycle path. The town’s castle blends into the rock cliff face.

The cycle path was a bit hard on the feet but at times there were gravel side roads.

In the photo above you can see the narrow point in the valleywhich marks the point where the Germanic tribes migrating south stopped about 1.000 years ago.

I came across this shepherd and his sheep, goats and a few donkeys . Donkeys bond with sheep and loathe dogs and wolves making them excellent guards. A blow from a donkey’s front hooves descending from a position standing in their back feet is often fatal for a wolf.

He told me how much he loved working with his sheep and it reminded me of that Paolo Coelho book ‘The Alchemist”.

For a while the cycle path ran next to the noisy freeway .

Finally the path headed up into the hills, past many vineyards .

Part of this route followed the ancient Roman road, the Via Claudia Augusta and bits of the road are visible .

The road is up in the hills and not straight down the valley as in ancient times the valley was swampy with the Adige river meandering back and forth.

I passed interesting old towns

After about 6 hours of walking the city of Trento was visible in the distance .

The long descent took me through suburbs, parks and a bit of forest.

When I arrived in the main piazza. Gigi from the Via Romea Germanica Association came on his bicycle to put a stamp on my credenziale or pilgrims passport .

Gabriella, another member of the association, also came to the Piazza . She’s very kindly offered to put me up at her place tonight!

We also paid a visit to the cathedral to get their stamp on my credenziale .

This morning, Gabriella is driving me down from her house in the hills to Trento from where I cross a pass into the Valsugana – a valley that will take we East towards Padova.