Carlo and Patrick walk to the coast

10/21 Aprilia to Nettuno - 13.74 miles

After a nice breakfast, Carlo drove to my last stopping point a little ways outside Aprilia, and we arranged to meet once I reached the town. I put the music on, started walking, and soon enough met up with Carlo in Aprilia. For the whole walk, I had Carlo go in front so as to set the pace, but as it turned out, he actually walked a faster pace than my average, making me the one who had to work to keep up!

Soon, I began to feel quite guilty, however, as I had unwittingly asked Carlo to join me on what surely was among the bottom three worst walks so far. Heavy traffic, a narrow shoulder, industrial parks along the whole walk, constant trains, a large stretch of newly paved asphalt with smog-belching industrial paving machines, and all of this on a muggy day - certainly not the best motivation for taking a long walk.

Still, he said that he knew what he was getting into, having driven this road many times in the past, and he seemed thrilled with the fact that he was actually walking a long distance to a destination, a totally different feeling from walking a trail, or in a circle. I had somewhat forgotten how great a feeling this truly is, and enjoyed having it refreshed in my mind by a different pair of eyes. Carlo even taught me some excellent Tai Chi stretches as a way of relaxing my mind and body, and so I floated the last stretch of the walk to Nettuno.

Our destination in Nettuno was to the house of Carlo's friend Ann, who had kindly agreed to house both of us for the night. A British expat and talented sculptress, her house was full of beautiful works of art. Once we were settled and had rested a bit, she told some stories of her own travels, including six trips to India, and a long voyage on the Mediterranean as a stowaway on a cargo ship.

The three of us went out for dinner, which for Carlo was a celebration of a great first urban long-distance walk, and then headed back for an early night. Ann had to catch an early train, so I pulled out the sleeping bag once more for a second lucky night.