Bitonto to Bari – 26th June
Distance: 20.9 km – Elevation +110 m -210 m
Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 30 degrees
Bitonto is a vibrant city and I would like to return one day. I could feel the warmth already as I walked beneath the Porto Baresana at 6.00 am. I walked through tree-lined streets of the city outskirts before reaching the countryside where I met several joggers who all greeted me with a wave and a smile. The landscape was flat with vast fields of potatoes being harvested. There were workers, already at this time of the morning, handpicking potatoes that rested on the surface of the field after the machine harvest. The workers were bent at the waist and I wondered how they would feel at the end of the working day. After the potatoes, the landscape returned to olive groves and vineyards.
It was just 10.00 am and 6 kilometres from the centre of Bari when I caught my first sight of the Adriatic – the path took me right to the sea shore where I sat for a while and reflected on the journey of the past 26 days, beautiful and difficult at times but now close to the end of the Italian stage of my pilgrimage I know that I had enjoyed every single moment. I met no other pilgrim to walk with but I was never alone and as always my god was with me every step of the way.
I followed the coast road for a while watching the people of Bari enjoying themselves on the sandy beach and swimming in the blue Adriatic. I stopped in a bar and enjoyed a refreshing glass of orange juice.
I had decided to take a day of rest in Bari and as I was staying for two nights I had booked a small and cheap self-contained apartment to afford that little extra freedom a B&B does not offer. First I had difficulty in finding the apartment and then I had to wait for the arrival of the owner’s representative to let me in. Eventually, a young woman arrives and tells me the apartment was not fit due to broken water pipes and asks me to follow her to an alternative property. She set off walking ahead of me at a rather fast pace and I had a degree of difficulty in keeping up with her. Anyway, we arrived at the new location right in the centre of Bari very close to the main shopping street and I must say the apartment was of the highest quality and far exceeded my expectations.
