The Difference Between Food and Calories

Col St Bernard to Aosta

Via Francigena #12 of 20

I’ll take a steep uphill over a steep downhill any day. My legs feel like I have had one foot on the gas and the other two on the brakes all day, because I have. In 36km we descended over 6,200 feet. That’s the height of Mt Gibbs in Appalachia.

It was supposed to have been a 30km day. We combined two shorter stages even though it was all downhill. Given we walk about 4km/hour on either up or downhill terrain, 5 if it’s relatively flat, it was going to be a long day no matter.

Part of the challenge for Sandy in writing a guide book on a lesser known route is knowing exactly what we are getting into, like the unnecessary surprise stroll up Dante’s Inferno on our way to Aigle. He is not using an established guide book and is working solely off of GPX tracks and way markers that are sometimes confusing.

We had several hiccups at the start of the day and several more later, that all told cost us an hour. Still, what we thought was a 30km day was more like 36km and doing the math you can see that an extra 6km is a big deal. We rolled into our hotel at 7:15pm, a record late arrival for us.

Getting enough calories during a hike like this takes some work, and there becomes a curious distinction between the very functional unit of energy called calories and our more emotional relationship with what we call food. Food you are picky about and have a preference for. Calories, on the other hand indicates you will accept far less than you might normally hold out for, as in, just give me something; I don’t care.

Dinner the night before at the St-Bernard Hospice had not been kind to Sandy who does not eat red meat. Platters of pork-o-licious meat were heaped on the community table along with plain boiled potatoes. At his burn rate of 5,000-6,000 calories per day that’s a big ask of those potatoes.

Breakfast the next morning had also been scant with only bread, butter and jam before we began our long descent to Aosta starting at 8:00am. We were officially in calorie country when we found a small restaurant a few hours later. Although open they weren’t ready for lunch but they were happy to serve us cappuccinos and calories.

At last we came to a full scale Italian restaurant at 1:00pm. We order, the food comes. Mine is beautiful. It’s lasagna with a béchamel sauce over the top. I glance at Sandy’s lunch:

“Is that it?”

The menu was predominantly meat based so he ordered pasta with tomato sauce. It looked like a child’s portion. In the history of Italian gastronomy, it is the smallest portion of pasta ever served. He looked up at me:

“You’re crying over the scenery and I’m crying because I can’t get any frikin’ calories.”

I slug my lasagna down, all 800 calories worth. It barely registers.

By the end of the day, we are doomed to the Pilgrim shuffle which occurs after long walks. Calves and ankles no long take orders, and stairs, especially going down, become a clown show. You have to have a sense of humor.

Today is Rest & All You Can BirthDay #2 We’re off to a good start, having had great food for breakfast, we’re off to do laundry.

See below for photos with commentary below.