I think my decision to leave has come when I realized I couldn’t tolerate no longer the daily noise interferences of my chaotic city.
So I looked for a new path, a Way to retrieve that range of natural sounds that are so important to the brain that somebody has even thought of collecting them in a “sounds of nature” compilation of which are in the library on the shelf of “new age”.
It could not escape from me that name… THE SILENT WAY, and that short description, “a 600 km trail that crosses the entire Cilento National Park, Vallo di Diano and Alburni.” And then that phrase, for me magic… “silence is no absence of sounds, but listening quality”…
I have prepared my travel bike, reinforcing the luggage carrier and replacing the wheels with the anti-drilling wheels; I applied a second support for water, although it seems that in Cilento this element is not missing. I greeted my friends, many of whom did not even know the existence of this beautiful land (which stimulated me further), and I left for my silent trip…
Direct train to Vallo della Lucania – Castelnuovo, bike packed up, enthusiasm, fear, adrenaline. I reach Castelnuovo Cilento at sunset, the village is beautiful, few houses all gathered around the church, on top, the ancient tower of the castle. In the morning I take my Silentina for the first stamp, organize the map of the route and the altimeters in the front of the bike, fill the bottles at the village’s fountain, under the curious gaze of the elderly sitting at the bar… and I go to Pollica, first stop of my trip.
What to say… nothing would sufficient to describe the emotion of this experience; The Silent Way is a mosaic of gold-grain tile, with a thousand shades of green, blue sea, a mosaic of blooming broom perfumes and freshly baked bread in the ovens; is a mix of sounds of flowing water, of birds in the morning, of sea breeze along the coast. The Silent Way is also fatigue and sweat… from the top of that Mount Cervati, at more than 1700 meters altitude, I thanked God for have grant me to arrived here.
On the Silent Way you can enjoy the time, to experience reality with all the senses, to find out the silence is no absence of sounds, but listening quality.
