18 May 2009, Mola di Bari (Bari) – Goodbyes are never fun, especially when you have been walking with two people for 17 days and have shared all your inner secrets (and heard theirs). And so it was with a somewhat heavy heart that I said goodbye to Elina and Sam this morning after we’d had a coffee and walk around Bari together.

Carl, who is very Teutonic about these things and is consequently less sentimental than me, didn’t seem particularly perturbed by the fact that we had just lost half of our group. We’d gone about 20 meters when he turned to me and said, “let’s terminate.” (For those who missed the post of 11 May, there I explained that Carl’s nickname is Terminator and “to terminate” in the context of our group means to walk very fast, usually leaving somebody behind.) This was clearly bad news because I was the one who was about to get terminated by Carl as he sprinted towards our destination, Mola di Bari.

The way out of Bari going south is much more interesting than the way in from the north. There was a nice sidewalk to the city’s closest beach, called Pane e Pomodoro – also the name of a typical local dish similar to a bruschetta – and from there we continued on flanking the sea most of the way to Mola. It has gotten hot again though we were buoyed by the knowledge that in Mola we’d have our first proper dip in the sea. Until now the only contact had been bathing our feet in Barletta a few days ago. The swim at Mola’s little port didn’t disappoint and will certainly give me some extra strength for tomorrow.

Another word about Carl as he will be my sole walking companion for the next three days to Brindisi. In addition to being called Terminator, he is also know as Queen of Spades because of his knack for getting that card when we play Hearts.

He has also earned a new title: the shirt whisperer. Even before we left, Carl had told me he wanted a morning in Bari to shop for shirts that he could wear to the office. Okay I said then, okay I said a few days later when he repeated his desire to go on a shirt quest in Bari (I assumed that in Switzerland word had spread that Bari was the shirt capital of southern Italy), okay I said once more when he mentioned it again ten days into the walk, okay I repeated when he said it again last week, okay I said yesterday as we approached Bari. Then what happens? He does a little window shopping, enters a store specialized in only shirts. The clerk brings out a stack of shirts, Carl wrinkles his nose after seeing one and proceeds to say forcefully “no” after which he walks out of the store.

“What was that all about Carl?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you have given her a chance to show you a few more shirts?”

“The shirts didn’t speak to me, a shirt has to speak to me before I buy it.” He meant that quite literally, but then again he is an engineer. I may be speaking like that by the time we get to Brindisi.

There is still time to donate to Cricket Without Boundaries, which is assisting communities in Africa. If you would like to donate, please visit www.justgiving.com/ilcammino. The site is secure and easy to use.

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