29th May 2015 Abbadia a Isola to Sienna
19.8km
Beautiful weather
Shorter version:
After breakfast and a farewell ceremony at the hostel mtimw and I set off towards Sienna but via different routes for the first part of the way. All on dirt roads until outskirts of Sienna. Lovely stopping place on way. All going well & looking forward to a weekend of rest.
Longer version:
After breakfast provided in the hostel by our hospitaleros, we had a farewell ceremony to wish we pilgrims well outside the hostel, a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer plus another prayer for pilgrims. We took leave of our wonderful hosts, with hugs all round, and set off along flat dirt roads through fields of now ripening wheat.
I took leave of mtimw as they were going via Monteriggioni (a small completely-walled medieval 13th C town with 14 square towers in the walls which is now very touristy) and I was taking a short cut as I’d visited this unique little town before and didn’t wish to climb up to it.
I wished them Buon Cammino as I didn’t think I’d see them again. In fact I should have gone with them as the alternate route was through humid woods with tricky paths and mosquitoes AND it also climbed up to the same altitude as Monteriggioni…and at least I’d have found a bar there! Then on good dirt roads again, and not long afterwards, mtimw caught up with me and continued on past me (I said goodbye again!). There were also a group of British walkers who were walking for 6 days from Lucca to Sienna with their baggage being transported – they looked very bright and fresh! Onwards through fields and vineyards, up and down, through little hamlets (no bars!) but on good tracks.
Then I saw a sign for a resting place with water a little further on. When I arrived there who did I find but mtimw with 3 young Italians all drinking from a shared coffee mug and I was encouraged to stop which I did and have a sip of coffee as well as water.
It seems that, in addition to the water fountain, there was an Italian-style coffee pot and a water heater provided on a table under a shady tree with tree-trunk seats so one only had to bring one’s coffee ( they told me one could telephone for coffee but am not sure if they were joking or not as the young Italians, knowing the route, had their own coffee grains). Only thing missing for mtimw was the sugar! Anyhow a very pleasant interlude. Then off we set all aware that there was a division of the routes ahead where new signage took you on a very long alternative route to enter Sienna from the west instead of the north (to keep you off the road), and which we all wanted to avoid.
I don’t think I even saw the alternate route as we were through it before I realised it and then we were on the tarred road on the uphill road into the city. So once again I wished mtimw farewell as they were walking more quickly than me. It was 5.7 km on the road, quite busy and seemingly constantly up-hill although it can’t have been, and once again I caught up to mtimw and continued with them right into the magnificent Campo in the centre of the city.
I had asked a local (who looked up on his iPhone) where the street of my hotel was and it was right on the other side of the city, just outside the southern city gate. On the way in we passed the head-office of the oldest surviving bank in the world “Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena”, founded in 1472 and now Italy’s 3rd largest bank, which I had had the great fortune to be able to visit when staying in Sienna many years ago. So finally, after saying that I couldn’t join them for dinner, I took leave of mtimw for the last time as they will leave early in the morning to continue towards Rome (no rest days for them). On leaving Lucio said rather than asked “you are going to Rome, aren’t you?” to which I replied for the first time Yes!
It was a beautiful day, getting hotter, and I walked to my hotel where I awaited the arrival of my brother Ross who was coming to spend the weekend with me. A lovely day’s walk except for the long slug up into the city.
When my brother arrived we went into the Campo, hearing nearby church bells ringing 18h00, and had a drink looking at this magnificent fan-shaped sloping “square”, then dinner nearby where I had the very traditional wild boar & olive stew and roasted vegetables.
What a magical place Sienna is and there weren’t too many tourists there.
A good night’s sleep (after washing my clothes of course!).