5th May 2016 San Quirico d’Orcia to Radicofani
31km and finishing up at 814m
This was a long, long day which should have been 28.5 km. They are all liars, the authors of the guide books, the drawers of the maps, and the sign writers who give distances! Liars, the lot of them, I say!
I said I didn’t sleep a wink but I did not hear some of the pilgrims who left at 5:30am… However I did awaken about 6:30 as others were packing up and I also had to get up. I was the last out of the dormitory except for a young German man who slept like a baby through all the departures. There had been much discussion the night before about the various options as one off-road option added 5 km to the distance…and I decided not to do this both for being longer and as I saw there were a couple of little streams which might need to be “forded”!
I left after 7 for “breakfast” in a bar (horrible croissant & tea) and left the village at 7:30. I walked to Vignoni Alto which is a beautiful tiny medieval hamlet with a lovely little Romanesque church whose door was open and I could hear music so I went in. It seemed to be recorded religious music (part of a sung mass?) and was lovely in the simple but beautiful interior with the light streaming in the window. As I left the hamlet I could see the Via Cassia like a ribbon on the landscape and which I would be following all day. As well I could see Radicofani on the skyline, soooo far away and very high!
I walked on to Bagni Vignoni which has gone so up-market since I visited it 20 years ago and is one of Tuscany’s main hot thermal spas. It has a “piazza of water” with a big open reservoir with sulphurous water coming out of the ground at 50C. The little bars and hotels around are now very chic, and I had a cappuch which was welcome, chatted with a couple of lovely Italians I’d met the night before but I then had to set off as so far still to go.
I had a bit of a problem finding the restored walking bridge to cross the river but finally did. Just before I got onto the main road I saw the most beautiful pergola of falling wisteria flowers with all the greenery on top of it. Had a thought for my dear friend Virginia who didn’t like “drooping” wisteria!
On to the main road the sign simply pointed to Rome. There was quite a few cars on the road so, with no footpaths, I had to keep my wits about me and the road went up and down…but there were magnificent views across the landscape in all directions. Wild flowers everywhere, driveways of cypresses up to all farms or homes, fields of cereals.
I arrived in tiny Gallina and was pleased to see a bar open so sat down for a tea and a bite to eat. The bar owner gave me his sorry take on Italy – all politicians, of all parties, are liars and just want the money but the poor Italians have to keep paying the taxes…the road in front of him (or nearby) was closed for two years for road works and business fell but he had to keep paying taxes. He has a cousin in Australia but if he could sell up he’d go to Romania (wife is Romanian).
As I was leaving some other pilgrims who’d taken the longer off-road option arrived and were not impressed with what they’d walked, constantly up-hill and down-dale. They both had feet problems so it was off with the shoes, on with the sandals while they went to eat lunch in the adjoining restaurant (run by the wife of the barman).
Along the way I saw a little church on its own, on a rise beside the road, being restored and Via Francigena in big letters along some plastic netting. There were people there, I think one was a priest, and they signaled for me to come up (forgot to take a photo!). I didn’t quite understand why it was being restored (nearly finished) as it wouldn’t function as a normal church and when I asked if the only property over the road belonged to it and might be used as a hostel the answer was in the negative. Seemed to be typical of so much building effort which seems to be undertaken in Italy and then left to go to ruin.
There were off-road options with talk of fording rivers so, as it has been a very wet spring, I didn’t even entertain the idea of these – been there and done that! So along the main road I continued until I could get onto the old Via Cassia which was very peaceful but what a sad sorry state it was in after having been such a noble road. It was so patched (& often subsiding on the side of the road) with bits of bitumen frittering away so the patches looked like islands in a sea, and the whole surface was so uneven that it needed concentration to see which island to walk on.
At Ricorsi, I joined the main road again and I saw a sign over the road pointing to a path (not noted in my guide book) saying 8km to Radicofani. I crossed over and tentatively started walking along it when I met two Italians and one assured me it was a good path and had been there for two years. I set off and of course I came to a river! Could just get across on flat stones without getting too wet… Giovanni and Sossio caught up to me so I kept up with them over what was not an easy track and continually up-hill. Giovanni was so positive and encouraging while I thought Sossio must be suffering a little as he spoke very little. Of course each time I could see the tower of Radicofani it didn’t seem to get any closer and the 8 km were passing by quickly.
Finally we got closer… The views were superb in all directions and the countryside was quite wooded but also with many grain crops being grown. We finally walked up into the village which is strategically placed on the top of a hill dominated by the remains of a castle and fortifications. With a commanding view of the whole area the town played an important role in the past in controlling the traffic to and from Rome. Giovanni said by the application on his phone we had walked up for over 1000m during the 31 km. Exhausting day to say the least…
Arrived at the hostel and got in on a lower bunk again and tonight I will only be sharing with 5 people instead of 11… I did a bit of washing but should have realized that it would not dry easily at altitude in cold weather. It was quite cold and windy so I had to rug up with all I had when I went out.
Before dinner I visited two small Romanesque (yes again!) churches both of which had beautiful ceramic works of Andrea Della Robbia.
I had dinner in the bar opposite the hostel with 4 other pilgrims and was pleased to fall into bed. Am just so pleased this most challenging stage is over as now I think I might be able to get to Rome.
Main lesson today: Just have faith, as my dear mother used to say, and things will work out.