Author: lsheeran@bluewin.ch

8th May 2016  Acquapendente to Bolsena

20km
Fine weather but cloudy all day.

I have been told that some of the photos are not showing correctly for which I apologize (you would know that of course they appear correctly when I insert them) but I am working on fixing this…

Up late (as I was working to publish my blog until the early hours) and it was grey outside & it had rained, although it appeared to have stopped.
I went down to breakfast and there was the wonderful smiling Katia (who had gone to bed at 2:30 am) and all the tables in the 3 dining rooms were set up for the 100 people who would be coming for lunch! She is 60 years old and was born here as her parents had the hotel (and her 94 year old mother lives upstairs). I asked how she does it as she is the only cook and she replied “stancante” (exhausting)!!! Alberto, the younger man who turns his hand to everything, is her son. The remarkable thing, for me, is that she does everything with so much grace and good humor! She said that as I would miss next weekend’s remarkable Pugnaloni festival I must come back for another 3rd Sunday in May!

I set off quite late but decided, as suggested in the guide book for e.g. early on a Sunday, to take the main road option instead of wandering around a longer route just to be off the road, even though I wasn’t early (but it was a Sunday!).
I decided to have an early cappuch in the town as it was 10.5km to the next little town. I walked into a small bar which confirmed that Acquapendente is full of philosophers…the price of the coffee was listed according to politeness: €1.20 for “a coffee!”, €1.00 for “a coffee please” and €0.80 for “good morning, a coffee please”. Wonderful and the old man behind the bar had a lovely face.

I was quickly out onto the main road facing on-coming traffic but there wasn’t much of it and I could still look around me. As it was fairly flat with very small wooded hills in the distance, and fields of crops there wasn’t much to see. However there was a panoply of beautiful flowers of all sorts all along the way (I took so many photos that I will publish a separate post for those who are interested in spring flowers…).
I saw some lovely elderberry flowers which made me think of my friends Gilberte, Marianne, and Marie-Christiane, all of whom have given me delicious home-made elderberry cordial.

There was a pretty awful industrial area along one side of the road for a km or two.

I came across the strangest sight, trying to understand what it was, and then realized there were about 15 men in special chairs fishing in an artificial “pond”. I am wondering whether they were hoping to catch Sunday lunch. One man signaled to me that he had caught something!

When I arrived at a bar in San Lorenzo, I saw that I had saved 2km by walking along the main road which was great (& didn’t realize that it would be lost later by the inaccurately stated distances!). Then about 30 walkers passed in front of the cafe…help, were they all going to the hostel from which I’d received no reply to my email… Several huge motor bikes (Harleys?) with German number plates also drove by, as did many cyclists. Each time a group of cyclists came towards me on the road they all sent the warning wave down the line but I didn’t receive the Ciao chorus like I’d had last year, shame.

On a little further and there in the big central town (round) square with dozens of men sitting in bars or on park benches chatting together so I suppose all the women were home preparing Sunday lunch…

And then I saw my first view of Lake Bolsena laid out below, the largest European lake of volcanic origin. It seemed that the town was previously nearer the lake, and therefore marshy and less healthy, so it was moved to higher ground and became San Lorenzo Nuovo.

After this I moved onto small dirt roads (although there were often just small patches of concrete or bitumen on stretches which were probably problematical in rainy weather) and through fields.
I met the group of Italian walkers resting further along the path who told me they were going to Bolsena but I was relieved when they said they weren’t going to the hostel!

At one point, I saw electric power lines looped along and attached to trees and posts ending up at the electricity pole and I wondered if this were legal…

Arrived in Bolsena and the way markings took me down, down, down very steep little stone passageways and steps so perhaps I’d have been better off sticking to the main road… It is a very old city with many buildings in dark stone.

I found a room in a pensione which is very simple, very old-fashioned but very clean (separate bathroom and of course no wifi). I admired a beautiful flowering plant and the young woman (who looked like she’d come out of the convent opposite and who was reading a book with whole pages of text highlighted in different colours on “The theory of usefulness”, probably as a virtue…) said it was over 30 years old and always flowered so. She’d been born there and had never left. When I asked about the weather she went & got an electronic tablet, so some wifi…

As I entered and left the pensione “Salve” was carved into the stone entrance doorstep and I’m told it’s like a formal version of Ciao which can mean so many things. Lovely.

 

When leaving I asked the owner to stamp my pilgrim credenziale and when she asked whether I was going to Montefiascone or Viterbo, I confirmed the former as I had blisters. She laughed and said “tutti, tutti le hanno” – everyone has them and “if they are too bad you should take the bus”!
I went to visit the Santa Cristina church (look up Wikipedia to see about her and the miracle of the Eucharist in Bolsena) and in the church I found a wonderful statue to our own San Rocco, complete with red Wellington boots!

But more moving was the table in the nave set up with flowers and loaves of bread in honour of the first communion of 11 children this morning. I was told that the children had sat on the chairs near the table and that the table would be removed tomorrow. The church in Italy really has a future which I have seen in so many places over the past two years.

I walked around the old town as it was quite lively on a Sunday afternoon as everyone was out and about and the shops were open.

Then I bought a gelati (not the best) and walked down to the lake.
I had a recommendation from the woman in the pensione for a very typical restaurant (since generations, she said…) and I went there waiting for it to open at 7pm, and waited until I finally phoned and heard that Sunday was closing day, although it said Monday on the sign… So other people recommended another and I ate excellent fresh fish from the lake, good!
Oh, and I have two little blisters…can only think that my laces loosened as I walked (thank God this didn’t happen on my way to Radicofani) so will have to pay more attention to this. So, out with the Compeed…

Some special things for today:

Before I walked into San Lorenzo Nuovo I tried to take a photo of poppies growing along the top of a wall and then realized there were cherry trees behind them which already had hundreds of little fruit on the branches. Another bumper year for cherries, that makes three years in a row! And I also saw peaches growing already.

Friendliness & voluntary service with a smile in bars – such social hubs – & free wifi in the bar in San Lorenzo!

Highlight of the day: At one point two cyclists passed me on a little dirt road through fields and then turned right down-hill and I could see the first one go down the long slope hands-free with his arms stretched out horizontally and then waving them like wings while the second never lifted a hand from the handlebars. Was lovely to see and when I walked down the slope it was not the most even…so quite some skill needed for hands-free!

First view of Lake of Bolsena.

Another highlight of the day was the variety and quantity of different wild flowers I’d seen. The walk and views were not the most interesting, except for the lake, but the beauty beside the roads was amazing.

The beautiful table in Santa Cristina church for the first communion of 11 children.

Stupidity of the day…I had sent an email to book a hostel for this evening and hadn’t received a reply but assumed it would be OK. However on arriving in Bolsena I realized I’d not checked where it was and I’d passed it a km back (when will I use my “good old garden common sense” as my mother used to say?) but I found the little pensione in the historic centre which is in fact listed in my guide book! So nothing lost…

7th May 2016 -my birthday and day off in Acquapendente to rest my tired body!

Beautiful weather and zero km

Of all the pilgrims I have met along the way – at least 20, and nearly all of whom have walked to Compostella at least once if not twice, three or even four times over different routes – none are taking any days off and all seem to be struggling to get to Rome in time to start their journeys home from Rome, as all have some reason to rush home. Thus they are constantly counting backwards and calculating whether they need to make longer stages to meet their deadlines. …so I’ll lose these pilgrims but may meet up with others. As, for me, this walk is more about the travelling than the destination and as I know I will be sorry to finish such an undertaking, I want to make the most of it and will have 15 days to do 11 stages and after that an extra two nights in Rome. And I think I’ll be pleased to be walking alone again (or at least not knowing others on the road).

And what an incredible surprise it was to find that the great majority of pilgrims are Italian! Over the last two years the only Italians I encountered were “mtimw” and another couple for a couple of days, whereas in the pilgrim registration book in Radicofani 90% of the pilgrims were Italian. However almost all are only walking the last section of the Via from Sienna with a few from Florence or south of Florence.

Today I slept in as there had been some sort of very noisy male-only celebration in the little piazza below my window until the early hours of the morning… I was presented with a forgettable typical Italian breakfast until the owner-cook Katia (who told me she’d gone to bed at 2am) then provided real bread and some sheep’s cheese which I love and a big pot of tea. She is not sure yet whether I can eat here tonight as big groups are booked in for dinner – she’ll tell me this afternoon whether I could perhaps eat earlier or later. I suggested that she might recommend another restaurant and she laughed as she said ” it won’t be as good as here” which I can believe!

I set off to walk around the centre of this little historic town, after making a trip to the excellent bar from yesterday for a cappuch and a delicious little ricotta cake, which I didn’t really need. This is one of the best cafe/pastry shop/bar/gelaterias I’ve ever seen in Italy and whenever I’ve been near it people were constantly going in and out. The welcome is warm and the food and drink delicious!

This town is probably of Etruscan origin and developed in the 9th or 10th centuries. I could still see vestiges of the city walls. Queen Matthilda of Westphalia built its most famous church in the 10th century dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre with a chapel in the crypt which is an imitation of its namesake (long story so perhaps consult Wikipedia…). Because of this chapel, it seems that the town was sometimes referred to as “Jerusalem” while that city was in the hands of the Orthodox Church or others. Some information says that rather than being a stop on the Via Francigena it was also the final destination (Jerusalem) when that city was occupied…

Also on his way to Rome, our own San Rocco stayed here in a hospice and effected miraculous cures until he was turned out of the hospice and continued his journey to Rome. I saw a large statue of him in a church complete with his halo, stick, dog and two large scallop shells on his shoulders but it was encased in a glass cabinet so difficult to really see. None of the churches is very exceptional.

This is a very lively place with everyone out and about, with many older people out shopping or meeting friends, and is very clean and well-maintained. There is a sense of pride about the town which seems to have a population of around 5000 people. There are flowering plants everywhere and in several streets there are green wooden frames nailed to the walls with several flowering pot plants in each of them. These would have to be watered regularly so I wonder who does this…

I saw a fellow in a truck with a lift hammering into the facade of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank and I asked what he was doing (I thought he must have either been repairing the sign or putting up a video-surveillance camera) but he was putting a flag support into the wall and placing a city flag in it. Dozens of these flags were placed along the streets of the centre for a fete tomorrow and I saw him several times after that around the town centre and we were then on smiling terms.

Tomorrow is the festival for the Mini Pugnaloni, which are large panels each of which has an original design built up in mosaics, dedicated to the local Madonna, and which are covered with fresh flowers and leaves in the colours of the underlying designs during the night before the fete day, called “the white night of the Pugnaloni”. Tomorrow’s version is for children whereas the real one (3rd Sunday in May) is next week. So I will not see this unique festival.

I discovered some wonderful small specialized food shops (didn’t see a supermarket in the centre) and I have stocked up on some food, probably too much, for tomorrow. In the fruit and vegetable shop there was a quote of Oscar Wilde painted on the wall!

The woman in the bakery, which will be closed tomorrow, counselled against slicing the bread I was buying to be able to make myself a sandwich as it would dry out. However she did slice it and then produced a plastic bag for me to put in it once it had cooled, as it was just fresh out of the oven.

The deli which had a wondrous selection of starters, first or main course foods insisted on putting each of my choices in a separate container, so as to maintain their individual flavours, but I have since consolidated them! This shop must be a non-cooking foodie’s dream place.

Am now about to get a fix of the wonderful gelato which I’ve seen so many people eating! Hope I don’t spoil my dinner (if I manage to get in at my hotel restaurant).

Later I got into the restaurant at 7:30 before the expected guests would arrive. I was astonished to be taken to another dining room I hadn’t seen before which was set up for another 24 people! I was served without any stress and offered the full menu as well as the dishes of the day which I chose – good choice as it turned out!
Delicious cream of asparagus with salsicca risotto (al dente perfect!)

Main course of tender chicken tagliata on a bed of rocket and tomato salad with side dishes of spinach and little roasted potato pieces which were crunchy on the outside and so soft inside. I was told that they were cooked in an oven…absolutely delicious. After this, surprise, I couldn’t manage a dessert as the dishes were all a bit much for a pilgrim stomach so I really needed the digestive tisane afterwards.

When I was leaving at 8:30pm the guests were just starting to arrive, mostly young people. Tables were set up over three rooms with several long tables and the young man said over 90 people were expected, they could choose from the menu (although a couple of groups had chosen a set menu) and there were only Katia, the older woman chef, and another cook in the kitchen!!! I asked if this was one of the best restaurants in the town/region and he smiled and said he thought so! How lucky for me to have got in here by chance and on my birthday!

If Katia hasn’t transmitted her recipes and techniques to the next generation this restaurant’s future will not be assured. Each time I have seen her she is so laughing and positive, obviously the soul of the place. Yesterday afternoon I was drinking a tea and using my iPad in one of the dining rooms and there was the inevitable TV (everywhere in bars and restaurants in Italy!) and Katia was sitting watching a soap opera…a moment of respite.

This shows once again that people can have high quality lives even in small towns! Now off to prepare to get back on the Via tomorrow after what has been a lovely interlude. I’m looking forward to going to bed!

So nice to have an easy day and soak up the best of Italy.

PS.  I have just seen groups of older children wearing similar vests running through the streets so perhaps they are off to decorate the Mini Pugnaloni for tomorrow.

 

6th May 2016  Radicofani to Acquapendente

24km in beautiful weather.

I slept well as I didn’t hear the church bells strike the hours (as some of the other pilgrims did). Perhaps the sleep of the just…I was vaguely aware of people getting up during the night (are all over-50s blessed with poor bladders?) but went back to sleep.

Was up at 6:30 & the 5 others were also getting going. The bar opposite opened at 7am for breakfast so everyone was lined up there for a drink and some sort of sweet thing to eat. Mine was just a cappuccino as there was nothing decent to eat (& I forgot I’d bought a banana the night before!). Then I went to the alimentari and smiled to see about 6 backpacks on chairs outside… The lovely lady inside was flat out making all the sandwiches. As she gave me mine she tapped my arm and wished me Buon Cammino.

A group set off through the town gate at 7:30 am on a glorious morning. The views in the soft morning light were simply stupendous in all directions with flowers or flowering shrubs all along the way. I was soon walking along a dirt road and feasting my eyes on all this beauty. It was sheer delight to be alive and walking in peace on such a morning – even the weight of my back-pack seemed to be lightened.

Up hill and down dale on what had been Roman roads often along the top of ridges. I heard a cuckoo singing to its heart delight, saw sheep huddled together but also gambolling around, smelt some farmyards, admired the many different types of flowers, saw some beautifully tended vegetable gardens around farmhouses. Many fields of grain crops which are already quite high covered the hillsides although it was still quite wooded in parts.

After 11kms I arrived in Ponte a Rigo and as I walked towards the bar on the main road, I noticed the street behind was named after Giovanni Falcone so he is still remembered in so many places.

I had a wonderful pot of tea (no cappuch as that had been my breakfast!) with which I ate the remains of a good sandwich from the day before…) and several other pilgrims turned up. There was wifi!!

As the young woman had asked me how to say in English “bitumen road” and “dirt road” which I had written down for her, she gave me a beautiful oblong sticker for the Via Francigena. When I went back into the bar, there were a couple of carabinieri in their splendid uniforms so the young woman insisted on taking a photo of them with me.

On then again for 5km, mainly off the modern Via Cassia main road which I was following on parallel paths, to the following little village. I crossed into Lazio from Tuscany, so Rome is ever closer. But then it was hard slog along the main road facing the on-coming traffic with no foot-paths. I met up with many of the pilgrims I’d seen in the last 3 days so it was comforting to always see someone ahead or behind.

At one point one of them told me that we’d soon get off the road after the next place name onto a short-cut for the last 3 km into Acquapendente. However there was no place name so, as I was ahead, I just kept walking and only realized after a km that I’d missed the turning but it was too late to go back. Then I had a 4 km uphill slog on a twisting road in the face of on-coming traffic…not very pleasant.

However I arrived in Acquapendente and walked to the city centre (a very old town) and asked someone in front of the municipal buildings about a hotel and was pointed to a super small one in a little piazza right off the main square and which I found had been mentioned in my guide book. As I have the time I decided to spend an extra day here as a birthday treat and to care for my tired body. I have a lovely little modernized room which is mine for two nights and with a wonderful simple but excellent restaurant. In the piazza below the market stalls were packing up & I was amazed to see how the stalls packed up into a truck – simply amazing.

After a lovely shower, changing clothes & washing I was amazed to see that my clothes bag was empty which goes to show how little I have…and I realized that I was managing adequately.

I worked on the iPad trying to advance with my travel tales while drinking a big tea, then went out in search of a good gelato at a bar recommended by the woman patron. There were many people sitting around the main square and once again I marvelled at how sociable Italians are and how important being part of the life of the community is. I have been checking up on my theory that socializing makes people live longer and always look at death notices stuck up on walls.  Sure enough, there are notices for people dying at 85, 88, 90, 92, 94, 95…

The bar was was simply wonderful with delicious home-made gelati (had scrumptious pomegranate, lemon and bitter chocolate) & the little cakes were to die for so I’ll go back there tomorrow.

When I came back to the hotel for dinner there in the dining room were the four pilgrims I had eaten with last night & whom I had missed saying good-bye to today when I missed the turning and as I was not going to the hostel… This restaurant had been recommended to them by the ostello & was it good so I was very happy to eat with them.  And another two I’d eaten with the previous night came in afterwards…

No comparison with this pilgrim menu to what I’d had so far in other places – this was all very good home-cooked food, all for €15 with water and wine included! Beautiful anti-pasti including a delicious chick pea salad with orange, couscous salad, etc, a first course of home-made pici in delicious tomato sauce, followed by grilled chicken with roasted potatoes & rocket salad, and a wonderful ricotta and strawberry tart to finish. The time came to say a sad good-bye to my fellow pilgrims but I was glad to have seen them again! Over dinner there had been interesting discussions about the current political and administrative state of Italy but one senses that, although everyone criticizes the status quo and worries about the prospects of their children, there is a fatality that nothing can or will change.

When I returned to my room and took in some of the clothes I’d aired hanging from the shutters I discovered to my great surprise that the heating was on!!! So much for no heating after the 1st May (& I’m not knocking it!). I can hear children running around the piazza and playing and it’s now 10:30pm…

I have not mentioned my feet so far but you may be interested to know that I have new socks which are double-layered and said to “guarantee” freedom from blisters. I am in on-going discussion with my new best friend Karin (from 1000 Mile socks) and can report no blisters so far although I do have a patch of just worn-through skin which will no doubt benefit from a day’s rest. So all good!

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.

4th May 2016  Buonconvento to San Quirico d’Orcia
21.5km (which by the guide book should have been 2 km less & I didn’t get lost anywhere!)
Tomorrow I hope to go to Radicofani

I was a little apprehensive setting off again from Bujonconvento and silently hoping that I wouldn’t have a recurrence of any of the problems from last year’s stage…
I took a new route out of town which was better than the one I took last year, along a pleasant path parallel to the main road and the wild flowers were beautiful. To my surprise I walked past a house with two dogs which didn’t even react to my passing (but I can assure you that this is an exception as further on I was to be confronted with barking dogs whenever I passed a private property).

The countryside is an absolute picture, as was the case all day. Each view, and I saw a lot as I seemed to walk up hills and along the ridges, was more beautiful than the last, so green and fresh in the late spring with splendid vistas far and wide.

For the first 7.5 km I recognized the path, along dirt roads often lined with cypress trees and parasol pines, through vineyards, olive groves, some fields planted with grains, past a few “fattorie” where I could have tasted the local wines (and there was even a “pilgrim’s break” on offer). The wild flowers had to be seen to be believed of all colors and of all types.

I was a little apprehensive as I approached the spot where I had stopped last year but I walked past it and strode on into Torrenieri. What surprised me was the number of pilgrims on the paths as last year I’d been alone. I arrived in Torrenieri where I hoped to visit the Circolo bar from last year but the whole village was dug up with road works and the bar was closed. I went into another bar where I had a pot of tea and the bartender said I could sit in another room and eat my sandwich. When I was paying I saw a younger couple order a coffee and a glass of white wine topped up with a dose of Campari (never saw this before!) and was surprised to see the man drink the coffee while the woman drank the alcohol which she downed in the time it took him to drink his coffee.

As I walked in front of the church opposite there was a bronze sculpture to pilgrims in the form of feet! The artist must know something…

I walked on a pleasant surfaced road for several kms which was in fact the old Via Cassia but with very little traffic, through beautiful countryside with the odd farm and again passing several pilgrims. Into San Quirico and up the familiar stairs to the church, the piazza with the municipal building and the hostel (& saw my fountain again). I had reserved in the hostel which was over-booked but I got a bed (sleeping in a room with 6 double bunks and fortunately I had one of the lower bunks).
After showering and rinsing out a few clothes (in very primitive facilities) I walked around the small town and visited the churches which were all Romanesque.
As there was no wifi in the hostel (a luxury here) I stopped in a bar advertising wifi but guess what, it was down as seemed to be the situation everywhere.

When I returned to the hostel the door was locked but there were a couple of pilgrims outside who lent me a key (I have since learnt that hostel keys are like wifi, very rare…) and then asked me to go to dinner with them – a Danish woman of 50 who has walked from Aosta in the last month(!), long days as she has to be in Rome by 12th May, a couple of lovely Italians from Naples who were only walking to Radicofani the following day and then returning home, a Spaniard who has walked to Compostella 4 times but who has problems with his feet, and an Italian from near Venice who also has walked to Compostella but who thinks he’ll have to take the bus tomorrow (as he has to be home by a certain date) and who has very serious feet problems… We were joined by another nice Italian couple from Turin and had a most enjoyable Pilgrim menu dinner(pici with ragu sauce, veal tagliata which was not the best and salad, thus not a memorable meal but a good ambience) before getting home by 10pm.

However sleeping with 11 strangers was too much for me and I hardly closed my eyes all night…
So much for adapting to the Via again…

3rd May 2016. Geneva to Buonconvento by public transport.

Setting off again…with the objective to get to Rome
9.5 hour journey on bus, tram, and 4 trains

Hopefully this will be my final journey on the Italian section of the Via Francigena but only time will tell… I just realized, by my train ticket, that I set off on the same date last year.  I have decided to return to Buonconvento which is the last little town I walked through last year before having my knee problem.
I set off before 7am and arrived in Buonconvento at 16:15 where I spent the night.

I returned to the little cafe/pastry shop I remembered from last year and had a lovely hot cup of tea with an absolutely delicious little cake (which I thought would be with almond and pine nuts, as in Geneva, but it had pieces of orange in it).
In the cafe there were three old bicycles up on the walls and another in the vertical display window outside. There were other small shops and wine bars which also had old bikes displayed. I thought it might be for the Giro d’Italia which starts in 3 days time in Holland (my nephew Michael who spent the last two night with me was going to Holland today to get ready to participate with his team), but it seems that this past long weekend there was an annual cycle race called Eroica which can only be ridden on old fashioned bikes. There are 4 different routes from and around Buonconvento of 209 km each and this is obviously an important event in the Buonconvento calendar. I mentioned this event to Michael who knows about it and would like to do it. It seems the same event also takes place in Spain and the U.K.
After a forgettable dinner I checked up on tomorrow’s stage to San Quirico d’Orcia and updated my new but very simple blog (am adding previous years’ entries to get practice at it…) and then went to bed to try to get a good night’s sleep for the morrow.

5th June 2015. “Aftermath”** of my Via 2015.

I have had the privilege of living the “extraordinary” ordinary – the simple act of walking – over the last month for roughly 450km, accompanied and supported all along by you, my family and friends. I am grateful for having had the health and energy to do this. However, I now accept that I can’t complete my Via at this time and while I am somewhat disappointed (how I would have loved to take you all to Rome!), this acceptance is also part of the way of the Via… I often thought of what Sigeric and other such pilgrims might have experienced and this has guided me in my attitude towards what I was living through and enabled me to put things into perspective. I’ve also wondered about the meaning of a “pilgrimage” in today’s world. Mine was primarily a long walk which was always more about the “travelling” than the destination …but perhaps it will take some time to know what it has brought me and for its “lessons” to be assimilated…but I have a sense of happiness in having walked the Via thus far.

Although it was mostly a sheer pleasure, walking was not always easy, sometimes it was very challenging in difficult conditions, through some unattractive places, with a few moments of discouragement, but these were more than overcome by unexpected joys, encounters, and beauty that lightened my load and lifted my spirits. My main fear was in having an accident and injuring myself in a lonely place but this fortunately didn’t eventuate… Perhaps someone was watching over me…(and at times there had been the following Romanians and Italians…not to mention, among others, my ex-Belgian Army Reserve captain and mtimw!).

As in real life, no day is like another and one adjusts to what comes one’s way. I never suffered from “solitude” and have never had the occasion to read anything other than my guide-book or sometimes look up facts on the Internet when wifi was available (during the 5 hour wait at the airport in Florence I finally took out a stash of FT cryptic crosswords which I had brought from home). I have been completely cut off from what has been happening in the world at large and am a bit apprehensive at being part of it again.

I have met some wonderful people and seen and experienced many wondrous and beautiful sights, events and places, the warmth of unexpected and fortuitous encounters, marks of friendship, adventures, laughter and joys, incredible acts of kindness, the warmth of hostel receptions, the constant gratitude for the dedication of the people who mark the waysigns which so often comforted me, all of which have contributed to the personal satisfaction of my venture, have enriched me, and given me enough memories for a lifetime… I think I have even made a few new friends, which have perhaps come into my life “for a reason, for a season or for a lifetime”.

I don’t expect that I am a changed person, just someone who has perhaps learnt to know herself a little better, to accept her limits, to have a greater respect for people who live out their daily existence with courage, fortitude and good humour, to marvel at the beauties of nature, and to appreciate the wonder of the “present moment” – which it was a privilege to experience…  And especially for me with my personality, learning to take one step at a time, day by day…and to look where I was putting my feet! And I now have the gift of the slower-moving time of summer to try and digest what I have experienced and lived through.

I think that in a previous life I must have been born Italian. I love the Italian people, even though I tease them at times, their wonderful zest for life, their kindness and goodness, tolerance and consideration towards others (except their political class and rightly so!), their willingness to volunteer to provide service and to enable other services to function, the warmth which prevails in places such as bars, their appreciation of beauty even in the smallest of things and in their ways of doing things. And I love their beautiful country which I have discovered more fully walking on “other” paths…the Apennines, Lunigiana, the marble country… I accept that bars have a “closing day” and that wifi (like a cappuch) is not always available (for modern-day pilgrims…). I think that Italy, which is going through a terrible economic crisis which makes life difficult for so many, only functions because of the spirit of its people. I salute them!

Sitting on my terrace the world comes to me – the constant bird songs, the cries of the children in the primary school next door, the beauty of my terrace garden, and the bells of the church along the road ringing out the passage of time. So, yes, it is good to be home in spite of the deception I first felt in accepting that I wouldn’t make it to Rome this time around. However I am hopeful that my medical treatment will be successful and my trusty feet have already received some well-merited TLC from the podiatrist in my village.

My unfinished-as-yet walk is principally dedicated to Catherine, my friend, physio and Nordic-walking teacher who enabled me to be as active as I’ve been both before and after my knee replacement, and who, knowing me well, gave me the wisest advice which has accompanied me every single day and for which I thank her (il y avait des jours quand j’ai du utiliser plus de bonbons, et des jours pas de tout, chere Catherine, mais ils m’en restent toujours…). And it is also dedicated to those of my family and friends who can’t for many reasons contemplate such an undertaking – I have been walking for you and hope I have enabled you to “live” the path we have walked together. So it’s an”arrivederci” until we walk together again.

**. Aftermath is, a friend tells me, what the second harvest of hay is called and is I think, with a step back for reflection, an appropriate title for this final text.

3rd June 2015. Florence to Geneva
Good weather but have been inside all the time…

Shorter version:
Up early to pack up and I had breakfast in my room, then taxi to airport when driver became another angel & helped me, checked in but plane was 5 hours late in taking off, friend met me at Geneva airport, & home to find my brother and another friend who had brought crutches for me, dinner in a village restaurant & back to my own bed!

Longer version:
I awoke before the alarm as I had to pack up & breakfast & get a taxi to the airport. I called my (Australian!) rheumatologist in Geneva and got an appointment for 9 tomorrow morning! When I hobbled out to the reception desk to ask where the breakfast room was, the male receptionist took one look at me and said that it was up another floor & that they would serve me in my room! 10 minutes later a waitress brought me a great tray of food & hot tea – first kindness of the day which was much appreciated.

I was helped out into a taxi & at the airport I asked the driver to please be sure that I was at the right place as I didn’t want to have to move too much…to which he replied no problem & went to push a buzzer by the entrance to ask for help and he stayed for several minutes until someone came with a wheel chair! 2nd kindness of the day.

I went straight to the top of the line to be checked in and was then wheeled through security etc to the departure gate. Third kindness of the day. We were 8 people going to Geneva on a propellor plane & the departure time passed and we learned that a bird had hit the propellor on the way from Geneva and it had to be fixed…in fact there was no damage but an authorised person had to sign off that it was OK to fly…and that person was very elusive. A passenger sitting opposite started to speak to me and she was an American lyric singer, specialised in very early 17th C music, Jill Feldman who lives in Tuscany with her Dutch recorder-player husband. She was going to Lausanne to be a judge in a lyric competition tomorrow. She was delightful.

Time was passing with no news & Jill kept asking, but still no news forthcoming. Also no refreshment…at one time the young woman at the desk spoke of vouchers which she said she had “in her hand” (& Jill said “well please put them into my hand!”) but they still had to decide whether we’d have the right to €5 or €10 (for 8 people…but I don’t know who would have decided as it was a flight of Geneva-based Darwin airlines, with an Alitalia flight number, operated by Ethiad Regional…), but nothing eventuated… Jill offered to wheel me to the toilet which I gratefully accepted (& even though she’d broken her ankle in 5 places 6 months before in the crater of a volcano in Cap Verde she insisted she had to walk…another kindness).

We were all amused by the older gentleman in a wheel chair beside me who suddenly got up, put his suitcase in the wheel chair and wheeled it off to the bar! He was quite another character…long interesting story… Finally after 16h00 things began to move a little & I was taken away to be lifted up to the plane where I just had to walk to my seat and we took off nearly 5 hours late. The flight was fantastic and as we weren’t flying at great altitude I was interested to recognise a place or two I’d walked to, Sarzana, Pietrasanta, and to see the truly beautiful Apennines with many parallel valleys go virtually into the sea. The rugged Italian coastline was impressive in the late afternoon light, then we flew up and right over the top of Mt Blanc with Chamonix in the valley below, and then I could see the Jet d’Eau of Geneva!

Said goodbye to my travelling companions & was met by a wheelchair & taken right out to meet my friend and then to the carpark lift & I was nearly home, still smiling. At home Ross greeted me and another friend had brought some crutches so I could be mobile. We all had a glass of champagne!

Thursday morning:
My rheumatologist thinks it may be tendinitis (if it is this is great news) which we will treat with anti-inflammatories and cold packs for a few days and, if needs be, I can have a scan next week. So am fine and will sign off from my 2015 Via tomorrow. Thanks for all the concern shown since you have received news of my knee problem.

1st June 2015  Sienna to Ponte d’Arbia
26.5km
Beautiful weather but quite hot – weather getting hotter as the week goes on.
Am now starting Section 5 of my guide book (from Sienna to Rome, 255km)

Shorter version:
Walked out of the hotel right onto the Via out of Sienna! Quickly onto a small road through houses and I was in the countryside along a ridge with splendid views on each side, then a tarred road and path into Borgo Vecchio (where the best surprise of the day happened). Then walked alongside a railway & across country up and down through Grancio di Cuna, and then on good dirt roads to Quinciano, then several km along a railway line & into Ponte d’Arbia. All well.

Longer version:
After an early (for the hotel) good breakfast I had to sling my rucksack onto my shoulders again and be on my way, easily done as the road next to the hotel was the Via! I was almost immediately going through houses on the outskirts of Sienna, virtually in the countryside, and along a ridge for 5 km with beautiful views to both sides. One could see the many valleys with early morning mist rising from them and magnificent landscapes which were impossible to capture on film. I was drinking this beauty up!

I came to a main road and there was a bar so I was able to have a very early cappuch as I had decided not to let any opportunity pass… About a km later I had the great surprise of the day when I came to a big roundabout which I was to cross over and then turn onto dirt roads through fields for 3km, but what did I see at the roundabout but a wide track with the word NEW with an arrow onto it.

It was a stone path parallel to the road, about 2-3m wide and flat, so instead of zig-zagging through fields I probably walked for a km less with no stress and I even heard frogs and birds. At the end of this wonderful track in Borgovecchio there was another bar so of course I went in for a second cappuch & a glass of water (to keep the water levels up) but the lady refused to serve me tap water (when I’d filled up my bottles at the hotel!) as she said it was not potable.
I walked along a dirt road beside a disused railway line into Isola d’Arbia and then zig-zagged a little to the outskirts of a very modern little village Ponte a Tressa and I noticed that two parallel streets were named after Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the anti-mafia judges who were killed in explosions over 20 years ago in Sicily so they are not forgotten in this tiny place. Up and down a little through countryside, and into Grancia di Cuna which is a very old and pretty little hamlet with a unique example of a fortified farm and a drinking fountain. So I quickly emptied what remained of my water from the hotel and refilled my bottles! Then it was a really beautiful (as opposed to just beautiful) walk along good dirts roads, seeming always to be going up and down with 360 degree views of the southern Tuscan landscape. There were big fields of cereals, some fodder plantations, even sunflowers which were about 30cm tall, all less green, more yellowish, than further north and more undulating with many fields already harvested for hay with big bales scattered around them. Magnificent!

I met a pilgrim & when I asked him what language he spoke he replied German, and I said that I was sorry not to speak German he replied “that’s not my problem”! He asked me how long I’d been walking and from where (28 days from Pavia) had replied he’d been walking 28 days from Munich!!! Perhaps he’d had a little help with public transport to pass the Grand Saint Bernard Pass which would have been snow-covered until last week…

Then I came to a big two-story farm on top of a hill with 360 degree views, with a table and chairs covered by a roof outside the farm. I called to the people working outside constructing something and a man came over & said no problem to sit down & would I like some water?

I declined with thanks and sat there with fabulous views to eat my sandwich lunch feeling like a queen! On through the hamlet of Greppo to Quinciano (with a very substantial church for a hamlet…but closed as is now private property) and then I started to walk beside the railway again for a few km (flat!) & imagine my surprise when a small train came by!

From then on along a dirt road into Ponte d’Arbia to the hostel which was closed.  A man working nearby kindly called the person who was responsible for the hostelI and said I’d reserved & then I was let in by a couple already inside. Giuseppe arrived to say that his wife had sent me a mail this morning (at 11h15!) to say the hostel was full as a group of 19 were arriving but now said I could stay…relief! He also gave me information on the route ahead and allayed my fears a little as to Wednesday’s climb up to Radicofani.

After a shower I walked into the village to have a tea went to the osteria which Giuseppe has recommended as perhaps having more typical food of the area than the pizzeria opposite and I asked if I could eat there this evening. It was the bright young girl behind the counter who asked Are you alone or not? Good question! Returned to the ostello & was able to let the group (18 instead of 19! which gave me a bed…) into the hostel & Giuseppe’s wife arrived to see them all in. They were a group of friends from the Veneto region and were walking a little and visiting many places for a couple of days (with “il ponte” making it a long weekend with the national day tomorrow) but with support of transport. They are thankfully going in the opposite direction which means they won’t be blocking the ostelli in my direction…

Not long after I smelt wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen & my roommates invited me to eat with them but I went to the osteria garden.  I had a meal of antipasti of the area, meats & cheeses, with an nice anchovy & parsley sauce and a little bowl of delicious pickled garlic.

Followed by a dish of picci (a thick type of spaghetti which I ate in this area 2 years ago) with a ragu sauce followed by grilled vegetables with a salad, and an amaro to digest it all!

Lively ten year old Emma, apparently the daughter of the owner of the osteria, was the star of the evening enabling me to get onto wifi and an all other sort of information-giver! Returned to the hostel for hopefully a good night’s sleep…slept like a log!