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…