It rained all night but at 5.00 the stars could be seen, so rain pants on as a precaution (not needed) and on to a quiet tar road with my tiny torch our headlight. The bar owner gave us a heads up re. where to turn off so didn’t need to be acutely awake and we stayed on the tar for a few km because we knew it had the only coffee shop till home [...]
We re-met the honeymooners in San Quirico and had a fun catch-up - wished Stephania a happy birthday - explored the local streets - then home to our mansion for the night. Up late - lots of fog and only a short day ahead, so gave us a chance to have breakfast with our hostess, Alessandra. A lovely cool morning, the sun, like a person without sight, feeling for the fog obstacle preventing it from [...]
Sergio (our host) is up early to prepare our breakfast, feed his 4 donkeys and get ready for his day as bank manager in San Quirico. He directed me to the back seat and Corrie to the front, he loves to talk and he realised Corrie understood more Italian than me - she also speaks a lot with her hands. He drove us to our starting point about 5kms away - a hug for me [...]
It was strange, but lovely to walk out of Siena with just a few people wandering about - some wheelies off to their next holiday destination; 5-10 others going somewhere; delivery trucks miraculously finding a millimetre between the shops and parked trucks; a deli opened; and 1 bar with very loud rock music - that was for us! This is peak season so the day before, we just went where we were pushed. Out through [...]
No early opening bars these days as we enter the heart of popular tourist towns, so no need to open for the locals - they all own shops, they’re open well into the night and the tourists are still sleeping, so why would you open for two old people wandering to Rome. The street lights took us out far enough so we could see our narrow track deviation up and down narrow creviced pathways, through [...]
A late start because it meant a giant breakfast and it will be another short day. Because we went on an alternate route yesterday it was impossible to follow the guide book, so we asked locals for the direction of our next sleep over and followed the camino signs. The first chill in the air as we leave the factory and look for signs. A good clue if there aren’t any, is to find a [...]
Left the feuding towers of San Gimignano in the dark, with the corridor of street lights illuminating our footings on our way past the monastery that sits proudly admiring the UNESCO town from afar. We had our own feud, because there was no food, as we had been assured the night before this bar would be open, and it was….but just for cooking and receiving supplies. Two other bars were also open but for cleaning [...]
On a back street, via San Matteo, where the sun wasn’t shining, we sat at the sort of table I love with the girl that I love and searched for a poem by the 14th century poet - San Gimignano. We liked it, so thought we’d share it as our day’s post. Not the towers your terrible fear of heights you never tried the climb - not the streets, nor the squares ringed by houses [...]
Our wonderful hosts had decorated the breakfast table with flowers and laid out breakfast beautifully for us. ‘Believe in your selfie’ and her sister had said they wouldn’t be there and to help ourself at any time. As we were leaving an Italian man came in - we said hello and goodbye, and as he was going further than us today said we may not see him again. We walked outside and our French friend [...]
Dinner with 10 others in the Convento de San Francesco, including our 2 French fellow walkers, 3 Italian men and a Dutchman. The Dutchman has walked from Holland - his partner doesn’t like to walk - I felt a bit sad for them but maybe it works. We left San Miniato in good spirits though a bit weary. Weaving our way through this fascinating hilltop village, we lowered ourselves down through twisting roadways - ‘1 [...]
