It was an eclectic walk. We started on a ‘5 car a minute road’ for a short while, then off on those various ‘exit to avoid the traffic pathways’, all the way to our next destination. These varied from narrow sunny embankments, a bit like walking on a castle wall; to tree and bush lined ‘up and down small hill gully tracks’ across creeks; to gravel roads through farmland and back streets.
These took us through a village having its market day in a tiny piazza where we had a rest with a French and a Swiss man; a quiet village high up on a hill which flowed down into its more vocal and busy part, where on the way down an Italian woman chatted to us about time she spent in Brisbane but returned because her sister was ill; and a tiny silent village in a nest of fields where we asked 4 funeral people having a street break, for directions.
Our final stretch seemed to last forever as we could see the town but couldn’t seem to get closer because of the zig zags of our path. Our backs were hurting – long walk today but had little choice if we wanted to sleep under a roof for the night. No cafe, no bench, no tree stump, no embankment to lean upon – but there were 2 plastic chairs on the street and a table with water and biscuits with a note – ‘sit a while, eat, drink, take a photo and email it to a via francigena website and we’ll pin it on the table’ —so good!
As we were climbing the last steep hill home, 3 French women we knew joined us – we’ve found a hill is never so daunting when you have new company. Our room tonight is in a convent which is more upmarket than the ‘by donation ones’ so costs a bit more. The place is huge with wide tiled hallways lined with beautifully painted urns and vases, one 50 metre long wall painted with religious figures. Room views range from pleasant cloisters to views back over the Apennines.
And it has a little village or maybe just a piazza, as well, tucked away just below us – did not even know it was there!
Now to check the emails to see what our friends – Sabina and Bertrand have been up to. They are just one stage ahead but some more long ones that we may need to split into smaller stages – we’ll see.
