Month: October 2021

It is with no lack of excitement that we woke this morning knowing that we were going home. Home for us is a beautiful place, and we’ve missed it.

We arrived at the Airport early and had a leisurely wait until boarding. I’d used Frequent Flyer miles to upgrade our return journey to Business Class so it was going to be a nice journey.

Two hours into the flight I noticed that we were flying near London. So there is was, in the short span of two hours our pilot had undone 94 days of hard work, sweat, and pain. Wow.

Our flight had been delayed by about 45min leaving Rome. But normally they can make the time up in flight and they nearly did this time as well. However we didn’t have a leisurely connection in Newark so it was going to be tight. It all depended on the big 4. Immigration, bag claim bag re-check and security.

Immigration was a breeze with no one in line ahead of us. Bag claim could have been faster but no big deal. Bag re-check was ultra quick. Three down, one to go.

Anyone who has flown through Newark knows how much of a zoo security can be in Newark. The Airport just isn’t built for it. The halls are narrow and they’ve had to cram scanning equipment as well as serpentine queues in spaces designed for foot traffic. It just never works well.

We arrived in line with just a few minutes to spare. Then some disorderly people in front of us refused to follow the rules and everything ground to a halt. Tick tick tick tick.

It was fortunate that our gate was the first one in the terminal. As we arrived the last call was announced and we boarded (last on the plane). Whew.

After a few quick texts to family to say we’d re-entered the USA after being away for over 100 days we were taxiing down the runway on the quick 1-1/2hr flight to Greensboro.

It was so nice to be picked up by our daughter and granddaughter. It was a fun reunion. Somehow I think Allison is pretty happy! What do you guys think? Ok…so am I.

We arrived to a welcome home banner and a fridge and cupboards full of food and a beef stew dinner (a gift from our kids, my sister Nadine, and friend Cindy). We also heard that some saints from our church swung by and did some pruning and trimming and weed whacking for us as a gift. I’m overwhelmed.

Being home was bizarre. Some things had changed. We’d had some landscaping done while we were away and it really changed the look of the lot. Also the house felt HUGE. The bathroom was enormous; the kitchen immense.

After a few hours with the kids and a home cooked meal we planned on crashing early since the jet-lag was kicking in.

It is great to be home.

Tomorrow I will write a few summary thoughts to tie a bow on this vlog. In about 2 weeks I will add a P.S. to talk about the transition from pilgrim to citizen. After that we will all have to wait and see what the future brings.

It’s been a real blessing to have done this. The investment will increase as the weeks pass and the memories fade. I know I’ll be glad for the reminders of important people, special places and beautiful sights.

Thanks to all who have been a part of our journey. Thank you for your patience and for your thoughts and your prayers along the way.

Thank you for commenting and writing to us. It meant a lot to hear from you and know we were not alone in this. Until tomorrow…ciao.

Just a short post today to let you see a little bit of Rome and share a thought or two.

We packed our bags and left them at the hotel after we checked out. We had a mission to find a few simple gifts and see a few sights. A fellow pilgrim had told us about two churches on the same block designed by competing masters of the Baroque era. Here is an excerpt of the texts he sent me.

“In via Quirinale there are two churches near each other. One is San Carlino alle quattro fontane (architect is Borromini). The other is San Andrea al Quirinale (architect is Bernini). These are the two giants of the Baroque period with radically different styles. Borromini creates stark interiors with complex geometrical forms, especially curved lines, while Bernini does incredible embellishments. Their personalities were also very different. Bernini was the consummate man about town and Borromini was a recluse always dressed in black and committed suicide.”

His advice was Spot-On. The two churches were great examples if radically different styles of Baroque. Which do you like.

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Next we went past the Pantheon which we’ve visited in the past. It is awesome but the line was too long to re-visit.

We finally visited Castile Sant’Angelo the castle/fortress/palace of popes.

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Finally we strolled back past the Vatican

The time for us to head to our airport hotel finally arrived and not a moment too soon. Honestly this pilgrimage has made me restless. Staying in one place for two nights just felt odd. I don’t think we could have stayed another night.

As we walked out, the entire city came out and literally rolled out the red carpet. We were touched. Truly touched.

We hung around for a bit but never found out what was REALLY going on.

The last “adventure” was our short train ride to the airport where our hotel for the night awaited. It was surreal to see things pass by at high speed. Our journey home has begun. We so look forward to being home. We miss so much about it – not the least of which is our family.

First, just to let you know, I updated Day 94 with videos of our morning update and and our entry into St Peter’s etc for those that might want to see them. Check it out.

We began our first day off the Via with a quick trip to schedule our Covid tests. Then we hit the town to find some new clothes. Believe me…this is no vanity trip. We REALLY need some new clothes.

Allison HATES shopping and spending money in general, but once you get her used to the idea at hand she does alright. We spent a frustrating morning with little success…well, no success.

However after lunch we moved our search to Trastevere and she finally found a dress she liked and would wear. Oh, and our negative Covid results came back. Good news all around.

It’s our baby girl’s birthday today (Happy Birthday again Isabel) so we had a nice video chat with her. Then came a single glass of wine and boom, the gloves came off.

We were darting in and out of stores like madmen. It was fun, but tiring. In the end we managed the transition from Pilgrim to consumer pretty well I think.

Tomorrow however our feet have to come back on the ground.

We ended our evening at the street side restaurant adjacent to our hotel. Skipping the pasta and pizza for an evening we both chose salads. Grazie mille.

A street musician came by and played some nice music and then asked for some money. Normally I’d be happy to oblige but in this instance we literally had nothing but a credit card. He loudly proclaimed to everyone that we were too rich. Kind of sad really. But it didn’t ruin our dinner.

Well that’s it for the evening. Tomorrow we should have something more interesting to report but for now Buona Notte

We slept in late. When I mean late, I mean not just late for pilgrims but 8am late. It felt awesome.

Morning Update

Our first goal was to get to a pharmacy and get a Covid test. But when we arrived the pharmacist on staff convinced us to wait a day and get tested in Rome. So this was our decision.

Our morning walk took us through the city of La Storta and among the Via Cassia a major route into Rome. La Storta is really just a big suburb of Rome. It is not a very scenic walk but we attempted to see beyond the many cars and trash scattered about.

However after a couple of hours the path took us into some natural park areas.

These natural areas were mentally relaxing and took us several hours closer to Rome. In the course of our walk we climbed to the peak of Monte Mario and took on our first glimpses of Rome. Here we met a new friend!

Lilian from Brazil was admiring the view of the city. We decided to eat lunch at that very spot. We all shared our left over stash of food. It was a wonderful meal. And since Lilian had planned ahead and knew where to go to get the testimonial, we decided to walk with her into Rome. It was so nice getting to know Lillian and having some feminine company. Guess I should say this is Allison writing otherwise readers may wonder at that comment.

So we walked into Rome together and directly into St Peter’s plaza within the Vatican. We’d made it, 2250km (1400mi) from London to Rome. How did it feel?

Very honestly I was astonished and overwhelmed to be there. I was proud of our accomplishment. I was happy to have made it. But I was also I was sad to have finished the adventure. The desire to be home multiplied tenfold but also a sense of tiredness set in.

After walking through the Vatican and collecting our Testimonial we scurried to our hotel and celebrated with an ever so non-pilgrim dinner.

At dinner we chatted with some nice young ladies. It was nice to have some feminine company. This is Mark and I just had to throw that remark in for fun.

Seriously though we got some funny looks from a couple folks today as we were searching for a restaurant. We were tired and I mentioned that we had walked from London. The perplexed looks really made us laugh. Yes, we have actually WALKED here from London.

It’s still a little hard to believe.

For those that have wondered, we will continue this blog for a few more days. I want to document the time in Rome, the voyage home and the transition from pilgrim to citizen. It is not an easy path. In some ways harder than being a pilgrim. So…stay with us just a bit longer.

After a typical breakfast of coffee toast and jam we headed out for Day90 of our long voyage from London. Ninety days, three months…wow.

Morning Update

After leaving the city of Viterbo we soon encountered the unexplained Via Cave. These channels were dug by the Etruscans or perhaps even their predecessors.

As we walked through them I was initially unimpressed. Later the depth of the channels (as much as 15m) really was astounding. All dug by hand of course.

Their purpose is a mystery but they are scattered through Tuscany. Some think they are defensive channels, others mere roads, but none of these explanations really justify the depth and extent of the network. Before I did any research I actually guessed they may have been dug to follow a vein of copper or tin or gold. It seems it will remain a mystery.

What we do know is that they are still used today. Somehow they accommodate two lanes of traffic, but we have no idea how that works as you will see below.

After we emerged from the “Caves” we coursed through groves of olive trees as the Via undulated southward toward Rome. The paths were primarily farmland and other than our first spotting of Nectarine trees and Hazlenut “trees” and a few other interesting plants, we saw nothing remarkable.

We stopped for lunch at a hot spring. It was just a local one set up as a picnic spot. The water was lukewarm at best. But the grassy spot was perfect for a picnic – or so we thought.

As we ate our Avocado, tinned Salmon, and chips, the wind picked up and we both got quite chilled. Before lunch was over, we had bundled up in almost all our layers of warm clothing. The wind packed quite a cold punch.

The wind persisted as we began walking again after lunch. Sometimes the wind gusts were strong enough to make us fight to walk in a straight line. There were even a few times the wind won.

We started to enter Vetralla and I began thinking this must be an ancient place. For about 100m on approach to the village there were little caves carved into the rock. Some seemed to be sheds, others displays, and still others has addresses as if someone lived inside. Perhaps they do – did I see a Baggins address…or did I imagine it?

The town however makes the most of its Francigena roots.

We found our lodging without any difficulty. Our host met us at the door and showed us around. Because we were still a little chilled after our usual cleanup routine, we enjoyed a nice hot cup of cappuccino. As a matter of fact, I am sipping it as I write.

As a result of today’s slightly longer than planned walk (by only 4km), tomorrow will be a bit shorter. That will give us the chance to take a 1km detour and see the Roman amphitheater of Sutri … now, I must go, because we still don’t have a place to stay for tomorrow and I should fix that. 🙂

We left our pizzeria/lodging leisurely this morning since we had a short day planned. Actually there are no long days left in the itinerary anyway….so perhaps this is the new normal.

Morning Updates Part I and II

As we left Acquapendente we realized it was a larger village than we’d imagined. We spent several minutes at historical marker after historical marker soaking in the history.

Once out in the country I was surprised to see Radicofani still standing prominently in the background over our shoulders.

The entire rest of the day was strange in that we spent it mostly in silence. It’s good to walk that way sometimes but this wasn’t an intentional act but rather ….there just wasn’t a lot to say.

The silence was broken when we caught our first glimpses of Lake Bolsena. The lake, which will be our companion for today and tomorrow was formed from a huge collapsed magma vault The whole area is littered with evidence of past volcanic activity. The lake itself has black sands.

Next we saw a flock of sheep being worked by four dogs as their master whistled instructions.

Our approach to Bolsena was a nice wooded walk.

Finally we arrived at Bolsena. The castle dominates the approach and the steep streets leading to the Basilica were interesting.

We wound around the streets, through arches and alleys to the Main Street of the village. The town seemed like a ghost town – ah yes, it is 1:30pm on a Monday. All of the stores were shuttered.

It took us a minute to find the convent across from the famous Basilica of Bolsena. We rang the bell and pressed the buzzer, but the place, like everything else seemed lifeless.

Just as we were about to turn around and consider our options a weak voice in Italian spoke through the speaker. I don’t know much Italian, but honestly even if I was fluent I’m not sure I’d have understood what came out of that speaker. However I did perceive the word “pelegrini”…so I said “Si”. Then the speaker went dead.

There is the odd moment when something happens and you’re not sure what to do. Do we wait? Did she give us some instructions. Are we even in the right place?

I played back the speaker sounds in my mind and I thought I might have possibly heard a word that resembled “aspette”. Aha! That means wait. So we did.

Sure enough moments later we heard a key unlatching a distant door, some steps, and then a shadow appeared on the other side of the heavily frosted glass. When the door opened there stood a tiny nun who later introduced herself as Sister Rita.

The next several minutes we struggled with my 20-30 words of Italian. She rambled on at top speed despite knowing we weren’t taking in a word of it. Something was important about the stove. There were some instructions about coming and going and a mention of the Basilica.

Google translate was unhelpful because I’d ask my questions but she’d answer at full speed without taking a breath before I could get the transcription to English running. Simple questions like “Is there a key” were answered in 2min discussions. In short we were lost.

But Sister Rita was sweet and gentle. We just have no idea what she was telling us. For the 100th time this trip we decided to just politely nod and then wing it from there.

Later, after we were settled we decided to tour the Basilica. The basilica of Santa Christina is dedicated to a 12yr old Christian girl that was martyred during the reign of emperor Diocletian (beginning of the 4th century). The cemetery inside was in use by Christians for 100yrs prior.

Under the current cemetery is a series of catacombs that were discovered in the 1900s and date back to the Christian persecutions. These were burial crypts and not hiding places. The Roman authorities knew of them well and they were even protected by Roman law.

We paid the 10€ to tour the crypt and had an unusual surprise. It wasn’t lit. In fact, at first we were locked in behind a iron gate….in the dark!

Now let me pause here and mention that it was really windy at this point. There were dark clouds overhead as well, but no rain. But there in the dark, behind the iron gate, the wind literally moaned as it ran through the underground tunnels.

We turned and saw through some reflected light a small room and a stone sarcophagus. Nothing else was evident. No exit, not light switch, not instructions…nothing. Our first thought was (that was kind of a rip off). But we knew there must be more.

We walked around the crypt and there was a nice mosaic, a crack in the sarcophagus in which you could see inside (nothing there).

Then we saw it, I the corner, hiding in the shadows was a dark set of stone steps leading down. Hollywood horror movies couldn’t have written a better script. On came the cell-phone flashlight…and down we went.

The wind moaned again and the faint sound of another iron gate closing echoed on the stone walls.

Down the steps we were in history. Row upon row of human-sized niches were carved into the rock. The main corridor had multiple branches, each with more stacks of niches which once held the remains of the victims of the Christian persecutions.

After our slow tour with the flashlight alternating between our next step and the walls, we made our way back up. By this time some other “victims” (a tour group) had joined us and we decided to linger until they left. We were the first in and the last to leave. As we did, the manager of the catacombs came in and uttered some words of disbelief. She walked over to a panel hidden in a corner and flicked a few switches. These had the effect of lighting the whole place up. Oddly, the moaning seemed to stop in concert with the lights. Spooky.

We’d seen everything with my flashlight but we couldn’t resist taking a second look in the light. I’m glad we did. We’d missed a lot. Carved into or painted on the rock were writings or Christian symbols like the fish and the chi-rho.

It was a pretty cool way to end the evening.

We made a quick grocery run to get some breakfast supplies before coming back to the convent to warm up a pizza in the oven and then hit the sack.

Also in the convent tonight are a group of about 5 gentlemen that are on Day 1 of their West to East cross Italy walk – apparently that is a thing.

Morning Update

We set out at 7:00 knowing it was going to be tough. We had a long day 33km and 900+m climb. The wind was cold and the warm weather gear came out for only the second time. But it was beautiful.

It is rare that we can see our destination at the beginning of the day especially when it is 32km away, but Radicofani sits atop a volcanic cone and it’s tower is so prominent that it is easy to pick out.

The problem of course is that it enhances the distance you have to go as well as how slow you progress. That tower just never seemed to get any closer. Well that was our impression anyway.

The Via in this area passes several thermal baths and if you had the time it offers some wonder relaxation. We, of course had a long slog ahead and couldn’t stop, but I was suspicious that they’d be closed anyway. They weren’t as it turns out.

At one point we came to an obstacle. The VF crosses and iconic foot bridge which was chained off with barricades. There were no detour signs in place and we had a choice to make. 1) Climb back up a steep hill, add 2km to our walk and follow a road around. 2) Scramble down the bank and rock up across the stream 3) hop the fence and risk the bridge.

Here’s a picture from the other side of the bridge. Yep we hopped over the barricade and walked across a perfectly good bridge. We are pretty light pilgrims ya know.

From this point the trail took a aggravating series of steep ups and downs never seeming to gain much net altitude. The weather was nice however and the company amazing.

As we approached noon, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. The sweat on our backs allowed the wind to chill us quickly and we faced the shoo ever of windbreakers (that make you sweat more) or chills.

We had another water crossing albeit small. Now this is an interesting solution.

We made good time during the day despite the climbs and had a chilly lunch break on some gravel on the side of the road. While we were eating you could feel the temperature drop so we made it a quick lunch.

We also met to s of new pilgrims from Italy, France and Germany. It’s actually feeling crowded. Many people seem to have joined in Siena.

As I mentioned Radicofani sits atop a dormant volcanic cone. In hiker terms this translates to “a steep pumice-strewn climb at the end of a very long day. We were beat.

But a reward awaited us. In addition to the nice views and quaint town we had visitors! Dana and her husband Ido live near Milan and had driven 3hrs to meet us. Dana is Heidi’s (former owners of Hutton Vineyards near our home) sister We’d met several years ago and have stayed in touch via Facebook. It was so nice to see them and spend the evening together. They treated us to dinner and even spent the night in the Ostello (their first Ostello experience).

My night however was fretful. The blog had not been done, the clothes still very wet from a late laundry and poor ventilation and my batteries running low. It was after midnight when I was able to burrow under the covers and fall to sleep.

So…what a day. It was hard and fun and joyous and difficult. But I wouldn’t change a thing.

Pre-Morning update (no…the lens cap is not on)

Morning came early at 5:45 am. Having a private room is nice when you can turn on lights and pack up without worrying about waking up others. A funny fact about our private room was we shared a wall with a bathroom. Our heads were against the shared wall and with only one bathroom on the floor with 16 other people, the toilet got flushed a lot! And we got to enjoy every flush throughout the night.

We were out the door within 30 minutes of waking which is an all time record for us on this trip. And it was truly pitch black outside. We were in the country with no street lights so our headlamps were put to use. Within 30 minutes, the sun caught up with us.

Breakfast consisted of coffee and pastries at a cafe in the village of Buonconvento. It is a medieval village that grew along with the Via Francigena. Walking up to the city you can still see the 14th century walls and we walked into the village through one of the 15 century gates which is still used today. Pretty cool.

Now that we were somewhat fueled up for the morning, we headed up the trail. And up is the appropriate word as we began climbing. The rewards are the views of the beautiful rolling Tuscan hills!

A plus are all the grapevines covering the slopes. This is big winery country. We passed our first winery around 8:30am

And then we even found a winery offering pilgrims a deal! But it was only 9:30am. Then this happened.

Caparzo Winery is quite the place. The entrance was lined with cypress trees and surrounded with the rolling hills covered with grapevines. It’s all very iconic. We were told that they have 50 employees so this is no small operation. The staff was very nice and chatted with us about our trip. Thanks guys for the sandwich and wine. Both were delish!

After our little treat we continued over rolling hills and eventually ran into Jill, Thomas and Thomas from Clearwater Florida. They were having a two week vacation in Tuscany and were just out having a walk but it was good to talk to some Americans. Apparently, (and all you back home know this) there is some manhunt going on and the media coverage is hyper crazy . Ah, the advantages of not being in touch with the media.

Next after getting some groceries we met Alex from Stuttgart Germany. He’d walked from Lake Constance near the Swiss border but crossed the Alps at a different location. He’s tent camping so has the freedom to stop where convenient. We may or may not see him again.

Finally we encountered two Italian pilgrims. I apologize but I didn’t write down their names. They are on a multi day walk and may be in the same HOTEL we are in tonight.

Wait…HOTEL??? But didn’t I mention that we were staying in a B&B? Well our lodging struggles continued today with a crazy but true twist. About 30min from our destination tonight we got a message from our B&B host. She was in the emergency room and obviously couldn’t host us tonight. She’d take the time however to find a room in a nearby hotel for an equivalent price. That was nice. It’s not in the best location (out of the quaint part of town), but acceptable.

Our evening ended with another grocery run while Allison took a quick nap. We followed that up with dinner at the hotel restaurant.

So that’s it for today folks. Tomorrow is a long day with no sources for resupply, so everything goes on my back. We have nuts, energy bars, croissants, cheese, and prosciutto for lunch. For breakfast yogurt drinks, one hard boiled egg each, veggie/fruit juice, and a sweet yogurt treat. We should be good.

Ok…one last spin around our day.

Goodnight all!

We left our lodging while the sky was still dark. Bats were flying around outside….yes it was that dark. The storm last night was crazy. Mark, of course didn’t hear a thing. I don’t get it.

The day was not scheduled to be neither long nor hard but getting up early is a habit it seems and I, yes I have gotten used to it.

We only had a short walk to Monteriggiano but shortly after we stopped for a coffee and pastry the rain started. Why did we stop so early…that’s another story.

It’s best told in video though….

The rain seemed to be that frustrating kind of rain that came and went in direct opposition to the amount of rain gear that we’d put on or taken off. What it did manage to do was to make a mucky mess of the path. As a result, we were slipping and sliding most of the day and it was only the last few km’s when we neared Siena when we finally gained traction control on some hard pavement.

Along the way we met three Danish men who were walking the short way from Lucca to Siena. Two were college friends who’d drifted apart. Recently they’d gotten together lamenting their drift. They pledged to plan adventures together to rebuild their friendship. I liked that.

Arriving in Lucca we felt a little like coming home. We had visited Siena in 1999 and it was a place we’d always wanted to come back to. Although it was quite different looking walking in by foot than driving in by car. The small quaint city I recalled on my mind was much larger but still retained its charm.

We found our lodging easily and our host was nice enough to meet us there within just a couple of minutes upon our arrival. The apartment was wonderful and close to all the sights and necessities that anyone would need or want.

I am looking forward to spending a rest day here but sad to say goodbye to Paulo and Jean Yves tomorrow morning. It has been fun and nice to build friendships with these two fellas. God had more adventures ahead for all of us. And hopefully we will be able to visit together again in the near future.

Because there is much to see and say I’ll leave the rest for tomorrow. goodnight pilgrims.

The streets of San Gimignano were empty when we got outside this morning. What a huge change from the throngs of tourists in the squares yesterday.

Morning Update

Today’s walk contains a choice of routes long-but-wooded or short-but-asphalt. We decided on the longer route because we’d done a lot of road walking the previous two days.

We walked past a Swedish hiker who’s name was Borg (we think). He was a retired Lutheran priest and was taking his time walking for as long as it suited him. How nice is that.

As we were speaking with him it began to sprinkle and Allison donned her rain gear. I decided to chance it with just my rain jacket acting like a poncho. It doesn’t really do the trick but if the rain stayed very light it would suffice. This time my guess (and of course it was just that) turned out to be correct and soon enough we were climbing a hill and the rain ceased. Allison quickly packed up her rain pants and jacket and we were off again.

In that period of time however we landed at the dividing point between the long and short variants of the Via. Because of the rain we changed plans and bore left opting for the short way.

This variant had one advantage in addition to its shorter length. It travelled through Colle di Val d’Elsa, the “city of glass”. Colle was renown in the Middle Ages for its fine crystal, and art form that is still prevalent today.

But before we reached Colle we stopped for a coffee in the small village of Le Grazie (the Thank You). They had really good pastries!

Colle’s medieval walls are mostly gone but the “new” gate still exists and makes an impressive entryway.

Inside Colle we visited the Basilica. Three particular paintings caught my attention. The first depicts an angel speaking to Joseph in a dream warning him to leave Bethlehem for Egypt with his wife and the child Jesus.

The second shows the moment soon after the resurrection when Jesus bids Mary not to touch him because he’d not yet ascended to the Father.

The third was the moment Jesus appeared to Thomas after his resurrection. Thomas, doubting his own eyes was invited to touch the nail holes in Jesus’ hands and feet and the spear wound in his side. I liked these because they are rarely the subject of paintings.

Leaving Colle was a difficult few hours along very busy roads with little curb or margin. That was mentally tiring. But we did manage to find a little shade against a concrete wall by one of the many industrial zones we passed. So of course, that is exactly where we ate lunch. We joked about how relaxing our spot was however we will actually miss the carefree lunches once we return home.

When we finally arrived at the tiny village of Abbadia Isola (outside of Monteriggioni) we had a small problem. Paulo had made our reservation for the night at the small donativo in town. When we arrived however we were somewhat briskly told that there was no such reservation for any of us. It seems the number he’d called was misprinted in two of our three guides and actually belonged to a different hostel in a different town. Fortunately for us there was another hostel practically next door and they had space foe us for a good price.

Showered and clothes washed we had only to have a quick dinner and crash for the night. Tomorrow our destination is Siena. Tomorrow we also bid arrivederci to Paulo. He will not stop there or will at a minimum not spend a rest day there.

So our dinner together was a bit of a farewell meal. Sorry to see him move on…but that’s the pilgrimage way.

Our day began early and was cold as we left in the dark.

Morning Update

The sunrise, though, was spectacular!

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And for family and friends that know me well, know I do not watch many sunrises because that means getting up early. But getting up and out early on a day that involves many kilometers is the ideal way to hike.

We walked along a canal on a grass road first thing as the sun rose. It was a beautiful and peaceful way to begin the day. The path then changed to cinder and dirt and finally to asphalt for most of the day.

As we continued on the way we crossed the Arno river. This was a major landmark as a north/south border within Tuscany. The Arno also flows through Fierenza (Florence).

Our first pit stop was in the village of San Miniato. But just before arriving we found our first pilgrim donativo stand. Thanks for the gracious gift friends of the pilgrim.

At the top of the village of San Miniato is a tower. Of course we had to climb to the top even if there was an entrance fee. Each floor provided a little history of the town or tower and then the views at the top were impressive.

On our way down the many steps we noticed two pigeons who had broken through the man made barrier to watch all the people below. It was a funny sight.

Daily life continues as we walk through history of course. We stumbled across these beautiful flower girls waiting the the wedding to begin. I loved the shoes.

On our way out of town we stepped into a church which was an art museum dedicated to a local artist who actually painted religious scenes. But of course to be famous as an artist usually means you are dead so we just saw a picture of the painter. But a local lady chatted with us inside the church and told us all about Napoleon and some history of the area. This was all in italian and we understood some of what she said. And there was a pilgrim stamp there too.

We hit the trail or pavement again. Right around lunch time we crested a hill to find a rest area for pilgrims including a picnic table, trash can, water, and two people we know…JeanYves and Paulo. It is always nice to see familiar faces. They were going to make an extra long day of it so we bit them adieu and went off the VF toward our lodging.

Unfortunately it was a slog along pavement for the rest of the trip and until 30min before we arrived the heat and humidity seemed to increase with every step. The relief came with a crash of thunder ahead and a gust of wind. The sky darkened and our pace quickened. We were 30min away from our goal….would we make it?

We kept glancing at the hilltops where we knew JeanYves and Paulo were still hiking. It sure looked dark and menacing up there. Sure enough we were about 30 feet from our Ostello in Castelfiorentino when the first drops of rain fell.

There was shopping left to do so as Allison showered I grabbed my rain jacket and bolted to the supermarket. About 2min into the route the skies opened up and I took shelter.

My shelter turned out to be just outside an ice cream shop. You’ll be happy to know that with great fortitude I resisted having an ice cream without Allison. I opted to have a video chat with our daughter Sarah and granddaughter Evelyn.

Shopping complete, I returned and did the whole shower and laundry deal. So here I sit.

You know one of the great joys of traveling is trying new and exotic foods and lovely intricate wines….and then there is this: “Oh how low we have sunk.”

We ended our night with a video call with Isabel our baby girl and her new puppy Sully. Life is good.

Today we put our pilgrim hats back on and woke up at 5:30 (5:00 for me) and had a quick breakfast after packing. We were able to hit the road before 6:45am for our 29km re-entry to the pilgrim life.

Morning Update

The morning was pleasantly cool and less humid than the last several days.

The walk out of Lucca was stereotypical Italian suburb with fast paced cars and progressively rural neighborhoods passing one after another.

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During our walk we left the governance of Lucca and entered Pisa. Each town we passed had a 12th century church and a history related in some way to the growing pilgrim path. Over 1100 years ago Sigeric passed this way and most of the towns are easily recognizable for his records.

We also crossed a significant geological dividing line where sandy soil and a more arid environment predominates.

The destination for the day was Ponte a Cappiano and more specifically the Ostello Ponte di Medici. This Ostello is actually on a bridge over the canale Maestro. At one time the bridge held all the accoutrements of a mill including a gorge, mill, tavern and hostel. The tavern survives as an Ostello. The glass floors and interesting views of the Ostello make it a fun place to stay.

I’d emailed ahead a d was assured that there was a kitchen and a nearby supermarket so that we could do dinner here tonight but somehow some signals got crossed. There was indeed a nice kitchen but the supermarket is 1/2mile away. Ugh.

Allison went with JeanYves and Paulo for groceries and I was left to guard the bridge. They brought back a feast and we ended the day with a pilgrim meal of our own making.