Looking forward at the weather it seems each day from yesterday until we arrive in Rome will get 1degC warmer each day. You could tell the change already as we left this morning.
Morning Update
The walk today was pleasant but rather uneventful. There was only one village between start and end and there wasn’t anything of note to see there either.
We did enjoy the quiet walk mainly along farm track and country roads.
About 3/4 of the way to Campagnano di Roma we walked past a recreational park near Monte Gelato (Mount Ice Cream – what an excellent name). There we found a small waterfall and cascades alongside an old mill in use since the 1970’s. It was a pleasant shady place so we stopped and enjoyed a gourmet luncheon.
Mouthful of food smile.
For this trip I’d downloaded Oliver Twist Audio book and when the trail got monotonous we’d listen to a chapter. We have three days of walking left (two now) and we still had 14 chapters left. So we hit 10 chapters today. Great book.
I sure hope the Beauty Mix snacks we purchased worn as advertised.
We also spent quite a bit of time talking about what items in our packs and on our persons that would not make the trip home. I have to admit that I have spending way too much time day dreaming about what items I can throw away. My odiferous shoes are first on my list. All the people on my flight home can thank me later. In a shocking development, Mark had fewer items on his throw away list.
Spa near the Waterfalls with an unfortunate name.
Campagnano di Roma is another fortress town that sits atop a tall steep hill. Translated from Latin, “Campagnano di Roma” roughly means “pilgrim must climb steeply at the end of the day”.
Beauties
It was indeed a steep climb into town. But we were soon to the top and set about finding our lodging. This would be different in two aspects. Firstly I had neither address nor location. What I did have was an email with instructions. Secondly was the lodging itself.
You know you’re a true pilgrim when you opt out of the expensive 2.89 bottle of wine in favor of the 0.89 box of wine. What have I come to???
Tonight we are actually sleeping in a chicken coop – on purpose. Well, a converted one anyway, but there are chickens outside. I hope they aren’t too upset that they got kicked out on our behalf.
Move over chickens – we are tired.
We got set up in the coop and set of to walk the town. That was actually disappointing. We found nothing interesting. But we sat outside in a park with a good phone signal and got to video chat with Allison’s brother and sister-in-law. That was nice. It hit me during the call, when they were talking about next weekend’s plans, that we’d be home next weekend too. That will be odd having been gone so long.
With a short day ahead we were really slow in leaving the apartment this morning. The high wind of yesterday had pretty much abated and despite the cool 8degC temperature it felt much warmer.
Right off the bat we ran into Stephanie, an Italian lady walking her dog. She’d lived in Wales for a few years and spoke excellent English. She was one of the few people to come up to us and initiate a conversation.
Morning Updates
After a short climb we walked along a beautiful stretch of hazelnut orchards for a couple hours.
Hazelnuts
And then out of nowhere two ancient towers appeared. These were the ruins of an abbey and a Roman cemetery. It was interesting to try and identify portions of these unrestored structures.
By about 10:30 we’d already reached Capranica where, after visiting the church of Madonna del Piano we walked through the ancient gate to the city. The was yet another typical hilltop fortress towns with windy streets and fun narrow throughout.
The weather was cool but when the wind stilled and the sun hit you, you could get hot quickly. We must have donned and doffed our layers 4-5 times during the day.
Adding a layer
After the visit to Capranica the trail entered a beautiful wooded trail that was soft underfoot and crisscrossed a small running stream. This section ran for about 8km and reminded me of home.
At the end of this section we were already very near our final destination of Sutri. But being near didn’t mean that we’d be propping our toes up just yet.
Sutri is home to several historic monuments including a “recently” re-discovered Amphitheater that is unique in the Roman world. When I say “recently” I mean in the nineteenth century. Before that it was pastureland.
Sutri Amphitheater
It is unique as it is excavated entirely from the surrounding rock. Because it was lunch time we decided to park our bodies inside the amphitheater and have a bite to eat.
Roman Graves
The amphitheater is part of an archeological park that also includes Etruscan cemeteries, a Roman graveyard and a former cave used in the cult of Mithras – turned Christian church (Madonna del Parto). A church within a cave is a pretty cool thing. The frescos were interesting.
Finally we made our way to our lodging for the night. Once again we ended up with an entire apartment to ourselves. We showered and washed and then headed out to get dinner supplies and food for tomorrow as well.
Allison whipped a quick dinner.
Chef Allison
After that we just decided to veg and enjoy some rest.
Today was sweet. We had less than 18km between Bolsena and Montefiascone. Although it was uphill the climbs were never that bad. To take advantage of the short day we took a 1km detour right off the bat to get down to the shore of Lake Bolsena.
Leaving Bolsena
Morning Update
Quirky Garden
We did our update and then went to check out these famous volcanic black sands.
And then it was time to get moving…
The walk today was also nice. A large portion of the day was either on farm paths or woodland.
Along the way we met Rafael – American from Baltimore. He is on a multi day package Pilgrimage. That may sound unintentionally disparaging but it is not meant to. Everyone has different time constraints and abilities. Later in the evening we met again and since he’s lived in Rome he has the inside scoop. He has volunteered to show us around Rome when we arrive. So nice.
But the major “event” was the passing of the 100km mark. This marker is placed just inside greater Montificione.
Despite our reaction….
One Hundred kms is significant not only because it is a cool number but because the “rules” of pilgrimage require you walk at least 100km to receive a testimonial. Getting one of these is of no real importance to us other than the souvenir it represents. But in the Middle Ages, this was the document required to prove your pilgrimage was completed. In some cases this was in concert with the receipt of indulgences.
Even with our detour we arrived hours too early to gain entry to the monastery of San Pietro. That’s ok, we were hungry for lunch anyway and we’d spotted a trattoria on our way into the old city.
So we arrived at the restaurant. It was wafting wonderful aromas out of the door. The place looked a little too fancy for pilgrims, but the menu actually offered some good prices. Plus the food was excellent. We splurged on deserts knowing that our dinner was to be at the Monastery and that typically means basic fare.
After a long lunch and finally getting into our room we did the shower and laundry thing. Here I’m going to interject a bit of pilgrim inside info.
Bathrooms have to be the most varied of all rooms in the world. I’ve travelled to over 49 countries and the variety of ways to wash, pee/poop, and shower seem to be infinite. Bidets for example still baffle me as do holes with a garden hose attached.
But in this monastery, and in many others on this pilgrimage, we have the unique set up of a toilet-shower. Now remember, this room is set up for four strangers on four cots to occupy. But in the bathroom (that has neither latch nor key) you will find a seat-less, lid-less toilet lined up with a curtain less shower fixture. “Space-efficient”- indeed….”practical” however, not so much. So there ya go.
After this adventure we took a quick stroll up to the fortress, Rocca dei Papi from where we had beautiful views of Lake Bolsena and unbelievably Radicofani. That hilltop has been visible for 3 days. Crazy.
Sunset from Rocco dei Papi
Well, that’s it folks. Dinner was indeed basic, but filling (pasta, hamburger, spinach, and cauliflower with grapes as dessert). As an interesting note, all the food other than the meat was grown within the monastery- including the wine we drank.
Lastly I should note that we only have 6 days of walking left to go, and they are also slowing down in distance and elevation. Wow.
We started the day, up at 5:30am and we were on the street after breakfast by 7:00am, so no speed records were in danger. But we were off and soon out of the city of Siena.
Looking back at Siena
Early on we passed a sight I did not expect to see. We’ve seen a lot of cool animals on this hike but I never thought I would see a camel. But sure enough, across the street was a small pen with three camels. It had some llamas as well and some donkeys and horses. Upon investigation, it was a small circus from Vienna parked for the night. It makes sense now, but I just never thought this is what the day would bring.
Camels on the Via??
The countryside was kinder and gently rolled although the Via actually went primarily downhill all day.
The pointy cypress trees and the rolling hills reminded me of the closing scene from the movie Gladiator, and well it should because it was filmed here. The actual spot is tomorrow I believe, but it makes no difference.
Tuscany
The overcast sky and cool air made it really feel like autumn. The air was cooler than it has been in weeks and when the wind blew or when we stopped for lunch we both got chilled.
Since it had rained last night there were a few puddles but the trail was mostly dry. Mostly dry that is until we hit this one stretch (about 1km long) thick with mud. It wasn’t the deep sloppy mud of the Somme but rather a drier sticky mud that attached to your shoes like glue and went along for a ride for a while.
Muck
It was actually kind of funny. One second you’d lift your foot and it felt heavy. The next few steps added to the effect and you felt as if you were lifting weights with each step. As I put my foot down it felt like I was wearing 3” heals and 2” lifts. Then in a stride a huge chunk of mud would fall off and your leg would fly up or you’d come back down off of your heels unexpectedly. Of course this never happened to both feet simultaneously so one leg was always longer than the other. I’m sure we looked a sight walking in that section.
My high heels and lifts
Later while we were eating lunch, we were passed first by a young couple Paulo and Martina and later by another couple. This second couple were waking three days from Monteriggione to Pont d’Arbia. They seemed to enjoy the short vacation and had a camper waiting for them in Siena.
Paulo and Martina were camping at nights and they seemed to be going faster and farther than we were. So, after a brief chat, we said ciao and I fully expected that we wouldn’t meet again.
After they both passed I looked down at my shoes….folks it’s going to be “touch and go” if they make it or not.
Odds on these Brooks making it to Rome?
When we arrived at our Ostello, billed as “The cultural center”, but containing very little in terms of high culture, the place was under construction and the door was locked. “Not too worry”, I’d heard that it did open until 3pm and it was only 1:30. So we headed for a nearby coffee shop.
Town sign
There before the shop was the other couple waiting for their bus back to Siena. At the coffee shop we were surprised to see Paulo and Martina. They’d stopped for a break before heading on.
Allison and I got our drinks and made a couple lodging inquiries. It’s a tedious process of looking through several lists and extracting phone numbers or email addresses and sending out queries. We were able to get the nights of the 8th and 9th booked and our final night in Rome near the airport as well.
Paulo and Martina meanwhile packed up and said goodbye when Martina mentioned some foot trouble (blisters). Well immediately Allison perked up and minutes later had all her supplies out and was busy tending to Martina’s feet.
It was really neat to see how efficiently Allison “went to work” and kindly Martina and Paulo responded.
Martina and Paulo
When Allison was nearly done, the waitress came from the restaurant with a cut finger. Although it wasn’t too serious, you could tell then girl was a little freaked out by the blood. She asked if Allison would take a look at it. Without hesitation, Allison was tending to the cut as well. She was definitely in her element.
We finished our evening with a short walk back to the donativo before going out for pilgrim pizza at the shop across the street.
I’ll close out today’s entry but sharing this “fun fact” that we calculated today.
We’d always planned this one and although we don’t need it physically we will certainly be happy to act as a tourist once again.
JeanYves and Paulo have moved on, so we made them breakfast and said our goodbyes. They both got a key for their companionship and help over the weeks.
Paulo and JeanYves with their keys.
Morning Update
The wifi in this place didn’t work well so I struggled posting last night – apologies for the lack of content. Today will be packed with touristy stuff since we plan to visit the Duomo and some other fun places. From tomorrow on however it will be non-stop to Roma (only 12 days more walking….and some of those days are quite short).
First a bit of background. In the Middle Ages, Siena was the place to be … well, sort of. It was a hugely prosperous town and as such was seemingly always at war with its neighbor Florence.
Il campo -Siena
At its height, it had about 50,000 people. Then in 1348 the Black Death slammed into the city, and it lost as many as 60% of its residents. Florence and Milan recovered, but Siena never did (until recently however).
We’re disgusting…I know. Don’t care. 🙂
Back in the day, Siena was all about banking and actually houses the oldest continuously run bank in the world. Being wealthy it also subsidized the arts and was home to dozens of famous Renaissance artists. The Sienese school was arguably the top in the renaissance world.
Siena is also a pilgrimage town being located on the Via Francigena. Hence our visit to this beautiful city.
We started our tour with the pilgrim hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. It was a hospital to serve pilgrims, the sick, and the abandoned until 1970. I can only imagine being sick and cared for with frescoes surrounding me. We are in Italy and the art was already there. The art work was breath taking!
Our next tourist stop was the tour of the stairs to the sky which meant that we were able to climb up into the roof of the cathedral and see it’s construction and some really cool views of the cathedral floor below and the statuary and stained glass up close.
During the climb up, I appreciated how good shape we are in. We felt the climb of course, but it was really nothing to us. Several others however really struggled and had to stop multiple times to catch their breath. Several emerged from the steps panting and sweating with the effort. We hardly noticed. I’m not writing this to brag. This would have been me years ago.
We then took a break in playing tourist and headed back to our lodging for lunch. We had fun shopping for lunch in a local shop. We settled on meatballs mixed with vegetables and a spinach and cheese patty. And because this is a day of rest a nap followed lunch.
After doing some laundry and making reservations for a couple of days ahead. This is a. necessity for every pilgrim but a frustration too as many places are closed or recently large tourist groups book and places are full. I did not realize that large groups would be allowed to stay in pilgrim facilities. Lodging on the VF in Italy has been challenging. We have had to be creative and have used airbnb several times which means paying more than pilgrim lodging.But we were able to split the cost with others and that eased the pain.
After our rest we went to finish a day of touring by climbing the remains of yet another structure (The Museo) for some glorious views on a structure that seemed to defy “sound” structural design.
This 2.5m wide structure we are on towers over the town …somehow. Hard to describe the of feeling fro on top, but the views were excellent.
As we headed back to our apartment we stopped at a wine bar to play tourist one last time. This place was actually very professional and well informed. I recommend Treflari located at Via Banchi di Sotto near Il Campo.
Well, that’s the day folks. I have 1000 photos but you’ll have to do with these unless you ask for more. It was a beautiful day.
Woke at 5 after a fitful nights “sleep” due to the heat and a persistent mosquito in the room. In fact I was so uncomfortable being completely inside my sheet to protect from the mosquitoes that I moved my pillow to the marble floor and slept there for a hour just to cool down. Allison says “she slept like a baby”. Not really fair is it? Haha.
1hr in = An early start
Walking under the street lights leaving the sleeping town was nice. No cars and no people; just Allison and I. Not even the birds were awake yet.
We soon began the climb to rejoin the VF which we’d left yesterday to get to our hostel. It was a pleasant climb through vineyards and rolling hills.
Like in the US, several of the vineyards also serve as wedding venues. We saw this unfortunate result of a wedding reception.
The sunrise was pretty but didn’t compare to yesterday’s sunrise. There was a magical fog in the valleys however that made for some dramatic views.
Sunrise
The climb to Gambasi Termi where Sigeric stayed on his 20th day from Rome was significant. We kept up a serious pace for no reason whatsoever except that we could.
Once in Gambasi Termi we stopped for refreshments which included a pastry each and a coffee. A second breakfast is good for long distance hikers. But as we were eating we chatted about the shock our bodies will have once we return home with our normal diet of little sugar and low carbs.
Stopping for coffee and a pastry.
The rest of the morning is classified as “easy” but we’re not sure how they could come up with that rating because we found it tough. Perhaps it was the 1000’ climb beforehand. Either way it was a lot of ups and downs before we saw our first glimpse of San Gimignano.
San Gimignano is a top tourist destination and by all accounts it is a top spot for pilgrims as well. The town grew because of its location at the intersection of two trade routes and its crop of saffron. In most cities the church or castle is the most prominent structure. In San Gimignano it is the private towers built by its wealthy inhabitants.
At one time there were 70 of them. Today only 13 survive but the town retains its medieval roots. Once the tour busses leave it takes on an ancient feel.
This might make you a bit dizzy. Sorry.
We ended our night with a home cooked dinner in our “tower”. Joining with JeanYves and Paulo helps save some money.
We really struggled to get out of Massa due to a triple take exit of the city.
The steps
The walk started with a climb up a steep set of steps. Halfway up I noticed an unusual <click> sound. Looking down at my pole I noticed the rubber stopper that I use on pavement wasn’t attached. This is actually normal – we’re always taking them on and off – but this morning I’d looked to make sure it was on before leaving the Ostello. So….back down the steps I went. I found it at the second to bottom step. Micro-crisis averted.
Morning Updates
When we reached the top of the steps the Via took a right turn. Allison got to the corner first and let out a small groan. The steps were replaced with a long uphill slope that was quite steep. The air was cool but humid, so we both worked up a quick sweat first thing in the morning.
At the top, Allison mentioned something about the keys to the Ostello. “Oh No!” They we’re still in my pocket. So…I told Allison to sit tight and I went back down the slope and then back down the steps, dropped off the keys and then did it all again. What a start!
The day got dramatically better after that. We continued the climb up to Castello Aghinolfi which was incorporated into Hitler’s Gothic Line and paid a heavy price as a result.
The climb also provided some panoramic views of the sea and coastline we’d walked yesterday.
As we descended off of the mountain we entered a heavy industry section where every other business seemed to be part of the marble trade. The huge chunks of pretty marble set my mind to buzzing about how much inventory cost they dealt with. We even saw a yard where they were actively sawing the huge chucks to 1”-2” slabs.
Marble madness
The big town of the day was Pietrasanta. As we entered the village we passed a different kind of marble trade – one that made sense a bit later. This shop clearly carved marble for art and/or statuary. We peeked through the fence and saw a massive marble statue. I sure wish I knew where it was going.
Pietrasanta, as we soon found out, is a hub of art, particularly carving in marble and bronze. There was a school of art and art boutiques and artwork scattered throughout the town.
The main Piazza with its Duomo and bell tower were the site for our gourmet lunch of canned tuna, hard seed crackers and two day old Parmesan. It doesn’t sound wonderful, but honestly when you are hungry everything tastes better.
Leaving Pietrasanta the trail was normal hills and streets with nothing notable. However coming down a small country road we came upon two gentlemen working on Cable TV lines. They’d stopped work for a bit and were having lunch in the road next to their car. We struck up a conversation that ended up lasting for an hour.
These two guys were astounded with our pilgrimage walk and ended up offering us a taste of the wine they were having for lunch. It was a good Tuscan red. For their generosity they received two keys and we explained their meaning. One of the two was very excited with the gift and it’s significance. The other struggled with language a bit more and I think the details were lost in translation.
Our Ostello for tonight is a bit disappointing. It has everything you’d need but half of those things are either not working or “closed for Covid. The price of 18E/person is reasonable but expensive for Pilgrims.
The kitchen is one of those items that is “closed for Covid” so we will have to go out to eat at a restaurant. Honestly I prefer what Allison makes. In the end we opted for microwaveable dishes and ate at the Ostello.
At dinner we celebrated JeanYves 70 something birthday. Happy Birthday pilgrim.
Well the storm we passed through yesterday was apparently no ordinary storm. See today’s headlines.
It was newsworthy.
Since we’d been forced along to Dogana we resisted the urge to move farther ahead and just kept with the original stage ending in Massa. This stage would have been a tiring 32km walk almost entirely along pavement but we’d already completed 9km the previous day. Net result, we slept in. 🙂
After a leisurely morning and huge breakfast which included finishing off the leftover ice cream from dinner – Yeah, I know – we hit the pavement (literally). The route was all roads and sidewalks as promised.
Our B&B
We entered the town of Carrara- famous for the marble that has been mined here since pre-Roman times. The town became wealthy in the trade of quality marble. They go a bit crazy for it here though. It was nice that the main church and piazza were entirely marble.
It was slightly more posh when we found ourselves walking on the marble sidewalks. But it was just crazy when later we noticed that curbs and storm drain covers were also marble. Well, I guess if you have got it, you might as well make good use of the stuff.
Marble tiles7ft tall marble Christ on a marble crossSeriously, curbs made of Marble???
The VF on this stage reaches its closest point to the Tyrrhenian Sea – only about 1.5km away. The temptation was too great and we created a slightly longer but flatter route that would take us to the sea.
We were initially disappointed because the street we chose ran not to a nice Mediterranean beach, but rather an active port where truckloads of ….you guessed it, marble, were queued up to load onto large cargo ships.
Rocky beaches. Those are wet chunks of ….marble.
We weren’t deterred as we turned south along the coast and soon we were out of the port area and first rocky and later sandy beaches stretched for miles. Walking along the beach is nice when you are barefoot. Walking along with hiking shoes and a backpack however is less than ideal. After about a km we traded the beach for a series of coastal boardwalks, small-boat harbors and streets.
A sandy beach!
At one beach cafe we stopped and made a couple of calls to Nadine and Cindy to show them the water and our accomplishment of making it all the way across a continent. It was fun to touch base with them for a few minutes and show them the sea and mountains where the marble is quarried.
Mountains of marble
The walk ended with an uninteresting walk from the coast into the town of Massa. It was traffic-filled and loud. But the time went by quickly.
The village of Massa has a beautiful castle and some stereotypical Italian piazzas. Our Ostello for the night is recently renovated and located on the Piazzo Mercure.
Not bad for leftovers + broccoli. Allison enjoying the fruits of the guys cookingPilgrim kitchenPiazza MercureThe PiazzaStatue of the Roman god MercuryTypical lodgingOur OstelloThe Ostello on the Piazza Mercure
First a bit a note about our maps. I found out today that I has ant been updating. (Someone should have told me!! :). But it is fixed now. Check out the Maps page.
Morning Update:
Despite our attempt to have a short day, there were no lodging opportunities at Sarzana. We grouped together with Paulo (Portugal) and JeanYves (France) and booked an AirB&B at a nearby suburb of Dogana and headed out for the day. Our path took us sharply up.
But the views are nice.
Now, you’d think that after tackling the Juras, the Alps, and the Appenines, we be used to it but today was hard. The weather had turned sour and it was both warm and very humid AND rainy.
Having rain gear on really traps in the heat and because the humidity was so high we both struggled. The reward was some picturesque hilltop fortified villages. Their names all blurred together but they all felt old – ancient really.
Our plan was to get to Sarzana and then take an ugly, but direct road route to our B&B. But those plans changed.
As we entered Sarzana the skies opened up. It was a soaking rain – this alone was OK, but since it was lunch we sought out a cafe to get a coffee.
Twice we had to seek shelter from the rain, but we found a coffee shop and sat down. The timing was excellent. Almost as soon as we did, a flash and an instantaneous loud crash of thunder rattled the shop. Over the next hour a lightning storm of epic proportions shook us and we started talking about alternatives to a walk along a busy road in an electrical storm – smart, eh?
Wine? Oil?
We still needed to get some groceries and made a dash to a local supermarket and then promptly called a cab. Yes, I know – a cab for a pikgrim isn’t really kosher but we had bought supper and breakfast meals for four and the lightening and torrential rain made it an easy decision.
Vecchietto – The feeling of being very very old
It turned out to be a very smart move. Because the lightning and rain only got harder after we arrived. Jean Yves struggled in after 7pm with these words. “Bonjour..do you have room for a pilgrim coming from Hell?” Haha. He’d had a rough evening.
Dinner with Paulo and eventually JeanYves (who decided to walk) was prepared by chef Allison. Man was it good. But somehow it ended like this. Long story…
Phillipe on the left with Jean Yves
Trying to find his way to the B&B JeanYves had stumbled on a Belgian family living here. They came by for a visit and we had a funny and fun evening goofing off. JeanYves always lands on his feet.
Oh, a Portuguese saying “a good story never starts with ‘one day I was eating a salad’”.
First we promised not to have a long day today…and failed. Today was 29.6km (more than 31 after you add in the grocery shopping excursion). Tomorrow is 31….but then we are done with it….I promise.
The day started with a nice leisurely morning. We slept in until 7:30. Luxury. After a quick grocery store stop we were off to finish up the Appenine crossing at the Cisa Pass (which I kept calling Cibo pass for some reason in the videos).
The place we stayed last night had an amazing collection of memorabilia. Can you recognize these?
It was steep but for some reason, despite yesterday’s efforts I was flying up the hills. Allison normally leaves me in the dust on uphill climbs but today I led the way.
Can anyone identify this track. It’s about 3”diaGoodbye
Soon we were at the Cisa pass and peered back to see from whence we’d come. Goodbye Parmigiano-Reggiano, hello Tuscany.
The view from where we’d come
Fun on a bridgeRoxanne and Juliet
At the top we met two Belgian ladies who were on and appenine backpacking/camping adventure. They were on Day1 and were surprised to see us coming all the way from London by foot.
A cool entrance to Tuscany
The rest of the day was beautiful but technically challenging. It didn’t help that we’d been told that the day was only 26km. That’s not a small distance by any means, especially on difficult terrain, but when it turned out to be 30 we were hurting. Those last 4 are killers.
Natural Beauty
Along the way there were several stone bridges. This region held out a long time against the Romans. The entire population was deported to another region as a result. Having a high strategic value guarding the pass to Po Valley, the Middle Ages the region was “owned” by Genoa, Pisa, and others
Bridges
We made it to the Convento Frati Cappuccini and we’re kindly explained the rules of entry and shown to our room. Normally we’d immediately shower and do our laundry but due to the late hour we thought it wise to stock up with food for tomorrow first.
We ended our night with an overly long walk to the nearest grocery and then finally we were able to sit down for a nice dinner at Trattoria Da Nori. Two pastas and a shared meat dish (pork in a sauce with peas) was just perfect.
The morning started early and we were out walking at 7 am. Of course we had to make a couple of stops at bakery and a cafe for breakfast and a lunch too. “Slices of pizza” for a well rounded diet. That is how the saying goes, right?
Another Sunrise
Morning Update
The big city of Fidenza is quite lively. All walks of life are visible within a few city blocks. It was actually nice to walk amongst the middle-school kids heading off to class, to see the moms dropping off the younger ones at primary school and to walk past the more senior citizens walking or resting in the park. It seemed alive.
Finally we walked out of the city, off of pavement, and onto soft dirt trails. All my body parts gave a sigh of relief. Plus we began climbing hills and could see the mountains we will be climbing for the next two days. What beauty the mountains provide.
Hills
The sunrise was beautiful. And we stumbled across a church dedicated to Thomas Becket, who visited here back-in-the-day. Images of walking in. Canterbury flooded back into our minds. Unfortunately, the church was locked. We had to satisfy ourselves with the information plaque. It was a shame because it sounded interesting.
12th Century Church of Thomas Becket
As we are walking, we try to be present and not always looking at maps on the phone etc, There are times we do glance at the GPS. Sometimes, the map clearly shows an easier route than the one we’ve trodden. It seems pilgrims are chosen to climb the biggest and steepest hill in the village. Some communities must have a meeting to determine where it would be fun to send the pilgrims next. Today one village obviously must have enjoyed watching us practice stretching our climbing muscles as we went straight up a steep hillside and then along a ridge only to come right back down the same hill. Haha…”Fun with Pilgrims”.
Let’s put the path here and see if they’ll climb THIS one…bahahaha!
Oh, by the way….we have a BIG announcement!!!
We climbed the last hill into the town of Medesano where our lodging is for the night and promptly found a bench in the shade to have our late lunch. Cold pizza and an apple was on the menu today. While we were eating, Paolo from Portugal walked into town. It was nice to chat for a few minutes but soon he was off, walking more kilometers before we finished lunch.
Speaking of old friends. We saw Mr and Mrs Longshadow again for the first time in weeks!
The village had all the necessities along the Main Street: a grocery, a cafe and bar, and our place of lodging. After grocery shopping, we headed down the street to our place of lodging. Whil waiting for our hospice to open Paulo from Lisbon walked past. When we walked in the door to check in, Stephen from Belgium was already inside, signing in for the night. It is fun to see familiar faces of fellow pilgrims.
You know your in the mountains when you start seeing these signs!
I slept a long time – a very long time. I woke at 6:30am feeling 1000% better. Sleep is good medicine and so is water. Today being an extra short day made it all the better.
Morning Update Day65
There was no rush to leave the pilgrim house but sometimes routines are hard to break. There were four of us in the parochial donativo and we were all up and about by seven. Breakfast was meager but we all shared what we had and there was enough.
Allison and I left first and within a few minutes the rain sprinkles began to arrive and we stopped under a tree to don our rain gear.
Teaser
This was the first of what was forecasted to be a wet day. However, after this first light rain the clouds broke up and we had a beautiful, dryer, and cooler day. The wind was very strong however and we both had to hold onto our hats at times.
When walking, you never know where the path will take you or what you will see; take motocross practice for example:
Crossing the Lambro
The route took us across the Lambro river and through small towns until we reached Orio Litta. Here Allison and I stopped for a coffee and Allison also treated herself to a gelato. For once I didn’t indulge – I’d had a bigger breakfast.
As we were exiting the town, we passed the large mansion/castle of Litta Carnini. Here we met three family members whose family used to own the place. Some misfortune had taken it from them but the family gathers yearly at the “home place”. Covid had stopped it until this year.
They were very interested in the idea of pilgrimage and we spoke to them for quite a few minutes. One of the sisters wanted to encourage the idea to her children. Pictures were taken.
The last few kms were easy and beautiful. But I was eager to get to this historic stopping point. I’d received a few emails over the past week from a friend from our Camino2014. We’d met our Italian friends, Alessandro and his daughter Lara, about 3/4 of the way through Spain but we had so much in common and we’d tried to keep in touch. Time, however, has a way of ripping people apart.
Knowing we’d be walking through Italy we’d contacted Lara and she’d put us back in touch with Alessandro. He drove 2hrs each way to meet us at this spot and have lunch together. He and his wife Barbara drove us to a nearby town (no open restaurant here) and the kindly invited JeanYves to join along.
What a wonderful treat to meet again and how much it meant to reconnect with Alessandro. I truly hope to make an intentional visit to Italy to get to know them even better. Just good people.
Barbara, Alessandro, Me and Allison = Joy
We parted ways and started the whole Pilgrim routine again (shower, laundry, etc). This particular donativo is plush. Amenities include a full kitchen WITH food, a washing machine, dining room, lounge etc. It is decked out. There are only four of us here so far, but it is set up for many more. In fact, as I was typing, a bike pilgrim just showed up. His name is Carlos and he’s walked all the way from Lisbon. Today he walked 50km. That’s nuts.
This place having a washing machine meant EVERYTHING went in – leaving me only my rain pants. Perhaps only pilgrims can appreciate that.
We ended the evening with Allison and I cooking for everyone – pasta of course. It seemed to be appreciated. Carlos had extra pasta – he’d earned it.
One last entry…I’d swear I’d have gained all weight last in France back with all the pasta we’ve eaten. But this place had a scale and if it is accurate I’ve now lost a total of 17lbs (about 10%). That’s a good number to stick with. Allison wouldn’t want it published so let’s just say the percentage is a few percentage points more. Walking is a great diet plan folks. Stop walking however, and you can’t keep eating like we do undoubtedly. Wouldn’t life be wonderful if you could though.
Ok, first – two thumbs up to La Casello for a great night sleep in a super clean private room and a lovely balcony where we could have a take out pizza for supper. Funny thing – the only restaurant open in town was a NY Pizza restaurant – but the pizza was fast and excellent.
Time to harvest
We woke refreshed and had a great breakfast with Prosciutto and homemade jam and both chocolate and strawberry croissants, bread, butter, coffee, and two fruit juices. We left satisfied.
Our walk began by walking past the Roman bridge again. And then we did climb a bit. The overall day was nice mix of trails and road. Throw a few castle and mountains in and that more or less sums up the sights for the day.
The highlight today was the wonderful company. We met 4 Italians hiking and they kindly took us under their wing. We learned more Italian words as they were very patient with us.
After stopping for some amazing gelato for lunch (yes,…we had ice cream for lunch – remember this is a no-judgement blog), we had become fast friends. I was sorry to see them all go home and maybe a little bit jealous too. They were all on a short pilgrimage.
Other than learn some Italian we did have a special treat. I don’t know why I asked but I did.
“Do you sing”
“Si”
“Can you sing some Italian songs?”
“Ah, Yes, …do you know ‘Volare’?”
<Mark bellows>. “VOLARE!….o o o o!”
…and for the next several minutes we were treated to Italian songs and lots of laughter.
Not to worry, we were asked to sing as well and we resorted to children’s songs and we all had a good laugh.
Later in the day we danced together to some 50’s Rock and Roll just for the fun of it. We have very few pictures of ourselves but Giovanna was kind to share a few she took. The smiles say it all.
Grace personified
Finally we arrived in Ivrea, unsuccessfully looked for a stamp for our pilgrim credential at the cathedral, and it was time for them to head to the train station.
The sunlight coming through the windows of the Cathedral of Ivrea was stunning.
For us it was time to find our Ostello. This was an odd one. It is a standard Ostello in many ways but it is also a whitewater kayak center. Imagine that combination?
For only the second time we also had a self-cooked pilgrim dinner. Allison and I made a pancetta, zucchini, tomato pasta dish and we all had fun through the evening.
An unsociable native!
We’ve also made a decision driven mainly by some minor frustration finding lodging. We are going to make the next three days into two. That means some long days, yes, but at least we have some lodging.
Ciao Alpi
FYI. We said goodbye to the Alps today. They are still beside us, but they’ve turned into hills nearby. In the next week we face a tough mental challenge – the flat plains of the Po valley. It’s the last mental obstacle, but those that know me will understand that this will be tough for me. Allison will struggle as well, but without a physical challenge I know I not be a happy camper. Prayers please.
Tough night last night since both Allison and I were having GI issues. At breakfast others also mentioned issues. So either the food or altitude or combination of the two caused some problems.
Bowls of Coffee
We went to a special Pilgrim blessing service at 7:15am but didn’t get much out of it I’m afraid. Then it was off to a toast and coffee breakfast. The coffee was good and something warm in the belly helped a bit.
Bundled
After breakfast we packed up and headed out for the short (about 50m) walk to the Swiss/Italian border. Just past the border we took photos at the St Bernard statue before starting the multi-day downhill hike. It was cold 6C and we put on our cold-weather gear. Ten minutes later it was back off as we began walking and also were exposed to some sun.
A chilly startMarketingSt Bernards WagonsLove the small print Our 4th CountrySt BernardLeaving Col St Bernard
The views were spectacular and a small wave of depression came over me to know we were beginning the journey away from their majesty. I really would rather not leave. But many Italian joys await.
Today was going to be a long painful downhill day but we’ve decided to cut it in half at the recommendation of many who have gone before us. This will use up one of our spare days, but that’s what they are for.
The tops of the mountains were mostly shrouded in cloud, but they were intermittently brought into view when a cloud broke. The snow on some of them sparkled and the rock faces of others looked strong and bold.
Mystery
The decline started out steep and rocky and then changed to outright cruel but less rocky. By the time we hit St Rhemy en Bosses my knees were pretty sore but the trail just got steeper. Finally, we leveled out a bit and we got a reprieve into the town of St Oyen. All of these little villages are little more than 3sqkm in size but each played a role in either guarding the valley pass or serving as guides and escorts for travelers trading across the Alps.
The villages of St Rhemy and Etroubles for instance were granted exclusive rights by the House of Savoy to act as escorts for a period of time in exchange for hosting the Savoy landlords and their guests for free.
Lampposts Pilgrim welcome in St Rhemy
St Rhemy (Eudracinum in Roman times) also served as a horse trade-off post and a last chance resting place for travelers attempting the Alpine crossing at St Bernard pass.
Just past Etroubles we were forced to walk along a busy road. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to be walking.
But we were soon at the tiny village of Echevennoz, our resting place for the night. We are staying at a L’Abri lodging. I didn’t know much about them. Check out their founding and mission here:
It’s a beautiful little place and we’ll be having dinner at the family trattoria later this evening. But for now, I’m chillin’ in this cool chair.
Chillin’
For dinner we ate with a pilgrim from Switzerland. He speaks excellent English, Italian and French. At dinner we discovered that we’d inadvertently checked in at the posh resort lodging instead of the hostel we’d reserved. The hosts of the two establishments were brothers and they worked out the mistake between themselves. We had our first Italian meal with pasta, chicken and polenta. Yum. Glad to be here.
<Mark> We started our morning with breakfast at the closet cafe to our lodging. They were very kind to let us in at 7 even though they normally don’t open until 8. Usual fare with the bonus of unlimited coffee or tea.
Roman remnants
Today was the hardest day on paper even if it was the shortest. In 8miles we were to climb just over 3000 feet. That’s one constantly steep path to haul folks.
The dam Toules. That peak to the right ended up well below our destination for the evening.
The day was spectacular with blue skies and scattered puffy clouds. The path was dry and well marked. Life was good.
Lac des Toules
Because of the steepness and short distance there was no need to speed along and honestly who’d want to? I just wanted to soak up this day and stay in it for as long as possible.
Climbing past the Lake
<Allison> We are in the Swiss Alps. The majestic sights did not disappoint. I am so glad that there are lots of photos and video from today because words cannot do justice to the scenery here.
The area is also filled with wildflowers and wild fruits.
Wildflowers and Fruit
We did hear and see several marmots. They remind me of prairie dogs in the western United States. Mark was able to get quite close.
At some point we used my water filter to gather some fresh alpine ice-melt. It was so cold and refreshing.
Oh, let us not forget the Swiss cows which do graze above the tree line. Some wear a huge collar with a cow bell. It is musical. Seeing the cows at such a high altitude made me think along other lines as well. Enjoy the video which will explain the previous comment.
<Mark>. I’d hoped that we’d get to walk past some remnant snow and just before we reached the summit, my wish was fulfilled. The winter images of this hospice, which is open year round, are spectacular. The snow is tens of feet deep. This small piece of snow was my way to touch those images.
<Allison> Mark and I made it to the top walking hand in hand. We’ve walked from London down to sea level at Calais and up to the top of the Grand Saint Bernard Pass. I think it is ok to be proud of moments like this. This is such a beautiful place and very welcoming.
At 8113ft
After our shower and laundry duty was complete we stopped at the nearby cafe for some warm soup and a beer. You’ll note that we didn’t mention lunch in the description above. That’s because it was short and sparse (a bit of bread and a small piece of cheese and ham). We needed a bit to eat to hold out for the evenings events.
The hospice at Grand St Bernard has been in operation for over 1000 years (wow!). The hospice was founded by Bernard himself. It was founded as a way to meet the needs of pilgrims and others in need in very practical way.
The famous Saint Bernard dogs are kept here and we’re used in times past as guide and rescue dogs. There is even a dog museum on-site.
We ended our evening by attending Vespers, a pilgrim dinner (albeit with Covid separation) and then a quiet service called Compli. This last one was sung by candlelight. It was quite nice, but as a non-Catholic and non-French speaker it was impossible to get much from it.
Just before going to bed I snuck outside to take a few nighttime shots.
Mark> Breakfast was home cooked this morning as I got up early to make the girls some eggs bacon and sausage to add to our yogurt and coffee. As I cooked I watched the compressed VT vs UNC college football game on my phone. You’ll all be happy to know that my team won. Go Hokies!!!
Looking up from Martigny
<Allison> Waking up to Mark’s home cooked meal is heavenly. The smells wafting through the crypt type flat was more than enough to make my eyes pop open. The lodging was underneath the church offices. The kitchen was quite nice and even had a stove. The atmosphere was welcoming just like the secretary and priest who welcomed us yesterday. The presence of the Lord could truly be felt in this place.
<Mark> Today was reported to be a tough climb of about 940m (3080ft) but very honestly it didn’t feel nearly that difficult.
Scene from the legend of St Theodule
<Allison> The views today were amazing!! Following a river which was flowing down from the top of an Alp was just so relaxing and yet surreal. I mean, after all, we are hiking in Switzerland.
The path under our feet was mostly a soft forest type trail. It felt so good on the feet! And, after a few days of anticipation we began climbing, finally! But just as Mark mentioned above, the climb seemed fairly mild compared to what I had pictured in my mind.
<Mark> At one point I forgot the morning we were supposed to cross a “swinging bridge over a deep gorge”. I’m trying to be honest here without sounding smug. Technically all this was true. But if you were picturing something rather precarious and dangerous like I was you’d have been a little let-down with the actual bridge. It was a reinforced semi rigid structure over a medium depth gorge.
Just before this section was suppose to be precariously narrow trail with sharp drop offs. Hmmm, I think there be some degree of exaggeration going on in these descriptions.
I write all this with the knowledge that Mona wasn’t comfortable the whole day and neither was Allison at all times. Some of the short descents were indeed slippery but I felt they were no worse than what we experience in North Carolina. The climbs were strenuous but I suppose after 49 days we’re pretty well toned and ready.
The stopping point for the day was the village of Osieres which is situated at the foot of the Monc Blanc massif. Along the way here there were references to Napoleon and Julius Caesar both of whom used to cross the Alps in an invasion. For Ceasar it was used to attack the Gauls and for Napoleon to aide the Genoese. The famous series of paintings “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” is basically an icon.
Tomorrow is day 2 of climbing. Altitude will just begin to become a factor. It will likely make the hills feel just a bit steeper than they really are.
This was going to be a great day. I knew it from the start. In some ways ,yesterday was the end of the beginning ,and the beginning of the end of this voyage. We finished our last day of pushing and had built up enough buffer days to allow for some time off in Italy and the ability to slow down. Also, in just the 24hrs since we last posted we’ve met two pilgrims ,from the Netherlands, two German historians, a young priest, and of course our friend Mona from San Diego who walked with us all day today.
The view from our window this morning.
Tonight ,we are staying at a crypt donativo Catholic parish. Memories of the Camino have flooded back and honestly ,I love it.
The other thing that showed promise for the day, was a “whopping” 11mi on the itinerary. That’s just over half of what we have been waking for the last several days. The difference this makes is astonishing….but back to our day.
Wow!
Allison and I were not only in separate beds last evening, but also in separate rooms. That was odd! We both woke ,however ,before 5:30 for no other reason other than it was habit to do so. We readied ourselves and then went to breakfast in the “guardhouse” of the chapel. We were served toast ,jam and coffee…the usual fare.
Breakfast
We ate breakfast with other pilgrims from the Netherlands and Germany. It felt more like a pilgrim meal than any other breakfast we have had yet. We are finally making connection. This is life, connection!
Our friend Mona was waiting for us after breakfast. She had a more substantial breakfast and I was jealous that she had fresh figs as an option. I adore figs.
It was so relaxing to walk along without the need to push or put miles. It was also an easy day because despite my claim yesterday, There was little elevation to conquer.. We strolled along and stopped to take ridiculously normal photos. We also got to know and appreciate our new friend Mona. She is a nurse…so Allison is in heaven for a kindred soul to share.
Virginia plates? In the Alps? Whaaaat?
The scenic highlight of the day was the spectacular Pissevache falls (I’ll leave it to you to translate the French). The falls were gorgeous and the cool mist would soak you quickly if you didn’t hide behind the rocks. I snuck around the side of the falls and was treated to a beautiful site.
The remainder of the short day was tainted only slightly by some mosquitoes but they were only a nuisance for a short while.
We arrived into Martigny and its beautiful castle and alpine backdrop. Crossing the turbulent Rhône River and looking up we could see the task awaiting us tomorrow. This will be a challenge, undoubtedly. The town has numerous restaurants and cafes but our super cool lodging has a kitchen so we’re cooking for ourselves tonight.
Our kitchen for the night. Chef Mona at work!
So… to that point… we are staying at the Catholic Parrish donativo which is underground adjacent to the church. The lady who greeted us here and checked us in was so kind and happy and full of Godly love. It was wonderful! And…the priest even came down to meet us and chat for a few minutes. This place has such a feeling of love. This a really cool set up and personally I’m in pilgrim heaven.
We woke again early this morning and had a good breakfast at the Lausanne hostel. We both had cereal with milk – something I rarely have at home but had been desiring for a while. The coffee was bottomless – bonus.
Morning Update Day47
Disappointingly the mountains across the lake were shrouded by cloud so we missed the magic hours for photography, but throughout the day the clouds lifted and we drew closer with every step to the steep peaks of the Alps.
Walking through The Lausanne suburbs waterfront
But after walking for a few hours out of the sprawling Lausanne suburbs (the rich Riviera side of town this time), the landscape changed from suburban to vineyards. For the remainder of the day until the last couple of hours we were surrounded by Swiss vineyards.
Vineyard-O-Rama
What? You’ve never had a Swiss wine? Well that’s because they don’t export the stuff. As they say “it’s just too good to send away”.
Anyway the vines were loaded with fruit – the harvest must be coming soon. The vineyards grew ever steeper with the vines being terraced to capture every last ray of sunlight. Vineyards of ripe black Pinot Noir mixed with a golden yellow grape variety known as Chasselas spread for miles and miles.
Now today’s journey was around lake Leman so you’d expect it to be quite gentle and flat, right? Well I did. Actually I did know that the path went up and down just a bit into a village or two. But boy did I underestimate it. Today was both long and tough. The ups and the downs were so steep that my knees were aching before lunchtime.
We did stumble onto a wine tasting tent around noon. The gentleman there gave us a tasting of two of the wines for free. He gave it to us as a gift toward our journey which was very nice. We also asked where the nearest grocery was and he told us it was about 45 minutes away. I forgot to factor in that travel time was by car. Mark kept pointing out all the restaurants we passed. I was sure we were almost to the grocery store. Well, by 2:30 pm we finallly had our lunch supplies.
David
We ate sitting by the lake and enjoyed people watching. It was a beautiful day after all so there was a buzz of activity. Kids and families were out playing in the sun and water sports of all flavors thrived. The area is known as the Swiss Riviera after all. You can tell by the video though that we (I) was getting pretty tired.
We stumbled into our final destination of Montreux still without a place to sleep. In “desperation” we stopped by a hotel and begged for a cheap room. Well….we for a room. It was at the discount price of 170SF ($187/night). Sadly this was actually a decent price. To make up for it we had ramen for dinner ($35 from the supermarket). Folks…I kid you not, this place is crazy expensive.
We did get treated to some awesome sunset views.
Tomorrow we leave the “Swiss Riviera” and enter the gorge valley. The adventure continues.
Some trouble this evening with uploading images so despite the beauty, there will be few images and no video until we get home. (Post Via note: It’s all here now)
The expensive night at the hotel ended early with our 5:45 alarm. We’d left the window open to help our clothes dry and woke to a chilly room. The temperature had dropped into the high 40’s overnight. Good thing we had several blankets.
We decided to raid our food supply for breakfast. We feasted on an orange, and what passes for a breakfast bar and energy bar here. They are incredibly tiny and mostly sugar. I do miss our protein bars back home on these occasions. That left us with 1/4 baguette, four slices of cheese and one energy bar each. Slim pickings. But at least Mark’s pack was light.
So we left our key in the door to our room since that is how we found it. A hotel with an unmanned reception 24 hours a day….Maybe that is normal here, but it sure seems strange to me. Anyway we were on our way.
Boy, what a start! We climbed and climbed and walked in the woods around the Gorges de Nouailles (Noodle Gorge). It was absolutely beautiful!
Climbing up the gorgeBeauty
We did spend most of our morning climbing up the gorge. There were some terribly narrow paths with sheer drops. The Source of the River Loue was so spectacular.
Once we climbed above the river the world seemed so quiet. But do not worry, we continued to climb.
At the village of Ouhans we’d hoped to stop to get some lunch supplies. There was no evident store in town however but there was a pretty but small chapel located on a hill adjacent to the town. It was the Notre Dame du l’Engles. It was very beautiful inside.
Chapelle Notre Dame Des Anges
Our lady of the angels
Danger Danger Will Robinson!
The climb was relentless. We walked through forests and roads that were so steep there were warning signs for cars about the gradient of the road. Finally we could see the top come into sight. We were running on fumes and needed to eat and sit down for a few minutes. So we nibbled on the rest of our food provisions for lunch which was not much. But it was all we had: a piece of bread, cheese, a few nuts, and a breakfast bar.
Logging operations
While we were preparing our lunch a car drove by, stopped, and backed up. A gentleman who lives nearby just wanted to chat with us. It was a kind gesture. I am continually amazed at the kindness of the local people here in the south of France. He was a retired Air France pilot so Mark enjoyed talking Aerospace with him.
We ended our journey with a suburban entry into Pontarlier. It was nondescript except for the chance encounter with a Decathlon sports store.
At our youth hostel for the evening we finally had the chance to meet and talk with the pilgrims we’d met a few days ago. It made for a delightful dinner. We cooked up some food we’d bought at the local market (cassoulet, peas and sausages) and boiled some eggs for lunch tomorrow.
Well that’s it folks. Tomorrow is our last full day in France. We travel to Jougne on the Swiss border. I’ll end this with one last artsy shot from the Gorge
We slept in late …aaah! We rested; we toured; we relaxed. Our bodies and souls needed this.
Breakfast coffee – honestly there was some coffee in there somewhere
Then we got some breakfast and a coffee before heading out for some shoe, hiking pole tip, and grocery shopping. Allison’s shoes are wearing out and it is time for a replacement pair.
For all my fashionista friends and family out there, I apologize for my color choice now. The fluorescent yellow will clash with all my clothes colors. But I will have happy feet.
We walked around for a bit just relaxing in this pretty city. The city is surrounded on three sides by the Doub River with a mountain on the fourth side. It’s a natural stronghold.
The River Doub
Believe it or not we actually do spend some time planning our routes and lodging. So some of the afternoon was spent doing that along with eating ice cream. Because ice cream makes everything better! We even chatted with Judy and Mom for a few minutes.
First ice-cream since the UK – the sheep wanted some.
Next up we made our way to the tourist office and got out pilgrim’s passport stamped. Then we decided to explore some of the sights in the city. We started with the Astronomical Clock which was closed. How you can close a clock I am not sure but it was closed. We also had a good laugh that the museum of time is also closed. And the huge modern clock on the front of the building is off by hours. They just do not build clocks to last these days, ha ha.
The last tourist spot on our rest day was the Citadel. This fortress was built during the reign of the sun King Louis IV by the famous architect Vauban. The Spanish actually captured it before it’s completion but after the French re-conquest it was completed and remained an active military sight until after WWII.
A view from the Citadel entrance.
Inside is a zoo, a cultural museum and a museum of the resistance. This latter as well as the view was what I was really interested in seeing…but you guessed it, closed. They couldn’t close the view however, so we took some advice and waited in a long line for a seat at a cafe at the top. We had some highly overpriced wine and appetizers but enjoyed the sunset.
The View
Tomorrow we have to begin the walk up this step hill again – this time with all our gear. It wasn’t a joy the first time…I suspect we will be a bit unhappy to start our morning. Haha.
Sunset from the Citadel
But we have to get used to it. The day will be shorter but much steeper tomorrow. We climb about 2000’ if I recall correctly. Two thousand isn’t crazy, we’ve done twice that in a day…but the month of walking along flat ground has left our climbing muscles untested.
One last thought. Entering a city is weird. We look like pilgrims. We have backpacks and hiking sticks and (in my case) a funny looking hat. We smell, and we have weird tans. Pilgrims are out of place in cities. Our life is slow; cities are fast paced. Our life is simple; cities are complicated and full of rules. I feel so odd walking into a city and Besancon was no different. Cities are fun…and wonderfully convenient, but I will be glad to be out, into the fresh air, the quiet, and the peaceful. Somehow, I don’t belong here. But I enjoyed the visit.
Good night.
P.S. After a long delay we’ve finally added a page that shows all of our lodging. For those that have asked, please see the spreadsheet link. Let me know if you’d like other information included. It’s a bit rough at the moment but I hope it is helpful.
“No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.”
Patrick Rothfuss A Wise Man’s Fear
I love the quote above sent to me by a follower. It is so very true. Today was a difficult one physically and a great joy emotionally and spiritually.
Morning update Day39
Leaving another ville
First off, due to some shopping detours and general sidetracks we clocked in 22mi. Additionally the hills really kicked in today (1330ft elevation). That’s not a ton of climbing but with the distance combined and the fact that we’ve only recently had any consistent daily elevation gains, we are sore and achey.
The gite we stayed in last night was amazing. The actually lodging was perfect and clean and had everything we wanted. But the family included us in predinner drinks and a home cooked meal. The conversation flowed in French and English. Our hosts daughter in law speaks fluent English and she was so helpful. The entire family made us feel at home.
This morning Mark cooked breakfast in our accommodation and we were able to begin walking early. Of course our walking began with a climb which was to repeated just a few times over the course of our day. We both love and dread mountains. The love comes when the scenery is always changing and the views are inspirational. The dread comes from the fact we have not had to climb mountains, and all of a sudden we must develop our cardio and mountain climbing muscles.
Why did the Chicken climb the ladder?
Several of the villages we walked through today had village fountains and old public laundry buildings in the town center. Before washing machines in every home, these served as public laundry areas. I can imagine them as a center of activity only two generations ago. They are always decorated with flowers and are charming. Many of these are feed by natural springs.
Once again the VF and the Camino part ways. Concrete whimsy.
We ate lunch at a beautiful spot along the trail near a little lake. It was ideal. There was a new picnic table. While eating our assortments of salads, we watched ducks teaching their young how to fly, frogs pretending to be plants in order to catch flies, and just enjoying the sun and cool temperatures.
While we were packing up, three other hikers walked up. It turns out that they are also waking the VF to Rome. The first pilgrims we have encountered!!! We are so excited.
Our first Co-Pilgrims – more later
The rest of the day was spent climbing and descending ever steeper hills. The 19mi day was lengthened by about a mile due to a couple mis-turns. These happen occasionally but having GPS made it easy to get back on track.
Finally we approached the suburbs of Besancon, our destination for tonight and the site of our final rest day in France.
One of many lavoir
Besancon is quite the large city. It seemed to take us forever to walk into the town center. We have become used to small villages and this is not a small village. An hour after entering the city we finally made it to our hotel. But to be perfectly accurate we did stop by the North Face store to check out shoes. Because, yes it is time to replace a pair of my shoes. Shockingly I will be replacing my La Sportiva trail runners. The Hokas are doing just fine! Tomorrow we will hit another outdoor store. We have worn out two stoppers on our hiking poles. Those also need to be replaced.
….direction Rome
To end our night we went out for dinner. Mark had an odd craving for Chinese food but I corrected this serious flaw in judgement and we went French. Seriously, Chinese???
Today was a bit odd. We started out a little late because we made our own breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheese with some tomato juice and yogurt to top it off. We next hit a bakery for a fresh baguette to make lunches for the next two days.
The ville of Champlitte was a pretty place as we walked out this morning. The old bell tower caught our eye as did our morning view of the growing Salon river.
Images leaving Champlitte
The church steeples have all taken on a shape/style that reminds me of Bavaria. Most have decorative tilework as well.
Ironically we subtitled this entry as “Cows” because we walked past so many pastures and herd of cattle today. And yet, searching through my pictures I have none of cows. So here’s one from yesterday. Because everyone likes a baby cow.
Other than that it was one of those odd days where the distance felt much longer than it actually was. We enjoyed the walks through the little villages and the weather was quite nice. It’s hard to explain. Everyday can’t be awesome I suppose.
A water trough in two sections. It seemed to me that there were seats too. Hmmmm
We did pass an interesting graveyard with the ironwork shown below. If anyone has an explanation I’d be interested. I can propose a few ideas but they are all guesses.
Parce, Deus Israel (Spare us God of Israel)
Other than that it was an uneventful, but not unpleasant day. We finished up at a gite full of a lot of opportunities, fishing, a pool, etc, but all we really wanted after a shower and laundry was to sit and soak up the atmosphere. Rumor has it that we’re having bbq tonight. It’s tough to say. Our host doesn’t really have a lot of patience with us. This Gite is a business and guess he has decided that we don’t represent a future opportunity. Other families on vacation here seem to be having a nice time.
Most villages have a cross marking their entrance and exit. This one was in the middle of a field. Just an observation, but I’m not seeing the small chapels and madonna’s like we did all over northern France. These seem to have been replaced with simple crosses. A creepy pedestrian tunnel under the Railroad track called “the bridge of the devil”. Another Canal
When we arrived at our Gite for the night I kept the camera running to show you how a typical greeting and check-in work along the Via
Hey folks. When we last left off, Mark and Allison were stealth camping somewhere in the woods between Chalindrey and Champlitte. Let’s rewind a bit and see how they got there.
Day 35, as we left Langres we had planned a relatively short day of 24km followed by a long 20miler on day36. As you’ll hear in the morning update videos, our day had begun after a highly interrupted sleep due to a fete in town. Apparently the street outside the presbytery where we were staying was ground zero for the events – or so it seemed. As the partying died down around 5am we drifted to sleep until our alarm buzzed at 6. There’s no surprise that we were a little groggy starting off the morning.
However after a nice egg and pancetta breakfast with yogurt drinks and a quick shot of sugar at the bakey we were off.
A kickstart on the ramparts of Langres
The east side of Langres where we exited offered a beautiful view from the ramparts over to the reservoir.
That reservoir was our first target and the VF takes an unnecessary but beautiful trip around 3/4 of the perimeter. It was during this trip that we met up with a gentleman on his morning walk. We struck up a conversation and chatted for almost 45min. He was so much fun to get to know briefly, and he complimented us both on our French. THAT was very kind on his part.
Looking back at Langres from the far side of the Reservoir.
Around noon we met up with Chantile and Bernadette (forgive the misspellings). They were out for a day walk in the opposite direction. They had hopes some day of walking some or all of the VF and were curious about our experience. Two more wonderful people to add to the many we’ve met.
Chantile and BernadetteWe’ve heard that many hardwood trees are being harvested because the Chinese are offering high prices for hardwood these days.
However it was about this time that we started to get a little concerned. The host that we’d hoped to stay with had yet to return our left messages or emails. Alternatives were very limited. We didn’t have enough food nor water to go much farther. Additionally there were no alternate lodging options within reasonable walking distance.
When you start taking to cows…perhaps it’s time you got out of the sun.
So..our plan was to continue to our target destination of Chalindrey to stay there if possible, to resupply if an option presented or even to find alternate transportation to a nearby town with lodging.
This turned out to be a profitable decision. The host did return our calls but no lodging was available. The town did however have a good sized grocery…and it was OPENED! Hallelujah!
Perhaps we went overboard – never go shopping when you are hungry. We bought lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch for the next day as well as some snacks. We were just tired of being without food I guess, and we still didn’t know what to do about lodging.
So we sat outside the grocery store parking and ate a lunch. It was yet another surreal moment. “How did we get to this point in life, space and time?”
We made the decision to forge ahead and wild camp for the night. It would accomplish four objectives:
It would allow us to brag about wild camping in France;
It would be the ultimate in cheap lodging;
It would make me feel better about sloughing our tent around for a month;
But most of all, it would subtract miles from what was going to be a pretty long day on Day36.
So off we headed into the unknown with the intent to walk for about 4-5km (about an hour for us) and find a good discrete spot in the woods. Despite my pack weight, which was easily 10lbs heavier than normal due to the food, we passed the 5km mark feeling pretty good and pressed on just a bit further, then further passing numerous excellent camping spots.
The next section the camping options looked less favorable. The Gaia GPS seemed to indicate another section of woods 1km further. Too steep. Then another just 1k further down a steep incline to a nice level spot right beside a barn size cow manure pile. Needless to say that was deemed too stinky. The terrain and options were running out and so was our motivation and energy.
Looking one last time at the GPS I spied what seemed to be an ideal spot. The only problem was it was yet another 2km away…and steeply up hill.
There was nothing to be done, so we trudged, bemoaning our mistake of not stopping at some of the nice spots earlier in our extended walk, but also laughing and sharing the situation together. The steep hill was really tough with our tired legs and the weight of my pack, but we made it.
In the end we reached the top and there was indeed flat and isolated spots in the woods. We dutifully set up our lodging for the night, spread out our handy trash bag mat as a seat, and ate our dinner. The woods were quiet, we were sweaty, the sun got low in the sky and the temperature began to drop.
To bed we went after accepting a call from Isabel to confirm some car insurance information. The only sound we heard was a lone woodpecker and the call of a pheasant. Life wasn’t too bad at all.
There were some concerns as we started off this morning. Firstly, we didn’t get enough sleep because we stayed up chatting too long. Secondly, we had a long day ahead 20+ miles and to shorten it we needed to walk along a lot of road and not the more pleasant woodland. Thirdly and almost concerning was the result of a small incident the day before.
Day 33 Morning Update
As we approached the village of Cirfontain yesterday Allison tweaked her ankle. We didn’t think that much of it because…these things happen…and it was a small twinge feeling. Normally a good nights sleep cures these small issues.
However, this morning, Allison’s ankle was more sore. Those of you that know the issues Allison had on the 2014 Camino, are aware that a similar issue became much worse by the time we’d reached Burgos. They got so bad that we almost had to go home. So we are a little concerned. Having a long day today wasn’t going to help.
So slow and steady was called for, and that’s how we started. This meant our 20mi day would drag on….and so it did. Motrin seemed to ease any issues and we made it to our destination – later than we’d like – but we made it. Most of the day was cool (high 40’s low 50’s) and it was spent with heavy mist since we were waking shrouded in cloud.
There is little else to write today. There was a cool community pool or community spa or laundry in one town (see video).
It isn’t like there weren’t things to see. We came across someone’s collection of birds which was fun to see.
But other than these and a fox sighting it was a day of walking along roads through French towns with nothing to offer pilgrims I.e. no open stores or cafes for food or supplies. Just statues.
Our destination for the night is a Gite. It is a fun one – we are sleeping in a gypsy caravan! Our hosts, Dominic and Dani. Our dinner was a pilgrim special with some apologies for the lack of fresh items from the garden. This year in France has been horrible for gardens. We’ve seen a terrible grape crop, and our hosts told us that they only got a few tomatoes and plums where normally they’d have an abundance. This is due to the nonstop rain this summer.
Our hosts.
We ended our dinner with a course of cheese including: Gruyère suisse caprice des dieux. Langres. Brie de meaux. Brillât savarin. Followed by a homemade dessert.
Je adore fromage. Yum
Two final notes. French is getting easier and easier. We, by no means, understand everything, but we can follow a conversation with a little help and with the help of hosts that are able to slow down a little.
And just for the record books I’ve only lost 4.4lbs. That means I’m doing a good job of keeping up the calorie count. Must be all that good cheese! 🙂
When we took our first step outside of the presbytery, it was quite cool with a cold wind blowing in our faces. I was happy to have on my long sleeve shirt. The fact that it is cold usually makes us walk faster. But this morning we were moving in slow motion. Sometimes you have a day where your shoes seem to be made of lead.
Bruno our host last evening was correct about the route today being steep and then steeper yet again. Oh my goodness, he was not exaggerating at all. The climb got our blood flowing but did not help us speed up any.
At the top we were treated to “a view” of sorts. See the compilation video.
The path was packing another surprise for us too this morning. We discovered pile after pile of logs lining the path.
This big and about 30min walking long.
These piles were at least 20 feet high. The best part was the logs had been carefully placed on both sides of the path creating impenetrable wall right on the edge of the path. Because the piles of logs were clearly created by heavy equipment the trail was a mess of ruts and mud with no way around.
Then it got worse. Those deep ruts hold water… voila you have a big muddy mess. At one point, all that was left was an inch wide foothold. At this point we were basically bouldering using the logs as handholds instead of rock. I never imagined that my bouldering skills would be needed on the VF.
After emerging from the woods we came out into more vineyards overlooking the village of Baroville. This was one of those places that you could really see how much the terrain had changed in just a few days. Ahead were clearly rolling hills and even some mountains behind them. Allison and I took guesses as to which of the hills we’d eventually have to climb. But for now we had a short and pleasant walk down hill into the village.
Pilgrim sustenance Almost Pilgrim sustenance.
Farther along we came to Clairvaux Abbey. It is worth visiting if you have time and plan ahead. Unfortunately we did not factor the time it would take. We spent about an hour walking around the existing walls and learning about the Abbey’s history. It was built by the Cistercians and at one time had 1000 monks living there in strict silence. For all those history buffs out there, it is worth the research. I should probably mention that there is a museum that gives tours but only in French and they are 2-1/2hrs long. Also…part of the grounds is an active prison. You can thank Napoleon for that. I actually took a bit of video and pictures there – but it wasn’t very interesting – its included in the compilation.
I think the Fig Newton like cookies we had with lunch increased our speed in the afternoon. We covered the remaining 11km in just over 2 hours. We are definitely buying more fig-filled cookies.
The descent into Cirfontaines En Azois was beautiful with rolling hills. Our hosts today are Miriam and Alain. They are delightful! We spent a couple of hours chatting in French with the help of google translate a few times. Mark was in heaven because they actually enjoyed his discussions about his work in the airline industry. Alain was particularly interested and amazed with the Insta360 camera. I don’t blame him. It still amazes Mark too.
Dinner was again amazing. We had a pate starter, ham & greens casserole, cheese and an apple pie …..and wine of course. Miriam and Alain gave us hours of laughs as we conversed in Franglish with lots of help from Dr Google. They are so kind and patient.
We walked a full 20mi today, most of it without shade on a day that ironically we had our first cloud-free day since arriving in France. We were blessed however with only moderately hot temps 84F.
Those roads!
Still, the sun exposure and the weight of the backpacks made the day tough for both of us.
The scenery was unchanging, great expanses of wheat, sugar beet, onions, and one sunflower patch stretched from horizon to horizon. The lack of trees allowed a slight breeze during the day but our water soon got warm. There’s nothing quite like drinking warm water when you are thirsty.
Lunch in the shade!
This should have been a 19mi day, but head down and steadily moving forward I missed a turn, one of only three that we had to make during the day. The rest of the day was on ancient Roman roads which are straight as an arrow and relentless.
Endless Roman Road!
Maybe I’m building it up too much. It wasn’t nearly as exciting as I’ve described so far.
Find the bunny
By the end of the day we were weaving from one side of the road to the other like drunken sailors as we instinctively sought even the tiniest piece of shade.
Never ending sunshine
Tempted to stick out my thumb
The last few miles were on a heavily trafficked asphalt road. By heavily trafficked, I’m talking about farm tractors towing huge flatbed trailers loaded with hay. These tractors were driven by teenage boys traveling at warp speeds along the 1-1/2 lane roads. We counted two sets of boys that passed us over 6 times with alternating empty and full loads.
A Welcome sign
We’d been advised in advance by our hosts that they would not be available until 7 pm. However to beat the heat, we did start out our regular time. Once we arrived at our hosts house about 4pm, we propped ourselves up against a fence in the shade across from their house to wait out the clock. To our relief and surprise the husband and grandson arrived at 4:15pm. However I don’t think they were expecting us. Graciously they let us in and we started the shower and laundry routine.
It feels so good to be clean after the tough day. I think we will sleep well. After showering a minor event took place that cemented in my mind that we’ve been on the road a while. This family graciously allowed us the use of their washing machine. So as we were gathering our clothes to be washed I started to put on my clean shirt … it reeked. After a while hand washing clothes in a sink with a bar of soap just doesn’t cut it. Luckily my last shirt stunk less.
It was a rough start for many reasons. For some reason, likely the microwave pizza we ate late for dinner, neither of us slept well. It was hard to get up and get moving. In fact despite getting up easily at 5:30am because we had a long day ahead, we didn’t leave the parish house until nearly 7am.
We began our trip today by walking through a marshland. And yes, it was incredibly muddy as well as buggy. The mosquitoes were everywhere! They especially loved Mark. I could see them landing on his clothes to nibble him.
Clearly in the near future, we will have to add bug spray to our list of must-haves. The last couple of days there has been a noticeable increase in mosquitoes. We are hoping to wait until Italy before we need to purchase bug spray.
We pushed ourselves really hard this morning or at least it felt like that. We had to take several short power breaks. Neither of us was feeling the groove, but Mark was struggling with some additional neck and back pain.
The majority of the day’s trip was covered prior to lunch, thank goodness.
Lunch. Really tired by this point.
The agricultural fields are beautiful, but it seems to be endless at times. The flat land seems to go on and on. Landmarks in the distance never feel like they get much closer. The walk can be discouraging at times.
We finally stumbled onto the campground! We were not sure that it even existed, but hallelujah it does! It is a really nice place too. We ended up renting the pilgrim camper for the night. I have no idea if this is a normal place or luxurious, but my observation so far is the French know how to camp. There are cabins to rent, a nice restaurant on the grounds, a bar on the grounds, laundry facilities, shower facilities that are way beyond clean, and even an indoor pool.
Cool architecture tower at Roupy
Finally arrived.
And yes, I did take advantage of the laundry facilities. A working washer and dryer are never something to be overlooked I have learned. The blessing of clean clothes is one of many little things I take for granted at home but not when walking long distances.
On the road. Ruins of Monastery of St Eloi on the horizon.
We started the day after a light breakfast. Our host, Jean, was so gracious to walk with us into a nearby town to find an ATM. He continued with us acting as tour guide for a bit before breaking off to head back to the chateau. Our route would eventually connect us back with the VF.
So after our trip to the bank and a quick stop for some groceries, we bid goodbye to our host and began our day of walking.
A friendly pal
We saw many interesting sights: fields of wheat and flax and green beans and beets and corn and sunflowers. We also saw the crumbling remains of the monastery of St Eloi, lots of cows and horses, and even some miniature ponies. Let’s not forget the cackling fowl: ducks, geese, chickens, quail and partridges. The rolling hills of the country side were beautiful especially against the ever changing sky.
Mr Hedgehog
At the head water of the Sainte-Bertille, just outside the village of Maroeuil, we stopped for lunch. The spot is the site of a 7th century miracle. Here, Bertille, daughter of Ricomer and Gertrude, was caring for the serfs and peasants working in the area. The nearby river Scarpe had dried-up in a drought. After prayer she struck the ground with her staff (similar to the story of Moses) and water sprung from the ground and flows to this day.
On the sight of this miracle there is a tiny chapel and some benches…a perfect spot for lunch.
Our lunch consisted of …drum roll…bread, ham and tomato all washed down with water. It was relaxing to kick off our shoes and “prop up the toes” while eating lunch. The main reason we stopped was because it was hard to hear anything over my rumbling tummy.
Routes to Rome (Via Francigena) and Routes to Santiago (Camino) go through this area. Note the VF trail and the Camino Shell and yellow arrow.
The walk into the town of Arras was uneventful. As we approached we called our contact at the Tourist Information Center. She was excited to talk with us about our pilgrimage, and she helped us arrange our arrival at the youth hostel in town. She was so eager to help us onward and even took the time to meet us around dinner. That extra measure of kindness really encouraged us.
Cat on a fourth story balcony.
Before we took dinner however, we strolled into the main square of Arras called the Place de l’heros. The history of this area is so interesting that I’ve included it in the History Bits page as it’s own entry.
We also stopped by a stereotypical French cheese shop. I know you can’t appreciate it without the wonderful smell, but a clip is included in our video compilation.
Flemish Architecture of Arras The squareTown Hall..underneath our feet is history.
Tomorrow we head south again along the VF and something tells me the surroundings will transform. Already we’ve left behind the chalky coastal area. We’re seeing more and more signs for WWI cemeteries and more war memorials. This area witnessed some of the bloodiest and terrible events of two world wars. The scars are evident everywhere.
<Allison> It was another short day of only 20.22km (12.6mi). For the first time in many days, the sun was shining as we started off. Sunshine is so much more inspiring than rain; although to be fair other than the one day, it has mostly just been on and off sprinkles. You know, just enough rain to require us to don and doff our rain gear several times during the day. Ironically, the cool rainy days have been when we have walked the farthest. Perhaps the rain is a motivation to hurry up and get the miles/kilometers done.
Even though we had coffee and eggs for breakfast before we ventured out, we stopped about one block down the street for croissants and coffee. Yummy! When you walk every day for long periods of time, you can justify the goodies whenever possible. Seriously, we struggle to keep up the calorie count – I know…lucky us.
As I was walking today, I thought about all the surfaces we have walked on. Today we must have hit almost all of them. Every time I thought about changing from my awesome but completely fashion-challenged convertible pants and into shorts, we would begin walking through a field of waist high wet weeds including nettles. France can certainly grow some healthy nettles. So,…long pants win for the day since some sort of leg and ankle protection is needed.
We also had fun walking through a swampy wood. It was here that we saw some suspicious signs to one side of the path. None of my French lessons included phrases like “nuclear waste dump” or “unexploded ordinance” but these signs were a bit ominous. There were no incidents as we stayed on the marked VF path. Every day is an adventure. Honestly, the signs probably meant something more benign like, “restricted area”, but the warnings were pretty clear in international symbols conveying “Hey You….Stay Out!”
<Mark> The only mildly interesting thing we saw – and I’m really stretching it here- were a few slag piles. This area was the coal mining Mecca in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Artificial hills of coal slags are scattered across the landscape. Most have reverted to nature, but their oddly unnatural shape (a steep solitary hill where the rest of the land is pretty flat) gives them away.
Little else to record, so here is a short clip about a slag heap!
We did walk past the village of Liettres. This village’s claim to fame is the invention of the game of Cricket. Who knew?
Walking along each day this seems to be a regular occurrence; little annoyances of pain that move around my body with no real effect other than to remind me that the miles are starting to accumulate. There’s no real pain – I mean it is all real- just minor in severity. It’s odd that it moves around, but perhaps that is just the nature of things.
<Later>. We’re staying at a farmhouse gite “The two lime trees”. They serve a farmhouse dinner, so we will enjoy that this evening. Other exciting news, another pilgrim is reportedly coming this evening. He or she will be the first other hiker we’ve seen this trip.
So on that subject of pain. It’s an odd thing, but just as we ended walking yesterday I started having an intermittent sharp hip pain. This morning it was still there. It would randomly zap me. “Well, this could make for an ‘interesting’ day!”, I thought. But sure enough, after the first hour it was gone. But by that time my left foot arch was aching. An hour later it it was my right knee, and the next hour my left shoulder hurt.
Our lodging for the night is at the Gite les deux Tuilles. It is a farmhouse. They have a beautiful garden.
The Gardens
This owner is retired and now raises racing pigeons…that’s right…racing pigeons. That’s a thing.
Anyway we viewed his prize pigeons and afterward had a delicious farm cooked meal of soup, roast pork, and vegetables with an apple tart for desert. Sooooooo good! Oh and we met our first fellow pilgrim. Dominiq (left) is walking to Reims.
This was supposed to be a long day, but we woke feeling a bit off (not sick or anything, but just still tired). Our packs just felt heavier today. It’s hard to explain.
Unfortunately this old windmill is a private residence. That would be a fun place to live.
Despite this, we marched on. After a couple miles, we ran across this Roman soldier. I have to admit I was momentarily depressed at how short of a distance we’d covered. It certainly felt like we accomplished more than this. Then I remembered we’d started in London and not Canterbury. It makes more sense now.
Bummer
Normally when we are dragging, it is the result of poor diet, not enough water, or just plain old hunger. We both admitted the lack of water the previous day could be the culprit, but just in case we broke into some leftover snack bars and dried apricots. Well, ….nope, that didn’t help.
Better look fast. These were gone in a moment. Soooo good.
There was only one thing to do…find a bakery for a chocolate croissant. Just our luck, few were to be found, but eventually we did find one. And oh, what a find! They had some eclairs that were outstanding. We shared one chocolate and one cafe’ flavored one. Wow! They were so good, in fact, that we devoured them and went back for two more. I’m telling’ ya folks, one of the great joys of walking these big walks is the ability to have two cream-filled eclairs with absolutely no guilt whatsoever!!
Mr. and Mrs Longshadow, good friends from our Spanish Caminos, joined us today!
Well satisfied and a little rested, the day got better from that point. We walked through the small town of Leulinghem. As we passed the church, a man in an adjacent yard hailed Allison to tell her that the church was open. The church of Saint Maurice was simple, but nice. It had a beautiful painting of Joan of Arc on one wall made by the monks in Wisque a few miles away.
Joan of Arc
By the way, at this church we discovered a website called Openchurches.EU It lists churches that are open for viewing and a little about them.
Funny story. The church was open but had a fence-like gate over the entrance (to keep birds and other animals out). This gate was meant to be closed when you leave. Allison however pulled the gate closed – clink – latch, uh-oh. The gate was now latched from the outside and we were locked in.
Looking around there were several skeletons lying around and I realized this was clearly a trap. <just kidding>. Although we couldn’t reach the latch with our hands, I was able to use the strap on our hiking poles to hook around the latch and release us! It was a McGyver moment – trust me.
After escaping from certain death, we decided to call it a short day having walked only 10.7mi and stop at the town of Wisques. Wisques has both a monastery and a convent (the Abbeys of St Paul and Notre Dame). The monastery accepts only male guests. The convent accepts only female guests but it also has a separate house for couples.
So after a morning of hills and chills (the wind was strong and chilly throughout the day whenever the sun went behind a cloud or we walked in the shade), we stopped by the Abbeye Notre Dame. We seemed to have arrived at lunch time and much to our surprise we were invited to sit down and eat. The food was simple but so good.
After lunch, we were escorted to our beds for the night in a separate house. We did our arrival routine (showers and washing) and sat in the sun relaxing in the quiet of the Abbaye. It was really nice.
Our room
We attended Vespers sung in Latin by the nuns (who you could not see of course). I don’t think I’ve ever attended a vespers service. It was beautiful, but also made me sleepy.
Vespers….it’s all about the music/prayer.Relaxing in the sun.
Following vespers we chatted with Sister Lucy and gave her a Key for the wonderful hospitality the nuns had shown us.
Sister Lucy and her Key.
Our evening ended with dinner. At lunch two lovely ladies from France had joined us. They were both spending several days at the Abbaye to find some peace in their lives. They helped as interpreters through the day, and we had some good and fun conversations. Elia and Chloe were spending today doing every thing the nuns were doing so they were very busy.
Well, we awakened to a thunder storm and heavy rain. By the time we’d packed up and headed out for the day it was a steady drizzle but no downpours yet. Farewell to the sea. We won’t see you again until Italy!
Because of the rain, we took few pictures. Luckily my camera is waterproof, and we did get a little video shot.
Walking in the rain does present one danger – wet feet. We’d each brought waterproof socks. Yep, they are a thing. The waterproof socks worked perfectly, and I do recommend them. Still Allison was having some discomfort with one of her feet. One of her shoes was really uncomfortable.
History was everywhere today. At one point we climbed to a peak containing intact WWII German fortification and got to explore. It was surreal to be inside the fortification. As you might expect it was built in a strategic location and peering through the embrasure, you could easily see the sweeping coverage over the valley. It didn’t take much to just close your eyes and imagine the lives of soldiers stationed here.
And then this happened…(perhaps we’ve discovered the source of the foot discomfort)…
Walking in the rain, isn’t as bad as it sounds. We have good rain equipment except for my iPhone cord (more later). Allison and I are new enthusiasts of rain pants and waterproof socks. What great inventions they are! We stayed dry all day, and we only got uncomfortable when we had to climb “steep” hills (which made wearing the extra layers too hot) and when the rain stopped and the weather temporarily warmed.
A brief respite from the rain during lunch.
Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all…I rather enjoyed it. I felt pretty good about the equipment we’d brought. Overall we were still on a high from making it to France.
In a shocking development it poured shortly after this picture was taken.
Unfortunately 90% through the day’s walk, my phone started to die. We use it often for navigation since the signage on the VF is not excellent. There are signs, but not at every intersection. Being hunkered up in rain gear likely allowed us to miss some signs as well.
Baby-chicks in a yard
Anyway, as the battery started to die, we attempted to plug in my phone to our backup battery. However the cable must have been quite wet because we received a warning message, and the phone wouldn’t charge. Who knew that a wet phone cable could be an issue?
We had to resort to our instincts and fortunately they were good. We made it to our lodging for tonight.
By the end of the day we’d made our way to the village of Guines. Speaking of that…we found a campground that offers free camping to pilgrims. Yeah us! Not to worry, we still supported the enterprise by patronizing the restaurant on-site. It was an odd kind of place – all decorated in cartoon medieval characters. If I was to guess, the campground is used as a children’s theme adventure. Despite the odd setting the food was hearty and quite good (picture enclosed).
Our home for the night.
Our lodging tonight is our tent. This campground is what our English relatives would refer to as “posh”. The place has individual small houses to rent, a heated indoor pool, a putt putt golf course, an exercise ground, playground, and a complete laundry facility. Someone has to live the hard life. We, however, just took advantage of our small plot of grass.
Before dinner we had made a somewhat long trek back into, through and out of town to find a supermarket that sold a new charger cord. We also bought some groceries. However the extra miles after a long day really wore us out.
PorkTagliatelle QuichesFruit and Ham saladDinner. Yum
As I’d mentioned, we had a long day, but before we could crawl into the tent, we took advantage of the campground washing and drying machines.
The great pilgrim joy…machine washed clothes!!
The campground was nice and quiet and we had no trouble going to sleep. I’m glad that we decided to bring our tent and camping gear although I’m really unsure that it will be worth the extra weight. But it was nice to camp today. One of our few luxury items were two inflatable insulated air mattresses. We have had these for about a year and they really increase the nights comfort.
So good night all, we’ve survived our first day of rain – I’m sure there will be many more, but in general we’re pleased. It was a good day.
The morning started off bright and early at 6 am after a less-than-perfect night’s sleep. Did I mention we weren’t staying in the “best” part of town…lots of parties and shouting at all hours.
Once awake, we quickly packed up and headed off on our bikes to the ferry. The day is quite gray but it is still dry outside. The passport control at the docks went smoothly and was timely. Our only hitch was that the on-line system with which I’d purchased our tickets, allowed me to purchase passage for multiple passengers but only allowed me to indicate a bicycle for the primary passenger. When we arrived this meant we had to purchase one additional bike pass at the last minute. It was good that it didn’t take long because we barely made it onto the boat before they’d shut the gate. Whew.
Parking bikes on a ferry apparently doesn’t happen every day. I am not sure the crew knew what to do with our bikes when we arrived. But we made it onboard. Next we headed upstairs for our breakfast. This reminds me of the ferry crossing I took as a child to travel to PEI.
Betcha medieval pilgrims didn’t get a full breakfast on their crossings…but we did.
“When we arrived in France ….”
I ask all our readers to stop here for a moment and consider all the obstacles in place that made the phrase above almost incomprehensible just a month ago. If there is ever hard evidence of my good friend Gerhard’s motto “Nichts ist Zufall” (nothing is random), consider this:
1) We had to each get results from 5 consecutive Covid PCR tests each within 24hrs after taking them. That’s 10 opportunities for “something” to go wrong.
2) All our flights, busses and trains and boats had to run on time.
3) In the 10 days since arriving in the UK, France had to lift its PCR test restrictions (there were no indications this was even in the cards).
4) France had to resist Germany’s call for tighter UK travel restrictions AND resist the urge to “retaliate” when the UK singled them out for tighter restrictions – almost unheard of.
5) We had to find bikes for sale after learning that the ferry would no longer accept foot traffic.
6). The one PCR test that got delayed ended up not mattering because France dropped their restrictions.
7) The one PCR test that got lost ended up not mattering because we took the chance for a 5day early release test.
8). I could go on ,…
But somehow we are in France.
Disembarking from the ferry was a real treat. We were directed to lead the way ahead of all the cars. I think the real goal was just get us out of the way. A pace-truck lead us out of the docking area. I think this must be because “Tourists smushed by cars leaving the Dover Ferry” probably makes for a bad headline.
Riding our bikes through the streets of Calais heading toward the center of town was an adventure. We found the Calais cathedral where we anticipated receiving our first stamp in France. But it did not open until 14:00 so we were not waiting around for that stamp. Next up we rode to the tourist office where we did receive a stamp in our pilgrim’s passport and they kindly took our bikes to donate to charity. You will all be shocked that our next stop was to purchase a chocolate pastry and a demi-baguette. The last chore was to find the local grocery to complete our lunch options.
Walking along the boardwalk in Calais was surreal but beautiful. Lots of open space, sandy beaches, a cool breeze, and togetherness. The coastline changed to cliffs fairly quickly with open fields and cows all around. Yes, I was actually glad to see cows and no sheep all day.
We left the shore for a brief trip up and inland as the Via Francigena climbed to the summit know as Le Blanch Nez (the white Nose). The sky alternated from blue to a misty white and the monument know as the Dover Patrol (commemorating the French and British patrols of WWI ) went in and out of view.
After peaking the “summit” and through the afternoon we passed relics of the Atlantic Wall – the German defensive system designed to make an allied landing difficult. To see the remains of these fortifications so intact was a chilling reminder of what a peaceful life I’ve lived.
The day ended as most days. The last kilometers into town always seem the longest. But we made it to our lodging in the touristy seaside village of Wissant (well worth a visit if you have the chance). We did the “shower and clothes washing thing” and walked about 10ft from our hotel for dinner.
And what a dinner it was. Of course being a seaside town we had to choose seafood and both dishes were tasty.
But the real star of the evening was dessert. Sorry England…France does desserts better – no offense.
We ended our evening with a quick stroll. There was a small carnival in town and we walked quickly through it and then had a romantic walk to the beach. It was a nice way to end the day.
Le blanch nezThe ups and downs todayWissant on the horizon Finally thereOur Day10
Well, today is our first day on the Via Francigena.
Because all the lodging at the midway point of Shepherdswell (Siebertswold) were either full or no longer in operation, we had to convert the first two short legs into one long leg of 21.3mi. So…we are sore and tired this evening as I write this entry from the port city of Dover England.
But first is the account of our day…
We woke to thunder and rain in the forecast. The forecast, however, varied dramatically depending on which service you trusted. One said cloudy but decreasing chances of rain; the other said thunder and even hail from 70-90% chance.
So we had our hotel breakfast and then packed everything into waterproof bags and stuffed them in our backpacks*.
Heavy Continental
Next we donned our full rain gear (rain pants, rain jacket, waterproof socks etc). We said our goodbyes to Madeline and stepped out into a drizzle and under rumbling skies.
Ready for rain
It was fun to be walking in full rain regalia for the first time, but it quickly got too warm. The rain tapered off after the first mile or two and we packed up the rain jackets.
The trail between Canterbury and Dover is clearly less travelled than earlier sections. It is marked well enough I suppose, but we never would have made it without GPS or a good map. At points we even reverted to dead reckoning when the proposed path took us diagonally across a newly plowed field. The tractor, I suppose, had obliterated any signs of the footpath. Folks, I’m not talking about a 2acre field here but an enormous one that took us about 15min to cross. (See video). Other times we were in chest-high hay, the path all but obscured in a sea of waving sheaves.
They got much bigger than this!
It was odd to be walking without Madeline. She’d quickly become a part of our routine. But the length of the day and the terrain would have made it very hard for her damaged toes.
We passed the cute church at Womenswold but it was closed and we couldn’t find the keys that were described as available. As a result we didn’t get a pilgrim stamp there.
We made it to the mid way point that is typically the end of the first stage, Shepherdswell, and stopped there on a shaded bench on the village green.
Shepherdswell is the perfect tiny village. The village green sits right in the center of town with the church across the street, the pub and inn across the green from the church, and a few small businesses. But what made it perfect was listening to a wedding service taking place while we ate lunch. Mark really wanted to be able to get a pilgrim’s stamp there but we could not crash the wedding ceremony. So far, no stamps for the day.
Near Ethorne we left a brightly lit field and entered into some gloomy woods. As our eyes adjusted do the dark we found and odd site. In the overgrow grass was a tall tombstone. It stopped us in our tracks because it was such a surprise to see. A few steps farther through the tall grass we found others and then many others. Clearly we were in a graveyard but the darkness of the wood and the unkept grass made it eerie. Soon enough an old parish church came into view.
Some of the trail markers we’ll be following for the next 90 days.
We had been thinking that it was a shame to have allowed the gravesite to be become so unkept. But then we saw a sign on the parish church board said that the gravesites were being intentionally left overgrown for a season to establish some environmental purpose and would be tended at the end of the summer.
Still the setting was apocalyptic. We took a moment to look at a few of the stones. One near the church entrance was particularly interesting for two reasons. The first was the inscription on the grave marker below. The second was the angle of the tree just above the grave i.e. horizontal trunk hovering inches above the headstone as if to keep it from rising!
A sad story.
Along the way we love to stop and chat with people we encounter. And today we were blessed to meet Nigel and Diane who are farmers. They enjoyed telling us that many years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury came to walk the Via Francigena trail. In preparation, the town had to spruced the trail up. Diane said it has never looked as good since. And Nigel jokingly added that even the grass was mowed because no one wanted the bishops’s cloak to get wet or dirty while he was walking. We had to say goodbye as we still had several miles to go or at least 4 miles.
Diane and Nigel
Finally, after cresting a little hill we could see Dover Castle. Dover is a steep city and after a long day it was a painful a downhill entry. To make life more interesting we had a little trouble finding our place of lodging at East Cliffs Road, Dover. We had to knock on a door to ask for assistance. The woman who came outside to help was not completely in touch with reality and wanted to know if we were reporters. My honest streak took hold and I said “no”. But I wonder what her reaction would have been if I said “oh yes”. She did point us in the correct direction. Another local couple helped us out by explaining that there were actually two East Cliffs Drives – an inner and an outer – who knew. Anyway, just around the corner the road continued and our place of lodging was just 3 buildings down.
Allison, ready for the runway in her “Rain-ready” line of fashion. Leaving Canterbury Our map called this “A Mansion” …and so it is. Our Day8
Climbing the steeps steps up to our room was pretty much torture to our aching body parts. Our host Narata was very kind. She is from Lesotho and was sweet enough to wash our laundry for us. We will have to hang dry but that is better than smelly clothes. The little blessings are certainly adding up.
I know this is getting to be a long post but the evening just ended with a bang. Narata just knocked on the door brining up our twice spun clothes. She was also carrying tea service including some chocolate cake she had made. She said, “I know what it is like to be a pilgrim. I wanted to do something for you like I always wished for.” – Wow. Mind blown.
Narata’s Gift. I’m almost without words.
* For this pilgrimage neither of us brought pack covers. We’ve found they just don’t work well. If you are interested in what gear we brought with us, check out our Gear Review below:
“Up and down the Downs through woods and fields” pretty much sums up our morning. We’d left The Bull after accepting a gift of picnic sandwiches for our lunch and we made good progress through the warming and humid day.
Serene morning
After crossing the Medway (at Peter’s Bridge – irony), a major obstacle for both ancient and medieval pilgrims, we took a shortcut that avoided yet another trip up the Downs but carried us along major roads. It was harrowing! The cars were zooming past in close proximity. However I did find that if I stuck my hiking pole out a few inches cars gave me a wide berth. I think some odd thought process goes through a driver’s mind – “Ah, there is a hiker. Hikers are soft. I’ll try not to hit him, but I can get pretty close without too much damage.” vs “Oh wow, that hiker has his pole sticking out into the road. That could scratch my car! I better move way over.”
Willow branch fencing
The first chalk cliffs we spied
At a divided highway we really needed to get of onto a side path but none were available and we had a precarious 10 minutes of hugging the nettle infested hedges as cars flew by. Actually most of the cars slowed and moved over as best they could to give us some room….most.
Enjoying the view from the Downs
An opening appeared and we quickly dodged into a field that just happened to be a vineyard. Finding a bit of shade we stopped to enjoy our lunch. I had been give a hearty brie sandwich and Allison a ham sandwich. As is our habit, Allison and I swapped lunches halfway through.
Not Stonehenge Tree ArtI just think Snodland is a funny name for a town.HollyhocksSt Mary of a urbanKentish WinesGrapes and Rain approaching!Hand in Hand
Four miles from our evening destination, thunderstorm clouds began appearing. Three miles away we saw rain in the distance. Two miles away the skies let loose but we trudged-on like true pilgrims. Actually we had few options. One mile from our destination we scampered into the Cock Horse Pub – drowned rats coming in from a storm.
<musings from inside the pub> The Cock Horse is a typical English pub. It has a white plaster exterior and inside the floor has 8 or 9 steps all less than 2in high. The bar is well stocked and the proprietor stands behind the taps and despite our appearance welcomes us in. Instantly the oak floor, stained with hundreds of years of life, is soaked by 3 pilgrims.
We ordered two bitter lemons (lemonade to us Yanks) and tap water. Despite our drenching we were thirsty from the days walking.
In the corner is a young family having dinner; in the other are two friends chatting over a beer. The latter strike up a conversation with us, curious what we were doing walking in a storm like this. Like most people, these two were shocked to hear Rome as our destination – at first disbelieving us, next thinking they’d misheard and finally staring slack-jawed at the thought. Honestly, I still feel that way too sometimes. <end musings>
The rain started to ease up, and assured that we only had a mile to go, we said farewell to the Cock Horse. No sooner had we thrown on our soaked packs and stepped outside when the skies let loose with round two. We hesitated, and I think we all thought about going back inside, – but we just couldn’t. Not only did we want to get to our lodging up ahead, but we just couldn’t soak the floors of the pub a second time.
So on we plodded down a small a lane. The oncoming traffic tried miss the puddles and thus avoid splashing us with muddy water, but it was impossible. With each car that passed another sheet of dirty storm water lifted itself from the road and coated us again. Not that it mattered. You can only get 100% wet. The storm had brought a chill to the air. At first it was welcome. There’s few things worse than wearing rain jacket in the heat. But in that last mile it got just a little chilly.
Needless to say, we made it safe and sound. We’ve all showered and our room is filled with clothes and packs hanging from every conceivable object. Life remains good.
What a beautiful morning following the River Darent through small villages and peaceful meadows. THIS is more like it.
First a catch up story from last night. The proprietress at The Fulwich gave us a nice gift. Our rooms were so hot from the days sun. We have asked if she had any fans available. “I do, she replied, but they are not assembled.” We were able to assemble them we replied and we’d do so after dinner.
After our rather extravagant dinner at the Turkish restaurant Efes, we came back to the Fulwich to find our host had gone ahead and assembled the fans herself. What a kind act and it made all the difference in cooling the room and allowing us to sleep.
4miles in….time for some breakfast!
The kindness didn’t stop last night. We stopped for coffee and a breakfast Turners Cafe at South Darenth. It was great timing for a good coffee and breakfast fare. But with our packing back up we accidentally left without paying our bill. Miles later this fact occurred to me and we immediately phoned them to apologize and arrange a payment over the phone. “Not to worry” they replied, consider it our gift to you on your long walk. Yet another blessing.
We took a detour into Eynsford for a pilgrim stamp at a local shop and enjoyed watching the children play in the water near a beautiful old bridge. At Eynsford we ran across a beautiful old church with an arched brick entry way lined with fir trees. The entrance to the church was of particular beauty…particularly to a woodworker like me.
Church at Shoreham
Gate to the Church at ShorehamEntrance to the Church at Shoreham Trees at the church at ShorehamRailway BridgeFarningham Farningham
The next stage toward Otford took us past a beautiful lavender field bursting with color. The beauty was only disrupted by the growing heat. We’re well into Kent now and this huge agricultural region is covered in hops, wheat, rape, corn, in addition to garlic and lavender.
WheatHopsLavender
We met a wonderful couple as we left a Roman Villa historical site. They chatted with us a bit and told us about their adventure. See the video below.
Judith and Paul’s Story
Lunch at Otford was a nice break; I have to admit I have been feeling the heat today. The pack seems heavy; I mean, it is heavy and has grown since we’ve left since I’m carrying the food supply. It’s what we do and I’m sure that’s not the issue, it is just the heat today, and Day 3 is always tough.
Signs likely not found in the USAFlora of Kent
After Otford everything changes. The route we’ve been taking joins the north Downs Way and makes a steep climb up to the Downs. Gone are the villages and you on a series of hills and pasture land. The soil changes to chalk and temperature goes down about 1 degree… but at least there is a nice breeze.
A major change as we join the North Downs Way “follow the acorn”
The view from the Downs“Cart Pony”
Martin: Proprietor of The Bull- awesome dinner. Mushroom Tagliatelle recommended with a wine suggested by this owner/sommelier.
Today was long – 19.4 miles and my feet felt it. The heat created some minor chafing issues but easily managed. The shower tonight felt exceptionally wonderful. We ended in Wrotham (pronounced Root-em) at a lovely pub – The Bull – and treated ourselves to a nice dinner.
May I introduced you to a “friend”…actually an enemy… the Stinging Nettle. Although we have them in the US they aren’t common in NC where I live. In the UK however they are prolific. They give you a sharp sting when touched and the sting lasts about 7min. It’s painful but not overly so.
Unfortunately we have to walk through fields of these sometimes. Ouch!
The NettleOur path is right through these nasties!
Ok. So we’re staying in a pretty nice place tonight, but we’re still pilgrims.
Our nice four poster bed with drying laundry hung from the testers.
Well that’s it for today. Thanks, in summary, enjoy my first attempt at a collage video. Tell me what you think.
Yesterday we completed 1/100th of our entire pilgrimage! It’s not much of a milestone but it is a milestone nonetheless, because every journey must have a start.
After a fabulous night’s sleep in the Travel Lodge in Woolwich we hit the sidewalk/pavement at 7:15 am. This takes some getting used to for someone who prefers a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. Winding our way through the city streets alternating with some nice shady wooded areas, and commons* was a pleasant change from the fast fading London bustle.
The Bostell, Lesnes and Franks Woods
We eventually found ourselves following a trail along the river marsh area to our left. Unfortunately a very ugly industrial area was on our right so basically, we just kept looking to the left!
The day felt hot and muggy to us. I can only imagine how poor Madeline felt. It seems to be an unwritten rule that when we decide to begin a pilgrimage the temperatures must take a drastic rise. That makes all our friends want to come hike with us, right?!
Old Post Box
Currently we are enjoying a beer and juice in the Tiger pub in the little town of Dartford. Pub life is a beautiful thing in England. I love that the locals are cheering-on formula one races.
For us we are just enjoying the cool air inside and out of the sun. We are finally cooling down.
The proprietress at our lodging is just wonderful. She is fun to chat with and very helpful. Our rooms are little, but wonderfully clean plus a mini fridge and microwave. These may sound like simple things but part of being a pilgrim is living simply. Small unexpected things like these when you’ve booked very economical lodging is a treat. This, The Fulwich is an economical price pub/hotel that we’d highly recommend for someone satisfied with simplicity.
A very boring shot…but this is what we do!
How to summarize today? Well, honestly it wasn’t the best of days in terms of scenery or history, but even the mundane is part of pilgrimage. The woods and commons were nice and the few times in the afternoon that we found shade were wonderful. For example, we sat under a tree adjacent to a shopping center adjacent to a busy road for lunch…but it was nice because of the shade, a nice breeze, and lunch. Simple pleasures.
The Fulwich, our Bed for the Night
Tomorrow will be a tougher day. We have to cover over 18miles to Wrotham. We plan on an early 6am start to help beat the heat but we will still end up walking well into the afternoon regardless.
* a Common is an open grassy area that is reserved for the public. Originally these were “common” areas whereon anyone could graze their sheep.
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