Day 23 La Storta to Rome St Peters

21 kms to Rome
19 kms walked today( I'll explain)
520.5 kms walked!!!!! Finito

Today was a messy walk

The first 7 kms was along an arterial road, swapping from side to side to get a footpath or shade. This can be a scary process. Then we entered a Regional Park for about 5kms. Don't think manicured lawns or walking track through nature. Think derelict buildings, dumped rubbish, blackberry brambles and wasteland. But also think 🦊

A flock of 🐑 with shepherd, one border collie .

and two maremma's

We then entered city streets, past a few gypsy style appartment buildings then up an extremely steep 50metres to a working class area and a welcome bar stop surrounded by the always present old men sitting and chatting (without drinks).

We then entered more affluent areas with cafes and shops in chaotic streets. We passed the Scottish women at a cafe and pressed on as it was already HOT.

It was here that we made our biggest error of the walk 😂. We were meant to enter Monte Mario Park for about 6kms but by missing a turn we descended through the park on a busy road with no footpath (walked in by wire fences) and surrounded by litter of all types and sizes. We then had to navigate across a highway and slip roads to get back to the Via Francigina. So we missed the views of Rome from the park and saw Rome's underbelly.

The silver lining in all this was we saved over two Kms of expected walking. We then navigated about three kms of suburb to arrive without further incident.

Alive, uninjured highly satisfied and tired but

Still smiling

No one game to guess eh!

Hint
The ancients would have turned it off

PS I would love to know about our American readership. Do we know you? If not happy to do introductions and answer any questions.
Leave us a comment!
Ross

Day 22 Campagnano di Roma to La Storta

41 kms to Rome
23.1 kms walked today
501.5 kms walked so far

Nearly there and a photo to prove it.

Today was the last of the rural walking as we finish in an outer suburb of Rome. The walk was uneventful. No sign of any of our earlier companions. The only walkers we saw were a group of 4 Scottish women, walking the last 120kms which is the minimum needed to get their certificates.

Our room for the night was in a convent attached to a school and another large building in a complex with high walls. We entered with a little uncertainty as it was not signposted well. In the reception a tiny nun sat behind a huge counter. She telephone someone and advised that dua Pellegrini's (pilgrims) were here. She immediately returned to other duties and we waited, and waited and waited. After ten or fifteen minutes another tiny nun arrived.

She smiled warmly and spoke English fairly well. What followed created the longest check in in history. She asked us where we were from. Her sister lives in Bankstown. She showed us the best route into the city, she endorsed our pilgrims passports, she made us a coffee and tea, gave us water, told us about breakfast and after close to an hour, showed us to our room.

Several times she said finito before remembering something else and apologising for her English repeatedly. She was very welcoming in a very natural way.

The room was clean neat and cool in a hallway that reeked of silence and tranquility. 

When we left the grounds and went into La Storta we found the opposite.

We were assaulted by heat, traffic and garbage. This was a most untranquil suburb, dominated by cars and garbage.

The Italians do rubbish like experts. They usually don't have household bins but community ones. This is very efficient but a disaster when capacity is overloaded as it is seen as the towns problem as rubbish piles higher and higher. We frequently saw very large (metres high) piles of small plastic rubbish bags.
I wish there were less humans but
Still smiling

Day 21 Capranica to Campagnano di Roma

76 kms to Rome
16.8 kms walked today
478.4 kms walked so far

Leaving Capranica used a method of travel that may not exist in Australia.
But I'll drop that crypic line of conversation. I walked in sandals and socks today and felt closer to Clare's pommie relatives. It worked well to protect my blistered toes but needed to much concentration to avoid stones from the path.

We passed more deserted farmhouses.
These have been a constant companion. Some are quite substantial buildings deserted recently whilst some may be decades or possibly centuries old. We have thought possibly casualties of wartime depopulation or possibly farm consolidation.

We had nearly fifteen Kms today with no villages and so we went to an Alimentation to buy some food for lunch. They clearly like their wine.

Still smiling

Guess, help and more

Clue - this was our next photo

Also

Guess what you get in a Dill Salad

       

Dill

Animals

A deer and a wild boar ( for •5 sec) each.
Two live and 3 dead snakes.
A stoat - possibly a baby.
Many cuckoo sounds
Two hares
A woodpecker hole with chicks

Capranica - Deliverance or Deliverance!

We arrived at our B&B about a kilometre out of town. Right at the deserted factory, up the dirt track, passed the enormous piles of rubbish in individual plastic bags.
The gate was closed, an intercom button at the side almost covered in weeds. The gate began to open so we hesitantly, walked in. Three cars were randomly parked in the dirt. One may have been derelict, they were all past their prime. A young man walked from the house and greeted us. He was obviously a little uncomfortable. He gave an order to a teenage girl who disappeared around the house.
A dishevelled older man hovered in the background.
What were we in for!
The property looked like it had been decaying for twenty years.
Once a proud country residence, now clinging to a memory. Down crumbling steps a large swimming pool had a hose running. It would be full in about a week. Statues of gods surrounded the pool, moss covering the marble.

Our room was up a narrow staircase, our packs just filling the available gap.

The room was Spartan but airy, towels threadbare, air conditioner without a controller, duress button near the door.

After ✋ ing over our passports we collapsed on the bed (our usual, exhausted, practice).

We had originally arranged to eat dinner here as the walk back to town seemed somewhat daunting.

Now I had visions of being drugged by the deranged father or handed food that would send us to a bad place.

Instead being Deliverance the movie, it turned out to be deliverence the reality.

We emerged after our hot refreshing showers to the offer of beers on a courtyard overlooking the pool. The young man (son) had disappeared and our host was the father who spoke French happily with Clare.

Dinner was a home cooked feast.

The daughter and father cooked in a large outdoor clubhouse. We were offere beer or wine and asked to sit to a plate of Bruschetta and a plate of soft white cheese and sliced tomatoes ( both delicious). A basket of bread was also on the table.

Next came a large bowl of pasta.

Spaghetti with basil and hazelnut pesto. Was this "prima", we had eaten to much with a set menu at the festival the night before, so we were cautious. Yes, secondi arrived in the form of grilled pork steak and green salad. Next came a bowl of 🍑 and coffee. All delicious - Wow!!

Our host was clearly delighted to help us. Breakfast was plentiful and personal, the bill was a very pleasant surprise, and then he drove us to a great spot directly on the route. We parted with handshakes and photos. Happy all round.

Still smiling

Guess!

What do you think this is.

Clue (criptic) - we both needed it today and it was a real downer.

Day 20 Ventralla to Capranica

92.6 kms to Rome
12.6 kms walked today
421.6 kms walked so far 

I know why the Romans wore sandals.
I borrowed Clare's "apre walk" sandals and covered todays quite brief walk with 50% of the angst. 

We met a Czech couple in their 20's today, also walking to Rome.
No sign of the two French women though we assume they are ahead of us each day. They stay at refuges and cook there when possible so we tend to see them as we both wander in the old towns. 
We said goodbye to a Danish couple yesterday who were off to their 🏠 in the Italian Alps for some walking. No sign of the German father (70's) and daughter, from several days ago, who were also walking to Rome.
Tonight is a B&B one kilometer out of town, who also do dinner. There is no menu so I'll let you know how that goes.

Saw this tree in Capranica, would suit our courtyard, anyone know what it is?

Still smiling

Day 19 Viterbo to Ventralla+4 (a tale of two cities)

110 kms to Rome
22.3kms walked today
409kms walked so + extras

We love walking in the shade and our host advised us to take an alternate pilgrim route out of Viterbo.
This magical route took us along an ancient road cut into the rock of the surrounding countryside. Running on and off for maybe 5 kms it was sometimes encased in 6 metres of roadside rock with oaks etc providing deep shade from above. We believe the road was a gradual erosion job, aided by cartwheels, water and man tidying the sides as it got deeper.

We got to Ventralla in the heat of the day and took refuge in a bar/ kiosk/ icecream shop for an hour (red beer is nice)
Refortified and five degrees cooler in mind we headed off for the final 4.5kms to our Farmstay B&B.
The first kilometers, walking on the main road showed Ventralla to be a noisy dusty unpleasant town, dominated by the motor car. The remainder, on quieter roads with some shade, passed pleasantly.
Our host farmed 40 hectares of hazelnuts. He didn't know the English word so he said " for Nutella" and we instantly knew.
That night he kindly took us into Ventralla for their flower festival. The old town came alive and we saw a completely different town.

The Punch and Judy show had kids enthralled and their were bands, stalls and food of all kinds. Motorcars were banned!

The street came alive slowly from 8pm and was nearly full when we left at 10pm. Our Trattoria let us have a table as long as we were finished by 9.30 when it was booked for the main sitting.

Still smiling

Day 18 Montefiascone to Viterbo

128 kms to Rome
18.2 walked today
386.7 walked so far

Montefiascone was quite a sights we walked out of town and down to the plain.

The walk was pleasant and uneventful until we started traffic dodging about 3kms out. There were no bars etc on the way so we bout some fruit, a breakfast yoghurt and sandwich and some emergency chocolate. I limited myself to 1.5 litres of water. We stopped twice under trees in the deepest shade we could find.
The path today included about a kilometre of Roman road. This was a back road of intact basalt cobblestones used by people and even some cars.

Viterbo is a large town with an old town with churches from the tenth century. Lots of locals promenading and buying gelatoes at 6pm.

Only one more blister (a good trend)

Still smiling

Day 17 Bolsena to Montefiascone ( Pride cometh before.....)

146 kms to Rome
17.6 walked today
368.5 walked so far

Today was an easy day
17.6 Kms along the lake
Gentle up (600 m total)

Now reality and pride bites
It would be hubris to call it hubris
Nothing that grand 
My feet hurt. I now have  2 more blisters.
Today I had no energy.

Tomorrow  I will drop to 1.5 litres and no fruit ( saving 2 kg). We are leaving 45 min earlier and Clare is redoing all my bandages. I love her soft expert touch.
Tomorrow will be fine.

Back to today

Our hotel was rather nice and right on the lake. The photo was breakfast. Dinner was even quieter. 😀
The walk to Montefiascone varied from farmland to escarpment to woodland paths. Very nice, and 18 Kms was just the ticket for a broken down old thing (myself not Clare).

Must be mad
Still smiling

Day 16 - Nothing to fear? Aquapendente to Bolsena

168.8 kms to Rome
22.1 walked today
350.9 walked so far

I woke this morning with a sore left knee (yes! That knee!)
Not the usual swollen ache, the antiinflammatory tablets seem to control that. This was different, structural, specific - scary.
I could take less water or post on some stuff (maybe 2kg)
I could send on my whole pack.
I could catch a bus
Maybe this was the end. What would happen if I couldn't do long distance walking anymore ( with Clare)

Nothing for it
I went downstairs to breakfast and with food in my stomach, I took another antiinflammatory.
With fear and trepidation we set off.
We proceeded to set land speed records (5.1 kph) for the next two hours to coffee and cake  -    easy!!!!
My knee (s) legs etc and Clare's worked like well oiled machines.

Nothing to fear but fear itself!!!!!

The walk was pleasant.
A little cooler 15-25, walking through fields of wheat, barley?, Sunflowers, corn, 🥔 acres of them, a crop with black seeds twice the size of poppy seeds and of course grapes tomatoes and olives.
We arrived in Bolsena, a playground for the not so rich, on an enormous lake.
After promenading along the shoreline we bought our beers and wrote.

First view of the lake

 View to Bolsena Castle from lake

Still smiling (and walking)

Day 15 Radicofani to Aquapendente

200.9 kms to Rome
21.2 walked today
328.8 walked so far

We have another suicide day  (32kms) and so are taking drastic steps. The tourist information man is on the roof. His booth is shut because his internet is broken.
The bus to somewhere takes 4hrs via other places. We are sitting at the Bar watching. Wife and child waiting outside. Father (our saviour) holding the ladder.

We are sitting at the Bar watching this family effort and wondering what to do.
When he makes the mistake of comming down  and opening his booth to test his new antennae, Clare pounces!!

5 minutes later Clare returns to her beer proudly announcing that the father will drive us to a junction at the bottom of the mountain at 7am the next morning.
Isn't she wonderful!

We have a cottage in Radicofani which is wonderful. For breakfast we buy oat flakes and blueberry yoghurt. We are a little over coissants.
The town is off the main tourist circuit but very charming, and full of cyclists doing long distance tours.

With a ten kilometers headstart we make it to our hotel about 2pm after a very pleasant day on quiet roads mostly in shade. The countryside is beautiful.

At about 12.30 the first French woman , Marie, overtook us. She had left at 7.05 with no 10 kilometers lift. Amazing!

2 more blisters

Still smiling

Day 14 San Quirico to Radicofani

202 kms to Rome
19.4 walked today
307.6 walked so far

We have been taking survival lessons from the French and Germans.

You have met the French ladies who can walk over mountain ranges before breakfast. The Germans are a father (70 something) and his fiftyish daughter. We all walked yesterday together, passing each other as we took pit stops. We seem to be the final six heading to Rome as everyone else we have met has stopped at Sienna.
Over coffees and beers during and after the days walk we had all agreed that the following days official route of 32.2 kms with a 600m final climb was suicidal and steps needed to be taken. We all agreed that the local 7.21 to somewhere could drop us at somewhere 14kms into the official route at the only point where the road crossed our route.
This was sensible!!!!! (Luke)
The only other arrangement that needed to be made was to ask our host if breakfast was possible at 6.30.
Our hosts had been amazing, being helpful in every way and our room in their house was picture perfect. Every wall was covered in cultural knick knacks. To our relief a 6.30 breakfast was fine. When we arrived home after dinner the house was full of cooking smells and we had thought this would be a home cooked breakfast in keeping with everything else.
We needn't have worried over the early breakfast as their was no preparation needed. Everything was out of a packet.
Packet - coissants, jams, milk, cakes. No bread, cheese, yoghurt, ham or fruit.
We left quickly and were early for the 7.21.

Day 13 Ponte-d'Arbia to San Quirico

232 kms to Rome
 30.4 walked today
288.2 walked so far

I promised to tell you about the dinner with two French ladies, but you can wait can't you.

We left at 6 from the hostel with no breakfast from a town with nothing open. Luckily we wanted some early miles before brekkie. At 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) we hit the delightful town of Buonconventi with an open pattisserie, not bad for 6.50am on Sunday. Honey and custard croissants downed with cafe Americano followed by cappuccino 😀😀
Then followed a long walk (14km) till lunch. If possible we are not carrying lunch or all our water but only if we know we can buy on the route.
Our final 8 kilometers was mostly uphill and Clare has decided uphill walking in the heat is best left to others.
Although we have never cheated ( Luke) we have decided to be creative with any days over 30kms or on excessively hot days.
Changing the subject
Our dinner was delightful.
Sharing with four we cooked pasta with ratatoue. Cheeses and cold meats with crusty bread and red wine. One of the ladies spoke good English and Clare really does understand a lot of French.
They were walking warriors in their fourth week and planning two more to Rome. They met on this walk in hostels and they walked separately (fasttt) and usually met for dinner.
They thought Trump was a dangerous idiot. They both overtook us at some stage during today.
Knowing no French, I listened, ate, smiled and washed up.

The countryside is beautiful

My blisters are improving

Relaxing with nothing to do except read drink and write.

Still smiling

Day 12 Sienna to Ponte-d'Arbia

283 kms to Rome
25.2 walked today
257.8 walked so far

Today was to reach 32 and so we planned another 6am exit and achieved 5.50🙂.
We had scouted the likely stops and decided that coffee at 8.5kms was the only prospect. Leaving the central square the night before there were maybe 2000 tourists. At 5.50am on Saturday there was a photographer with tripod, 4 cleaners and a group of maybe 15 students who hadn't seen a bed.
The city was silent and the countryside misty. We were greeted with a beautifully chilled air. Just as well to as Clare was on a mission to beat the heat. Stops went to plan
1 coffee shop at 8 kms
2 ditch by the road ( shaded with a stone wall for our backs at 12kms
3 park bench at 16kms ( ritzy eh!)

Today we are staying in a pilgrim hostel (our first) it is verrry basic.

We have met two French women pilgrims who say this is a good one🤔
Thinking about this we agree - there are 4 rooms not one big dorm, hot shower, good kitchen, so signs forbidding clothes washing in basins and plenty of racks to dry clothes😉
We have sat in the local bar terrace (which seems to act as a town square)
doing our daily clerical work for the past few hours. We had planned to descend on the towns only cafe for a pizza but we have now been invited to cook pasta with the two French pilgrims. I'll keep you posted.
Still smiling

Day 11 and 12 Sienna

The rest of the walk to Sienna was on local roads so there was some ducking of cars. We had a 1.6km stretch on a busy road with no footpath. We walked fast for that section (Fitbit says just over 6kph as against our usual 4.4kph).
After about ten kilometers we stopped for coffee and cake at a Trattoria/ B&B. An Italian couple were having breakfast with their three year old who was putting on a performance until the owner arrived with a ten litre tub of Nutella.
The walk into Sienna took forever.
At this stage I should admit that I am not at my best on the final stages of a walk. I need to know exactly how far to go. Delays are not met with resilience unless I prepare myself. Our Fitbit GPS said we had walked the requisite kilometers as we entered the old town. The problem is we were at the other end of old town (1.5 kilometers away) NOT HAPPY JAN. When we found the door a paper sign said reception would be done at a travel agents (address included) Vesuvius had not quite reerrupted when we realised it was ten metres down the street.
We are staying a day in Sienna so I will add a photo or two. Not to many cathedrals though ( I overdosed as a kid and am still detoxing)
The Duomo is amazing

And the central plaza with the government building and tower are pretty special.

Mostly though, we moved from cafe to bar to trattoria to cafe etc observing the locals and tourists and writing blogs and journals.
Sienna is a dirtier city than Lucca and I think it has more Americans to Luccas Brits. There are hoards of tourists eating and drinking and generally wandering.
We also researched the walk to Ponte Abbadia and how to actually get out of the city. Sienna old city is huge so we did a trial run  (a 2 km walk) before moving to our next bar stool (metaphorically).

Day 11 Abbadia-a-Isolia to Sienna (PS the author has had a beer)

315.3 kms to Rome
19.7 kms walked today
232.6 kms walked so far.

The pub with no beer was also a B&B with no B.
I am being unkind. The nicer the place we have stayed, the later the breakfast starts. It also seems to be a law of nature that the later you start walking,the longer the walk takes.
So, we ask for a breakfast pack and miss the feast that 🌟 ts at 8.30.
Instead, we eat the pineapple yoghurt, banana, chocolate cake and Nutella crackers and head out at 6am.
At 7am we breached the walls of Monteriggioni.

The defenders had fled before us. We found a deserted town square, three coffee shops with their chairs stacked

No Romans, Etruscans or Italians.

A few minutes later an elderly Italian lady appeared ( she must have been to old to flee) and openned a coffee shop. We descended upon her before she could raise her drawbridge. Armed with only English and a little local currency we negotiated coffee and yesterday's croissants.

A few minutes later two Aussie walkers appear and also siezed coffees from the hapless Italian.

The town appeared to have been raised by a previous invader leaving only the main street and the walls intact

The Aussies advised us that the walls were barricaded until 9am and the advantage gained by breaching the barricades was definitely not worth the delay or the gold needed.

Our orders were to enter Sienna that day and so we acted on their intelligence and ( fortified with caffeine) pressed on to Sienna.

Definitely

Still smiling

Our first Farmstay ( Agriturismo)

What no beer!!

Sound like a dinkum Aussie don't I.
We arrived at the open padlocked back gate of a large vineyard. No one answered the buzzer or the phone and it was a 1500m walk to the front gate.
We are only 80% sure it is our Farmstay and their may be dogs.
Tense negotiations occurred between the tired, hot travellers.
Another phone call settled nothing as a man asked if we were at reception and understood nothing else.
An impasse ensued
Magically - the phone rang
A lady with better English eventually understood and with joy in our heart we slipped the padlock and commenced our 50 metre journey.

A pool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Much wine!!!!


Our host advised us that they could only sell what they produced and so no beer and no dinner menu.
Yes we have cheese and Aqua frizzante, and for dinner we can do a plate of local produce with our wine.
We were two kilometers from a trattoria and so we said YES.

When we arrived their was a large consignment of luggage in the foyer but no guests. I suspected that our multinational rucksackless ladies would bounce up the drive a few hours later. In fact it was 3 sixty something American couples with day packs arriving in a minibus from the end of this days Via Francigina ( 2 kilometers away). They spent a  two hours in the pool then joined us in the courtyard for dinner.
To our amazement they were served pasta, seafood and (possibly) beer.
Our host was a lovely chatty lady who was obvious aware of the mysteriously appearing menus.
She came to our table and sincerely apologise. They are with a tour company who insisted we provide these meals she said. We really aren't cooks but we had no choice, she said.

Our meal was delicious and we told her so!
The view from the balcony was also great.

in

PS I also enjoyed the pool😀

Day 10 San Gimignano to Abbadia-a-Isolia

335 kms to Rome
28.2 kms walked today
212.9 kms walked so far.

I am touching wood with both hands when I say that I may have turned the 🌽 er. With Clare's expert ministrations my blisters don't hurt as much and my legs felt strong this morning. We had a big day so we set out at 6am to beat the heat. We weren't alone however, as a look back at the town showed.

Stopping for a coffee and Aqua frizzante at about 11 we had a chat with 5 fellow pilgrims who we had seen on the trail before. They were 5 50 to 65's women from 5 different countries who worked together in Luxemburg. They were walking for a week. They were amazed at our story and especially that we were carrying all our luggage And that it was so little. Theirs was being bussed from stop to stop ahead of them. They guessed that we were Aussies only after exhausting all other English speaking nations.
With about 5 kms to go we caught our first site of Monteriggioni. You have to search the ridgeline.

Our stop that night was worth a mention in the next page

Still smiling