A pilgrim's world is a small world

In 2006 when I walked to Rome I discovered Ann Milner who was walking over 1600 miles (2800 kms) across 3 countries and 2 mountain ranges from Santiago de Compostela in Spain to Rome. Annie was behind us by a few weeks and didn't have the benefit of our 'Cryptic Clues' (Google translated Italian daily guides). I emailed her the guides a few at a time while she was walking, giving suggestions about accommodation on the way and finally in Rome. (Read more about this amazing pilgrim here.) http://www.walk2rome.fammaprojects.co.uk/

Ann and I have stayed in touch through email and through our blogs.

The other day Ann mailed me about some CPR business (Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome) and mentioned that she was off to walk a week on the Voie d'Arles from Oloron to Somport then Somport to Lourdes. I told her that I was leaving for Lourdes next week to walk from Lourdes to Spain and then on the Camino Ingles to Santiago, the Fistera route to Finisterre and would be a hospitalero in Corcubion for 2 weeks at the end of the week. I told her that I would be in Oloron on the 8th June.

This was her reply:

Sil I really cannot believe this! I arrive in Ororon on 8th June to start walking on 9th. After all this time we might meet!!
Send me a txt on 8th and let me know where you are. Am looking forward to seeing you hopfully in Oloron - what a blast! Unfortunately I am travelling all the way from England that day so will not arrive in Oloron til about 20:30. Still that will give us time for a drink no doubt!! Also I'm very interested that you are working in Corcubion. Last year I walked Santiago to Finisterre and met Judith Edward, a lovely lovely woman. I would love to work in Corcubion but my Spanish is far too limited. However last year I fell in love with that part of Spain and have promised myself I will walk Santiago to Finisterre to Muxia every year for as long as I am able!
Please say 'Hello' to Judith from me. I must email her. I will be walking the Camino Portuguese in September and will get out to Corcubion about 26/27 September.

I walked my first camino in May 2002. Ann walked her first camino in November 2002.

In 2006 I walked to Rome - Annie also did the Via Francigena in 2006.

In 2008 she walked from London to Assissi and then to Rome.

I walked the Camino Frances again in 2007.

Now this year we will finally meet in the south of France in Oloron Ste Marie.

Our paths have crossed many times - at different times - each following in the other's footsteps, now we get to meet!

Watch this space!

From Euro News24:
http://www.euronews24.org/italy/italian-news-web-help-for-medieval-pilgrim-route/

Rome, May 15 - Modern hikers following a medieval route once used by pilgrims travelling from Canterbury to Rome are to get an international web portal to help them en route. The new site will provide detailed guidance on the 1,000-kilometre Italian stretch of the Via Francigena, running from the Valle d'Aosta to Lazio. ''The portal will provide all the information currently available to pilgrims considering tackling this section,'' Florence Tourism Councillor Paolo Cocchi said. It will contain details on places to stay, services en route, places to eat and other information about the path. Cocchi also unveiled a series of national guidelines, aimed at ensuring the route offers more consistent services throughout its length. The route to Rome from Canterbury in southeast England meanders down through France, crosses the Alps near Aosta, then winds down through Parma to Tuscany before reaching Rome. The itinerary was first documented in the 10th century when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric the Serious, travelled to Rome to see the pope in order to be consecrated. Walking it took about three months. Few people nowadays are expected to do the entire length on foot but governments in Italy and France are keen to promote the old road as a vehicle for religious and cultural tourism. The success of Spain's Camino de Santiago pilgrim route, revived in the 1970s, prompted the idea of resurrecting the Via Francigena. Moves to clean up the Via Francigena began in the 1990s and a Via Francigena Association was set up in Fidenza, one of the towns on the route. The Via Francigena was designated a cultural route by the Council of Europe in 1994 and in 2007, then premier Romano Prodi unveiled the first of 1,544 signposts marking the way for modern travellers. Cocchi said work on the route was ongoing at a regional level but the main goal is to ensure hikers and cyclists can travel the entire length without any detours. Efforts are also under way to encourage more budget accommodation at regular intervals and move sections of the route away from heavily trafficked highways. Over three million euros has been invested in improving the trail over the last three years.

Omnes viae Romam perducunt - All roads lead to Rome

This walking holidays website has some good info on what to see when walking the VF from the Swiss Alps to Roma.
http://www.pilgrimroutes.com/italy.aspx
(Picture from the website)

"All roads lead to Rome' (Omnes viae Romam perducunt) - once upon a time this was not so far from the truth. In the Middle Ages pilgrims converged on the spiritual home of European christianity from all over the continent, upon arrival in Italy following the route that linked Rome with Canterbury - the Via Francigena, which, together with the Camino de Santiago, was the principal spiritual route of the great era of pilgrimage. We offer the entire route in eight manageable self-guided sections, each a week long. Guided group departures also available."

Distances for each section is about 120km.

Price: £675 per person based on 2 people sharing. Single supplement: £150

Included: accommodation in hotel**/***, hostels and agriturismo in double rooms with private facilities; bed & breakfast service; 6 dinners; luggage transfer; eventual transfer as described in the program; detailed description of the route and informative material.

Peter Robins posted this update on the Benevento-Monte Sant'Angelo. Details of the inaugural walk along the Cammino dell'Arcangelo on the AEVF site
http://www.associaz ioneviafrancigen a.it//default. asp?s=75& o=6725&c= 0

Pilgrim blessing at the beginning of each day, a simple meal at midday, and what's described as a "spettacolo musicale-teatrale- religioso" each evening organised by the locals. Sounds fun. I'm sure they'd be delighted to welcome people from outside Italy if anyone fancies going along. It seems the website will be www.camminodellarca ngelo.it - watch this space!

PS. The CAI's press release also confirms what Alberto was reporting: that they hope to open the rest of the route Rome-Benevento "in the near future".

Paris and Lyon to Jerusalem

PILGRIM OF EAST
Walking to Jerusalem
François-Xavier de Villemagne
Editions Transboréale
368 pages. 2003

6400 kilometers between Paris and Jerusalem from May to December 2000. This is the story of a journey through Eastern Europe, a path strewn with meetings, travel through time and space, an expedition on foot to Jerusalem . http://www.villemagne.net/

..........................................................................................................................

LYON - JERUSALEM A PIED !
Un pèlerin raconte...
José ROMAN
Edité à compte d'auteur
2ème édition - 128 pages.

Disponible chez l'auteur :
José ROMAN - 5, rue des Bleuets - FR-69720 SAINT-LAURENT-DE-MURE

Aventure de 6 mois de marche de Lyon à Jérusalem d'un pèlerin en compagnie de son chien.

FROM:
http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=57475

Charity tandem cycle ride to Rome sets off on Friday 13th!
Accountancy student with PEM Sean McCann and Jesus College student Peter Banks set off on their tandem cycle from Cambridge last Friday (13th March) – destination Rome. The pair are raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, East Anglia appeal to build a Teenage Cancer unit at Addenbooke's hospital, Cambridge.

This epic journey will take them approximately three weeks, and their route will take them down to Dover where they will catch the ferry to Calais, cycling through France, over the Swiss Alps and then finally to Rome following the pilgrim route Via Francigena.

Carrying all their camping gear, clothes and provisions on the bike within them, the pair who have been firm friends throughout their school years, will be camping and cooking for themselves while cycling around 80 – 100 miles a day whilst they aim to raise around £15,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust, East Anglia appeal. Following a “Bon Voyage” breakfast laid on by Sean’s employers accountants Peters Elworthy & Moore (PEM), who are sponsoring the boys, the pair were waved off on their journey by around 100 friends, family and colleagues.

Having been diagnosed with and treated for cancer at just 18 years of age, Sean knows only too well how the disease and its treatment affects every inch of life as a teenager. No longer a child, but then again not quite an adult, teenage cancer patients need a very different environment and where they can continue to be … just Teenagers. Says Sean, “It was very difficult both physically and emotionally coping with the disease and the radical treatment needed, but on a ward full of adults I felt isolated and wanted to be around people my own age. I just want to be able to support this fantastic appeal and give future teenage cancer sufferers the opportunity to be treated in a more suitable environment”.

Adds Helen Bearfield Smith of the Teenage Cancer Trust, East Anglia Appeal -“Teenagers are vastly different from children and adults and need to be treated in dedicated wards. A Teenage Cancer Trust unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge will give young people in East Anglia with cancer the support they need to help fight this terrible disease. We were delighted to be invited to Sean’s “bon voyage” breakfast and enlightened to see that Sean and Peter have the backing and full support of family, friends, colleagues and PEM whilst they raise money for this great cause.

Teenage Cancer Trust’s East Anglia Appeal has to raise £1m by the end of 2009 to ensure the project goes ahead and PEM is committed to supporting them in achieving their goal by hosting a variety of events and activities throughout the year. Adds Toni Munro, Head of HR at PEM, “Whilst the care Sean received from the staff at Addenbrooke’s was first class, Sean found himself on wards with older, sometimes terminally ill adults for long periods of time and this is not ideal. Sean has asked PEM to support him in his fundraising efforts so that in the future, teenagers with cancer can spend what is a very difficult time in their lives, in an environment conducive to being a teenager and we are delighted to help.

Peter continues “Seeing my friend suffer from Cancer was obviously very hard for me, so when the idea arose to raise money for a good cause of this nature, I couldn't say no. So now I've been roped into cycling half way across Europe - and I have to give up the beer and crisps!”

If you would like to sponsor Sean or Peter and help them reach their target for Teenage Cancer Trust’s East Anglia Appeal you can go straight to their justgiving page on www.justgiving.com/cambridge-to-rome-cycle or via the PEM website at www.pem.co.uk and visit events

Adds Managing Partner Paul Chapman, “We are delighted to be supporting this worthwhile cause and helping Sean to achieve his fundraising goal. We are however a little concerned that when they set off they looked at each other and asked “which way?” and the fact that it is Friday the thirteenth!'

*******

For further information contact Pippa Corbett on 01223 728288 or email pcorbett@pem.co.uk.

From Little Green Tracs: http://littlegreentracs.typepad.com/my_weblog/

The complete 2009 LightFoot Guide to the Via Francigena consists of three books:

Vol. One Canterbury to Besançon ISBN:978-2-917183-06-9

Vol. Two Besançon to Vercelli ISBN:978-2-917183-07-6

Vol. Three Vercelli to Rome ISBN 978-2-917183-03-8

The decision to divide the Italian section over two books (as opposed to the single 2008 edition) has been taken for the following reasons:

• In this 2009 edition the authors have exclusively adopted the official route, as approved and signed by the Italian Minister of Culture, where there is clear advantage for all groups (hikers, bikers and horse-riders). But where the official route is too challenging for one or more group, alternatives are offered. This density of information has increased the number of instruction sheets provided for certain sections and makes a single book large and unwieldy for travelling pilgrims.

• The authors have taken into account the increasing number of pilgrims choosing to return from Santiago de Compostela and proceed onto Rome, via Arles. This route crosses the Italian border at Montgenèvre and ultimately joins the Via Francigena in Vercelli.

• The authors have divided the books on the basis of evidence gathered with regard to the most popular starting points along the via Francigena.

The entire distance is divided into manageable sections of approximately 25 km. In most cases this distance amounts to a comfortable walk for the majority of people, though of course it will also depend on the terrain. For the cyclist, 2, 3 or maybe even 4 stages will represent a day's travel, while for the horse rider a great deal will depend on fitness and the route itself, but accommodation is listed along the length of the route and it is entirely up to you and your body where you decide to stop.

Information provided in each section

Instruction sheet/s comprising:

1. Detailed directions corresponding to GPS way point numbers on the maps

2. Distance (in metres) between each way point

3. Verification Point - additional verification of current position

4. Compass direction

Maps comprising:

1. A visual representation of the route with way point numbers and adjacent details

2. Altitude Profile for the section

3. Icons indicating places to stay, monuments etc

4. Relevant signs to look out for along the route

5. Map reference number/s for the section

http://www.pilgrimagepublications.com/via_francigena1.htm

LightFoot guides to the via Francigena can be bought from some bookshops , either on order or directly off the shelf. To see where our books are currently stocked go to the Retailers page

To make an advance purchase online click on the link below. Note: expect up to 28 days delivery time after publication date - 01 March 2009

http://pilgrimagepublications.com/EUShop/PayPal/ppvfbooks.html

Guest Post by Neville - Little Green Tracs

Back in the spring of 2007 we decided to walk the famous Camino de Santiago in Spain. Walking the Camino could be described as one of those “life changing events”. Excited about our success of walking 800km across the top of Spain, we became hooked on walking long distance medieval trails and wanted to do more.

By the spring of 2008 we were ready to tackle another pilgrim route. This time we selected Italy as our next destination, and so began our epic journey along the ancient pilgrim and medieval route call the Via Francigena.

The Via Francigena is an ancient network of paths from Canterbury to Rome, passing through France, Switzerland and Italy. It was an important medieval route used by pilgrims, soldiers, merchants, travelers and wayfarers.

Before starting off we knew that the Via Francigena even today is undergoing changes, and that there were a number of possible alternative routes in various regions. At the time of our decision to go, there were only a limited number of guidebooks and only one English guidebook; though it was somewhat outdated. (Since returning home, an excellent guidebook in English has been published by Pilgrimage Publications).

Therefore as preparation for our journey we developed our personal guide book using information from a number of sources. This included downloading the maps from the Italian Associazione Europea delle Vie Francigene based in Fidenza, Italy, converting these maps and putting them into an easy to carry booklet.

Even though the same site provided a list of accommodations that one could stay at we made our personal accommodation guide using information from a number of sources. We stayed in variety of places including bed & breakfast, agriturismo, small hotels, ostellos, albergos, and conventos. Mostly we stayed in the places listed in the Ospitalita lungo Via Francigena.

We elected to start our walk from Martigny, Switzerland leaving on September 2 and finishing in Rome, Italy on October 24. The total journey was approximately 1,000 km and we took 53 days to complete it. This included approximately 10 days of extended stays in some of Italy’s greatest cities like Aosta, Ivrea, Pavia, Lucca, Siena, and of course Rome.

Our journey required us to climb and cross over the Swiss/Italian Alps through the Gran San Bernardo Pass (2472m), then descend into the Valle d’Aosta and pass through the most western reaches of the Po River valley. We would then have to head south west and this time cross over the Apennine Mountains through the Cisa Pass into the most northern section of Tuscany before arriving in Lucca. From Lucca to Siena and south we would walk through the rolling hills of Tuscany and Val d’Orcia and further south alongside the ancient volcanic lakes of Lazio before finally arriving in Rome.

Unlike the Camino de Santiago most of the route was hilly especially in places like Tuscany thus physically more demanding. The average walk day was longer. In a number of places the route was not well marked, resulting in us getting lost a number of times. But being able to understand and speak some Italian helped us to get back on track.

Our reward for all this work was plenty. We passed through some wonderful regions with small villages and towns. Some sections of the route were extremely beautiful to walk through, including the Valle d’Aosta, the Cisa Pass and of course Tuscany, especially south of San Minato through Siena to the Val d’Orcia into Lazio. Sections before and after Vercelli, near Pavia and crossing the Po River were extremely beautiful in part because we had luckily decided to cross this region just prior to the rice harvest in mid September. Golden fields of rice and corn were especially pretty in the early morning when the sun was shining.

Many Italians especially the older Italians were generally interested, in fact excited, about what we were doing. Many were surprised to learn that we were Canadians walking from Switzerland to Rome. Many people were generally very helpful. Some even drove us to nearby places where we had booked to stay.

We originally had great plans to blog and record our thoughts and comments throughout the hike. However finding internet points throughout Italy in many of the smaller towns and villages was nearly impossible. Our walking days were long starting normally at 7.00am and finishing at about 5.00pm giving us only an hour or two to clean up and write some notes before heading off to dinner, and then bed. Obviously, finding an internet point rarely made it to the top of the list.

However, we have set up a blog whereby today we are recording and posting our daily thoughts, musing and experiences from our little long walk along the Via Francigena.

The blog is called Little Green Tracs: http://littlegreentracs.typepad.com

We welcome you to our blog and hope you enjoy it and have the opportunity to live some of our special experiences along the Via Francigena.

Buon Viaggio

Giulia

NEW ENGLISH GUIDES TO THE VF

Message from Paul and Babette of Lightfoot Guides to the VF Yahoo Group:


This brief message is to let you know that we have just completed a major revision to the guides to include the "official via Francigena route" as defined by the Italian Ministry of Culture, additional route options and route changes in northern France and adoption of parts of SwissMobility route 70 in Switzerland.
We have also included revised accommodation data based on feed back from pilgrims travelling in 2008.
Additionally we have made format changes in line with comments from a number of members of this group. The changes include enlarged maps and altitude profiles; more Way Point locations on each map; more route options; cumulative distance measures; additional altitude data and deletion of our personal blog.
Unfortunately these changes have driven up the "official" distance to 2076 kilometres and the overall page count in the books. As a result we have restructured the books into 3 volumes: Canterbury to Besançon (196 pages), Besançon to Vercelli (160 pages) and Verçelli to Rome (240 pages).
We have deleted the prior guide from our site and are in the final stages of submitting the new (Edition 2) guides to our printers and expect it to be ready to be shipped by the end of March.
The 2008 edition is in the process of being deleted from the lists of Amazon and its partners.

We would like to thank everyone for their constructive input.
For those that have purchased the 2008 guide from our site or registered with us we will be distributing instructions on how to obtain the updates by Email and offering a reduced price printed and bound version of the appropriate volumes of Edition 2. For any others who have purchased the guides through other channels then again if they register with us we will provide the same service.
Paul and Babette

www.pilgrimagepublications.com

TUSCAN TRAMPS

My article on our walk to Rome is in the March issue of FEMINA magazine. They gave it 5 pages and used 8 photographs - a really nice feature.
I took a copy of the mag to dinner with us last night and everyone laughed when they read the opening paragraphs!

"Oh - my - God! Oh - that was really good! Mmm….mm!”

We watch fascinated as Val slumps in her chair, eyes closed, bosom heaving, giving the best imitation of a female orgasm since Harry met Sally. And what brought on this public display of orgasmic pleasure? Cinghiale al pepe verde - wild boar cooked in a creamy peppercorn sauce.

“That’s the best pork I’ve ever tasted,” she sighs, sipping her Chianti Riserva. We are in the Hotel Ill Postiglione, a 400 year-old inn on the Via Cassia Antica outside the medieval village of Campagnano di Roma, 50 kilometers north of Rome. Wild boar is vermin in Italy. With rampant reproduction and no natural predators they are widely hunted and appear on menus from the Valle d’Aosta to Rome. We know this because for the past four weeks we have been chomping our way through regional delicacies from Switzerland to Rome along the ancient Via Francigena pilgrimage trail."

The other girls have all rushed out to buy a few copies and have told all their friends and families to buy one.
I sent them an email and said, "When I read the story I felt really envious of those women! I felt like packing my backpack and going to Switzerland to start walking!"
Kathy emailed back: "Yup - weren't they just amazing! Walking 700km and they still had smile on their faces at 500km. Were they crazy or what!"
Val emailed too: Her company wants to put a shortened version into the company newsletter, with a picture.

2009 UPDATES

This website has some interesting data on the VF and the Via Romea. http://www.rometravels.com/via_francigena.html

The official magazine of the AEVF is Revista Francigena. Their articles are in Italian and English. The next issue will be June 2009.
http://www.rivistaviafrancigena.it/pdf/Sommario_28.pdf

The contents of the latest issue includes:

• Promotion of the Historical
• The opinion of Gianni Alemanno, Mayor of Rome
• An interview with Paolo Cocchi, Councillor of Regione Toscana
• P.D.O.-P.G.I. and Local Products along theVia Francigena: Focus on Lunigiana
• Present and future of Parmigiano-Reggiano (Food Culture)
• The Voice of Pilgrims: Enrico Brizzi, writer, Virginio Bettini, university professor,
  Immacolata Coraggio - a pilgrim woman, Profiles and faces along the Francigena
• Focus on: The Via Francigena in Siena
• La strada Lubecca - Roma
• The Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome

There is also a link to the http://www.associazioneviafrancigena.it/ where you can click on the English link to read up-dates and news of happenings.

The Via Appia:

The Via Appia Traiana was one of the greatest thoroughfares of the past centuries. Documents show that the Via Appia and Via Casilina were the natural continuation of the Via Francigena through the South of Italy. Beyond Rome, it headed towards Capua and then onto Benevento, Canosa, where it headed towards the ports of Puglia. From here (Brindisi) merchants and travellers set sail for the eastern Mediterranean. During the Middle Ages, it was used by pilgrims going to the Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo on Mount Gargano, and to St. Nicolas of Bari (San Nicola di Bari), as well as those heading to the Holy Land via the sea.

Via Micaelica

"The 400km Via Micaelica is so named because it connects Rome with Monte S. Angelo, where lies the ancient underground sanctuary of San Michele. It is also called "Via dell'Angelo or Francigena South" because it is the ideal continuation of the road linking northern Europe with Rome.
This route follows the route of the Roman Via Latina (known more commonly Casilina) or the Appian Way to Capua and along the Via Appia Traiana. Between 1151 and 1154 Nikulas of Munkathvera, abbot of the monastery of Icelandic Thingor, went on a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem and wrote a detailed diary in which he described routes, alternate route, the places visited. After Rome, the abbot chose the
Via Latina as the Via Appia ....."

"This route was not only used by pilgrims coming to Rome from southern Italy and the Mediterranean countries, but especially for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. "

The way in not yet all signed. Two associations are planning to sign soon and will be specifying the refuges.

http://compostela.pellegrinando.it/sezioni.php?seid=1921

There are two guides - one by Romano Stopani:
"Guide to the Via Francigena routes in southern Italy" 2005 - pp. 112
14.50 euro and the other
Verso il Monte dell'Angelo - A piedi sulla Via Francigena del Sud, da
Roma a Monte Sant'Angelo" - Ikona edizioni, Como 2004.

New Pilgrim refuge in Rome: The Confraternita di San Jacopo officially signed an agreement withthe Suore Figlie della Divina Provvidenza last month, essentially to take over a wing of their convent for use as offices and as a pilgrim refuge. The facilities are described as 'vast'.It is in the via Galvani in the south of the city, about 3km SE of St Peter's, and will be officially opened in Holy Week withwardens/ospedalieri from the Confraternity. It occurs to me that they might welcome ospedalieri from other countries too.See report on their website http://www.confraternitadisanjacopo.it/Notizie/Ultimissime/SpedaleProvvidenza.ht/m Well done, them! (Peter Robins on the VF Yahoo Group)

LATEST VF IN ITALY GUIDE - FREE DOWNLOAD

This message from Alberto was posted on the Yahoo-VF-Group Forum.

Today I delivered to Italian Culture Ministry the new version of
walking route between Gran San Bernardo and Rome.

It is already published online at the following address:
http://www.librari. beniculturali. it/generaNews. jsp?id=98

You can download free of charge road books, maps, GPS tracks and
Google map tracks.
The road books are in Italian, but they are very schematic, with an
arrow for every crossing so if you process them with an automatic
translator they should be useful.
I suggest you to print road books in A5 format, (2 pages per A4
sheet), on both sides of the sheet to decrease weight (they are about
300 A4 pages that can be reduced to 80-90).

The new route is an evolution of the one published in 2006 by AEVF (I
was the author of that job too). I worked as consultant of Ministry,
cooperating with AEVF members like municipalities, provinces,
regions, and with local associations and agencies to solve the safety
issues of 2006 route. So the new route avoids most of busy roads and
as much as possible stays far from traffic noise and pollution.
The price we are paying is an increasing in route length (about 5%
more than previous version).

I worked also in the preliminary project of simple works that could
improve safety: sidewalks, road crossings, and some major works as
bridges and protected cyclepaths. They could also help in decreasing
route length.

Signs installation has started, and I hope they will complete it
within spring 2009 from Gran San bernardo to Rome. Anyway I suggest
to travel always with the maps (better and lighter a GPS), because
often vandals damage signs.

I hope that this job will be useful for all the future pilgrims on
Via Francigena, and I invite you to contact me to have more
information on the route.

See you soon in Italy!

Alberto Conte
www.camminafrancigena.it

The Road Books (Guides) can be downloaded in sections:

Dal Gran San Bernardo a Ivrea
(Visualizza le tappe su Google Earth)

Tappa: dal Gran San Bernardo a Echevennoz - 14,9 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Echevennoz ad Aosta - 13,6 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Aosta a Chatillon - 30,1 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Chatillon a Verres - 20,8 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Verres a Pont Saint Martin - 17,7 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Pont Saint Martin a Ivrea - 22,1 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Da Ivrea a Pavia
(Visualizza le tappe su Google Earth)

Tappa: da Ivrea a Viverone - 21,7 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Viverone a Santhia' - 16,1 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Santhia' a Vercelli - 27,4 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Vercelli a Robbio - 19,7 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Robbio a Mortara - 14,3 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Mortara a Garlasco - 23,6 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Tappa: da Garlasco a Pavia - 25,9 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS

Da Pavia al Passo della Cisa
(Visualizza le tappe su Google Earth)

Tappa: da Pavia a Santa Cristina - 28,5 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Santa Cristina a Orio Litta - 16,9 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Orio Litta a Piacenza - 17,5 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Piacenza a Fiorenzuola - 32,8 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Fiorenzuola a Fidenza - 22,6 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Fidenza a Fornovo - 34,2 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Fornovo a Cassio - 22,6 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Cassio al Passo della Cisa - 19,2 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Dal Passo della Cisa a Siena
(Visualizza le tappe su Google Earth)

Tappa: da Passo della Cisa a Pontremoli - 19,4 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Pontremoli ad Aulla - 32,9 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Aulla a Avenza - 32,4 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Avenza a Pietrasanta - 27,8 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Pietrasanta a Lucca - 32,3 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Lucca a Altopascio - 17,8 km
Road Book (pdf)
Tracce Google Earth e GPS
Galleria fotografica

Tappa: da Altopascio a San Miniato - 23,5 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da San Miniato a Gambassi Terme - 25,6 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da Gambassi Terme a San Gimignano - 13,4 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da San Gimignano a Monteriggioni - 29,8 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da Monteriggioni a Siena - 20,5 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Da Siena a Roma
(Visualizza le tappe su Google Earth)

Tappa: da Siena a Ponte D'Arbia - 28,5 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da Ponte D'Arbia a S. Quirico d'Orcia - 27,4 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da S. Quirico d'Orcia a Radicofani - 32,7 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da Radicofani a Acquapendente - 31,8 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da Acquapendente a Bolsena - 22,1 km
Road Book (pdf)
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Tappa: da Bolsena a Montefiascone - 18,3 km
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Tappa: da Montefiascone a Viterbo - 17,7 km
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Tappa: da Viterbo a Vetralla - 20,0 km
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Tappa: da Vetralla a Sutri - 22,5 km
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Tappa: da Sutri a Campagnano - 24,3 km
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Tappa: da Campagnano a La Storta - 24,4 km
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Tappa: da La Storta a Roma - 15,8 km
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PILGRIMS FROM NON EU COUNTRIES WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WALK THE ENTIRE VF

Since 1987, the Cultural-Routes of Europe committees have worked tirelessly to establish and extend pilgrimage trails in Europe. Some are between 1900km (Canterbury to Rome) or even 5000km (Jerusalem).
When Switzerland joins the Schengen zone on 5th December, pilgrims from the Non-EU countries will no longer have sufficient time to walk these routes. 90 days is not ehough time for anyone to walk nearly 2000km. It was sufficient when one spent 10 days walking in Switzerland, but from 5th December this will change.
Although more and more countries have joined the Schengen zone - and further expansions are planned - the time allowed to visitors has not been increased.
The EU and the Schengen zone countries should consider extending the period allowed for people to walk across Europe along the old pilgrimage trails that are so painstakingly being re-annimated.
There are a number of pilgrimage routes that non-EU pilgrims will be able to walk

• VF from Canterbury to Rome ± 1900km
• Via Turonensis, Paris to Santiago ± 1800km
• Via Lemovensis from Vezelay to Santiago ± 1750km

A new VF Route through Italy

Visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena/ for up-to-date news on the Via Francigena.

Alberto Conti joined the VF Yahoo group this week. This is his introduction:

I joined the group because Via Francigena is my passion, and my main job application: I work on walking and cycling routes, analyzing the country, walking on routes recording GPS tracks, processing them to obtain guides, maps and information useful for my customers. In 2005-2006 I worked for the European Association of Via Francigena (AEVF) collecting material, verifying on the ground the complete route (walking and biking) and preparing the maps published on website www.viafrancigena.eu.

From 2006 to 2008 I worked for Italian Culture Ministry on route upgrade, cooperating with local agencies and municipalities to improve safety and to go as far as possible from traffic roads. The result is a new guide, published free of charge on internet with GPS and Google Earth tracks, on the following link: http://www.librari.beniculturali.it/generaNews.jsp?id=98 . The route shall be definitively approved by the evaluation board (Consulta), within the end of 2008, and then it will become the official route for the government, on which they will install signposts etc.

The headquarter of my company, called itinerAria, is in a country house in Roppolo, in Piemonte, on Via Francigena. We have space and rooms, so I am pleased to host pilgrims free of charge, if they contact me in advance and I am not traveling. I know all Italian route very well, so please do not hesitate to contact me to have up to date information on the Via Francigena. Buon Cammino, Alberto Conte
itinerAria www.itineraria.eu


In response to a query re maps and routes, Alberto had this to say:

The AEVF maps have been replaced by the maps and road-book you can download by the following link: http://www.itineraria.eu/wp-content/gpx-viewer.php?gpxfile=http://www.itineraria\ .eu/wp-content/uploads/francigena/gpx/Francige_index0.xml By clicking on the pilgrims you can open more detailed maps of 5 different areas of Via Francigena: clicking again on the pilgrim you can choose to download the road book in pdf, the GPX track or the KMZ. The maps are about 1:25.000, but they are not very detailed because are obtained by Garmin vector maps. I hope that next year new paper topo maps will be prepared.

I went onto his website and although it has an English link, there is no English on the site as yet.

I also opened the link he gave and clicked on the pilgrims and downloaded one of the 'road-books' - a pdf. file with 10 pages of instructions and directions for using gps and other info.

I wonder how this new route affects the existing guide books by Monica D'Atti and Franco Cinti as well as the Engloish guide books by Lightfoot?



I also found this link for a Via Leona Romea trail which is a 300kms route that starts at Venice and connects with the VF at Altopascio
http://www.amicidisantiago.it/romea/leona.htm

In June 2008 a group of pilgrims walked the path specifically to check the feasibility. The consensus was that that the route identified is feasible and interesting, indeed it could hardly have been imagined that in this part of Italy so urbanized, industrialized inhabited, that there could be paths so quiet.

During the journey they added yellow arrows (where possible) to assist those who will come later. Moreover, the path was also created with GPS for those who want to use this modern guidance system.
They talk about a lack of signs, infrastructure and accommodation but hope that the popularity of the trail will grow so that the relative authorities will consider supporting the route.

2008 UPDATES

A few updates since I last posted.

Since we walked to Rome - two years ago this month - another ± 450 pilgrims have received the certificate of completion. That doesn't mean that only this number walked the VF routes - only that this small number received the certificate. Over 214 000 pilgrims received the Compostela in Santiago in 2006/2007. Many more thousands walked parts of the caminos but did not collect a certificate in Santiago.

PILGRIMS TO ROME

www.pilgrimstorome.org.uk

The Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome 1st AGM was held on 27th April 2008 where they adopted a Constitution and formally elected a Steering Group which meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every 4th month. General Meetings open to all will continue on a regular basis - the next one is Saturday 1st November.

For now, membership is free but this will change in 2009. Members can order a ‘Pilgrim Record’ from the website

Pilgrim Practical Day

They will have their first Pilgrim Practical Day on Saturday 7th February 2009. It will be a half day running from 10:00 to 14:00. Venue will be either St James’s Church Picccadilly or St Alphage Church Hall - to be confirmed. (St Alphage was a former Bishop of Canterbury)

Ann Milner, webmaster for the Confraternity of Pilgrims To Rome, is walking on the VF right now - from London to Rome and then up to Assisi. Follow her blog here: www.walk2assis.blogspot.com

Guides in English

http://www.pilgrimagepublications.com/UKShop/PayPal/ppbooks.html

This is the first volume in a two volume guide for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders travelling the Via Francigena. The first volume covers the 1030 kilometres from Canterbury to the summit of the Great Saint Bernard Pass on the Swiss-Italian border. Each volume contains detailed routing instructions, route schematics, listings of accommodation and services and descriptions of the history of key locations along the route. Purchasers of the book are entitled to receive GPS waypoint data and periodic route updates for area covered.

The second volume covers the 942 kilometres from the summit of the Great Saint Bernard Pass on the Swiss-Italian border to St Peter's Square in Rome. Purchasers of the book are entitled to receive GPS waypoint data and periodic route updates for area covered.

WEBSITES:

News from the AIVF: http://www.francigena-international.org/

MEMBERSHIP FEES for 12 months

Individual 26 €
Family or Couple 40 €
Under 25 16 €
Supporter organisation 120 €

I don’t know what the benefit of becoming a member is as you still have to pay 7 € each for a badge or flag and 5 € for the brooch: 5 € and 8 € for a list of accommodations between Canterbury and Gr St Bernard and Aosta to Rome: 16 € for maps from Gr St Bernard to Rome (if they are the same set that we bought, I must say that they are practically useless to use for walking)

GUIDES by AMIS PILGRIMS

- Riding the Roman Way GB Babette & Paul Chinn 2007

- Walking with Awareness + VF by Michael Metras USA

- Die Via Francigena 2007 DE von Birgit Goetzmann Stein Verlag-DE Kulturelle Beschreibung des Weges 14,90€

The Testimonium:

TESTIMONIUM Peregrinatoris ad Limina Petri (IV) -the only original since 6.2001- a parchment in limited edition, created by AIVF, will be given at the sacristy of St-Peter's Basilica, if possible in the Grottoes by Mons. Bruno Vercesi to pilgrims that have walked at least from Acquapendente to St Peter’s (150km) or cycled from Lucca (400km)

News from the AEVF website: http://www.viafrancigena.eu/

Near the office of Saint Peter of the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, anyone is yearning to face the adventure to travel on foot, by bus or by car the historical ways of the Faith, will be able to receive all the useful informations and a series of catalogues containing deepenings and proposals.
This is where you will get your "Romea" or "Testimonium" after walking the last 100kms to Rome.

They offer a Credential: Pilgrim's credential

The Credentials of the Pilgrim are a collapsible page, a “identity card” that the pilgrim will compile during its travel, to test and memory of the completed way

You can order it at the Tourist Office in Fidenza. You simply have to send a letter containing a self-addressed stamped priority mail envelope (2,80 € + return receipt 0,60 €) to the following address: Associazione Europea Vie Francigene: Piazza Duomo, 16 -43036 Fidenza – PR.

- or you can get it directly at the Central Office of the European Association of Vie Francigene in Fidenza (Pr) – Piazza Duomo, 16 . Opening hours: Every day from 9.00 to 12.30, and from 15.00 to 17.00)

The Credential is available also by other Associations: Iubilantes, Confraternita dei Romei, Association Via Francigena, Confraternita di San Jacopo di Compostela, Eurovia.

Via Francigena: The latest 6 monthly glossy newsletter is now available from the Revista website. It costs 6 euro + 4 euro postage.

http://www.rivistaviafrancigena.it/eng_frames_ok.htm

VF Souvenirs are now available in (the form of Cammini de Europe items)

http://www.camminideuropaline.eu/ita/souvenir.asp

Other news:

UPDATES ON THE ROUTES

The province of Imperia have published a leaflet on their 83km
section of the coastal route linking Menton with Sarzana.
http://www.confraternitadisanjacopo.it/Francigena/viafrancigena/ViaDellaCosta_Im\
peria.htm
Infuriatingly, I can't find any mention of it on their website, but
there's an overview profile of the route at
http://www.provincia.imperia.it/Turismo/Escursioni/LaViaDellaCosta.htm
It's partly along the coast, and partly inland a bit, visiting the
shrines of the Porrine and Montegrazie (where there are frescoes
related to the Golden Legend story of St James).

This route was officially opened in March as part of their Paths
Festival, when 3 sections of the route were walked
http://www.provincia.imperia.it/site/10583/default.aspx

Submitted by Peter Robins to the Yahoo!Groups - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena

AND - WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VF FIVE PILGRIMS?

Sil and Marion walked the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles to Santiago from end of August to end of September 2007.

This photo was taken with a nun from the convent of Santa Clara in Castrojeriz. It is a closed order but this nun was happy to come out after we'd bought a couple of boxes of biscuits, and have her photo taken with us.

In 2009, Sil, Marion, Val, Kathy - and a new addition, Linda - will walk parts of the Chemin du Piemont in France and the Aragones in Spain.

http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy_regions/tuscany/2007/general/prodi-unveils-medieval-pilgrimage-route/

30th October 2007

Premier Romano Prodi on Monday unveiled the first of 1,544 signposts which will soon show modern-day walkers the paths used by medieval pilgrims travelling from Canterbury to Rome.
The brown sign, marked Via Francigena, stands outside the castle in the Tuscan village of Monteriggioni, once a regular stopping place for pilgrims doing the 1,800-km walk. Marking out the 900-km Italian section of the Via Francigena, the Way of the Franks, is a key part of Prodi’s longstanding project to revive the old pilgrimage paths and render them usable for tourists and Italians themselves.
“It’s about the rediscovery of our identity: we need to revisit the itineraries of the past,” the Premier said at a ceremony held outside the gate of the Monteriggioni castle, which overlooks Sienese hills.
The idea is to re-establish footpaths and rights of way, tidying up the landscape and ensuring that modern-day pilgrims have access to inexpensive hostels.
Prodi said the best approach to the Via Francigena was to tackle it “slowly, with a lot of people,” in such as way as to allow casual meetings with “people you’ve never seen before”.
The route to Rome from Canterbury in southeast England meanders down through France, crosses the Alps near Aosta, then winds down through Parma to Tuscany before reaching Rome.
The itinerary was first documented in the 10th Century when the Archbishop of Canterbury Sigeric the Serious travelled to Rome to see the Pope in order to be consecrated. Walking it took about three months.
Few people nowadays are expected to do the entire length on foot but governments in Italy and France are keen to promote the old road as a vehicle for religious and cultural tourism.
“Cultural tourism is different from the usual invasions of consumer tourism. Here you can see the real Italy,” said Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli.
Prodi, a devout Catholic, got the idea 13 years ago when he cycled along the pilgrimage route to Santiago di Compostela in Spain and realised that his own country had many pilgrim ways as well.
The Via Francigena was designated a cultural route by the Council of Europe in 1994.
An American journalist, Eric Sylvers, walked the 900 km stretch from the Alps to Rome earlier this year for charity and is writing a book about his experiences along the way.
“Many towns keep their bit of the path in good condition but what’s needed is a broader project to rehabilitate the whole thing,” said Sylvers in an interview.
He also warned that some sections were practically unusable because they ran alongside heavily trafficked highways.
Moves to clean up the Via Francigena began in the 1990s and a Via Francigena Association was set up in Fidenza, one of the towns on the route. But signposting remained inadequate in many sections.

Vals VF Food Report - Now on the Blog

Here is the long-awaited Food Report from our VF Pilgrim reporter!

FOOD REPORTER …Val McGreal

“Whilst we might seem to have a preoccupation with food it is not surprising given the demanding days we are having - we average 7 -10 hours of off road climbing in high temperatures. It is hot by 8am until late evening. We are drinking coke and water to replace the electrolytes regularly. We are also carrying heavy backpacks, supposed to be maximum of 6-7kg - mine however weighed 8.5kg at the airport check-in.
(Surely a little black number cannot weigh that much?) Not surprising then that my highlight and reward is a cool glass of wine and an espresso nightcap and of course something special to eat - our stomachs rumble all day as we burn up the calories so quickly”.

It was never my intention to write so much on food, although I knew I was looking forward to trying as much as possible. So what started out as just a comment in my blog reports became my all consuming passion, I would think about food all day, with every step….heaven!

LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING………
It is Friday morning and we are at the travel agents to confirm our tickets. We have a photo taken on my camera but this crashed before I managed to download the pics but we can all remember it very well. The travel agent enquires as to any special meal requirements.
“Yes” says Sil, “I am a vegetarian.”
“I’m also fine with that” says Marion.
“Oh what the hell”, I say, “Count me in.”
Kathy and Rayna follow suit.

FLIGHTS TO ZURICH AND GENEVA
Economy Class Vegetarian…..no bread or cheese and biscuits for us, no yoghurt, no milk for our coffee – we have been classified as vegans and have very little other than a stew of vegetables and some nuts and seeds. This is too much for Kathy in the next aisle who pleads with the Air Hostess that there has been a serious mistake! Marion shares in her alarm and the (single) gentleman next to her offers up his cheese and biscuits. In the morning, he demands yoghurt from the Air Hostess for her. A sparkling wine takes the place of my supper and I feel very content indeed.

PADDLE STEAMER ACROSS LAC LEMAN FROM GENEVA TO VEVEY
What a pleasant surprise, expecting Styrofoam cups of coffee and 3 day old sandwiches from a dispensing machine, we have (as only the Europeans can do) a full selection of coffees made to order, I have my first espresso since leaving JHB Airport. And what is this? A beautiful restaurant with starched white tablecloths, waiters and a view over the lake.
We book in for lunch and enjoy an excellent array of fresh fish and vegetables and pastas. The fish is fresh pink steaks of salmon with an exciting light sauce. We all try to guess what the ingredients are and Rayna gets it right, Pistachios. I asked the Chef for the recipe, a butter sauce with saffron, turmeric and pistachios. It was the first meal I tried when I got back into my kitchen. As I didn’t get the precise recipe, I used a very light wine and butter sauce that one might make for a delicate fish dish and included the turmeric at the beginning and added saffron, seeped in hot water, and then the pistachios which Martin sat and shelled. (Take a 250g of Pistachios, ask your husband to shell them and you should end up with 100g for your recipe!) Whilst mentioning saffron, I have been taught two ways, steam the saffron on a plate over a saucepan of boiling water to bring out the vibrant colour and heighten the flavour or steep in a little boiling water…..be warned - saffron will not dissolve in oil.

Monday, June 19, 2006 DAY FIVE La Douay to Gr San Bernado
I couldn’t cope with the dinner at the Hospice and decided to try out the local restaurant where I enjoyed "Polenta grille a la Valaisannne" - polenta with cheese and speck (bacon) - chf 22 (R110) Rayna joined me for glass of house wine. Then I spoke to Martin and had a few “long distance” toots with him. I had to creep into the dorm and in the dark could just make out a shape sleeping at the bottom of my bunk which did not resemble one of our team….an interloper?

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - DAY SIX Gr San Bernado to Aosta
We were forced onto the road due to the snow and ice so we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Entroubles. Pretty little place with a very friendly Tourism office.
Determined to try something different for my first meal in Italy I chose "Pappardella al sugo di Capriolo" - pasta with Roe Deer Sauce" € 9.30 (plus R100) Belissimo!! As one would expect, I ate a lot of pasta dishes but only because they were just so different and obviously authentic. Can you imagine having Pappardella with Roe Deer Sauce at the local Italian restaurant in SA? Other favourites were Rigatoni with Italian sausage and artichokes and cream. Wonderful combination and somewhat easier to make at home than “first hunt one Roe Deer”.
Recipe – the real thing
The River Café cookbook 2 has a recipe for loins of venison wrapped in coppa – they use Roe Deer. It’s a lovely recipe and would taste fantastic.
Recipe – just as good
Similar to the texture of the roe deer I had an equally tasty ragu – Delia Smith has a wonderful recipe in her Winter Collection - “Authentic Ragu Bolognese. Not for the faint hearted or those with cholesterol it contains pork, beef, bacon and chicken livers. Martin makes this every winter and we keep tubs in the freezer for an easy but great meal in minutes. It’s really worth a try – “spag bogs” will never taste the same again.
Recipe – exceptionally good
Another take on the authentic bolognese is a recipe from Australian Chef and my food hero – Neil Perry – his book Neil Perry – the Food I Love. Duck Ragu with Papparedelle – Fantastic!! Again I must state that this is what the Italians eat and look amazing on it…they are definitely part of the Beautiful People Club.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - DAY SEVEN Aosta to St Vincent
Wednesday seems to be early closing day with many restaurants remaining closed in the evening. As such we finally came to an "IRISH PUB". Expecting the Italian version of Guinness Pie, the menu turned out to be pure Italian, the music Country and Western. Somewhere around here is a very mixed up proprietor. I chose the Crespelle Alla Valdostana €7.50, crepe with ham and cheese and it appeared to be swimming in cream; however this was soon absorbed by the generous coating of freshly grated parmesan. Rayna and Kathy took the Toertellini Panna Prosciutto € 6.50 also with a light addition of cream - very good. Syl had a pizza with a generous coating of Italian cheeses € 6.50 literally dripping with Gorgonzola. Marion had a tuna salad, very fresh with lots of vegetables (good girl!) Our wine was local Le Rime 2004 Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio €10. The Italians it would appear have not been drawn into the rest of the world’s preoccupation with cholesterol testing....delicious!

Thursday, June 22, 2006 - DAY EIGHT St Vincent to Pont St Martin
Faced with a supper of instant soup and Melba toast (pinched from the Breakfast table) Kathy and I headed for the supermarket where we found excellent minestrone soup, bought some parmesan and fresh bread and cheese. Very Good! Following on from Sil's comments about the accommodation - the standards are exceptionally high. To gain a license the owner must invest substantially in upgrading the amenities. No 1970's shagpile carpets and old furniture which isn't wanted anywhere else in the house. Considerably less is expected of his culinary skills - just the ability to slice a loaf of bread and open a jar of jam will give him the right to advertise as a bed AND BREAKFAST establishment. A lot can be said for the Great British or SA Breakfast - no Wors, chops and curried mince to be found here!

Friday, June 23, 2006 - DAY NINE Pont St Martin to Settimo Vitonne (“Il potremmo avere ancora un po’di – Can I have some more Please?”)
Word must have spread throughout the B&B community that the "Gourmet Girls" were 'chowing' their way through Italy. Our first true Italian B-fast served by our first male host - sorry girls but have to admit that this one was the first to get it right. Salami, block of beautifully matured Parmesan, pasties, yoghurt, cereal and really good coffee - well done Fabio. And a kitchen to die for - true Italian design - Marty you will be pleased to know I have found my next kitchen!
Dinner: This eating experience deserved a special mention...On arrival in Settimo Vittone we stopped at a restaurant for coffee to prepare us for the climb to the castle which would be our rest place for the night. The owner, Signor Antonella greeted us and we looked at photos of him on the wall - he turned out to be the conductor of the local band. We looked at the menu and said we would return for supper. Osteria La Sosta was well worth the 2km round trip. When we arrived in the evening the daughter greeted us and handed a postcard from the owner. He had written a personal message to us:

" Ladies - from the "Ospitality Il Castello"
Dear Ladies, Unfortunately (for me, at least) I won't be there when you're coming tonight. I just want to give you some information about the way to have good food and not to spend too much. The PRIMI PIATTI and also the SECONDI are portioned for two people. The antipasti can be shared as well. The Spontine del Viandante is the Pilgrims Dish. Have a Good time and good luck for your trip."

Accompanying the postcard was a brochure and menu with the family history and a Dolci recipe. I collect menus and this will become part of my collection.
Sil chose the grill di zucchini, melanzane - a selection of grilled vegetables. Kathy insisted on the ravioli cooked in the copper pan and said the sauce was delicious and spicy - she didn't offer a tasting - Kathy says she doesn't share!!
Val, Rayna and Marion decided to try the Proposte Di Menu De Gerstazione (€18) each. (The degustation menu). We had no idea what we were getting into.
Antipasti were served in two courses.Sausage - red, could have been blood but we told ourselves it was beetroot.Lard - literally strips of bacon lard - it tasted good but was spoiled by the voice in my head which was that of Chef Michelle of the Christina Martin School of Cookery lecturing us on the reasons NOT to cook with duck fat or lard..."it goes straight to the arteries!”
Dried beef - Biltong?Bowl of Salsa...which reminded us of Chakalka.
Second course of AntipastiCarpaccio - deliciousEggs on bruschetta - like eggs benedict without the spinachSpicy sausage in yellow peppers
PrimoRavioli meatRisotto - cheeseGnocchi Verde
DolciPanna cotta al caffee con salsina alla branda (disappointing - too much gelantine?)Sorbetto al limone - lemon sorbet - excellentTiramisu - because you have to! It is one of those dishes that became fashionable about 15 years ago and few of us probably would recognise the real thing. We went on to taste a Tiramisu made in heaven at the Hostel in Berceto - but remain unsure if it was the real thing. I need to look it up in Elizabeth David’s diaries of Northern Italy. (note: Elizabeth David’s makes no mention of this dish, however I believe translated it means “pick me up” – yes could certainly agree with that).
Saturday, June 24, 2006 - DAY TEN Settimo Vittone to Casio
Breakfast at the Castle deservers a mention: Our host and hostess at the Castle excelled with breakfast…I doubt that anyone could beat this. Everything you could ever want from freshly baked bread and pastries, cheeses, hams, homemade yoghurt, jams and great coffee. I cannot do it justice so Rayna took photos. Reading the guest book, everyone raved about the breakfast and we can understand why.
Supper: On the food front - we ate at the tavern over the road before the Saturday night locals arrived. We had some very non-descript pasta. The locals obviously patronize this establishment for the atmosphere but certainly not for the food.

Sunday, June 25, 2006 - DAY ELEVEN Cassio to Berceto & Tugo
We are in Parma country - Parma ham and porcini mushrooms and of course the real Parmesan - but the mushrooms are only in season from September. The restaurant is part of the hostel and has a real "Mama" in the cupboard. Good menu of home cooked dishes featuring lamb, wild boar and guinea fowl. The body however needs a break so will be choosing something a little lighter tonight. Tugo Hostel …. Just before Berceto. Tonight we chose:
Antipasti selection of tort di patate, (potato tart), frittata con Zucchini, Mortadella di Cinghiale (rolls of mortadella meat - apparently Wild
Boar?) all three for €5.
Primi - Polenta ai funghi porcini €7: Contori - Inslata, pomodor, verdure grigliate €2 - salad with grilled vegetables - beautiful veggies with olive oil served warm. (like ours Marty!) We find roasted veggies are always better if you can cook them in a single layer – using a large flat baking sheet.
Room for Puds! - Crostata di cioccolato e ricotta, di marmellata di pesche (peach), or di marmellata di lamponi, Tiramisu - delicious - if this is authentic then we love it! Real dark chocolate and layered firmly not mushy.

Monday, June 26, 2006 - DAY TWELVE Cisa ostello Tugo to Pontremoli
Mama Norina takes us to our seats, she will cook especially for us the two specialities of Pontremoli. The first is Testaroli – this is believed to be the very first ever pasta, thin, eggless, wheat flour pancakes are cooked in large terracotta or cast iron pans called Testi. Cooked like an omelet, then cut into pieces and dropped into boiling water and served with pesto, or olive oil and parmesan.

A carafe of wine appears, we nod appreciatively and she pinches my cheek! We enjoy our first course of Testaroli and mop up the green rich olive oil and herbs with bread - our plates are clean and Mama Norina is very pleased.Next we are served the Torta d'Erbe - edible field grasses, leeks and mushrooms. Mama tells us proudly that she makes the pastry - only she can do this! It is very similar to a Greek Spinach and Feta pie but the pastry is really special and not as flakey as Filo. It is delicious and we finish it all. She is pleased and I get a hug! We ask Mama to recommend Dolci.We are served Ricotta and Apple Cake - much lighter than it looks - excellent.She offers coffee - I ask for Espresso - obviously the right choice - she pinches my cheek and I get another hug! We take a photo of our Mama and me! I have been married twice so I've had two chances to win over "Mama-in-Laws" (you know...those Mothers of Sons) - I should have married an Italian - I would have been very fat but the Mother in Law would have loved me!
Recipe –whilst not using the Italian cheese Ricotta, Sprigs have an amazing Lavender (or substituted with Ginger), Orange and Olive Oil Cake – it reminds me of Mama’s cake because it has the same unexpected lightness. The recipe is in their latest cook book and they also include it in their cookery classes. (For those of you who are not fortunate enough to live in SA and especially in Kloof – Sprigs is THE ladies coffee and lunch venue where you should be seen!) (Carole – you will agree, I’m sure).

FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2006 - DAY FIFTEEN San Miniato to Gambassi Terme
The ristorante served fish and specialised in seafood. The first we have seen. As such we had a lovely spread of salads, seafood kebabs and delicious grilled vegetables. We felt in need of chips - he bought us a huge platter of fresh crisp chips - he offered us tomato sauce (Ketchup), he looked relieved that we were not of the tomato sauce variety. He then came to the table with a bottle of liquor. This he tells us is made by his wife - he gives us the recipe, it is made from oranges that have no chemicals - you cannot buy it in the shops and you cannot buy it from him - you must be invited by the owner to sample it! We are honoured, it tastes like cointreau but better.

Saturday, July 1, 2006 – day seventeen - Gambassi Terme to St Gimignano
Breakfast ….Well today we all agreed that in the name of the Real Food Movement we would be true Italians for the day so, forget the yoghurt and fruit - it was straight to the "La Pasticceria and savoury and sweet croissants, pastries and cappuccino and hot chocolate.
Lunch "when in Rome" - Crostini €3 - € 3.50 -toasted bread with a selection of toppings, olives, capers, cheese, aubergines and mushrooms - washed down with a glass of Vino Bianco Frizzante (becoming rather partial to this!) followed by Espresso and Cappuccino and English Breakfast Tea (as the only Pommie, I don't drink tea). Marion and I decided to mark our Cappuccino’s out of 5 - they have been getting progressively worse as we left the North....today however, we got to 4 out of 5. Most have been Luke warm milk but today's was hot with a good flavour and a top froth, yes very good indeed.

Recipe: What is the difference between Crostini and Bruschetta? – well as far as I can make out is the type of bread used and the angle at which it is cut. Sourdough bread would normally be used for Bruschetta (sourdough resembling a good honest crusty country loaf) and cut straight, Ciabatta bread for Crostini cut at an angle, both types are cut approx half inch thick. Toast, rub with garlic and drizzle with olive oil and serve with your chosen topping. Tuscan purists will tell you that bread and oil and salt compose the best “Bruschette”. Correct pronunciation is “brew-sket’ –ah). The ‘c’ is sharp in this case and not a ‘ch’ sound like French. Italian is an easy language in as much as you pronounce all letters, almost like reading phonetically. It is always tempting though to use the soft sounds of French.
Dinner: For tonight’s meal we needed to escape the Tourists - out of interest I read a number of menu's outside the "posh" places - admittedly divine sounding food but it was 'tourist food'. We opted for a ristorante in a back street, family run with only 6 tables. The "smells of real food" reached us as we opened the door. We didn't get to meet Mama but she was definitely in the kitchen.Rayna and Marion had the Crespellas, light pancakes with spinach and ricotta - really good. Kathy chose spaghetti with a meat sauce (it must have been good because she wouldn't talk to us until she had finished). Rayna is my photographic food stylist and we are irritating the others because they have to wait for us to photograph their food before they can eat it!) Kathy just gives us that look which says "don't mess with my food!" Sil had gnocchi with tomato and cream - "the best ever" was her verdict. I had Ossobuco in crema di oderce (Ossobucco - shin cooked in the most delicious mixture of herbs, vegetables - it fell away from the bone - I moped up the juices with bread but the finale was to put the marrow on another piece of bread - just as well we walk again tomorrow.Dolci - Rayna had Tiramisu - like our Cappuccino’s we are marking these - this one got a big thumbs down - it was just like a weak custard. Kathy had Apple torte – an authentic dish of sliced apples with a "batter" poured over and baked - very good. A true torte!. I had Panna Cotta with Chocolate - as it was set down before me it wobbled on the plate - that was a good sign. "Heaven, I'm in Heaven!" it was perfection. So light, hint of vanilla and dark, pure chocolate across the top - 10 out of 10. The latest trend is to make this desert with yoghurt instead of cream to appeal to the more health conscious - I am of the school that you either have this desert as it is intended or don't have it at all. I am always amazed at Diet Cook Books that go to great lengths to give recipes for deserts so you can eat one every day. Rather go without and enjoy just one real one occasionally.

Sunday, July 02, 2006 - DAY EIGHTEEN San Gimignano to Monteriggione.
From around 1213 the fortified village of Monteriggione was one of a series of Sienese Ghibelline hill forts - and is described by Dante in the "Divine Comedy". Here we had a good food day (in other words…no ice creams, cakes etc.) we opted for salads - a huge mixed salad including tuna was €6 , the desserts were fit for a king - only Sil was tempted and had a pastry lined torte, confectioners custard topped with figs and nuts - gorgeous. I am getting withdrawal symptoms from the lack of a sparkling glass so I had a couple of glasses - equivalent to a Pongraz or Graham Beck €3.50 a glass, the real thing €6.50 per glass - my drinks bill was more than the cost of my food tonight!

Monday, July 03, 2006 – DAY NINETEEN Monteriggione to Sienna
Lunch: We cannot shop so we hit the restaurant - we probably won't eat out tonight as we are 6km from the Centre so....I had a glass of Sparkling and Carpaccio Bresaola, rucola e grana (cured meat with rocket salad and parmesan €7 - delicious 'Heaven'!The girls had Tremazzinis - which were white (very dry) bread sandwiches - not toasted as we are used to and Kathy and Rayna two really good salads for €5.50. We hadn't intended to eat supper out but,,,, we found a restaurant with a real Pizza oven where they made the pizza bases in front of us- this was a first! So, we decided "to support the locals" Boost the Italian economy. We walked into a restaurant full of men! Men in groups men in pairs - we were eyed with suspicion. I assured the girls that European men do this sort of thing. Eventually a male & female couple walked in and we all relaxed. We had fantastic pizzas - not paper thin, not double crust, just light as a feather dough, lovely friendly waiter - such a contrast to Sienna - even brought a plate of anchovies to Kathy and me. We had 1/2 a lt of wine for €3.50 We have been paying more for a glass in the tourist areas. We walked back to the hostel singing: “We feel good, like a fat pilgrim should” “We feel fine after a bottle of wine”. Marion and I crept into our room trying hard not to wake Sil.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 - DAY TWENtY Sienna to Lucignano D'Ariba
Kathy and I offered to shop for supper - we found a really good Minestrone, croutons, fresh shavings of grand Parmesan (so cheap) followed by huge Tuna, salad with bread - the bread was once again weighed and not sold per loaf - wine of the evening was from Castelplanio - a crisp white Verdicchio.Rayna and I are going to have a bottle of really good Merlot when we reach Roma. Safe in the knowledge we do not have to walk the next day!
Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - day twenty-one Lucignano DArbia to Saint Quirico D Orcia.
Supper: Another side road restaurant, very attractive inside, but few people. A lot of restaurants were closed until mid July but we couldn't find out why. Some had salads and potato chips, lasagna. Rayna and I had ricotta and spinach ravioli with sage butter. Homemade large squares (3 to a dish) with really good flavour. I was expecting a burnt butter, brown and nutty with crisp sage, but it was more like an oil poured over with 2 plain sage leaves. So the dish although tasting great looked insipid. However, just because the chef on BBC food uses brown butter doesn't mean its authentic, I guess?

Thursday, July 06, 2006 - DAY TWENTY-TWO - San Quirico to Abbadia San Salvatore.
Lunch was in the only place open! San Marco. It turned out to be a lovely, homely place with Mama making us feel very welcome indeed. As soon as we sat, she announced with a shake of her head “NO PIZZA!” She had laid out a buffet (Cadauno) which included Polenta cake and "Polpettone" Meat loaf €6.50. This was surprisingly tasty, perhaps a cross between a meat loaf and a good pate. Usually made from a mixture of finely minced veal, chicken, pork, mortadella and bound together with eggs, Parmigiano, garlic and parsley. Slices of salami and egg are laid on the “loaf” and rolled like a swiss roll and baked.
A few of us had a bug and as this affected the food writer, shock and horror - she went to bed without supper!!
Friday, July 7, 2006 - day twenty-three Abbadia San Salvatore to Aquapendente
Lunch - we made the most wonderful discovery today. A little restaurant on a corner and run by a young couple. Both the decor and the food had a fresh approach but still retained the authenticity of its origin. To start, we were given a Chef's complimentary tasting of crostini with the freshest tasting tomatoes, basil, marjoram and olive oil, black pepper. (The first peppermill we have seen). Followed by Kathy and Marion - Rigatoni con formaggio misto, pomodoro and basilico €6.50. Sylvia had Petti di tacchino all origano €7.00 (vegetarian dish of courgettes and potatoes with cheese. In the market today we saw "salt cod" "Bacaala" so I asked if they served it. It wasn't on the menu but the Chef had some prepared and made me a dish of salt cod, fresh tomatoes and herbs - delicious, light and served with a very light wine. We realised we had found a very special place so we just had to try Dolci della cassa (deserts of the house) We shared:Tortino Di coccolata cou Panna (chocolate mousse)Mille Fogli con crema di Mascarpone (layers of the most amazing pastry, with a mascarpone cream with chocolate)Mouse di RicottaRicotta with chocolate sauceBest ever deserts!
Speaking to the young chef, he explained that he had not been professionally trained but had grown up in the kitchen. His style was to add a fresh twist to traditional dishes and this he has most certainly achieved without copying the trends. The owner signed the handwritten menu and gave it to me to add to my collection. "Lacapracampa Trattoria" in Acquapendente, Lazio Province - worth a visit! Tel 0763.734546, Via Marconi, 100, Acquapendente (lacapracampa2003@vizgilio.it.

Saturday, July 8, 2006 – DAY TWENTY-FOUR Acquapendente to Bolsena.
Lunch: Today was indeed a food day. Bolsena lake has an abundance of fish. The local fish is called 'Coregore', a white fish, usually served filleted and for you 'when-we's' - it is just like Kariba Lake bream.The local and famous wine is called Est! Est! Est! – The story is that in about 1110 a Bishop was on his way to Rome for the coronation of Henry V . He sent an aide ahead to try out the wines along the way and write ‘Est!’ ('It is' in Italian) on places where the wine was particularly good. In Montefiascione, the aide found somewhere so good he wrote the words Est! Est! Est! on the door!. We tried a 'locale' one - just €3.50 for a bottle - and we agreed with the wine taster - it was Excellent! Other prices for the wine vary from €5 - 11. We took full advantage of the fish on offer, and at lunch we had the COREGORE ARROSSo - grilled lake fish €6.50, which was very good. As it was Sunday we had pud - Tiramisu - very rich but good. The waiter had relations in JHB and he gave us free coffee and a shooter each - he called it Limone - Limone with alcohol definitely! He said he made the best Cappuccino in Italy - it was like warm froth so we guess that is how it should be?!
Dinner: We decided wherever we had the opportunity to eat lunch we would either go without supper or only have a light salad – we would hopefully loose more weight that way. BUT by the evening we couldn't resist the restaurant built on stilts over the lake, surrounded by the black sand. We had a table on the deck, watched the ducks and boats and got eaten alive by midges. Tea tree oil worked really well. Bearing in mind the earth-tremors the day before we probably didn't choose the safest place to eat! We all wanted to try some more fish so we had FILLETTO DI BACCALA PASTELLATO – battered salt cod €6.20.
Kathy said it was moist and just like Kingklip. Rayna had FILLETTE DE PERSICO - fillets of Perch €7.80 also in batter. I had FITTORA MISTA DI CALAMARI E GAMBER - €7. The translation on the menu read 'Cryfishes and squashfry' - it was calamari , squid and 3 prawns which had not had the veins removed. I also ordered FLORIDIZUCCA ALLA ROMANA - pumpkin flowers Roman style - awful- the batter was thick , the flowers soggy and the stuffing was scraps of fish. Marlena De Blasi in her book entitled “A thousand days in Tuscany” describes how beautiful Zucchini Blossoms are when dipped in a beer batter, fried to a gentle crisp and then sprayed with sea-salted water. Can’t help feeling that our pumpkin blossoms should have been similar. The menu was translated into German and English - ie Portchops and Beffsteack!! You can visit their website on http://www.trattoriadelmoro.it/

Sunday, July 9, 2006 – DAY TWENTY-FIVE - Bolsena to Viterbo
Dinner: Tonight we are 2 kms away from Town so we are eating in the Hotel Restaurant. Italy plays France in the finals tonight so we are not expecting to get too much sleep. They have put a TV in the Dining Room and we also have one in the room. The Waiter looks and acts as if he is very fed up about having drawn the “short straw” and has to work tonight – he makes little attempt to communicate with us, which is fine as we can pretty much work out the menu’s ourselves these days.
Water and red and white wine appear on the table, open without having requested it. Wines are Fattoria Madonna Delle Macchie, Red - Renaro and White Fonte Vionica. We only drink the white, crisp and dry - really have not had a bad white since we've been here. Rayna and I are going to have a good Merlot when we get to Rome, safe in the knowledge that we don't have to walk the next morning. Therefore the Red remains untouched.
The menu has prices by each item and we order. Strozzapreti con crema di Carcifi - pasta twirls with Italian spicy sausage and artichoke - €9 - excellent. Mezze Lune Burro e Salvia €8 - pasta ravioli of ricotta with sage butter, again not a brown butter. Arle cchino di Verdure €3.50 - vegetable selection moulded in a ring - beautifully presented. Sylvia is a vegetarian and has been pleased with the selection of vegetables and pastas available. The salads are on most occasions just lettuce and tomato. We were then presented with bowls of grapes and cherries and mandarin sorbets. We were charged a set fee of €15 each so we imagine we could have ordered the whole lot!

Monday, July 10, 2006 – DAY TWENTY-SIX Viterbo to Capranica
Faced with Sil’s packet soup, our spirits lifted when a local woman told us to go down the road and turn right. We see a doorway with curtains, it doesn’t look promising. But we push through and there are tables with checked cloths! We are shown to a table by the owner. He has a picture of an African woman on the wall and says he knows about Johannesburg. He brings us water and wine. We see an extensive menu on the wall and are already deciding what we might have. He arrives without menus - you can have pasta, pasta or pasta he says. He is quite suave and confident. You can have pasta with tomato and basil or with mushrooms. The variations of pasta fall off his tongue but we can't quite catch the meaning.
I ask if I can have olives - no olives he says (after all this is Italy). I ask if I can have Anchovies but my pronunciation of "acciughe" is obviously not too good and I have to show him the word in my Phrase book. He looks outraged "No!!" He then starts to recite the choices again and I pick up "sausage" and I say I do not understand the other word. He looks up the word in my phrase book and it is baby artichokes. Yes I say "Italian sausage and artichokes would be good". He raises his eyes to the ceiling, shrugs his shoulders and marches off to the kitchen.
Within moments the girl’s pasta's arrive, two with tomato and two with mushroom. A while later a plate arrives with 4 halves of artichokes. Oops! What have I ordered? Much later he comes to the table and says your order is coming. I have by now eaten my artichokes because I gather he would not lower his standards to include it in my dish of pasta. We then see him take a dish from the kitchen hatch. It is a plate, not a bowl - so no pasta for me. He sets before me a plate with two boiled sausages, Wild Boar me thinks! But also on the plate are delicious white butter beans which have been cooked in a flavourful sauce of herbs with just a hint of tomato. I really enjoy it. He arrives to clear the plates and looks disappointed that I have eaten it and even moped up the juices with the bread!We ask for the bill - he gets up from the table where he is eating with a customer and shrugs and says €35.

TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2006 – DAY TWENTY SEVEN Capranica to Campagnano Di Roma
“The Restaurant Il Postiglione – one of a kind” run by Mama Ida, her son, daughter, and daughter-in-law.
This is the first restaurant that we have seen fresh fish laid out on ice and boxes of field mushrooms on display. Campagnano is famous for Proscuitto ham and the kitchen produced platters of melon and hams, mushrooms and other delicacies. (one must remember that whilst this sounds like a grand restaurant, it is not - it’s almost humble). Marion and Sil had Linguine with mushrooms, an array of those fresh mushrooms we saw - wow, taste, texture and aroma, say no more....we all have to taste each others for the food report (remember - Kathy - don't mess with my food) so it is hard for some! Rayna had fresh grilled fish, we think it was a Sea bass or similar - Manwell was unable to tell us. Kathy had her first steak, it was huge and tender and many of the locals were eating the steak so it was highly recommended. (Bi Stecca €10) I decided this could be my last chance to have Wild Boar cooked in a different way.
So I chose the Cinghiale al pepe verde €8 - It doesn't taste like pork, it looks and tastes like the most tender, tasty beef - it was cubed and cooked in a very light cream sauce with peppercorns, very similar to a Steak au poivre (sorry spelling?) (by the way, you must know how mixed up we are, we have had to speak French, now Italian and we are staying in the Chinatown region of Rome so now our entire internet is in Chinese!). All vegetables are served cold, not warm, cold straight from the fridge - so we had cold green beans (Fagiolini €3) and cold spinach - not good).
Recipe: I am sad that this may be the last time I will ever taste Wild Boar so was thrilled on arriving home when Kathy introduced me to a book by Marlene De Blasi – “A thousand days in Tuscany” in which she gives a recipe “Braised Pork to Taste Like Wild Boar” using leg or shoulder of pork. She cooks it with the traditional juniper berries and for hours until the meat falls off the bone, in a red wine sauce. I will definitely be trying this!
Meanwhile, our good friend and Chef, John Field (Brother in Law to the “locally famous” food critic, Derek Taylor) has promised a cook out one Sunday where we will cook the best ever Wild Boar (Wild Pig – available in SA). Can’t wait!Dolci: We all raved about our meals and all opted for desert...Fresh Strawberries, Lemon Tart, wow the pastry chef knows what he is doing, and the freshness of the lemon €3, only disappointment was the Tiramisu - but given the quality of the food, perhaps this is how it should be...it was very much a sponge. A culinary experience to savor forever.

WEDNESDAY, 12 JULY, 2006 - DAY TWENTY EIGHT Campagnano di Roma to La Storta:
Supper with the Nun’s
We went down for supper and what a pleasant surprise. Wine on the table....thank goodness! How civilized these people are. A lovely platter of pasta, beef olives and probably the best salad we've had. Without question the best bread we've had. A big bowl of fruit for desert. The Monks from St Bernard's would do well to come and take a few cookery lessons from the Nun's that's for sure. Breakfast was equally top notch. As much coffee and hot milk as we could possibly want, gorgeous bread rolls with butter (yes butter), cheese, honey, jams, juice - not a melba toast or croissant with a 6 month shelf life in sight. Then as we were finishing, we were invited to fill our water bottles from this nifty little machine which served iced water, natural, with gas or room temperature.

Friday, July 14, 2006 – DAY TWENTY-NINE La Storta to Rome
“When in Rome – have the most expensive ice cream and pizza you will probably ever have in your life!”
So once we arrived we needed to celebrate so we broke all the rules (Co you did warn us) and we ate not far from the square, we were so excited. Here it goes, Coke €5, Fanta €5, half litre of their cheapest wine €12 (I've been paying €4), a pizza €12 - the topping if you can call it that...anchovy - one cut into two pieces and placed on a pizza base with minimal cheese, I had salmon, take a tail of salmon (left over from another dish) cut it into 5 and lay over a pizza. Sil had an ice cream €8!! Cover charge was €10. The final bill came to €100.......we have arrived in Rome.

►On Cappuccinos
We have tasted Cappuccino's from the Italian Alps to Rome, in back street bars, Mama's ristorantes, pizzeria, trattoria and a 4 Star hotel. So its official - A true Italian Cappuccino is a cup of luke warm froth, no chocolate or cocoa on top, not a biscuit on the side and not a newspaper in sight. We are keen to know who sets the criteria for the Sunday Tribune's Great Cappuccino Competition - meanwhile the first thing we are going to do when we get to JHB airport is get a "real" Cappuccino!!

► On Pilgrim’s breakfast.
I thought I'd tell you about breakfast. We have given up with the B & B breakfast because they are too late (07.30pm) and too predictable (bread and jam) so we ask for a ‘picnic’ packet to eat on the go. Lunch is always bread if we are eating on the run so try to make breakfast healthy. Take one metal mug which has been hanging on your backpack and is probably full of dust. Fill up with water from bath tap. Place immersion heater into water careful not to electrocute yourself due to damaged plug socket. Add tea bag or coffee from jar (shared by Val and Marion). who take it in turns to carry) use spoon from yesterday's ice cream. Add sugar "pinched" the day before. Add milk from carton shared by Val, Rayna and Kathy. Drinks as quickly as possible so you can begin with the next course. Take packet of cereal (shared by Val, Rayna and Kathy) tip into mug (best to rinse first but a personal choice) add milk. Take one yoghurt brought day before add sachet of honey "pinched" day before from Cafe, stir and add to cereal. Eat banana. Now walk!

VF FIVE PILGRIMS TO ROME - IN PRINT!!

Halleluiah! I collected our books today!

When we returned home from walking the ViaF I downloaded all the entries posted onto this blog whilst we were away. The blog posts needed numerous spell checks (all those foreign keyboards resulted in many odd spellings!) so I printed out three hard copies - each one was edited by each of us in turn; then I re-formatted the chapters which meant re-checking and editing; added Val's Food Report - re-editing - choosing from over 2 000 photopgraphs - re-checking - and the final product was copied onto a CD and taken to the printers a month ago. And today - almost 10 months since our return, I collected the finished product - our beautiful "VF Five Pilgrims to Rome" book!

As with most 'first issues' there are a few mistakes - an upside down 'mirror image' photograph and a few skewed pages - and, the gremlins got in and rearranged the pages of the Food Report resulting in the new chapter colour page being in the wrong place. But, overall, we are thrilled with the result, a 130 page journal, written by all five as we walked the Via for 28 days.

We have each had a hard cover copy done for ourselves and a few soft-covered copies to give to family. We will send one to the new 'Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome' which was recently formed in England and to the Via Francigena Association in Italy. We are planning on having a 'Book Lunch' soon!

R50 000 RAISED - IT'S OFFICIAL!!

The VF Five Pilgrims raised R50 000 for Homenet's Children's Welfare! This is a picture of some of the children receiving their toy JR puppies at Christmas.

These are the certificates presented to each of the 5 pilgrims by Homenet.

VF SLIDESHOW - SATURDAY 7TH OCTOBER

We had the most wonderful afternoon with over 50 people turning up to watch the Powerpoint Presentation of our walk to Rome. Val provided the venue and arranged for a large screen, digital projector and fabulous sound system. Martin (thank you Martin and Wakefields) sponsored all the refreshments - which Val prepared. Delicious Italian and Meditteranean hot and cold snacks and desserts - YUMMY!!
Val was the sound 'technician' and I was the 'director' and we put on an hour long show of slides, some with animation and every one with a sound clip. We had music clips with classical to hard rock, choirs and soft jazz; sounds of cow bells, waterfalls, rivers, the wind at the Gr St Bernard Pass, bird song, goats bleating, thunder and more. (Watch out Spielberg!!)
The 'BLOOPERS' - consisting of photos we weren't going to show and Val and Rayna's unplanned video clips - were a hoot and a great way to finished it off. We got huge applause from our appreciative audience!
At the end of the presentation my VF Pilgrim friends presented me (Sil) with a gold Vatican Keys pendant which Rayna arranged to have made at a local jewellers. I am sure that it is one-of-a-kind in this country and I will cherish it always.
Val also presented the Designer Boys - Delano and Jacques - with a certificate from Homenet in appreciation of their help with our BLOG whilst we were walking the Million Steps Challenge.
We had a basketfull of little JR (Jack Russell) toy puppies. Thanks to everybody who bought or sponsored a puppy - 45 were bought outright and others were sponsored - so a lot of sick children in hospital will get a puppy at Christmas - and over R1 000 was raised. (There are many more so if anyone would like one, please contact your nearest Homenet Office.)
Thanks to everyone who came - it was great sharing our pilgrimage with you.
Val, Syl, Marion, Kathy and Rayna.

Get-together and slide show

We have had a terrific response to our offer to have a report back on the Via Francigena walk with a slide show of our journey.
On Saturday 7th October we will have about 50 people come to see our Powerpoint presentation and hear about the wonderful journey we undertook to Rome.

The JR (Jack Russell) toy puppies have arrived and we will have a basket load available for purchase on the day. Those who don't want to buy a toy for themself can sponsor one for a child. We will have labels available to write your name on and Homenet will ensure that the toys are given to needy children at Christmas time.
We will post a full report on the Blog after the get-together.

SIX WALKING POLES AND A BOOK

The poles:
Good news! Exactly a month after their return from Rome the lost package with their walking poles and sticks were found and returned to them.
"Had really given up on these! - but looks like they wanted and needed to be reunited with us!" said Kathy. "I can't wait to measure mine to see how much it shrunk."
"I felt quite nostalgic when I opened the parcel and took out the bamboo 'stokkie' from Switzerland," said Sil. "It still had some Italian sand on the end. I am so pleased to have them back."

The Book:

While the VF Five were walking, they never got a chance to read their own Blog - or to read each other's posts. Now that they have had a chance to read through it, they have decided to compile all the Blog postings, the comments, photographs etc into a 'memory book'.

This is the proposed cover of the book.
Sil took the photograph of their shadows on a stony road early in the morning as they were leaving Lucignano D'Arbia.


The book will consist of a contents page, introduction to the Via Francigena and the five pilgrims, notes on their preparation and planning, all the Blog pages as well as a chapter on Val's food reports. They are planning to include as many colour photographs as possible. There will be a list of VF Five trivia (average age, average mileage walked, longest day etc), daily stages and mileages, accommodation lists, packing list, maps and resources. Rayna will do a couple of 'scrap book' pages, one with bits and pieces from the walk and another with pictures of the different VF signs along the way.
Sylvia is also planning to compile a Power Point presentation on their walk to use when giving talks.

PPB - Post Pilgrimage Blues

19th July: Missing all of you........, the walking etc etc ...

20th July:
I feel flat (do..do..do..do..do..do..doo)
Tho' I'm pleased to be back (do..do..do..do..do..do..doo)
No boots, no backpack (do..do..do..do..do..do..doo)
I feel flat.
Nowhere to roam
I feel alone
I feel flat (do..do..do..do..do..do..doo)

21st July: Yes - I was also a bit flat and was uncharacteristically mizzie yesterday ..... but feeling better today.

21st: Thank you all for an amazing experience, I have to say, I have found being at home and surrounded by so much "stuff" really offputting, I think I am going to get rid of lots!

24th July: WEll girls, I was a little relieved to hear that you all are feeling odd...I have honestly felt so down that I couldn't bring myself to phone friends or even go onto my e mail. I looked around my home with all the trappings of life and could have picked up my backpack and just started walking...all I wanted to do was sit and read our blog which I could not print off on my useless computer at home. Back to work and feel trapped!

24th July: I'm at work and want to just pick up my backpack, collect all of you and start walking,,,missing you all - what have we done to ourselves?

24th July: Eish!! I can definitely not be at work. Think I can even do a 10hour walk today!! Think I need a coffee break together!

25th July: I think I am sick. I knew it was coming 'cos I just wanted to sleep all the time.
Now I have a hot face and coughed an snotted all night. How can you walk outdoors all day, get hotter than hot, walk in rain, eat bread, custard slices and coke for breakfast - and not get sick?
Then you come home, fruit for breakfast, salad lunch, veg curry for dinner, stay indoors, sleep until 7h30 - and get sick.

24th July: I have the worst stomach...it is gurgling and upset all the time, I have no energy.....I need Italy....sorry to hear you are not well.

25th July am: How are you feeling...I just cannot get into work...I fear I will never be any good...I can honestly say that if the circumstances were different I could happily get up and just walk out now...what has this holiday done to me?

25th July pm: I am sick. I am tired. I am listless. I am not a weepy wailer but feel almost constantly on the verge of wailing. I don't think I could walk 3kms if someone paid me to. And I don't care.

..... The cure for Post-Pilgrim-blues:

Fr Frank (speaking about the camino pilgrimage):
"Many people report feeling sad, alone and down after their Camino experience. The initial return to daily life brings a certain excitement and an eagerness to share the experience with others. When the pictures are developed there is another wave of outpouring of Camino excitement and for some, the opportunity to give a talk or write an article. But then slowly it begins to dawn that the Camino is over. That carefree existence, where one’s greatest pain was a foot blister and among one’s greatest delights was photographing a snail crossing the road, is over.
Now we have to deal with all the usual problems - and our loved ones soon tire of hearing our stories. Although we pilgrims console one another with the agreed-upon wisdom that the ‘Camino never ends - it continues in daily life’, deep down we know that something has ended. Feelings of loss, longing and emptiness begin to surface. Does this strike a chord with you? You could be suffering from the post-pilgrimage blues.
What then is the remedy for the post-Camino blues? What about seeing every new day as a pilgrimage? As we walk into each day we are walking as into a foreign land; we are going beyond our experience. Live as a pilgrim, in the present moment, carrying only what you really need, leaving behind excess baggage, expecting nothing and grateful for everything, open to new experiences, aware of all that is! Then every road will be a Camino and every stopping-place a refugio and those post-Camino blues will give way to greens and reds and yellows!
FdeG@ananzi.co.za

Post Script

Rome Airport: Check in time:
"We are sorry to advise you that your flight from Zurich to Johannesburg tonight has been cancelled. If you go to the Swiss Desk over there, they will help you with information about your accommodation tonight in a Swiss Hotel, and about your connecting flight from Johannesburg to Durban".
Bummer! We were all looking forward to getting home.
Swiss Desk:
"Yes, your flight to Johannesburg has been cancelled and we cannot get you on a flight to Durban until Tuesday. When you arrive in Zurich you must go to the Swiss Desk and they will give you a voucher for a night's stay in the Swiss Hotel as well as a voucher for a meal and a transfer back to the airport in the morning for your flight to Johannesburg."

We do some last minute shopping in the Duty Free "Taste of Italy" shop. When it comes time to board, Marion has her boarding pass but not her ticket. Did she leave it at passport control, or was it lost when she handed over her baording pass at the Duty Free shop?
"Sorry" says the Swiss staff, "No ticket, no boarding". They make Marion stand aside and call an official. It's the same man who spoke to us at the dest downstairs.
After a few tense moments he says.
"Give me E50 and I will sort out your lost ticket".
Marion gives him a E50 note and we are allowed to board.
Is this regular? We don't care. We just want to go home.
We land in Zurich an hour and a half later. After walking around the airport for half an hour we finally find the correct desk, are given vouchers and are transferred to the Swiss Hotel in a large tourist bus. It is now 11pm. Smart hotel, lots of brass and glass, up-market decor, little goodies in the bathroom that I am not tempted to take because I am no longer a pilgrim. Restless sleep. The bed is too big, too soft and I am alone. I miss the sounds of two other pilgrims in the room - the soft snoring from Val and Marion's heavy breathing. The pillows are down and the feathers rustle when I turn.

In the morning we are sitting in the lobby waiting for the bus to take us to the airport.
"Hello Mrs Nilsen" I hear a familiar voice.
It is John - Little John - John the perpetual pilgrim (Camino Frances, Camino Potuguese, Via de la Plata, Camino Norte, Le Puy to Santiago, Via Francigena) who is returning home after walking the old VF route from Naples to Rome with Joe Paterson and others. He has a red nose, watery eyes and is coughing fit to drop. We all board the bus and are soon rushing around the airport doing last minute duty-free shopping.
The day flight is long but not too uncomfortable. I sit next to Val who watches 3 movies in a row. I watch a programme on the Swiss Guards. When they say that Swiss Guards have to learn to be polite and friendly as they deal with lots of people, I think, "Humph! Bull-dust! They are rude and arrogant."
I also watch a documentary on the Montreux Jazz Festival. Wonderful - Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, BB King - groovy!."
We land in Johannesburg after 6pm. Everyone is friendly, smiling, polite and helpful. Our parcel with our sticks does not arrive. Off to the lost baggage desk. They are friendly and helpful. It is so good to be home. A visit to the help desk and we are on a shuttle bus to the Holiday Inn Garden Court. We have to spend another night away from home because they can't get us onto a connecting flight until the morning. Will we ever get home?

The hotel staff are welcoming. We have a meal in the SPUR Steak Ranch. Then bed. I sleep like the dead until 5am. There is something on the TV about bombs and Israel. We haven't watched television for nearly 5 weeks. We have been cut off from world events.
We are welcomed into the breakfast room by smiling staff. It is SO good to be back. South Africa is not considered to be a 1st world country but to us it is better for it. First world often appears arrogant, rude, bored and weary of tourists.
The shuttle takes us back to the airport and we board the 11:10 flight to Durban. It is SO good to see loved ones at the airport but Marion is sad - her mother has taken ill and is in intensive care in the hospital. We give Marion a lift to her place before coming home. Carling, my big, beautiful black Labbie whimpers and mouths me when I open the door. Jenna, our pavement special, whines and jumps trying to get a nose in.
My modest home seems over spacious. Why do we need so many rooms? I pack away my shoes and am bemused by the clothes hanging in my cupboard. Do I really need a dozen T-shirts, shorts, socks, tracksuits?
I sort out the souvenirs and chocolates bought for family and friends. I have got 7 large envelopes which I posted to myself along the way waiting to be opened.
"Tell me all about it," says my husband when we finally sit down to share a cup of coffee.
Where do I start? How can you share something like this journey? Perhaps over the next few weeks I will be able to share more than what has been posted on this blog - more of the personal journey and the private moments.
"I will tell you" I say. "Let me just sit here and enjoy being home. Then I will tell you."

THE LAST POST - Sunday 16th July

So, what have the VF Five been doing since they arrived in Rome? WALKING - WALKING - WALKING!! From the Vatican to the Spanish Steps. From the station (close to our apartment) to the Trevi Fountains. From St Peter's to the Coloseum. We have walked the length of the Circus Maximus and around the Forum, Pantheon and Plazza Venezia. Syl and Marion did a two hour tour of the fabulous Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Too much visual input to even try to describe it all. We have been literally tripping over antiquities and have Roman overload! Some went on a serious shopping expedition through kms of alleys, side streets, main roads and malls. Cash is depleted and Credit cards stretched. And, the Duty Free shops loom! By the time we board flight LX 1733 to Zurich this evening, we will all have exceeded the 700km target we set before we left Durban. WELL DONE THE VF FIVE!!
On this journey we have learned that the Italian people are basically kind, friendly and helpful. They were always encouraging and expressed admiration for what we were doing. Our accommodation was always good which was a very pleasant surprise. From the B&B's to the Youth Hostals, the little hotels, apartments, convents, hospice, monastery - all have been clean and comfortable and reasonably priced.
We have learned that Italy in summer is as hot - if not hotter than South Africa. This was a big surprise but because we come from Durban which has a hot humid climate, we all coped with the excessive heat and humidity.
We have learned that coffee is cheaper if you drink it inside the coffee shop than it is if you sit down and drink it outside - .90c inside and E2.50 outside - huge difference! Italians serve their vegetables cold unless you ask for them to be heated. Ditto Cupucino coffee which is always served luke warm unless you ask for caldo (hot).
We learned that five very different women could work as a team (we said at the start "There is no 'I' in the word team") support each other, help each other, compromise at times, go with the majority, and get each other through difficult days. What a team we are! We are all SO proud of each other and of how well we did on this journey.
So, we would like to thank you all for sharing this journey with us through reading our BLOG and we would like to thank the Designer Boyz for posting our photographs and for keeping our posts in date order.
From a hot and humid Rome, this is the VF FIVE - over and out!

Day 28: La Storta to Rome 23kms

YEE-HAAA!!!! WE MADE IT!! WE ARE IN ROMA!! 28 days and ± 650kms after setting off from Vevey we arrived today!! Unfortunately, our first sighting of the Holy See was shrouded in a foggy haze of thick smog. It was 37oC at 8:45am and by the time we wound our way past the massive walls and long queues of tourists outside the Vatican museum, it was over 40oC. We walked all morning through the outskirts of Rome with the morning traffic. Like most large cities, the outskirts include rubbish tips, graffiti, railway yards, panelbeating shops, and heavy morning traffic. But nothing could dampen our spirits as we marched purposfully down the hills into Rome. People stared - five tanned old women with heavy packs and long pilgrim staffs - marching into Rome. Some took photographs of us.
So, what was it like arriving in St Peter's Square after our Groot Trek? For most of us an anti-climax. Excitement and anticipation evaporated after one after the other the officials, security guards, police and Swiss Guards shunted us from one place to the next and ignoredor were dismissive of our please to meet with Don Bruno. After two hours in the broiling sun we gave up and left the vatican to find lunch. E5 for a coke. E8 for an ice-cream. Total rip-off!
Our apartment is clean and comfortable and Maria came to see that we settled in. It was a joy to take all our belongings out of the plastic bags they have been in for over a month and pack them into a couple of drawers. We made dinner and ate in our little kitchen and were all ready for bed by 8:30pm. Before we went to bed I gave each girl the little medallions I had found near the Vatican with a St Christopher on one side and the heads of the two Popes on the other. I thanked them for the friendship, kindness and support we have shared on this walk. We have all shared something really special, always considerate of each other's needs and supportive if one felt a little flat. Maria said that we were an example to other women and I agree with her.
Tomorrow we will go back to the Vatican and try again to visit Don Bruno and get our Testimoniums. Then we will travel on the Hop-onHop-Off bus. Roma here we come!

Marion: We are in Rome! When we left the convent I was feeling excited about arriving in Rome but at the same tiime a bit sad that our journey was coming to an end. Although we did not have a great distance to cover, our cryptic clues said 14km, we did 20 into the centre of Rome and it seemed a lot further. It was very hot, humid and dusty. When we arrived at St Peters square it felt very strange tht our journey had eneded. It was a bit of a let down that we could not find the correct place to go to recieve our testimoniums, We will go back tomorrow morning and try again, Syl, Val, Kathy and Rayna were very special walking mates on this journey and I thank you all for the special time we had together. WE DID IT!

Rayna: Walking in to Rome, for me, was the culmination of almost two years of planning and organiing. Of probably driving friends and family insane with the incessant talk about 'When I/we go to Italy.' The past 4 weeks have been an eye-opener to me, having to push lyself beyond my normal limit of physical endurance, or else I wouldn't get to sleep in a bed that night!! The friendship, laughter and encouragement from/with the other 'girls' was fantastic. So now I promise when I get home, I won't spend the next two years saying 'when I was in Italy....!'

Kathy (now a cleaner mountail goat!) On our way into Romw on the Via Trionfale, I reflected back over the last 30 days. What am I going to miss?
* the comaraderie of a group of unique, talented special women who were brave enough to tackel this epic journey on foot. We have learnt much about ourselves, each other and working as a group. WE have laughed our way throught many tricky trials and situations that could otherwise have proved quite difficult!
* the daily routine (or lack thereof?) of getting up, brushing teeth, having a cup of tea/coffee and then setting off for the days walk to our next spot. and... once there, showering, washing the days clothes, finding a meal and going off to bed.
* the beauty that is all around us - God's creation - and that so much of what we see in terms of buildings, roads etc, have been aroud for over two thousand years!
* the thrill and exhileration of reaching the hospice at Great St Bernards after 11 and a half hours wlaking, with no water later in the day except that provided in cool mountain streams and one doorstop sandwich. 28km, 1600m up and 11,5 hours over the steepest roughest terrian we would encounter - we did it girls!
* our terrible vpoices (all need help gere) but our very smart appropriate song writing abilities. 'We feel good ... like good pilgrims should, We feel vrot ... because its too dam hot. We feel good ... cause Sylvia says that we should!..' etc These sing alongs kept us focussed and going on realy tough days.
* the hospitality of so many of our hosts who were so willing to go that extra mile for us.
* the lady who invited us in for coffee in an abandoned village (total of 5 inhabitants), the man who left his home in Bard to show us the way out over a rocky outcrop, our B and B owner who, despite our rather rude brush off, kept on coming back to tell us that he was expecting us and that he could take us to the accommodation!, the other countless people who gave us directions and told us where they thought we were ......
* the excitement at finding honey, sugar, jams etc on a breakfast table and quickly hiding one or two for later us. The apples picked off a branch growing over our path. The mulberries we all enjoyed along the route, Finding a red onion on the side of the freeway and carrying it for two days in case we could use it!!. Fruit stalls in town squares where we would buy fruit and eat it straight away. Finding water fountains were we could cool our heads and even better if the sign said potable becasue then we could fill our water bottles.
* restaurant meals in family run establishments like Mama Norina who specially prepared typical local fare like it should be. And seing her the next morning on our way out of Pontremoli - and her huge smile when she recognized us.
* not having to decide what to wear. Is it black shorts? or black shorts today?

What am I not going to miss?.....
* the treatment of dogs in Northern Italy - mostly chaied away from the house or kept in fowl run type places. Lucy (one spoilt sausage dog) and Wussy Kat, you don't know how lucky you are.....
* the morning breakfast croissans, standard fare, that are packaged in plastic with a use-by-date 6 months from now! Roll on morning oats and yoghurt back home.
* Rome. Busy, expensive and over-the-top. Feel like a country bumpkin come to town for the first time.
*having to hand wash clothes every day and going to sleep every night with washing drapped all over our room, beds ....
* very little actually ......

The journey has been amazing. It defies description at the moment. Thank you to my fellow travellers Rayna, Val, Marion and Sylvia ... and to my family and TJ for making do without me for the past month (hope you all missed me!). Also to everyone at work for taking up the slack while I walked the Via Roma. It is much appreciated.

The road to Rome was noisy, busy and dirty. We could only reflect that in the days of the original pilgrims it would have been a beautiful ending to their journey but it was not so for us. However, it marked the finalisation of an incredible achievement and when we walked into St Peter's square we were speechless. For those of you who have been following this blog you will know that we wanted to try and raise funds for children back in South Africa via the Homenet Real Estate Group. I have personnally carried the large SA Flag and the Homenet Flag for nearly 700 kms at this stage, it has been through a lot, caught on trees, stuck in bus doors and luggage racks and when Syl carried it for me one day (because I was carrying my curtains on the back of my rucksack) she got it caught in the circular doors of the bank. But it made it and we had our photograph taken with it. Afterwards, I put it on the railing outside St Peters - Homenet's most expensive piece of Real Estate. I wasn't arrested and it was still there hours later when we were on our way to our accommodation. For those of you following from Homenet, I have seen absolutely nothing special to report on Real Estate offices - even here in Rome, their window displays and interiors are really quite ordinary. I did see one display for developments which looked good and will investigate that on my return. So once we arrived we needed to celebrate so we broke all the rules (Coe you did warn us) and we ate not far from the square, we were so excited. Here it goes, Coke E5, Fanta E5, half litre of their cheapest wine E12 (I've been paying E4), a pizza E12 - the topping if you can call it that...anchovy - one cut into two pieces and placed on a pizza base with minimal cheese, I had salmon, take a tail of salmon (left over from another dish) cut it into 5 and lay over a pizza. Syl had an ice cream E8!! Covercharge was E10. The final bill came to E100.......we have arrived in Rome.
We left the restaurant and as we were walking we heard someone shouting at us, we heard "pap and Wors" they were two sisters from Nelspruit!!

My curtains didn't arrive...out of all the things I'm carrying or have bought, it was the curtains I most valued as a memory of my trip...they were very special indeed.

I can now safely tell you about my trick for no blisters. Ask any serious runner, and they will give you their secret for not getting blisters. Mine began when I walked across England some years ago. We were a group of 10 girls that time and we had been training for fell walking with leather hiking boots, ready for the shocking English weather of the Lake District in particular. However, just before our trip, they suffered an serious outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease and we were forced to walk the roads, mostly country roads so it wasn't too bad. However, leather hiking boots do not like road walking and day one saw many of us with sore feet. One of our mates in particular was really suffering and a lady slowed down when she saw our SA flags. She took our mate to our accommodation and told her that she would return with some sheep's wool before we left in the morning. Sure enough, she arrived with bags of freshly shorn sheeps wool, still warm and rich in lanolin. We put it inside our socks and wound it between our toes and padded our soles of our feet against the road. (By the way, roads in England are harder than SA because they have to withstand low temperatures). The Lanolin literally "waterproofed" our feet and not one blister more, plus it protected our feet from the constant assult of the road. On the way through villages, farmers gladly gave us more as they had to sheer their sheep but were not allowed to sell the wool and were just burning it.
Thanks to my friend Annie, I had fresh Lanolin.

So, its goodbye to you all from us, thank you for your support and for those of you who have given so generously to our charity, a huge thank you from the bottom of our hearts, to those of you who gave before we had even taken a step (thank you Charles) for the vote of confidence! (The little red numbers were well received!)

It took a lot of discipline to keep our website going, to walk for 7 to 11 hours in 40 degrees and to write up our notes every night and spend anything between 1 to 3 hours updating whenever we could, on pay machines, machines which didn't have enough space for the mouse to move, to Italian and Chinese instructions but we are glad we have done it. It will be our memories when we get home and you have all encouraged us to keep it going.

So thank you to Kathy, no matter whether it was her shift she always took the maps and lead the way, she was our intrepid explorer and makes the most wonderful coffee! Kathy was the inventor of the Revolters!To those who work for her, you are very lucky - she is a great leader.
To Rayna, my partner in crime, my drinking buddy and my shopping buddy! Rayna had a "busman's holiday" she was our accountant and boosted the Italian Economy and was in charge of the redistribution of wealth within our group. She was a key player in the Revolters!!!

To Marion, she was first to wake up, leap out of bed and sing "on the road again", always cheerful and made me coffee every morning...thank you Marion (Kathy took over when we got to Rome). Marion, great humour, always enjoyed a giggle....she was an undercover Revolter!

To Syl, thank you for 2 years of work, of research and planning to make this dream come true. To putting together our maps, to keeping in touch with people walking the route by e mail, as they were walking it. To downloading 183 maps, to translating all the cryptic clues from Italian into English using the painful process of Babelfish and Google...we still haven't worked out how you can have a "newspaper stand" in the middle of a field! To guiding us on what to pack and for booking all of our accommodation in advance, every single one a joy to arrive at. Not once during this trip did we find ourselves saying, "I wish I had bought so and so....if only we knew....it was planned to perfection.

So finally...

We feel Proud
And were singing out loud
Cos we've walked to Rome
And now we're on our way home

We've walked the Road
And we've shared the load
So we feel good
Like we knew that we would!!!!!!

Day 27: Wed 12th July: Campagnano di Roma to La Storta: +36km

Kathy:
A long, hot day to day but all in all we all did really well. Chatting to Sylvia this morning and I thought that I should share some of our enormous pride in ourselves. Five English speaking women with only 'mpo Italiano' walking across Italy with obtuse cryptic lues, we have done really well! Perusing a range of maps daily, reading roadside markers, asking poor, unsuspecting Italians for 'what place is this?' "Where is ..X, Y, Z?" "How far to....?" etc. etc. and generally using gut feelings to keep us on the right track.ò Val and I have had our pepper sprays handy (haven't used it yet except for Val's attempt to kill a fly with hers in Aosta) but have generally felt very safe. We were told twice today that what we are doing takes courage (or we are wished courage) as what we are doing was viewed as quite something by -Italian horsewoman as well as a South Africa-Italian bar owner in La Storta. Are we smart - or what?! Apparently we had to be non-Italian women to be tackling such a challenge.
Talking about challenges.. our day started with walking 4km back into Campagnano up a 4km long Fields Hill, tackling some serious hill climbs and then getting "lost" (following the VF signs mind you) near a river crossing with no bridge and a landslide. We went to the river ... thought "Nah.. they can't expect us to cross here..." turned back and walked about 2km to a horsefarm only to be told that we had to cross the river to get to La Storta. So back we trekked to the river, sat down and took off our boots, boulder and log hopped to the opposite, muddy side and sat down to put socks and boots back on before marching forward to La Storta. Rayna and I worked out today that alone we went through 5lts of liquid in various forms.
SYL:
We woke this morning to a pink sky and a 'Berg wind. For the non-South African's reading this Blog, a 'Berg wind refers to a hot, dry wind that blows up the east coast of South Africa from the south, pushing hot air before it over the Drakensberg mountain range. It is usakkly a precursor of coooler or wet weather but this 'Berg wind brought neither. It just got hotter and more humid as the day went on. I actually started the day with a bit of a downer as soon after leaving our grand old hotel we had to walk past an abbatoir and I could hear pigs squealing as we walked by. As a vegetarian it was a horrific sound and I couldn't even bear to think of the barbaric things that were going behind those high walls. I can't even bear to look at the 'road kill' that we pass daily. On this walk we have seen dead hedgehogs, porcupines, all sorts of furry creatures, domestic pets, frogs, lizards, birds - even an owl.When you are speeding by in a car it is easy to avert your eyes but when you are walking, you can see the form on the road long before you reach it and it is almost mesmerising and difficult not to look at the little body on the road.
On a more cheerful note, I have had the most wonderful interaction with animals on this walk. Today was really special as on two separate occasions I was given a hot breathy kiss by to horses. I go up to the fence and make dry rasberyy noises with my mouth. They nearly always come over to investigate. If I stand very still, they smell my arm, my shoulder, neck and hair. If I turn my head slightly I can make kissing noises on their muzzles and they then kiss me back! It is such magic and worth the horse spit on your cheek or in your hair! Only once have horses shied from coming too close and I found out why when I put my arm over their fence and got a sharp shock from the electrified tape. I also say "Moooo" to the cows we pass and you'd be amazed at how often they reply. I even had a young calf suck my whole hand with a tongue like a pot scourer. I say "baaaa" or "maaaaa" to the sheep and they also bleat back at me. The dogs we pass usually come out growling and barking, protecting their territory but some have allowed me to pat or stroke them. I will miss the animals and the countryside when we walk into Rome-proper tomorrow. But, I have taken out my large SA flag and will attach it to the back of my pack so that it can fly rpoudly when we walk into St Peters tomorrow. By then we will have walked over 650 kms - 866,666 steps towars our goal which I have no doubt our stalwart group of pilgrims will achieve before we leave Rome on Sunday.
Marion:
Today ended up a real challeng for all of us as we walked 36.23kms and were on our feet of 10 1/2 hours. At time it was quite difficult and there were lots of hills. I think we can all be so proud of ourselves as no one complained, we all just got on with it. Again I say "How many people are there in the world like us?" Too damn few!

Rayna:
Today when we were wandering up and down the country roads, Val and I got a real scare. We were well behind the other girls when Val suddenly shouted 'snake!'. I stopped immediately. There, whizzing past Val ont he side of the road was a green snake about 3 feet long, intently chasing a little mouse. As it came towards me it caught up with the mouse and curled up. Next moment the mouse escaped, running diagonally across the road towards me. In that moment I couldn't see the snake (I was expecting it to chase the mouse) so I ran up the hill towards Val. The snake disappeared and we got the extra adrenaline we needed to zoot up the hill!

Val: Well you've heard about the kind of day we've had. Try putting your socks and boots on when your foot has sunk to the ankles in thick mud! Kathy and I are a little weird because we loved it...we decided that we started with a challenge and ended with one. It felt really good to clock up those Km's over a challenging terrain. I also have to agree, for a team of 5 women who have had to live so closely together (and share one bathroom on many occasions) to get "lost" without knowing if and when we might get water, walking the same path 3 times in 40 degrees and not one complaint is pretty special. We democratically stood on the crossroads where we had been before and all agreed to tackle the river rather than walk back several hours to where we knew we could retrace our steps. The moment this decision was taken, Kathy lead and got us all across the river - we all have different length legs you know so what is a step across boulders for one is a leap of faith for another and I am very prone to falling in! But I didn't thanks to Kathy.

Well without getting to lengthy I must just tell you about the occasion we were asking directions as always. Syl went into the police station and out came a really good looking young Italian in all his uniform and of course the boots for Kathy(!). He was so kind and stuck out his right hand to indicate the way whilst saying " Sinistera,(which is left) " Right or Left" says Syl, "Destra (right) or Sinistera?" "Non, Sinistera" with his right hand sticking out. So finally Syl grabs "the arm of the law" and shook his right arm and said "Destra!" He looked so surprised and grinned. I'm sure it finally became clear to him why he was never assigned traffic control duties!

"We feel Good
We knew that we Would
But before we go home
We have to walk to Rome"

We finally arrive in La Storta, my stick has lost another 5cm, broken off along the way, my boots have lost most of the tred so I slip more than walk, I've lost my sunglasses BUT no blisters, but I'll talk about that tomorrow rather than tempt fate before I get to Rome. We are staying in a Convent tonight and must say, not exactly working up an appetite given the experience in the St Bernard Hospice. I decide I must buy some milk and yoghurt so I can eat my own breakfast in the morning. I walk into this bar and as I go to the fridge, the lady says are you South African? I say yes and she is so excited. After a couple of minutes she says but you sound Australian. I explain I'm not a pukker South African but there are 4 "real ones" outside. So I call them in and she just wants them to talk!! She is from South Africa, born and bred but half Italian and married to an Italian. She is from Melville and ran an Italian Restaurant there. She offers us all free coffee's and ice creams and was so genuinely pleased to meet us. Marion and I ask about the cuppaccino's. Oh yes, she knows all about that...in South Africa they made the cuppaccino's the way we like them, hot with foam on top and the obligatory biscuits. The Italians would never drink a Cuppaccino if it were served that way. Here she serves it warm, never hot and it must be creamy all the way through, no biscuit and no newspaper ....so there you have it from the horses mouth. We should have asked her about the Tirimasu.....

I'm guide tomorrow, it is our last day and we walk to Rome...not sure it's a wise idea to give me the last day, the girls look a little concerned but I assure them "the Roman's built straight roads and all roads lead to Rome".

We arrive at the Convent. We were very kindly greeted and lead to our rooms. We were expecting a dorm with anything up to 50 beds but we were given two rooms with private bathrooms. Spotlessly clean and quite modern. We went down for supper and what a pleasant surprise. Wine on the table....thank goodness! How civilised these people are. A lovely platter of pasta, beef olives and probably the best salad we've had. Without question the best bread we've had. A big bowl of fruit for desert. The Monks from St Bernard's would do well to come and take a few cookery lessons from the Nun's that's for sure. Breakfast was equally top notch. As much coffee and hot milk as we could possibly want, gorgeous bread rolls with butter (yes butter), cheese, honey, jams, juice - not a melba toast or croissant with a 6 month shelf life in sight. Then as we were finishing, we were invited to fill our water bottles from this nifty little machine which served iced water, natural, with gas or room temperature. We went on our way feeling good.

Day 26: Capranica to Campagnano di Roma +23kms

SYL:
I was very concious this morning of the fact that today was our 3rd to last day of walking. On the one hand it seems to have flown by so quickly but on the other it seems that walking across the Alps, snow-capped mountains and waterfalls was 100 years ago. When we walked through the 2nd gate of the medieval village of Capranica this morning at 6.45am the shutters were still closed and only a sleepy dog was witness to our passing through. We walked on a beautiful forest road until Sutrie where we stopped at a roadside cafe-bar for coffee. Just outside Sutri is a Roman Amphitheatre carved out of tufa stone and it is a weird feeling to stand in the outer tunnel knowing that many terrified wretches stood right there many hundreds of years ago before going to their deaths. The Etruscan necroplis that is carved out of tufa stone next to the amphitheatre is also a reminder of a civilisation that existed over 2000 years ago.
The next 10kms were also off road but with little shade and as the temperatures rose so did our prickly rashes and sweaty heads. When we reached a village fountain on the outskirts of Monterosi we couldn't resist putting our heads under the water gushing out of the tap - marvelous! Our Cryptic Clues guide from the Assoicazione VF warned against trying to walk the main highway to Campagnano from Monterosi so we had no option but to catch a bus. The hotel we'd booked into was 4km beyond the medieval village and on an old Cassia road to Rome. We had to walk 1/2 km to reach it along an almost deserted road and when we first saw it my thoiught was "Now our luck has run out - we'll be sleeping in a decaying old barn tonight" We rang the bell and it took for ever for the door to open - only a crack mind you - and an old woman peered at us suspicously. "5 pellegrinis dall SudAfrica" I told her. "Humph! Pass-a-porta" she demanded. Once she had confirmed that we were her five pellegrinis from South Africa she allowed us in. Our jaws just dropped! The interior leads directly into a 50m+ diningroom with arched ceilings dripping with wrought iron chandaliers and scrolls. There were two rows of 20 tables all set ready for dinner. The hotel is 400 years old and has had the same owners for the past 30 years. It has the feel of a grand old lady-like-wayside inn where horses and carriages would bring Kings, Lords and their Ladies and other gentry to spend the night before their 30km journey to Rome. The new super highway was built just 500m away and this means that they now have very little passing traffic. When old Senora Ida showed us to our rooms I felt like I was a part of that wonderful od movie clip "Dinner for One".
Marion:
We started off early today and our hostess packed a picnic breakfast packet for each of us that we could munch along the way. It was easy walking, mostly on dirt roads - could not get over how quickly the kms passed and far too sonn we were at Monterosi where we found an internet point and were able to post the last few days on our blog. We sat on the pavement eating delicous icecream for lunch - it was so hot. I am looking forward to dinner in our gracious old hotel this evening. I'll wear my 'little black number' but unfortnately with my walking sandals. I'm sure everyone realises that we are pilgrims.
Val:
Kathy, Rayna and I walked and talked food this morning. We spoke about the food we would buy to cook when we get to our apartment in Rome. We even dreamed of having a braai - we could imagine the smell - mealies and wors - we decided that we would buy one of those 'ready to go' jobbies - we think we have a balcony - and Rayna will crack open a Castle!
Enjoying a meal is more than just the food, it is the whole eating experience. Tonight they could serve shoe leather and I somehow feel it would be the best experience ever - Syl has described the restaurant in this 400 year old hotel which seats over 300 in the central dinigroom. Every table is set and ready for service. I doubt that my photos will do it justice so want to share this experience with Martin - service starts at 8pm - I'm so excited to see what will come out of the kitchen. I managed to sneak a quick tour of the kitchen which has a 5m wide open wood burning stove and hearth.

Well, we've had supper and so I have to report back.....At 8pm sharp we were downstairs, Rayna our photographer was setting her camera up for pictures of the marvelous dining room and has done a great job of capturing the atmosphere. I sneaked another look at the kitchen and this time Mama invited me to take photos of the fireplace. She even posed in front of it, whilst the wood burner was roaring and pieces of Italian bread, rubbed with garlic and olive oil, toasted on top.

It remains family run although Mama's husband is no longer alive and the daughter and husband, son and daughter in law run the show together with extra waiters. The Son is the pastry chef and is clearly very talented. Mama is 79 years of age and still very much in charge. The Waiter, well not quite sure where they found him. The Adam's Family perhaps? He was a cross between Faustus and Manwell from Faulty Towers, most entertaining.

This is the first restaurant that we have seen fresh fish laid out on ice and boxes of field mushrooms on display. Campagnano is famous for Proscuitto ham and the kitchen produced platters of melon and hams, mushrooms and other delicacies. (one must remember that whilst this sounds like a grand restaurant, it is not - its almost humble). Marion and Syl had Linguine with mushrooms, an array of those fresh mushrooms we saw - wow, taste, texture and aroma, say no more....we all have to taste each others for the food report (remember - Kathy - don't mess with my food) so it is hard for some! Rayna had fresh grilled fish, we think it was a Seabass or similar - Manwell was unable to tell us. Kathy had her first steak, it was huge and tender and many of the locals were eating the steak so it was highly recommended. (Bi Stecca E10) I decided this could be my last chance to have Wild Boar cooked in a different way. So I chose the Cinghiale al pepe verde E8 - It doesn't taste like pork, it looks and tastes like the most tender, tasty beef - it was cubed and cooked in a very light cream sauce with peppercorns, very similar to a Steak au poivre (sorry spelling?) (by the way, you must know how mixed up we are, we have had to speak French, now Italian and we are staying in the Chinatown region of Rome so now our entire internet is in Chinese!) - I am sad that this may be the last time I will ever taste this dish. All vegetables are served cold, - not warm, cold straight from the fridge - so we had cold green beans (Fagiolini E3) and cold spinach - not good).

We all raved about our meals and all opted for desert...Fresh Strawberries, Lemon Tart, wow the pastry chef knows what he is doing, and the freshness of the lemon E3, only disappointment was the Tiramsu - but given the quality of the food, perhaps this is how it should be...it was very much a sponge.
Kathy:
Had some fun with the Italian bus companies again today. Thank you to Mary (Run/Walk for Life Pinetown) who told us about having to verify your tickets as we have been very careful about doing this. You can only buy a ticket before you go on a bus - from a Tabacci or a bar or shop - then you get on the bus and validate it in a machine that stamps or punches holes into it. Have yet to see an inspector though. The daily inter-town buses are also more like our long distance buses. Very comfortable with small seats. Only problem if you haven't got a ticket and you are based far from the town - how do you get into town to buy a ticket?? Our return bus ticket cost us E0.70c but going into town without a ticket cost us E5 from the driver.

Day 25 Viterbo to Capranica 36km

Marion: Today we had quite a distance to walk, we were not 100% sure if our distance was 31k or 3k. We started off early at 06.00am. It is so enjoyable to walk early as then it is cool. We walked mostly on dirt paths and through a couple of forests. We had a short spell on the Cassia which was awful as there was a lot of traffic, quite scary!!. When we stopped at Ventralla before lunch time approximately 11.00am on a temperature gauge I saw it was 34 degrees so I am sure the temperature today must have gone up to 40 degrees. I think we all did so well today!!

Syl: Last night Italy won the World Cup and we slept through the last half of the game. We were all just too tired to stay up watching. At 5.00am we turned the TV on to CNN and learned the score. BRAVO ITALIA!! Nearly every house and building had an Italian flag flying or draped over windows and balconies. Even the beautiful Roman style church that was built in 1417. The old oak tree, where the Virgin appeared, now forms part of the main altar. The ceiling is an amazing pilastered fresco covered in gold leaf paid for by donations from devotees. We entered the church and saw a white robed priest up near the altar preparing for mass. We walked up to him and told him that we were pilgrims nad asked for a stamp in our passports. He was so friendly and helpful taking us through to the sacristy and offering us a seat whilst stamping all 5 passports. Before we left he showed us the "blessed oak" and a side chapel - "Bellisimo?" We nodded, yes it was more than bellisimo. Then he said goodbye and good journey and Marion and I crept quitely down the side to the door. he called to us but we thought he was shooing us away so we scuttered to the door. He beckoned to us and showed us a view and sound box on the wall, put a E1 in the slot and Marion and I were able to hold our earphone and listed to the miraculous story about the apparitition, the miracles that ensued and the building of the church, etc, sculptures and artworks. We left just as mass was starting. We left the church energised and thrilled by his kindness and generosity. We went back to the hotel, had dinner and then went to bed at about 0900am. It was a lovely VF day again today (except for the 3km on the Cassia) through olive groves, hazelbut orchards, kiwi fruit vines, vineyards and sunflower fields. When you walk through acres of sunflowers and you are in the "Zone" - hot, tired and walking like a zombie, your eyes start playing tricks on you. Today I saw a tall sunflower plant with a huge flower standing above the rest. It didn't have a plain face but a large, dark eye, like a cyclops and as I approached, the eye was looking at me. Just like those optical illusion paintings, the cyclops followed me as I walked past and went on by. Then all the sunflowers seemed to be following me - it was very strange. We had at least 35km to walk today. We didn't know if our B & B was in or out of town. We were thrilled to discover that it was 5km on the road before Capranica. After walking 32km we saw the B & B sign - 250m - and were soon settling in our rooms in a lovely house on a Hazelnut farm. At 6.20pm we got a bus into town, had dinner in what we think was the only restaurant in the Old Town and got the 0845pm bus back to the farm. The lady of the house met us and took us on a historical tour of the area on foot. Under her driveway is an ancient Roman road. The pillars supporting the porch incorporated Roman columns found on the farm. About a km away we came to some ancient Estrucan ruins with Roman additions. It ws quite romantic and exotic to view these ruins in the moonlight and we didn't get to bed until after 10pm. La late night for pellegrini.

Val: We have tasted Cappuccino's from the Italian Alps to almost Rome, in back street bars, Mama's ristorantes, pizzeria, trattoria and a 4 Star hotel. So its official - A true Italian Cappuccino is a cup of luke warm froth, no chocolate or cocoa on top, not a biscuit on the side and not a newspaper in sight.
We are keen to know who sets the criteria for the Sunday Tribune's Great Cappuccino Competition - meanwhile the first thing we are going to do when we get to JHB airport is get a "real" Cappuccino!!

We are 5kms away from Town and supper - there are no taxis and we don't have tickets for the bus. You can only get a ticket for the bus from a Tobacco but the nearest is in Town! The Son of the B & B owner tells us that we can purchase a ticket on the bus but it will cost E5 each instead of E1. We decide that we need a good supper, we have not been able to purchase milk or anything for breakfast the last few days and we had a really grotty lunch break. So we wait at the end of the road and when the bus comes we request tickets. The bus driver is unpleasant and waves two tickets at us, this is all he has to sell. Syl does a really good job of convincing him we are starving pilgrims and he allows us to all get on the bus with just two tickets. We arrive in town. By no stretch of the imagination could Capranica be considered a tourist attraction. We see only one Ristorante with anything close to kerb appeal. It is closed. We wander around for ages just trying to find somewhere to eat. It is the kind of place that you suspect you are in the "downtown" area and any moment now you are going to turn the corner to see umbrellas and ristorante's. But it doesn't happen and we are close to resigning ourselves to catch the bus back and the thought of reconstituted melba toasts from the day before and the one packet soup that Syl has carried for 300kms. Then a local woman tells us to go down the road and turn right. We see a doorway with curtains, it doesn't look promising. But we push through and there are tables!
We are shown to a table by the owner. He has a picture of an African woman on the wall and says he knows about Johannesburg. He brings us water and wine. We see an extensive menu on the wall and are already deciding what we might have. He arrives without menu's - you can have pasta, pasta or pasta he says. He is quite sauve and confident. You can have pasta with tomato and basil or with mushrooms. The variations of pasta fall off his tongue but we can't quite catch the meaning. I ask if I can have olives - no olives he says (after all this is Italy). I ask if I can have Anchovies but my pronunciation of "acciughe" is obviously not too good and I have to show him the word in my Phrase book. He looks outraged "No!!" He then starts to recite the choices again and I pick up "sausage" and I say I do not understand the other word. He looks up the word in my phrase book and it is baby artichokes. Yes I say "Italian sausage and artichokes would be good". He raises his eyes to the ceiling, shrugs his shoulders and marches off to the kitchen.
Within moments the girls pasta's arrive, two with tomato and two with mushroom. A while later a plate arrives with 4 halves of artichokes. Oops! What have I ordered. Much later he comes to the table and says your order is coming. I have by now eaten my artichokes because I gather he would not lower his standards to include it in my dish of pasta. We then see him take a dish from the kitchen hatch. It is a plate, not a bowl - so no pasta for me. He sets before me a plate with two boiled sausages, Wild Boar me thinks! But also on the plate are delicious white butter beans which have been cooked in a flavourful sauce of herbs with just a hint of tomato. I really enjoy it. He arrives to clear the plates and looks disappointed that I have eaten it and even moped up the juices with the bread!
We ask for the bill - he gets up from the table where he is eating with a customer and shrugs and says E35.

Day 24 Sunday Bolsena to Viterbo 24kms

Val: I was guide today and we had signs for the first time on my shift so it went without any major hiccups except that we were in the sticks all day so no where for coffee breaks or lunch - so when we reached Verterbo we managed to get an ice-cream and pastries before the one remaining shop closed at 1400hours. For E3.50 you can have a large cone (like the real Cornetto cones) with 3 big scoops of any flavours. The Italians are King of Icecream. I decided I only wanted 2 flavours - chocolate - pure and dark, probably 90% cocoa butter! Together with "Rochel" - can you possibly imagine a box of Ferrero Roche chocolates mixed with ice cream? Huge chunks mixed with decandent ice cream. A genius invented that one. Other flavours chosen were Pistaschio, Tiramisu and almond.
We find the drivers very tolerant of us when we are walking or crossing the road. Regardless of whether there is an official crossing they stop so we can all get across safely. On dirt roads they slow right down to avoid covering us in a blanket of dust. They always hoot and wave and because we carry the SA Flag we have had several people stop us if they have been to SA. We had a picture taken with two men who told us all about their trip to SA and were so excited for us walking to Rome, they shook our hands and kept saying Bravo!
Tonight we are 2 kms away from Town so we are eating in the Hotel Restaurant. Italy Play France in the finals tonight so we are not expecting to get too much sleep. They have put a TV in the Dining Room and we also have one in the room. The Waiter looks and acts as if he is very fed up about having drawn the "short straw" and has to work tonight -he makes little attempt to communicate with us, which is fine as we can pretty much work out the menu's ourselves these days. Water and red and white wine appear on the table, open without having requested it. Wines are Fattoria Madonna Delle Macchie, Red - Renaro and White Fonte Vionica. We only drink the white, crisp and dry - really have not had a bad white since we've been here. Rayna and I are going to have a good Merlot when we get to Rome, safe in the knowledge that we don't have to walk the next morning. Therefore the Red remains untouched.
The menu has prices by each item and we order. Strozzapreti con crema di Carcifi - pasta twirls with italian spicy sausage and artichoke - E9 - excellent. Mezze Lune Burro e Salvia E8 - pasta ravioli of ricotta with sage butter, again not a brown butter. Arle cchino di Verdure E3.50 - vegetable selection moulded in a ring - beautifully presented. Sylvia is a vegetarian and has been pleased with the selection of vegetables and pastas available. The salads are on most occasions just lettuce and tomato. We were then presented with bowls of grapes and cherries and madarin sorbets. We were charged a set fee of E15 each so we imagine we could have ordered the whole lot!

Marion: Last night Syl and Val and myself did not get much sleep as our room faced an alley and just below was a restaurant full of people talking loudly until 1.00am plus there wa a light shining into our room from the street - it seemed to shine right into my face everytime I turned over.
I so enjoyed our walk today on dirt paths and on ancient Roman roads. It was very different from the hills in Tuscany. Today was quite flat - unfortunately no coffee stops but did enjoy stopping at the hot water thermal pools. Lovely to take off our botts and socks and sit at the edge of the pool with our feet in the water for a while. Wherever we are people stare at us - not sure if it is because we all have SA flags or we look peculiar or what!!

Kathy: Now Kathy and Rayna's room also faced the restaurant below but we were clever! We closed our shutters, which meant we found oureselves in an unusually, unexpected dark room (remember the sun only sets at our 9.30pm). We were in heaven! Darkness = shut eye time and we both slept well until being rudely awakened, befor eour alarm went off, by our walker chums...they had forgotten to reset their alarm clocks unfortunately.

Rayna: Has nothing much to say. The country walking is lekker and....the hills are easier. The eating is good too!!! Looking forward to Rome!

Syl: This morning, when we were leaving Bolsena an elderley man coming down a side road saw us and crossed himself. I'd like to think that he was praying for our safe journey to come. It was a beautiful day and after we got off the early morning bus at Monefiascone, we climbed up the steep, winding stairs to the gardens high above us with panaramic views of the Dome on one side and of Lake Bolsena on the other. Exiting the town via the Via della Rocca, we found a new VF sign with a stencil of a pilgrim and the word ROMA in red. The sign led us straight down a steep hill into a lovely shady forest. Today's walk was almost 100% on dirt roads, through fields of sunflowers and wheat, vineyards, olives, maize and hay-bales. These are machined "hay stacks" and we saw bale upon bale stacked on top each other under open sided barns- We also passed small flocks of sheep and a herd of dairy cows. The longest remaining section of a basalt stone Roman road runs for over a km through this stage and in some sections one could still see the ruts from cart and carriage wheels. This is a beautiful flat and safe "off road" stage but there is nowhere between Montefiascone and Viterbo to replenish water bottles, no towns or villages at all and only one farm water trough which we didn't dare try drinking. At about the 15km mark we arrived at the hot water,thermal pools crowded with locals. We took our boots off an sat with our feet in the surprisingly refreshing hot water. By the time we reached the Fiorentiana Gate at itero it was 28 degrees and most places were closing shop. We headed for an open 'Gelateria' and ordered the most delicious triple scoop ice cream in cones. That was lunch! After a short rest we walked 2km through a shady suburb to our hotel, the Domus la Quercia which used to be a convent and is now a 90 bed hotel with restaurant, extensive grounds and conference rooms for 20 to 300 people. Tonight is the World Cup Final and excitement is mounting. We will be watching in the hotel conference room and will definitely be supporting Italy.

Day 23 Saturday, Acquapendente to Bolsena.

Marion: Today I was the group leader. I had a very easy shift as we had excellent markers all the way to Bolsena. This morning we were all up bright and early, it was quite dark outside as there was a thick blanket of mist so we all put on our flashing lights and started walking at 6am. It was very pleasnat walking in the mist and we were fortunate as most ofthe wy was on quite sand (dirt) roads through forests. From San Lorenzo we had the most magnificent views of Lake Bolsena. WE took lots of photo breaks. It was a most enjoyable walk.

Syl: Pilgrims in the mist! WE walked through an eerily quite Acquapendente at 6am. After 3km of road the VF signs directed us off the Cassia and onto a graded raod that meandered through woods and fields for anothe 7km or so. we stopped at San Lorenzo Nuovo for coffee and the soon after leaving the town we were back onto a dirt raod. By ow the mist had lifted and we walked through the protected Monte Rufero forests and woods. The area extends from 210m to 780m so we has a few short sharp climbs and declines. A brochure which we read at our hotel told us that over 122 species of reptiles mammals and amphibians and over 1200 plant species have been documented in these woods. Bolsena lake is the largest volcanic lake in Europe and was formed in the collapsed crater of a volcano. Franca, our B and B hostess told us that they had an earthquake the day before we arrived - from an eruption under the lake which rocked Bolsena and everything in the apartment. Scary!. When we found the B and B there was no response to our ringing of the the doorbell, so we walked further down the road and found ourselves a lovely restuarant where we all had lunch. Then back up the narrow busy lane to the B and B. Franca said that she had been expecting us the day before! but she and her daughter who was visiting from Rome made us feel most welcome. What a lovely family. WE settled in, went back and found an internet cafe and then walked down to the lake whre we decided to have supperin an restuarant overloking the lake. We watched the sun setting over San Lorenzo Nuovo where we had walked this morning. Today was a perfect VF walking day. It was cooler after yesterdays storm and as we walked on gravel and dirt paths almost all the way it meant that we could talk to one another, laughing at funny things instead of marching in single file ever watchful of the oncoming traffic. Even though the distance was over 22km instead of the 19 on the Topo, we arrived at lunchtime and had time to relax and sightsee. Reading the crytic clues for tomorrow we found that our distance from here to Viterbo will be 39km and not the 30 as planned. Our hotel is about 2km out of Viterbo so it makes it a very lond day. We will get a bus down the road again and walk the plus minus 22km instead.

Kathy: It is now 19h30, and we are sitting ON the lake ata arestaurant perched on stilts. The sun is still high in the sky and it is quite warm (strappy tops and shorts). We have been trying out local fish specialities which Val, our food critic, will tell you about later!

Rayna: One medieval village is beginning to look like another. Grey narrow streets. Splashes of colour on window boxws and doorways so ... today was a fantastic change. walked through the country side and the beautiful view of the Bolsena lake. Yeah.... today was good.

Val: 'Robbie' and I walked to Bolsena today. It was one of our more enjoyable walks as I was rather lost in my music, so it was a pleasnat surprize when I realised we had arraived. I've lost about 5cm on my stick so it is not as comfortable as before. Bolsena marked the 500km mark so we had an official photo shoot with the SA and Homenet flags taken by an English couple on holiday from Yorkshire. Quite a co-incidence... she was originally from a tiny village in the South called Crowthorne where I was born! Despite having to take some unplanned trips on public transport, we are ahead of our planned distance of 472km as the distance in th eGuide is often underestimated. Today was indeed a food day. Bolsena lake has an abundance of fish. The local fish is called 'Coregore', a white fish, usually served fillitted and for you 'when-we's' - it is just like Kariba Lake bream.

The local and famous wine is called Est! Est! Est! - the the story is that a King travelling through Italy would send his wine-taster ahead to sample the winw and he would have to sen back the message Est if it was worth buying.On this occassion, the wine-taster considered it so good he wrote Est Est Est. We tried a 'locale' one - just E3.50 for a bottle - and we agreed witht he wine taster - it was Excellent! Other prices for the wine vary from E5 - 11.

we took full advantage of the fish on offer, and at lunch we had the COREGORE ARROSSo - grilled lakefish E6.50, which was very good. As it was Sunday we had pud - Tiramiso - very rich but good. The waiter had relations in JHB and he gave us free coffee and a shooter each - he called it Limone - Limone with alcohol definately! Hesaid he made the best Cappuccino in Italy - it was like warm froth so we guess that is how it should be?!We decided whereever we had the opportunity to eat lunch we would either go without supper or only have a light salad - we would hopefully loose more weight that way.... BUT, - by the evening we couldn't resist the restaurant built on stilts over the lakje, surrounded by the black sand. We had a table ont he deck, watched the dicks and boats and got eaten alive by midges. Tea tree oil worked really well. Bearing in mind the earth-tremors the day before we probably didn't choose the safest place to et! W all wanted to try some more fish so we had FILLETTO DI BACCALA PASTELLATO - battered slat cod E6.20. KAthy said it was moist and just like Kingklip. Rayna had FILLETTE DE PERSICO - fillets of perchE7.80 also in batter. I had FITTORA MISTA DI CALAMARI E GAMBER - E7. The translation was 'Cryfishes and squashfry' - it was calamari , squid and 3 prawns which had not had the veins removed. I aslo ordered FLORIDIZUCCA ALLA ROMANA - pumpkin flowers Roman style - awful- the batter was thick , the flowers soggy and the stuffing was scraps of fish. The menu was translated into German and english - ie Portchops and Beffsteack!!On the way home we passed a group of runners warming up for a 10km challenge which started at 9pm through the town. We watched for a ehile, the Italians didn't even clap, so we clapped and cheered and the runners were very appreciateive, we shouted Bravo! Bravo!. Kathy wore her new strappy number with Italia written on the front which attracted lots of attention- now we sing to her - 'she's to sexy for her boots, she's too sexy for her boots!'

we tried to sleep but the noise in the sttreete was so loud so I went to bed with my Ipod and Il Diva Boys ...

Typed by Kathy on a small mezzanine level corner with no space... and no reader to help with the typing. (Sorry for speling errors etc)

Day 22 Abbadia San Salvatore to Aquapendente 21kms

There were huge drops of rain when we left our hotel this morning at 6.15am. This is the first time we've had Italian rain. With our waistbags bulging from under our rain jackets we looked like a group of pregnany pilgrims as we wobbled up the road and into the still sleeping town. The bus arrived spot on at 7am and after a brief wait for another us at Piencastangnio we got a bus that dropped us off on the side of the Cassis near Val di Paglia. "Avante" said the drive pointing up the road, "Aquapendente dirrito". The rain started coming down harder than ever and we stopped to put on our little red flashing lights in order to more visible to oncoming traffic. When we reached the border bewteen Tuscany and Lazio (somewhere close to the Ponte Rigo) the thunder started crashing and Tuscany wept buckets as we left. The Lazio put on a stunning sound and light display with forked and sheet lightening and rolling, crashing thunder. Poor Marion shrieked with every strike of lightening and we all collapsed our telescopic walking poles and took Val's flag pole (metal) out of her backpack where it stuck up like an antenna. The rain came down in sheets and soon the road was awash with water that all collected on the small space between the white line and the verge forming running rivers down the road. We couldn't walk in the river but we also couldn't risk walking in the middle of the road so we ended up playing hop sctoch for a few kilometers, walking in the road until a car appeared and then hopping over the river to the verge until it had passed. One inconsiderate truck driver drove straight through a huge puddle sending a curtain of water over poor Rayna who shrieked and tried to jump out of the way. Our Regatta rain suits proved their worth by keeping us dry even in this deluge but our boots failed merably and we were squealching and swosshing water in our boots within minutes. Half an hour later the sun broke through, the thunder rolled over back towards Tuscany and we stopped to take off our rainpants and put away our flashing lights. Our hotel suddenly appeared on the road before us - about a km before town - and we were relieved to get into our rooms and out of our sweaty damp clothes. Then we walked into town to find a sprawling fleamarklet in progress. We had a good lunch took a walk to the Duomo and visited the famous 8th C crypt. The storm returned in the afternoon so we stayed in the hotel for dinner.

Marion: I found the rain quite refreshing to walk in BUT I did not like the thunder and lightening. I found it rather scary walking that especially when it was right overhead. Every time there was a clap of thunder and a bolt of lightening I screamed. When we bought our bioots the salesman told us that they were bullet proof - well, they might be bullet proof but they are not waterproof or even water restitant. I felt that my feet were swimming in water. Aquapendent is a delightful medieval village with lots of history and cobbled streets, arches and little alleyways intercrossing each other. I so enjoyed our walk around the town. It is wonderful to wander around and look at all the beautiful things but cannot buy as nothing else can fit into the backpack and even if it could, one does not want to carry anything extra.

KATHY: I thought I would tell you about our routine a little. The evening before, the next days leader tells us a little bout the place we are walking, route etc. We also all hand over our pages of the maps we are carrying (we shared these out equally). We then trek off to bed (still broad daylight!) and set Fifi (Val's phone alarm) and Rayna's alarm for our get up time - usually an hour before departure time. The alarm normally wakes us and Ratna and I start our day. We generally share a double room - read double bed - with Val, Syl anf Marion sharing a triple room. We then wash, brush teeth and get dressed. I'm normally 1/2 dressed anyway as sleep in my shorts and crop top (not carrying PJ's). I check my bioots for further disintergration and Rayna starts strapping her toes. This is quite a time consuming because we share her penknife's scissors and it is early morning. By now Marion delivers the immersion heater and I set about making our respective cups of tea. We are both carrying tea and I'm always on the scrounge for sugar. We generally buy yoghurt for breakfast and I eat this while we both repack the top half of our packs. I'm scared to explore the bottom half where non essentials like sleeping bag and long pants dwell as I'm not sure what else is hiding down there. We put on some sunblock, ensure that our money belts are rescued from the bottom of our beds and secured round our waists (very little money to keep safe as this is travel on the cheap.) We pack our daily fruit rations - apple, banana and zip the backpacks up. By now that hiour has passed - time sure does fly! We have one last check of the room before leaving. Also to say that apart from our beds generally have demarcate a little cor of the room for our 'stuff'. We work in this confined space doing all our morning chores.

Val: It rained today, sheet rain and thunder and lightening so we wore our rain suites - about time they earned their keep as we have carried them almost 500kms! The lightening was scary especially with my Homenet flag (which has a metal rod) poking out the back of my pack like an antenna. It was so dark it was like walking at night

As Kathy has told you about our morning routine, I thought I'd tell you about breakfast. We have given up with the B & B breakfast because they are too late (07.30pm) and too predictable (bread and jam). Lunch is always bread if we are eating on the run so try to make breakfast healthy. Take one metal mug which has been hanging on your backpack and is probably full of dust . Fill up with water from bath tap. Place immersion heater into water careful not to electocute yourself due to damaged plug socket. Add tea bag or coffee from jar (shared by Val and Marion). who take it in turns to carry) use spoon from yesterday's ice cream. Add sugar "pinched" the day before. Add milk from carton shared by val, Rayna and Kathy. Drinks as quickly as possible so you can begin with the next course.

Take packet of cereal (shared by Val, Rayna and Kathy) tip into mug (best to rinse first but a personal choice) add milk. Take one yoghurt brought day before add sachet of honey "pinched" day before from Cafe, stir and add to cereal. Eat banana. Now walk!

I lost my sandals that go with my little black number so I have to wear it with my hiking sandals - rather spoils the effect. Still, one thing about loosing things is that the back pack weighs less.

The most "useless" think I brought on my trip? Has to be the travel wash line. "No pegs required" it boasted. Not surprising since you can't hang anthing on it - it has suckers on the end and cannot even take the weight of one pair of socks, it is also only 1 m long! It made it to Sienna and then the bin. The most "useful"? Samples - you know those little sample giveaways. minature toothpaste, body lotion, soaps etc. We buy one shampoo and fill up all the empty sample bottles. I had a small sample of toothpaste but have now had to replace it - I only wanted a small tube so bought Kid's "SHREK 2" - it tastes wonderful - no wonder I go to bed hyped up with additives. The best samples-giveaways are from Virgin Active - they have a goodie bag usually every couple of months and the Toll road from JHB to DURBAN. Add to these the "Complimentary" toiletries from the best places, I highly recommend the likes of The Livingstone in Zambia and Zimbali Estate in KZN.

Lunch - we made the most wonderful discovery today. A little restaurant on a corner run by a young couple. Both the decor and the food had a fresh approach but still retained the authenticity of its origin. To start, we were given a Chef's complimentary tasting of crostini with the freshest tasting tomatoes, basil, marjoram and olive oil, black pepper. (The first peppermill we have seen). Followed by Kathy and Marion - Rigatoni con formaggio misto, pomodoro and basilico E6.50. Sylvia had Petti di tacchino all origano E7.00 (vegetarian dish of courgettes and potatoes with cheese.

Val: In the market today we saw "salt cod" "Bacaala" so I asked if they served it. It wsn't on the menu but the Chef had some prepared and made me a dish of salt cod, fresh tomatoes and herbs - delicious, light and served with a very light wine. We realised we had found a very special palce so we just had to try Dolci della cassa (deserts of the house) We shared:
Tortino Di coccolata cou Panna (chocolate mousse)
Mille Fogli con crema di Mascarpone (layers of the most amazing pastry, with a mascarpone cream with chocolate)
Mouse di Ricotta
Ricotta with chocolate sauce

Best ever deserts!
Speaking to the young check, he explained that he had not been professionally tained but had grown up in the kitchen. His style was to add a fresh twist to traditional dishes adn this he has most certainly achieved without copying the trends. The owner signed the handwritten menu and gave it to me to add to my collection. "Lacapracampa Trattoria" in Acquapendente, Lazio Province - worth a visit!

Day 21 San Quirico to Abbadia San Salvatore. Thursday. 9.5km

Syl: Well taday was good news and bad news - which turned out to be good news after all. Let me explain. First the bad news. we didn't walk today - only 9.5km around Abbadia. The reason for this was a comedy of errors. Yesterday we bought bus tickets for the 7.20am bus from San q to Gallina - ablout 10km. one has to purchase the tickets at a shops or bar, not on the bus. We were all up with the sparrows and waiting for the bus by 705am. By 0800am we were still cursing the retardo bus system and resigned ourselves to walking. But, the next bus would be at 0900am and would get us to Gallina earlier that we could walk there. So, we sat on the pavement to wait. At 0930am we gave up and went to the Tourism Office, to ask about alternative transport to Abbadia. By now it was 1030am, a very helpful girl told us, that we had been waiting at the wrong bus stop!! The next bus was only at 1730pm and as a few of our group ended up feeling nauseous, our decision to get a taxi all the way to Abbadia, turned out to be a good one. We timed the journey from Gallina to Abbadia, it was 18minutes, it would have taken us 5 hours walking. So the bad news turned out for the best afterall.

Now for the good news. We finally got rid of Val's parcel which we have been nursing since before Sienna. She decided to post her fleece jacket and bathroom curtains (yes she bought curtains!) Post Restante to Roma. If you read our earlier post about my experience about doing the same thing you will know that it is something easier said than done. Well the woman in Sienna, was rude, unhelpful and quite aggresive when we told her that we didn't know the address of the Post Office in Rome. We tried again in Lucignano where they were more helpful but still no success. Finally we decided to phone Maria (Landlady in Rome) in Rome to get her street address so we could post the parcel to her appartment in Rome. Allora!! Success at last! I was so pleased for Val that I decided to post my sleeping bag and tray (yes, I bought a small hand painted tray) to myself as well. So tonight I am 1.167kg lighter. About tomorrow. The receptionist told us that Abbadia to Acquapendente is 40km. The topo map says 24km, the Guida says 31.4km, the lady at the information office said 35km and a couple in the clothing shop said between 28 and 30kms. So we are back to facing uncertain mileage and time on the road. We decided to get a bus, better luck this time to Val di Paglia about 8kms away. If it is between 30 and 40km, the longest we will have to walk is 22km - 32kms. We'll wait and see. Watch this space.

Marion: We ended up having an easy day to day. It felt rather strange to leave our backpacks at the hotel and walk into town with sandals. Whenever we stopped I kept looking to where my backpack and sticks were. As it was a leisure day, I pigged out at lunch time, even had some wine! This afternoon we found an internet cafe - we could only use one computer but we did manage to more or less catch up putting our notes on the blog. It is much cooler today, a few drops of rain. I am hoping the sun will be shining tomorrow.

Kathy: A strange day today! Really quite hard to write about events, except to say that I felt "out of sorts" so was quite pleased that it worked out the way it did and we had to arrive at our destination by "hired car" with driver. Interesting that "hired car and driver" is probably cheaper than a taxi! Other out of sort events today included cooler weather, some rain and about 4 public phones that I tried not actually working for some or another reason...roll on Friday.

Val: Very frustating day, sometimes we are forced to take transport in or out of the main town or City to avoid the highways, and toll roads, but still have to walk on roads. As we didn't walk today most of us were definitely "out of sorts". I felt like I imagine a Comrades runner must when he has to reduce his training just before the big day.

We finally managed to post my curtains today! It has been quite a mission, Sylvia accosted a "Postie" getting out of his van, to ask for the address in Rome, he was only able to give a phone number - which when phoned was an Italian version of Press 1 for postie, 2 for enquiries etc. and we couldn't understand a word.

Several post offices later we arrive at Monteroni D'Arabi - a small village. Sylvia and I go to the Post Office while the others have coffee. It is pension day and we spend the first 10 minutes in the wrong queue. They have a machine where you obtain a ticket and wait your turn - no queue hopping here. However, there is a choice of 4 buttons, 4 different tickets and 4 different queues. No one could explain the difference between thems to us. So...finally our number was up and here we go again. "I want to post a parcel to myself please"!. They really tried to help - so much so, that all eyes were on as the queue got longer and longer, by now people were having to stand outside. FInally the man behind us started to shout loudly at the lady serving us, and then banged on the window - I thought "boy is he angry" but he had the right to be. Then we realised he was telling her to phone for an ambulance because an ederly lady had collapsed. The Medics arrived within minutes and she was in good hands. We tood advantage of the distraction and crept out - still with the curtains. Finally we got the address from Maria and posted them!

FOOD: Lunch was in the only place open! San Marco. It turned out to be a lovely, homely place with Mama making us feel very welcome indeed. She had laid out a buffet (Cadauno) which included Polenta cake and "Polpettone" Meat loaf E6.50 A few of us had a bug and as this affected the food writer, shock and horror - she went to bed without supper!!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 05:-DAY 20 Lucignano d’Ariba to San Quirico d’Orcia. 31.5km.

Kathy: Kathy was boss today ! but needed no bossing as the route was very clear ..... nearly 80% on the main Cassia (road). We had an early sart at 6 am, arriving at our destination at 14h00 after a short stop at Torrenieri for linch. Once again typical Tuscan scenery ... what a priviledge. Just for fun we weighed our backpacks today. Mine weighed in at just iver 10kg! Heaviest was R at 10.6, V at 10.1, M at 9.1 and S at 8.8. Don't know if I was surprizd or relieved - I just had to carry on with it. Water is weighty as are the fruits we carry,,,, but we need both on these long hot days. V and K are now serious tanners, and we wore strappy tops today so as to avoid the inevitable sleeve tan lines and like Iv've already reported, the Arnica is proving to be fantasti tanning oil. S and M have cut the sleeves out of their shirts so are also tanning well. I'm thinking of shortening my shorts.... the crew all laughed because they say I'll be in a bikini soon.... Kathy in a bikinin????? i don't think so....

Marion: it was great starting at 6am this morning as we had a long wayto go and it meant we could walk in the cool of the morning. We started off walking between sunflowers. It amazing when we start in the mornings we always have shade - later in teh day when it is hot we seem to have any shade. the scenery again was magnificent, but boy oh boy did we have hills. have to say my legs are getting stronger and my brething better, so managing with the hills.

Syl: Just a few words on the various maps and guides available on the VF. We bought daily stage maps called Topofrancigena and we also downloaded maps and a daily guide from the AVF website. They have both been very useful. The Topo maps give you a picture of the whole stage but no details of where to turn L or R or distances between land marks. I don’t think anyone could actually walk the Via F with only those maps. The guide - which we call our 'cryptic clues' because of the 'google' translation from Italian to English, has been invaluable in getting us through towns and directing us in places such as fileds and pastures. In Siena the guide said ' start at the Via Citta above the Campo follow a small alley to the porta Roma. Turn sharp L into the Certosa Road ... etc' These directions got us safely out of Sienna and onto the right road where we picked up the Vf signs and stickers and followed both all the way to Lucignano. The big difference is in the MILAGES given. The Topo maps said it was 19km from Sienna to Lucignano, the Guide said 23.5 to Lucignano. BY the time we walked into the plaza at Monteroni we'd done 22km. We still had to walk 3km to Lucignano. Yesterday’s stage on the Topo map said 24km from Licignano to San Quirico. Our host at the B& B said that it was 30km. 90% of the route was on a tarred road and when we arrived in San Quirico we'd walked 30.5km. Today we will walk to Abbadia to San Salvatore. The Topo map says 27km. The man who owns the Tabachi shop accross the road, who lives in Abbadia, told us that it is 32km - not 27. So our advice to other pilgrims would be; add at least 5km to the distance on the Topo maps each day. If you don't want to walk 30 plus km plan your daily stage accordingly by stopping at a place before the one given on the Topo. The maps are not always to scale so use a good road map of Italy as well to plan your daily satges. It would be well worth the time and effort to download the AVF guides as well (or copy our Google translated edition from the Yahoo VF Group website.) Becuse we have walked alsmost 50 km more than intended over the past two weeks and because of the excessive heat, we will get a bus to plus minus 10km down the road today and walk the last 22km only.

Kathy: for fellow walkers. Early int eh morning (when it is cooler) and when walking walking on a tarred road or good (smooth) dirt path we can manage about 5km an hour. This might include some small ups and downs. The more uneven and demanding because of grass, or road rubble the slowetr we are. Here we only manage 3km per hour. so it really depends ... the heatis also catching us and we believe as Durbanits we are immune to heat! the climbing up and down is also very draining. Havinf ìg the correct lilage would really help with planning.

Val. We left extra early today at the first thiong we passsed were fileds of sunflowers - all the same height, all facing the same way- we shouted 'you are all individuals'!!!!!!! then we spotted a lone sunflower, who had grown heads above the rest and we sang, ' i want to break free' (courtesy of Queen).

Food reports - lunch yuk! lunch on the run means limited choice - we had ?calzone' - described as folded pizza with mozzorello cheeze and tomato. not as we know it - think 'VET KOEK' and you will get the idea. SUPPER. we are in another 'fortified town' called San Quirico. Oh, but this is so different - the only tourists are the VF5, we are ignored and I mean that as a compliment - we are treated the same as everyone else eating and drinking. They say'go where the locals go' - we go toa bar - old men in vets and parama hats - they drink, they play cards, theyread the newspaper. I go to the bar to order a drink to order a drink, they part so I can get to the bar - local young girl pushes to the front, they 'tell her off' they say 'respect for your elders' perhaps! we laughed and chat in y limited Italian - I but MArino and his mate a drink - I have two more 'best friends'. We have noted that the carabinieri are always hanging around the bars - are they collecting their protection money? whilst talking about carabinieri (police) there are certain members of our group who are rather partial to uniforms - especailly the boots and badges - add an italian male to the equation and it starts to look pretty good - thinkAntonia Banderos type but Italian, in uniform and you get the picture! (PS they also drive Alfa Romeos). Supper: anotehr side road restuarnat, very attractive inside, but few people. Alot of restaurants were closed until mid July but we couldn't find out why. Some had salds and potatoe chips, lasagne. R and V had ricotta and spinach ravioli with sage butter. Homemade large squares (3 to a dish) with really good flavour. I was expecting a burnt butter, brown and nutty with crisp sage, but it was more like an oil pired over with 2 plain sage leaves. so the dish although tasting great looked insiped. however, just becasue the chef on BBC food uses brown butter doesn't mean its authentic, I guess? I'm still carrying the curtains, we havenàt manmaged to post them but thats another story.

Read my M and typed by K. E&OE!

TUESDAY, JULY 04: DAY 19 Sienna To Lucignano D'ariba 26.2km

Kathy: Some reflections on our walk. Leaving Sieena-s central square this morning at 8.15 realising that we didn't have time to really explore Sienna... will have to wait for another time. Having lunch at a bar on the way and causing much mirth with our strange looks and requests. Realising that many locals don't know where they live as we had three or four variations of where the bar was situated "che e quie" Val as group leader offered to reward Marion for spotting a VF sign on a tree. The reward? An extra bottle of "tap water" or a small bar of soap taken from our last B&B! Quite relieved that Marion didn't choose either as Val had neither to offer actually. Our fit of giiggles last night in Sienna when: Val asked "Where is Kathy"? Rayna answered "Watching TV - and where was Karthy? - memororised by the washing machine going round and round and sitting watching the washing. Running out of water at about 2pm, then going off our route intoi Monteronui D'Arbia, and buying a Fanta Orange the best tasting orange there is when one is tired and hot. Feeling a little desperate and making up a new song:
This is my pilgruimage,
and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to
You would cry too
if this happened to you!
(Walking 26km instead of 19km)

SYL: We got a bus to the centre of Sienna and found the Via Citta where we started walking. It was a 2km walk to the Porta Roman "Roman Gate". Then a very pleasant ± 6km walk on a quiet tarred road - Via Certosa - through the pretty suburbs of Sienna. We stopped for a drink and thereafter we were directed onto overgrown paths and through fields and a little settlement. We were very grateful for the yellow and white VF stickers that showed us which way to turn especially when confronted by an open field with no visible path. We trust every VF sign implicitly - even if it directs us straight into a corn field which it did today. The Associazione VF Guida warned us that a path over a rail line might not always be visible, depending on the season. So today we crossed the railway line and elbowed our way through head high corn plants, because the VF sign told us to! If anyone had been watching the cornfield, all they would have seen was a rustling and four SA flags bobbing across the top of the maize plants! After 4 hours of walking, we stopped at a busy roadside cafe and had something to eat and drink- then it was back to the dirt roads. A couple more fields and some tarred road led us into Monteroni D'Ariba. After walking 23kms we were still not in Lucignano. The Topo map told us that it was 19km to Lucignano D'ìArbia. The Assoociazione Guida said that it was 20.5 to Monteroni D'Aribia which is at least 3kms before Luicignano. We were so fed up at having to walk 7kms more than we had expected that we almost took a bus from Monteroni. It must have been 40C in the shade but we decided to shoulder on to Lucignano. We asked a group of men sitting outside a bar for directions to Lucignano and after some consultation, we were directed to the Provincial road. A short while later a man in a smart., blue convertible sports car with the top down cruised along side Val and Rayna and started talking to them. They called me over to the car and the guy said something about him going to Lucignano and indictaed his free back seat. I told him very firmly but politely "No - grazie Senore – siamo pellegrini - a piedie a Roma. No mechanica." He shrugged and drove off. Half an hour later he cruised alongside us again and said something about rooms in Lucignano. I tried to tell him that we already had rooms booked, thank you. He jabbered on about rooms and apartments but I said "No GRAZIE!! " When we trudged up the hill into Lucignana and turned a corner there he was again. By now I felt like really telling him where to get off but he walked with me down the road to where our apartment was, stopped outside the address on my reservation confirmation sheet, produced a key and then got his ID book out to show me that he was in fact Senore Gracio, the owner of the apartment where we were to stay. My so called friends were hiding behind the wall while I was being followed by our suave charmer and it took a lot of hand signals and beckoning to get them to come out and give me some back up. We all felt a bit guilty but also relieved that we hadn't told him to F-off. He got us settleed in and then arranged for his wife to collect Val and Kathy and take them back to Monteronni to do some shopping at 6pm. I’m sure he didn’t want to run in with us again. I asked his wife to please apologise to her husband on our behalf but she laughed and kept saying "No problemo." We think that he had told her about 5 very stubborn, but polite South African women who thought that he was tryng to pick them up along the road. Marrion said that he probably thought we had a bloody cheek to even think that he would hit upon 5 smelly, hot, sweaty old women! (His wife looked much younger than him.)

Marion: This afternoon while we were all walking it was so very hot with hardly any shade. We were quite short of water. We were walking up a tough hill and Kathy was ahead and I could see her waiting for us at the top. In her backpack she had an orange which she had peeled and divided into 2 segments for each of us. I cannot tell you just how welcome those segments of orange were, they tasted like nectar. I took tiny bites of mine and kept them in my mouth as long as I could. Never in my wildest dreams coukld I imagine enjoying orange as much as I did those two segments. Tonight we are staying in a lovely apartment so we can spread out, do our washing and hang it all out to dry. Some of us decided, that as it is so hot we would altar our shirts and we cut off sleeves and shortened them. Syl is quite good as she sewed hems on hers - Val and I left ragged edges.

Rayna: It was a tough day in office today! They told me 19kms and we did 26 kms. So by the time we got to Monteroni I had enough! Val had us running around the village looking for the Info centre. Enough is enough! So I had a tantrum and said I was catching a bus. Val said,m "Not on my shift you dont" So guess who dragged her feet for the last flipping 3kms? Reward - a lekker shower and dinner.

Val: We hadn't intended to eat last night but,,,, we found a restaurant with a real Pizza oven where they made the pizza bases in front of us- this was first! So, we decided "to support the locals" Boost the Italian economy. We walked into a restaurant full of men! Men in groups men in pairs - we were eyed with suspicion. I assured the girls that European men do this sort of thing. Eventually a male & female couple walked in and we all relaxed. We had fantastic pizzas - not paper thin, not double crust, just light as a feather dough, lovely friendly waiter - such a contrast to Sienna - even brought a plate of anchovies to Kathy and me. We had 1/2 a lt of wine for E3.50 We have been paying more for a glass in the tourist areas. We walked back to the hostel singing. "We feel good like fat pilgrims should - we feel fine after a bottle of wine" Marion and I krept into our room trying hard not to wake Syl.
I am group leader today! We rely on Cryptic Clues and 2 different organisations maps which do not agree! Every day our distance is +5kms more than our guides - we discovered today that they are sometimes based on the Road/highway distance and not always on the VF offroad distance. Reading our guides I learned that this is a day of few signs plus lots of getting lost! Did I choose the short straw or what!? Actually, given the guides, it was a case of "don't shoot the messenger" this is an example of the directions;
"Here we continue straight downhill towards the bottom of the Valley .- pass the pit of the mouth of dogs and salt on the opposite depositer"
I thought my song today should be:
"We're on the road to nowhere
But I'll get you there!"
We have lots of photo opportunites and lots of giggles today for some reason. Whenever you see a photo of all 5 of us it most likely due to our professional photographer who sets her camera on delay and then has to "leg it" to join the team before it "Takes". We started out saying "Formaggio" (Cheese in Italian) but we looked miserable so we now say "GRAzie"!
We arrived today and found that we had a fully equipped kitchen so decided to eat in. Kathy and I offered to shop for supper - we found a really good Minestrone . croutons, fresh shavings of grand Parmesan (so cheap) followed by huge Tuna, Feat salad with bread - the bread was once again weighed and not sold per loaf - wine of the vening was from Castelplanio - a crisp white Verdicchio.
Rayna and I are going to have a bottle of really good Merlot when we reach Roma. Safe in the knowledge we do not have to walk the next day!
By the way - Italy is playing Germany tonight so the IPOD is going to bed with me, sleep tight, we miss you all.

MONDAY, JULY 03: - DAY 18 Monteriggione To Sienna 18.9km

Sylvia: Monteriggione was sleeping and deserted when we walked out of the Romea Gate at 6.30am this morning. After a few KM's of walking through fields and a lovely shady forest we turned to look back at the imposing sight of the castle enclave perched on top of the hill behind us in the distance. Ahead of us was another forest and two medieval castles - the grand, crenalated towers of Castella della Chiacciola and the Villa Castella which also includes a few other medieval builds and walls. Once we were out of the fields and vineyards, it was on the provincial roads for about 2km. We stopped at a roadside cafe bar for something to eat and drink. Our Cryptic Clue guide told us to get a bus into Sienna - not to walk on the dangerously busy road into the city. I showed our map to a local and he told us that the Ostello Gioventu (youth hostel) was only 1km further along the road. It was actually 2km but we risked the busy road, arrived safely, checked in, left our backpacks and caught a bus into Sienna. We could see why the guide warned against walking into town and we bought tickets for tomorrow and will get a bus into town before finding our way out and onto Lucignano D'Ariba. The City of Sienna covers a number of hills, is a warren of alleys and steep, narrow roads. The main square is shaped like a scallop shell - divided into 9 sections (alluding to the Council of Nine who ruled the City in the 14th Century). According to the 'blurb' on my leaflet, the black death struck this city in 1348, and this together with political strife resulted in the city declining into little more than a market town. Because of this, much of the original architecture was preserved until today. We had lunch in the 'Campo' and did some sightseeing. Tried to post Val's parcel with no success. Got the bus back to the Hostel. Sienna Hostel is large - 46 rooms and 100 beds. Val, Marion and I are in a room with a bed and a double bunk. I took the matress down from the top bunk and put it on the floor - much more comfortable. The Ostello has laundry facilities, vending machines for hot and cold drinks, sweets etc. Breakfast E1.67, overnight stay E13.94 and lunch or dinner E9.48. A bus into town cost us E.90c.

Kathy: Have decided that in her previous life, Sylvia was a Homing Pigeon. She has an extraordinary innate ability to find our route, markets, accommodation etc. etc. We have great faith that she will guide us 'home' each evening. Val, on the other hand was the genteel, informed Lady of the Manor. She knows how and where to enjoy the good things in life. Marion was the faithfully, caring companion who accompanied her waurds everywhere and ensured their comfort and wellbeing. Rayna must have been a merchant. She is the money handler and sorter out of note! And currently our big spender (next to Val). Kathy on the other hand was furry and lived outdoors. I was a mountain goat (loved the terrain, the hillier the better) plus smelly, scratched and scruffy.

Sienna is famous for its horserace (El Palio) that is staged through the centre square (Il Campo). While many Italian towns host horse races, apparently Sienna's is the best known one. In Sienna centre, we saw a number of pictures of the race and there was the same track through the square so we wondered when the race had been. Well - we had missed it by one day. The race had been on Sunday 2 July. While it must be spectacular, I'm pleased I missed it, in some way, as it appears that it is dangerous and many of the pictures showed fallen horses (Don't Like!).

Rayna: Ok, seems like I am the 'money body' - so Dave you will appreciate this one. We all pay for things (food etc.) in turns and the other four people refund you. So it goes something like this. For example; one Internet split, Kathy pays E5, Val pays E5 and Syl E4. We then all pay Kathy E1 (including Val and Syl) then we all pay Val each E1 (including Kathy and Syl) then we all pay Syl E.80c (including Kathy and Val) is this making sense? Coz this is how we shuffle our change around all the time, countless times in a day - at the end of each day, all debts are settled and we sleep comfortably - it is called the Redistribution of Wealth.

Marion: This morning we left Monteriggioni bright and early - but without much breakfast, all of the shops were closed and we had to make do with an apple and not much more. My apple was flourery, (awful), offered some to Syl and wisely she declined. We began our walk by first walking down a tarred road for a short while and then went through a cool forest and through a couple of fields before coming back to the road. We also walked through an ancient Medieval village. We do so well with our cryptic clue, sometimes they are so funny like this one - 'in the forest we turn left on a road, a very unconnected one, to the crossroads in means to the straight forest, until arriving at a dirt road that we climb. Sienna is tremendous, so much to see, unfortunately don't have time to see it all.

Val: I walked to Sienna today with Pavarotti, Domingoe and pals also Il Diva boys, it was goosebump stuff. I felt like the only person around, as if they were singing just for me - I half expencted to look across the valley, this perfect Tuscany landscape and see them on the hill - filling the valley with their splendid tones.

Back to reality, we reach Sienna. Dump our backpacks and head to the centre. Sienna is architecurally imposing - unfortunately too busy to really enjoy - many stout tourists with even bigger vocal cords. Shopkeepers and restaurnat staff act as if they are at the end of their tether with the tourist season. They lump us in with the rest.

We cannot shop so we hit the restaurant - we probably won't eat out tonight as we are 6km from the Centre so....I had a glass of Sparkling and Carpaccio Bresaola, rucola e grana (cured meat with rocket salad and paremsan E7 - delicious 'Heaven'!

The girls had Tremazzinis - which were white (very dry) bread sandwiches - not toasted as we are uased to and Kathy and Rayna two really good salads for E5.50. Tomorrow we head back into the hills and look forward to it.

PIC'S

SUNDAY, JULY 02: - Day 17 - San Gimignano to Monteriggioni. 18.5km

Sylvia: "Another shit day in Tuscany". Blue skies, birds singing, butterflies escorting us along quiet gravel roads through shady forests or between lush green vineyards bordered by verges covered in wild flowers. Ancient knarled vines pregnant with bunches of emerald green grapes, olive groves with tiny hard olives just appearing - acres of 6 foot tall sunflowers, all standing in rows - to attention like school children in assembly, facing the rising sun. An imposing castle on a hilltop, gracious villas partially hidden at the end of sweeping driveways lined with conifers so perfect and symetrical you would think they had been pruned to that shape. Time for a stop for the coffee queens to down their morning fix at a road side trattatoria and Monteriggione visible for miles berfore we get there. The ever gracious Italian men (even the toothless older locals) keen to show us the way and direct us onto the right path.
"Toscana is the heartbeat of Italy". Our taxi driver told us this morning as he dropped us off plus minus 16km down the road towards Monteriggione - they are all very proud of their country side and beam with pleasure when you tell them that "Toscana e bella - molto bella". When you climb the hill (always a climb to a fortified place) to Monteriggione you see old stone walls, crumbling in places, grass growing out of the niches in the 14 towers and you feel a little anxious about what the accommodation will be like. People clap when we all make it to the top of the steep winding road to the first gate. Some take our photographs. Do we really look so strange? The inside is so medieval, so authentic looking that it made my heart skip a beat. A romanesque church dominates the main plaza, two wells (now covered) still have water at their deepest level. Cobbled squares, stone buildings, chicken wire surrounding a few veg patches lends to the medieval scene. All they need are a few chickens, a goat and cow, and knight on horse back and a director shouting "ACTION"! for it to be straight out of a movie - but without the touristy glitz of San Gim. I couldn’t resist buying a small tray with a hand painted picture of Monteriggione on it. We take a walk around the walls and survey the surrounding countryside. We visit the museum and watch an interactive, computerised video of the history of the Via Francigena and Monetriggioni. Our rooms are once again spacious and comfortable with modern, clean ablutions. We are all enjoying siesta now! We will go down for a drink later on, perhaps supper in the little garden behind the Il Fuenda bar. (There is only one main street in this village barely 500m long.). We might watch the sun go down over the surrounding hills. It is still warm at 8pm. Oh yes. Another Shit day in Tuscany.

Marion: We are so very fortunate that we have sunshine every day and that we are walking in such magnificant country side. It is such a lot to take in as every place seems mnore beautiful than the one we have just come from. Besides seeing vineyards and Cypress trees today we saw many fields of beautiful smiling sunflowers. We had another steep climb up to Monteriggione - it was worth the huffing and puffing!!! such a beautiful medieval town.

Kathy: Some of us are falling apart at the seams. This morning just after leaving San Gim, I needed to dislodge a passenger (yes, it happens in boots too) and suddenly saw that my boots have both worn through at the inside heel. So - a hasty patch job was done with elastoplast strapping, but I'm going to have to find some proper tape soon. the heels on my botts as well as Marions are also seriously wearing ont he outside corners too. While we have seen outdoor shops and boots for sale, I'm not particularly wanting to buy and wear in a new pair here. My lovely bamboo walking stick is also wearing away. I think I may have a cm on it already, but will know with great accuracy when I get home as it was 130cm long on leaving. I know this because the "weapons box" was made especially 130cm long to accommodate my stick.

Rayna: As Marion says the sunflowers are lovely. Such a happy colour, so we all had our photo taken in the middle of a sunflower field - shades of Anne Geddes. Monterig. is lovely, but a real tourist trap. we went to the museum and watched a video - progressed to the next room and did the same thing. All explaining in english a bit of the history of this walled village - not much to see. Oh! we have just seen the arrival of a bride and groom at the church opposite Kathy and my bedroom. So here we are gawping at the couple. Church beautifully decorted with sunflowers, lemons, wheat and greenery. The bridal couple are dressed in ivory, both carrying sunflower bouquets. Lovely!

Val: The backpack is a little heavier this morning due to a pair of curtain! and a lovely Italian handbag. In addition I have a plastic bag attached with my parcel to post - hopefully tomorrow..... when I started my journey I decided it was vital to make peace with my backpack - so - I named it after my gorgeous pooch, Charli (Charlotte) - now it when it gets too much I say, "she aint heavy, she's my dog"

The boots - I love my boots also, cause I named them after my other gorgeous pooch Makhulu - he's a Great Dane, so his "boots" were certainly made for walking. We also have a waist bag, for sun glasses, camera, pepper spray, Italian phrase book, and our valuables, passports credit cards, cash etc This I have named after my gorgeous husband, Martin, because he keeps me safe. On the food front - not much to tell I'm sorry to say.... missed breakfast and set off early - which was really disappointing "panino on the run". Just going out for supper so will add to this before bed......................

Having had a good food day we opted for salads - a huge mixed salad including tuna was 6 Euros, the dessertes were fit for a king - only S was tempted and had a pastry lined tart, crema pasticciera topped with figs and nuts - gorgeous. I am getting withdrawel symptomes from the lack of a sparkling glass so I had a couple of glasses - equivalent to a pongras-Graham Beck E3.50 a glass, the real thing E6.50 per glass - my drinks bill was more than the cost of my food tonight! We find, as one might expect, a completely different attitude - a detached level of service and hospitality in the restaurants in the towns and cities, and especially the tourist spots. To truly experience the italians and there food, you have to meet the odd Mama Norina or the host of La Sosta on the way. Couldn't buy breakfast for tomoorw so some hungry pilgrims will be marching at 6.30am!

Typed by Kathy, read by Rayna. E&OE!!!!

SATURDAY, JULY 01: - Day 16 - Gambassi Terme to St Gimignano 19.5 km

Rayna and Kathy: Rayna was our group leader today and did very well, guiding us on a path described in our cryptic clues as..."dual in front of the agricultural company...." "along the skilful side of the field..." and then "go up along the little visible track in the forest....". We had to pay very close attention because the path was neither "traced" nor "marked"! But we survived, arriving at St Gimignano at about 10.15am. Then to the internet cafe before entering the City gates (walled City) at lunchtime. Very hot again - but as it was a shorter distance (14.5 to San Gimignano) on tar and paths we felt strong.

Marion: In the late afternoon's before we go out for dinner, we have a shower and put on our clothes for the next day - well last night we were already except for Val. We were all waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. The next moment Val appeared - 'what a surprise we received - she looked stunning in a special number she had hidden in her backpack!'

What a wonderful day again today, we were lucky because it was a short distance and it was very hot. We spend the afternoon expoloring St Gimignano - I was looking for an immersion heater for Rayna as on our first night I was using her heater and I'm not sure what happened - I must have got the cord wet and the next moment it exploded, sparks flying everywhere and my eyelashes were singed. What a fright I received. Lucky we do have another immersion heater. I would like to find one to replace it but so far no luck!

Syl: Today was a lovely days walking even though the sweat was pouring off us by 7.30am. For the first time on our trip we had breakfast "out" - at a Patiseraire at 6.15am. Nothing like hot chocolate and a custard slice for breakfast! We walked on good dirt roads, with one section across an overgrown field with a VF arrow pointing through a hedge to nowhere. But with the help of the Associazione VF Guide (which we translated from Italian using Google and Babelfish) and some innovative VF signs, we made San Gimignano 4 hours later. We could see the towers of San Gimignano long before we reached it and we climbed the narrow road to the ancient Porta San Matteo - one of the main gates into the old town through the fortified walls. Right at this entrance was a small shop set into the base of the wall that offered an Internet service. It was too early to book into our B & B so we took two computers and posted 4 days onto our blogg. San Gimignano is an amazing town with Disney-like streets, tall stone buildings, stately Piazza's, fountains, a catherdral and tall towers. The walls date from the 10th to 13th Century. In ancient times these were destroyed and the stones recycled to build houses. In recent history the houses were demolished and the walls reconstructed to their former glory with the original stones. Only +/- 1000 people live permanently within the walls but the town was overflowing with thousands of tourists of all nationalities. Our B & B - Cassa Giovanna - was at the other end of the old town about 100m from the Giovanni gate. The road is narrow - only a 'wagon width' with stone walls rising on both sides. With massive doors and shuttered windows one has no idea of what might be behind them. Our double doors swung open to reveal a long gracious passage with moulding walls and a wide stone staircase leading to the first floor on the left.Senora Giovanna lives in this enormous Cassa and our rooms were straight out of an Italian movie. Beautiful wooden doors, small mosaic tiled floor, a chaise lounge in the entrance, brass beds, lovely light fittings a dome ceiling and anglaise cotton curtains on the frosted glass doors. All this - with spacious modern en suite bathroom for Euro 24. We walked an extra 5km sightseeing so will use this to get transport some of the way towards Monterigionni so that we do not have to walk in the mid-day sun. (Monteriggione should be 28kms but the locals tell us that it is at least 32kms)Checking that you have everything is vital before setting off. When you have minimum equipment - 3 pairs of socks, 3 pants, 2 bra tops etc. you cannot afford to leave anything behind, so a stocktake is done each morning before we set off.

Val: Well today we all agreed that in the name of the Real Food Movement we would be true Italians for the day so:

Breakfast, forget the yoghurt and fruit - it was straight to the "La Pasticceria and savoury and sweet croissants, pastries and cappuccino and hot chocolate. On the road - arrive at magical St Gimignano (as someone before us described - in similar words - "if you used this place to make a movie the critics would say you tried too hard to recreate a Medieval Village" - it can only be described as a 'wonderment' (I believe there is such a word you players of scrabble!)

Well lunch "when in Rome" - crostoni (not to be confused with crostini) Euro 3 - Euro 3.50 -toasted bread with a selection of toppings, olives, capers, cheese, aubergines and mushrooms - washed down with a glass of Vino Bianco Frizzante (becoming rather partial to this!) followed by Espresso and Cappaccino and English Breakfast Tea (as the only Pommie, I don't drink tea). Marion and I decided to mark our Cappaccino's out of 5 - they have been getting progressively worse as we left the North....today however, we got to 4 out of 5. Most have been luke warm milk but today's was hot with a good flavour and a top froth, yes very good indeed.

San Gimignano is a tourist spot of note - we feel like we are Hillbillies come down from the mountains, so unuse have we become to crowds. Lots of Americans and would you belive it a crowd from Durban. We all had an ice cream as we walked around the tourist spots - so much choice - shops dedicated purely and simply to ice cream - "I'm in heaven".

For tonights meal we needed to escape the Tourists - out of interest I read a number of menu's outside the "posh" places - admittedly devine sounding food but it was 'tourist food'. We opted for a ristorante in a back street, family run with only 6 tables. The "smells of real food" reached us as we opened the door. We didn't get to meet Mama but she was definitely in the kitchen.

Rayna and Marion had the Crespellas, light pancakes with spinach and ricotta - really good. Kathy chose spaghetti with a meat sauce (it must have been good because she wouldn't talk to us until she had finished). Rayna is my photographic food stylist and we are irrating the others because they have to wait for us to photograph their food before they can eat it!) Kathy just gives us that look which says "don't mess with my food!" Sylvia had gnocchi with tomato and cream - "the best ever" was her verdict. I had Ossobuco in crema di oderce (Ossobucco - shin cooked in the most delicious mixture of herbs, vegetables - it fell away from the bone - I moped up the juices with bread but the finale was to put the marrow on another piece of bread - just as well we walk again tomorrow.

Dolci - Rayna had Tiramisu - like our Cappaccino's wer are marking these - this one go a big thumbs down - it was just like a weak custard. Kathy had Apple tart - this appeared to be sliced apples with a "batter" poured over and baked - very good. I had Panna Cotta with Chocolate - as it was set down before me it wobbled on the plate - that was a good sign. "Heaven, I'm in Heaven!" it was perfection. So light, hint of vanilla and dark, pure chocolate across the top - 10 out of 10. The latest trend is to make this desert with yoghurt instead of cream to appeal to the more health conscious - I am of the school that you either have this desert as it is intended or don't have it at all. I am always amazed at Diet Cook Books that go to great lengths to give recipes for deserts so you can eat one every day. Rather go without and enjoy just one real one occasionally!

We rolled to bed.........................

Today wasn't all about food, a Tourist Town it might be - they had shops! I couldn't resist, yes I bought but they are all in a big parcel which I only have to carry for two days and will then post to "myself" to collect in Rome!! But the best of all - after wearing my little black number last night, some of the girls sucumbed and bought themselves outfits. Now their backpacks are a little heavier too!

FRIDAY 30: DAY 15 - SAN MINIATO TO GAMBASSI TERME

Syl: "Under the Tuscan Sky". Today's walk was exactly as I imagined walking in Tuscany would be like - except from the unrelenting sun. San Miniato is on a steep hill - like most fortified towns, castles or monasteries, with far ranging views of approaching friends or foes. We left a quiet San Francesco Convent at 6.30am and wound our way down the district road until we came to the dirt road we would follow for most of the day. It was almost impossible to get lost today with a plethora of VF signs all the way to Gambassi. At first it was overcast, warm and humid and we made good time - 13kms in the first three hours. We meandered over wheat fields, bleached by the sun. Vineyards, olive groves and the occasional green forest. We climbed up and down hills, some with imposing stone villas lording over the vineyards and passed a number of crumbling abandoned villas. By the way, we have yet to see a Tuscan Villa painted terracota or Orchre, and none have Juliet Balconies or pillars and fountains. All those Pseudo-Tuscan developments back home must have been a fantasy dream by a drunk architect. Even the most imposing Tuscan villa here looks more like a Georgian mansion than a Hollywood 'Romeo and Juliet' set. By 1030 the sun burned away the cloud cover and we started to fry. There were no villages for 22kms between San Miniato and Borgforte - about 3kms before Gambassi. The hard baked dirt road became gravel and then deteriorated into a a cracked overgrown path, shoulder high with grasses and brambles. We forged on, pausing in every bit of shade to catch our breath. When we passed by a lone farm house I asked the owner for water and Senor Salvador kindly fetched iced water from his kitchen. When we reached Borgforte we saw umbrellas, a wonderful sight - just like an oasis in a desert. We collapsed into plastic chairs outside the little bar where we had ice cold water, cokes, coffee and ice cream before trudging on the final 2kms to Gambassi. It must be over 40 degrees today and it is madness to be hiking through the hills in these temperatures. Rayna looked white around the gills, Val was dizzy and disorientated and Marion and I agreed that we felt as if we couldn't walk in a straight line we were so exhausted. Kathys clothes were literally dripping with persperation. We were relieved to find our hotel at the same end of the town we walked into.
Marion: We started walking this morning and there was a lot of clouds which was wonderful as it was a lot cooler. We walked on sand roads, with very little traffic and then on paths through fields. I so enjoyed walking up and down the hills of Tuscany. It is everything I imagined. Rolling hills, olive groves, vineyards, cyprus trees lots of wild flowers and grasses. So many different tones of greens and browns. We even saw a field of smiling Sun Flowers! Every now and again a mansion on a hill with wonderful views. Unfortunately the clouds only lasted a few hours and then we had very hot sun beating down on us. I am sure it must have been 40 degrees. When we arrived at Gambassi I looked at my boots - I hope they are going to last the trip as they are wearing down very fast - I have hardly any heels left.

Val: I fear we are going to become immune to this beautiful landscape - I truly hope that we do not. It is picture postcard, it is the movie scenes, it is everything and more than we expected.

What is sad, is the graffiti and the litter problem which seems out of control. Lucca was the worst - this beautifully preserved medieval walled city with graffiti everywhere. On buildings of architectural splendour and a history to be protected. It is everywhere.

There appear to be no repetitive script or symbol which would suggest that it is political. Some of it is in the modern script of graffiti which I have know doubt that someone considers to be art. We are all quite shocked and saddened that they do not seem to be able to control either the graffiti or the litter problem. Another thing we have noticed is the high security - the burlar bars are over 1cm in diameter and fixed directly into the walls, doors have 4 -5 bolts in the centre plus top and bottom and then metal shutters. All the shops have huge shutters which are closed at night. We do not see any pedestrian police, but occasionally police cars. We have, however, felt 100% safe during the day and evening, walking freely through the villages and the towns.

We often have days where we do not see a village for the whole day which can be 7+ hours so we have to try to get water and something to eat the night before. This is perhaps the reason why we have become such expert scavengers. If we arrive late in the day at the fruit market they seem to feel sorry for us and give us fruit "gratis". We have learnt to waste nothing, and take every opportunity to"collect things". One apple in the supermarket warrants 5 plastic bags. Sugar sachets, honey sachets, salt and even oil and vinegar we pour into our little Alp Juice bottles (which previously held Old Brown Sherry and got us over the Alps). We eat wild cherries, mulberries, apples which are hanging over the public footpaths. Even a lovely red onion which we found on the side of the road which must have fallen off a truck. We weigh up if we can carry or eat it and then we take it. We pinch the soaps and shampoos and the plastic cups in the B & B bathrooms for our wine. Sometimes we arrive too late and the shops are closed, and we look at the fruit in the windows, wanting it so much - we imagine this is what it feels like for someone who is less fortunate and hungry every day. We struggle but have perhaps slightly a better idea than before our trip.

Kathy: (Ci puo consigliare un buon percorso?)
Tuscany at its best I imagine. Followed quite a historic route as Sigeric had mentioned two of the churches we passed today. (Sigeric 990) the first was the Parish of Coiano (nothing much else in Coiano not even a bar for coffee) and the Parish of Chianni just outside Gambassi. Pity that it was so hot, so we didn't linger at the churches and we have found most churches locked, a sign of the times I think. Marion and I attended mass at the convent last night 7pm service. It was held in a small chapel of the main church (church of Saint Francisco). Apart from the two of us, there were three people in the congregation. Five of the Monks conducted the service, each doing a small part. All in Italian so we could not understand much (anything!), 30 minutes long with some singing and we were able to share in communion.

Rayna: L'aria condizionate non funziona 'e fuori
It was very hot again today over 40 degrees. I think that the outside airconditioner is broken. I really hope it gets fixed soon, because walking in the midday sun is not fun for me. The scenery is beautiful with rolling hills. Yes this means walking up and down them. We are all developing serious t shirt, shorts and socks tans. I have a problem with all the dogs that we see on a daily basis. The dogs are kept in cages, often no longer than 3ft x 4ft. Today we stopped for a break at a deserted property. We heard a dog crying, Sylvia investigated and there was this poor dog tied up with water but with no food. Perhaps his owner was coming later to feed him but why tie this poor animal up in isolation?

Val : Food Report:
Well our accommodation turned out to be above a bar and ristorante and the owner Internationally trained. He also spoke 5 languages and ran a very good establishment with his wife and two daughters. We decided we would eat at his table this evening.

Today Italy were playing Argentina, starting at 9pm. The owner told us that his big TV was ready and tables laid for the locals. Our rooms opened onto the street immediately above the outside area so we didn't expect to get much sleep.

The ristorante served fish and specialised in seafood. The first we have seen. As such we had a lovely spread of salads, seafood kebabs and delicious grilled vegetables. We felt on need of chips - he bought us a huge platter of fresh crisp chips - he offered us tomato sauce, he looked relieved that we were not of the tomato sauce variety. He then came to the table with a bottle of liquor. This he tells us is made by his wife - he gives us the recipe, it is made from oranges that have no chemicals - you cannot buy it in the shops and you cannot buy it from him - you must be invited by the owner to sample it! We are honoured, it tasts like cointreau but better.

We attempt to sleep but the noise is unbearable...Italy is winning. I finally plug in my iPod and go to sleep with some Pavarotti - well "when in Rome!"

THURSDAY, JUNE 29: - DAY 14 - Altopascio to San Miniato: 25kms

Marion: We were all up bright and early this morning watching bunnies running in and out of the Olive trees. Not long after we started walking, we took a turn onto an ancient medievasl road and then through a forest coming out into the village of Galleno where we all got our credentials stamped at a cartoleria - a little stationary shop. Along the medieval road every now and again, there were boards with the story of the road:
"A road of hope towards the most beloved aim. Once upon a time there was a path that still exists, which runs along the places where we grew up. It is not a fictitious road, living in the shadows of our feelings but a real one. It's disjointed stones tells us of a past that doesn't exist anymore of a past discoloured by the passing of the centuries. This ancient road has its own story as well as an important name. It is the famous Francigena Road also known as Via Romea. On its pavements the dreams of many pilgrims faded away. They entrusted this road with their hopes and wishes in order to reach the sacred places of Christianity where they got forgiveness for their sins and purification of their souls. The history of ancient Europe has been written on this road among its moss grown stones not only by pilgrims but by merchants, knights, kings and armies. It is our duty now to preserve this great scenery as a heritage of our valuable past.." Today ended up being quite a tought day and a few times I thought - how many people are there in the world like us 5? "Tooooo damn few!!!"

Sylvia: As we had already walked about 7kms out of Altopscio to our farm accommodation, and passed the turn to San Miniato, we arranged for a taxi to collect us and drop us off on the road to San Miniato. After a short walk on a Roman road through a shady forest, we took a wrong turn coming out of Galleno and ended up walking in single file on a very busy SS road for about 10kms. Then we had a "Blessing Momet". We stood in a group at a little side road to decide what to do. A truck came down the road and the driver told us that the village on the hill behind us was Ponte Cappiano. The VF passes right through it. So we were back on track. We stopped for coffee and then continued across a Medici Bridge (once painted by Leonardo Da Vinci) alongside a canal and through many very flat fields. All in the scorching sun. We stopped in Vececchio for lunch and then continued on the road and some side paths to San Miniato Basso. A digital roadside temp and date sign told us that at 14.50 it was +40oC. We had already walked our expected 23kms so we got a little shuttle bus to San Miniato Alto up the steep roads - where we were booked into the Convent of St Francis of Assisi. This is an enormous complex. The brother who opened the door for us led us to the refrectory to get us cold water. It is a cavernous room with three rows of tables and chairs leading down the entire length of the room and a main table across the end of the room - dwarfed by a gigantic mural of the Last Supper. It reminded me of the diningrooms in the Harry Potter movies. Sadly, there are only 8 brothers left, and only 8 places were set at the top left side table. San Miniato Alto is made up of a warren of narrow cobbled streets and clusters of medieval type buildings, that literally stradlle a ridge overlooking the Arno River Valley and San Miniato Basso below. The convent is like an imposing castle with views over terraced vineyards and small subsistence farms. Our rooms were spartan but very clean and we each had an en suite bathroom. The words "Little Things Mean a Lot" take on a new meaning when you are a homeless traveller. Finding soap, shamppo sachets and a large towel is cause for rejoicing! In the few places we have been able to us a washing maching, it was like winning the lottery! Even having sufficient space to unpack the backpack is a bonus. People here are amazed when we tell them that we are from South Africa and always the same reaction has been "Bianci??" (White?) Tomorrow’s stage to Gambassi Terme is described as demanding with 34% on Tar, 66% on dirt which could mean more bashing through overgrown fields and paths.

Kathy: After reading Syl's contribution above, I now feel very bad about reporting on 'revolting pilgrims" again. This morning in the taxi on the way to our start Val suddenly had a glint in her eye, and quietly told us of her plan..... we really wanted a day off our feet, so Val suggested we wuickly gag and bind Sylvia (sitting in front passenger seat) and she (Val) would hold driver hostage with her pepper spray, and say "Take us to San Miniato". Well, ... we all had a fitr of the giggles and decided we were revolters!! We didn't try our plan and the taxi driver safely dropped us as planned. I wore long pants today to protect my allergic legs, so you can only imagine how hot I was at 14h30.
OUR WAR CRY TODAY WAS
We feel frot, cos it's too damn hot!
We've been on the trot, since 7 o'clock
We'll feel fine, when its quarter to nine
Hopefully sun will go down then,
We feel frot We feel Hot
We are ready to drop.ù

VAL: Yes it is sooooo hot and some of our sticks have warped. We have come to the conclusion that the Italians have no conception of distance. We ask "Is there somewhere to get a drink?"
"Oh, Si, Si - 50m around the bend"
We walk more than 50m and stop to ask another : "Oh, Si, si. It is 2kms ahead".
We walk up to a group of people and ask, "How far to San Miniato?"
"Another 10kms" says the first person, "Nonsense " says the next. "It is just 5kms"
"No. No. It is 1km - maybe 2kms"
"San Miniato - the last one asks - you have passed it already."
Today we need to find a ristorante for a drink and get ourt of the sun for an hour. We come across a group of men sitting on plastic chairs on the pavement - we ask if they can recoomend somewhere - they all tak at once, pointing in different directions but none of them agree "the Tratatorria is over there with the blue blinds" says the fiorst man. "Are you mad?" says the second. "The pizza is terrible". "Dobnt listen to them" says another. "The best is here, I will take you" says one man but he is too busty defending his culinary reputation and we walk off and leave them to it. It is very tempting to walk into a crowd and ask a question. Thjey never agree but it is wonderful to watch and listen - Italian is such a beautiful expressive language and the people are passionate. We are warming to this beautiful landscape and its people.
We arrived at the convent at about 3pm. One of the brothers met us and asked if we wanted water - the girls followed him tot he refrectory - Rayna and I did not need water so we stayed behind. A little later they return and the brother offered us wine - so we we follwed him to the refrectory - where we had a some wine. We have a new best friend! That evening two of the gfirls went to mass, Rayna and I hit the town. All the shops were open - gorgeous clothes and kitchen shops, copper saucepans for E35 - even I was tempted to carry one! Rayna and I had a lovely Spinach and Gorgonzola pasta overlooking the Tuscany hills and then crept back to the convent careful not to wake the household.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28: - DAY THIRTEEN - Lucca to Altopascio - 19km

Kathy reporting on the walking surfaces: I have now realised that we were thoroughly spoiled in Switzerland as we could use their most functional bicycle paths that seemed to link the centres we needed to get. The bicycle paths were generally well signposted, scenic and relatively safe - we just had tohave eyes in the back of our heads tocater for cyclists approaching from behind. They didn't seem to have bells! Otherwise, we have walked on lovely forest paths, mountain tracks, narrow 30cm paths with a 90 degree perpendicular drop to the right, and a chain fixed to the rock face on the left. We have braved metal walkways in the mountains, steel steps and rickety wooden bridges over raging torrents. Some mountain paths were boulder strewn, filled with (past) avalanche screed, leaf matter orjust plain grassy. We have also used what are called mule tracks. Through many of thetowns we have walked on paved walkways, some dating from +/- 50 BC! We could only imagine who else had walked there before us. On the trip from St Vincent to Pont St Martin we walked on an ancient Gallic road that bears the scars ofmany wagon wheels - there are distinct furrows in the rock! On the way to Great St Bernard pass we also walked on the remains of an old Roman road to the hostel. In addition we have often been forced to use main roads, not a very pleasant experiernce. Roads are often not the shortest route from point A to B, go thru grotty parts of the towns and are busy . Today on our way to Altopascio we walked on a mian road with heavy trucks hurtling towards us, crazy drivers trying to get totheir destinations, cyclists etc. They drive on the other side of the road here, which has taken some getting used to and we still haven't worked out where cars come from and go to at intersections and traffic circles - as it is so different!

Rayna : We left Lucca early today - 7.40am. It was hot, very hot at about 8.30 we past an outside temeprature sign that said 39 degrees! Who knows if it was that hot, but if certainly felt like it. The breeze from the passing trucks was almost welcome. The air conditioning in the supermarket certainly was, as is the aircon in our bedroom.

Val: We are walking to a farm today which will be out of town so we need to buy lunch, dinner and breakfast enroute. This is a priority! We come to the first real supermarket we have seen on our travels. We enter through automatic doors and all gasp - we haven't seen so much food on display in weeks - the locals guess as much, they eye us up as if we are out on a field trip.First thing I set my eyes on are whole "hams" of Parma and Proscuitto - the proscuitto costs Euro 35 (R300) that is so cheap compared to what we pay at home. I just reckon if I was to throw a few more things away and the little black number I bought for Roma one just might fit. Ok, Marion (guide for the day, sweeper and boss) ok!.Next, Mortadella. I've never been over keen on this Italian cold meat, it reminds me too much of spam. But according to our hosts and our Italian Menu guide it is Wild Boar? On a table next to the deli counter was a Mortadella to end all Mortadella's. It was 1 metre long with a circumference of 35cm. it looked like the body of a Wild Boar which of course it couldn't be because it is pressed meat. We bought insalata di mare (seafood salad) risotto, grilled and marinated vegetables, tuna, hams cheeses, really good bread, breadsticks, olives, soup, fruit chocolate and of course wine - last night we had a lovely Chianti from the "odd bins" for Euro 2, today a traditional vino frizzante (red) like Lambrusco ( neither Rayna or I were too keen on this). I didn't want to leave. I imagined being the winner of one of those competitions where you have a trolley and must load it with as much as you can in a given time - or like a child who hopes they can hide in a toy store and come out once everyone has gone home and have the whole store to themselves. I would start at the fish counter and end with the wine. After working for many years, one always has a title which usually becomes more grand as we become older - "tea maker" "shop Steward" "she who knows everything", "The Boss" - when I no longer have an official title what will I say when someone asks "what do you do?" I thnk perhaps "Professional Shopper, eater of Good Food with a Doctorate in Drinking". (NB - forgive our spelling mistakes - spell check is in Italian and we have to finish before the money runs out!)

Marion: We decided to leave early today as it gets so very hot. We were all out of bed by 5.30am. We left at 6.45am and it was already hot. I thought we would be having an easy 15km walk - "a walk in the park". Unfortunately not quite a walk in the park for me. it was easy but very flat along such a busy, noisy road that was dusty and full of litter. Mostly an industrial area. Also very hot - was I pleased to see the farm that we are staying in tonight. Our 15km ended up 19.5 but it felt like 30km.

Syl: Today we saw our first fields of sunflowers and Cyprus trees. Walking through village after village on a busy road (something like Old Main Road through Pinetown) I was struck by how almost every available piece of land is used for planting - sunflowers, maize, vines, even gladioli - squashed between panel beaters, brickyards, cash and carry stores and old churches. Very little is wasted. We saw our first VF sign. Altopascio was the home of Knights of the Tau and boasts a few historically important churches and monuments. We were just too hot to make detours and instead headed straight for the Sibolla Agriturismo Farm outside of town. It is a beautiful place with olive groves, vineyards and a stud farm. After settling in I showered and had a swim in the pool - bliss. Then walked to the paddocks to visit the horses and baby foal. Because this place is about 5km away from the exit to San Miniato - and we now have 25km "in the bank" we will get a taxi to fetch us at 7am and take us to the exit point where we'll start our walk tomorrow.

Addendum to Tuesday by Kathy:"The pilgrims are revolting - all but one that is!" Sylvia had a revolt on her hands at bedtime. Four revolting pilgrims refused to wash their clothes (as it is such a pain!) and went off to bed after dinner and a toothbrushing. All that got washed were "our smalls" and these - as you have read - were left to dry on the chandelair. Kathy had already worn her red shirt for 24 hours (yeuch!) Poor Sylvia - she dutifully washed hers, crept quietly into our sharedroom and hung her washing up to dry. By this time the other revolters were sound asleep. In the morning when we woke up we put on our slightly used clothing and Sylvia made us stand in line like cormorants in a row, while she sprayed Joy perfume under our arms. Sylvia is still complaining that she now knows why she didn't sleep so well last night.

Special Food Report (Settimo Vittone)

This eating experience deserved a special mention...On arrival in Settimo Vittone we stopped at a restaurant for coffee to prepare us for the climb to the castle which would be our rest place for the night. The owner, Signor Antonella greet us and we looked at photos of him on the wall - he turned out to be the conductor of the local band. We looked at the menu and said we would return for supper. Osteria La Sosta was well worth the 2km round trip. When we arrived in the evening the daughter greeted us and handed a postcard from the owner. He had written a personal message to us:

" Ladies - from the "Ospitality Il Castello" Dear Ladies, Unfortunately (for me, at least) I won't be there when you're coming tonight. I just want to give you some information about the way to have good food and not to spend too much. The PRIMI PIATTI and also the SECONDI are portioned for two people. The antipasti can be shared as well. The Spontine del Viandante is the Pilgrims Dish. Have a Good time and good luck for your trip."

Accompanying the postcard was a brochure and menu with the family history and a Dolci recipe. I collect menu's and this will become part of my collection.

Syl chose the grill di zucchine, melanzane - a selection of grilled vegetables. Kathy insisted on the ravioli cooked in the copper pan and said the sauces was delicious and spicy - she didn't offer a tasting - Kathy says she doesn't share!!

Val, Rayna and Marion decided to try the Proposte Di Menu De Gerstazione (E18) each. We had no idea what we were getting into.

Antipasti was served in two courses.
Sausage - red, could have been blood but we told ourselves it was beetroot.
Lard - literally strips of bacon lard - it tasted good but was spoiled by the voice in my head which was that of Chef Michelle of the Christina Martin School of Cookery lecturing us on the reasons NOT to cook with duck fat or lard..."it goes straight to the heart and arteries!" she would say.
Dried beef - Biltong?
Bowl of Salsa...which reminded us of Chakalka.

Second course of Antipasti
Carpaccio - delicious
Eggs on bruschetta - like eggs benedict without the spinach
Spicy sausage in yellow peppers

PRIMO
Ravioli meat
Risotto - cheese
Gnochi verde

DOLCI
Panna cotta al caffee con salsina alla branda (disappointing - too much gelantine?)
Sorbetto al limone - lemon sorbet - excellent
Tiramisu - because you have to! It is one of those disches that became fashionable and few of us probably would recognise the real thing. We went on to taste a Tiramisu made in heaven at the Hostel in Berceto - but remain unsure if it was the real thing. I need to look it up in Elizabeth Davids diaries of Northern Italy.

TUESDAY, 27: DAY TWELVE - Pontremoli to Lucca 14kms

TUESDAY, JUNE 27: DAY THIRTEEN - Pontremoli to Lucca 14kms

Sil: Kathy Marion and I took a walk down the treelined lane that runs between our old farm house B&B and green fields. An elderly woman on a bicycle was picking poppies and field grasses for her husband's grave. The fields and the farmhouses are bordered by an old stone wall that encircles the property of a past Marquis of Pontremoli. (Pronounced to rhyme with Emily - emphasis on the TRE and not on the Moli). We got to the station at 8.30 and had an hour and half wait so Kathy and I went back into town to the post office,. I had a large padded envelope with my vest, Fleece jacket, Italian plugs and a few other odds and ends that I wanted to post to myself Poste Restant in Rome. Although it was a modern Post office this request was met with - first a blank stare, then frustration that I couldn’t post an item with my name on it to myself. After some heated consultation with other colleagues and a phone call to Rome, I was given triumphant confirmation that my item could in fact be posted to Rome's Central Ferme Post Office. Whether I will ever see it again remains to be seen!The train journey to Lucca was uneventdful and we found our hotel inside the old stone walls that encircle the old town. The description of the hotel was 'Art Deco' - think shabby chic and you'll have an idea of what it looked like. We were given a capacious room dominated by a large double bed which Kathy and Rayna shared. Besides another three single beds, a desk and chair, pink draylon boudoir chair and a huge wardrobe, there was still enough floor space to do the tango! There was an art deco painted border around the walls with the design repeated in the middle of the ceiling from which a 6 arm chandalier hung rather grandly. The whole affect was spoilt by Rayna and Sylvia's skimpy undies hanging from the chandalier on plastic hangars! If we activated our red flashing lights - you could have thought ‘Bordello!' The smells of deep heat, shampoo, deodorants, arnica rub and muscle rubs completed the scene. Just a few words about Lucca. Although today was a no walking day we still managed to clock up 14kms on our digi-walkers. Some of that was climbing up the 45m , 230 step tower – and down again - in Lucca. We were thrilled to find an internet cafe, booked 3 machines and posted 4 days onto our blog. Then more sightseeing and a lovely dinner of Tarte d'Erbe, and salads made in the communal kitchen on our floor.

Marion: This morning before we left Pontrmoli I decided to leave my red hat behind as I could repklace the space it took with an apple. I put my hat on top of the bin downstairs so that our hosttess could see that i was throwing it away. I did not want her to come down the road after us shouting 'You have left your hat!? After breakfast we left and walked to the station to catch our train. As we arrived, a car pulled up with opur hostess jumping out with my hat! Did we laugh! I then left it on top of a post box - and hopefully it won't come back to me a second time!

VAL: The Italians are very honest, good citizens which can be very annoying when you are trying deliberately to leave something behind. As Marion has told you about her red sunhat, a Durban beachfront special, which much to our relief she hasn't worn was destined for the 'I'm leaving this behind bin.' We are still expecting it to turn up. Int he supermercato I deliberately left two water bottle and replaced them with new full ones. As we were leaving a woman came running after us with my water bottle, next a shop assistant came running out with my stick, thank goodness the Italians are such good citizens! Lucca is so special - what a buzz! It reminds me of a Varsity town- lots of students and bicycles. Lots of history and lots of gorgeous shops. Backpacking is cramping my shopping stryle, credit card is in shock. I'm expecting my credit card company's Fraud dept to phone me any moment and advise me that my card must have been stolen by someone that isn't using it! Well I couldn't reist in one shop they had the most amazing display of masks - the kind you would wear to a masked ball - they were all made in Vienna and so authentic that they even had those that the muderer in Agatha Christie's muder novels would wear. I had to have one - I just had to! They are so light. So I did! The look of horror on the other girls faces made it even more exciting. It fits int he backpack, see? My masks walked 20kms today and no problem.

Kathy and Rayna: K & R are so pleased that they were at the back of the scribe queue today. All Kathy wants to add is that she paid E5 (R45) for the privelege of walking 230 steps up and 230 steps down an anicent tower in Lucca. Rayna who didn't run up and down the steps, asks "Are they crazy or what?"

Addendum to Tuesday by Kathy:"The pilgrims are revolting - all but one that is!" Silvia had a revolt on her hands at bedtime. Four revolting pilgrims refused to wash their clothes (as it is such a pain!) and went off to bed after dinner and a toothbrushing. All that got washed were "our smalls" and these - as you have read - were left to dry on the chandelier. Kathy had already worn her red shirt for 24 hours (yeuch!) Poor Silvia - she dutifully washed hers, crept quietly into our shared room and hung her washing up to dry. By this time the other revolters were sound asleep. In the morning when we woke up we put on our slightly used clothing and Silvia made us stand in line like cormorants in a row, while she sprayed Joy perfume under our arms. Silvia is still complaining that she now knows why she didn't sleep so well last night.

MONDAY, JUNE 26: - DAY 11 - Cisa ostello Tugo to Pontremoli 24km

MONDAY, JUNE 26: DAY TWELVE - Ostello Tugo to Pontremoli 24km
Kathy - Mountain Goat: We had an early start leaving our youth hostel at 6.30am after eating our own yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. It was 2.5km on the main road up to the Cisa Pass (Passo De Cheeza) - what a relief, the literature

we’d read warned us of the ‘dreaded’ pass at Cisa (1040m above sea level). We left the SS26 and started our walk on tracks and forest paths. Think lower Berg, Krantzkloof, and you get the picture. We went up, down, up some more, across dry steam beds, through natural forests, man made plantations and open grasslands. I was in my element as I just LOVE this kind of off road walking. At times the paths were quite difficult as the surface was often very slippery with fallen leaves, pine needles or littered with shale, slate and scree.
Once again a hot humid day. The last 6km into Pontremoli were once again on the SS26 - a little like the old main road through Park Rynie on the Natal South Coast. Lush green, hot and humid and undulating. Nature news: saw our first Italian Serpenta today; luckily it was more scared of us. We also "rescued" a small baby field mouse on a hot path, putting it out of harms way, hopefully, in some shade.

Rayna: Who doesn't like down mountain paths. As Kathy says, it was a lot of "bundu bashing" today and the knees took strain - must be getting old or something! As we came into the almost abandoned village of Cavezzana a dog came out to greet us, followed by Senora Paulo who invited us in and made us the welcomest delicious coffee. She was visiting her holiday house from Parma, with her son Marcello, for a couple of months. We continued along the way until we got to the village of Groppo Over the Cisa Pass to Pontremoli. Here there was a local election station and much activity. We had some refreshments and left for Pontremoli.

Marion: Like Kathy I so enjoyed the terrain that we walked through today. I found the Cisa Pass very interesting - at the border between Emilia Romagna and Tuscany, the Cisa Pass developed an essential role in the old road networks. On the old Post Office building there are still signs that define the Dukedom in Parma and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. A long stairway leads to the sanctuary of the Madonna deila Guardia, 1921 devoted to the world’s sportsman. We climbed the steps up and then continued on a side path into the forest.

Sil: Our Cryptic Clues guide said: “Interminable stage in atmosphere mounts, Very demanding for length and unevenness, wonderful for the natural atmosphere in which it is carried out and for the beauty of the villages from Tuscany depositor.”
It also said: "Difficulty: Very demanding with 10% on tarred roads, 0% on gravel and 90% on tracks. Uneveness of climbing: 907m - 1229m to 235m.
Now I have come to learn that 90% on ‘tracks’ means rocks and more rocks. I Hate Rocks. I don't mind climbing up rocky paths forever, but I really, really, really DON'T like coming down them. I don’t care how much the others love this kind of terrain, I just don’t! Today was up, but mostly down, gravel ruts, pebble ruts, shale ruts, stoney, rocky, ankle snapping tracks where you have to watch where you put every step and even then you skid and wobble over loose rocks and stones.
At one stage we had to cross a river on a slope that had crumbling mud sides and only a few boulders to stand on. We had to go down on our backsides and hold walking poles out to each other to get across. We also did some forest walking which was great - even though the thick leaf mulch and pine needles were also slippery, it wasn't as demanding or tiring as the rocky tracks.
Coming out of the forest we heard a dog barking and knew we were close to civilisation. Senora Paulo was an angel to invite us all to rest on her patio and have a cup of coffee before continuing on our way. The village of Cavezzana where she lives is quite derelict and now only 5 people still live there. It seems that people in rural Italy are abondoning the village life for the lure of the cities. Some of the little places we pass have names but are merely a collection of three or four houses. No square, no shops, no street lights, no real streets, just a cobbled path appearing at the edge of the forest, passing between the buildings and soon reverting to a track into the forest again.
It was very hot today easily plus 35 degrees in the shade. The heat cannot escape the thick forest so it was more humid walking in the forest than it was walking in the road. We walked quite a long way into Pontremoli which is in the Magra Valley, before we found our B&B just outside the old town. It is on the top floor of a lovely, large converted stone barn that still has the animal stalls down below. Our charming hostess, Adriana, allowed us to use her washing machine – what a treat – and all the clothes dried within an hour. We are now in the very northern corner of Tuscany, sweltering under the Tuscan sun but happy to be here. Adrianna recommended a local restaurant that we will go to tonight for supper.

Val: Tuscany is unbelievably beautiful - words fail me. The beauty and the simple kindness, generosity and hospitality shown to us these past weeks restores faith in human kind and the will to preserve the nature we have in our own beautiful country grows stronger.
Today was a public holiday due to the Referendum and the bar we stopped at, the "official" polling station. Two policemen were on duty drinking beer and all voting had to be completed by 3pm due to Italy playing football. As such we couldn't get any food and walked plus 20km with only fruit and yoghurt at 5am.
We are starving now (5pm) and going to a restaurant at 7pm recommended by our host. Now there is something I really do not understand - it is so difficult to buy coke - bars only sell it out of siphon machines and whenever we find somewhere with a cool drinks fridge they have just 1 or 2 bottles or have sold out. Either it is not in demand or they have distribution problems. Coke advertise their sports sponsorship everywhere so its a mystery to me.
We are finding the Italians friendly and truly wonderful people - they are patient with our attempts at Italian and we help those who like to try out their English. They often think we are American or English. When they discover we are from South Africa they are very happy - "they prefer us" they say "than the English" - as such I no longer speak when we meet anyone!
In Switzerland we found the people far more reserved and impatient with our limited French, they also made no attempt to speak Italian despite being next door - perhaps the reason is their reluctance to join the EEC.
Well some of us took Italian lessons for several months and it definitely paid off - but the star of the show is Sil...she converses with the locals, our drivers, our hosts and her accent is superb. The other day we were taking a break in a street and an elderly man came out of his house speaking loudly and quickly as if he was cross with us...Sil said "Si..Si senor" - we were most impressed. When he had gone we asked "What did he say?" - "He asked if we would all like to go up to his room and I said Yes! Yes!”
Well, I doubt we could ever repeat the eating experience we had last night in Pontremoli. You would have to know about this restaurant as you would probably only find it by accident. It is in a side street well away from the more tourist area and up a flight of stone steps which at first appears to lead to nowhere. But we soon enter the large dining room of Trattoria Da Norina. We are barely acknowledged by the lady of the house who scowls at us and points to the clock - indicating that her establishment doesn't open until 7.30pm. Our host had booked us a table for 7pm. We asked if we could perhaps sit with a drink until 7.30pm? The eyes do not smile –
3 glasses appear on the bar and she pours red wine into one as requested. Then she picks up the remains of a carafe of white wine with "things" floating in it...I say "no! Signora No!" - I get the evil eye and then she produces a fresh carafe of wine from the fridge. This is not a comfortable situation so we hand her the business cards of our host and suddenly her face lights up with a smile - we are welcome - we are no longer "tourists" who found their way to Mama's restaurant by accident. And we are in for a treat of Regional delicasies.

SUNDAY, JUNE 25: - DAY TEN - Cassio to Berceto & Tugo 19.5km

SUNDAY, JUNE 25: DAY ELEVEN- Cassio to Berceto & Tugo 19.5km
Sil: Felt a bit bombed after a fitful sleep with all the noise from the locals who sang and laughed right outside our window until the early hours. Marion, Kathy and I explored the little village (hamlet?) of Cassio and visited the church before packing and leaving the hostel. What a lovely pilgrim day we’ve had. The day started on the quiet SS road with VF markers – concrete stele with a terracotta pilgrim relief – lining the road like a guard of honour. They are actually quite confusing because they are spaced out every 15 meters or so - unlike the Camino where a "stele” with shell usually indicates the path one should take. After a few hundred meters we branched off onto a gravel path.
From then on we climbed very steeply through a shady forest, sweating like pigs and being forced to stop and get our breath every few meters. Then the path deteriorated into a narrow, rutted chalky track going straight up the side of the mountain. Kathy thought we'd reached the top when she saw the sky through the dense trees and shouted out to us but the track curved onward and upward – a-la Polly Shorts. Finally we crested the top coming out at a tiny village and visited the church before continuing. Then it was up and down through fields and forests until we crested a hill to see Berceto nestled between hills in the valley below us.
We followed a cobbled pedestrian path into the town to find a Sunday market in progress. There was a service in the Cathedral, which is dedicated to S. Moderanno, so we couldn’t go inside. We visited the very helpful tourist office for a stamp and collected a few brochures as well - had a coffee and pastries at a pavement cafe, bought some fruit, salad and bread and continued on our way up into the hills for another 7km.
I recognised our hostel from the photo on our daily info sheets. It is in the middle of nowhere - a huge, squat, deep rust coloured country house on the side of the road with no other sign of life anywhere close by. Downstairs is a bar and restaurant called the Via Francigena. Our dorm is upstairs and as we are the only ones staying here we have the place to ourselves. We had a shower, washed our clothes and had a salad, cheese and ham lunch. Will have dinner here tonight and will attack the dreaded Cisa Pass tomorrow.

Marion: There is such a lot of history around the towns that we are walking through. Cassio where we were staying last night is recorded in the description of the return journey of Philip Augustus, King of France in 1191 and the little town of Castellonchio’s main road is paved with slabs of sandy stone typical of the medieval era. All places were once sites of medieval fortifications. There is a beautiful church in Castellonchio in the middle of the village.
Just outside Berceto we passed a shrine with an effigy of Saint Moderanno - he was the head of the Abbey built in the 18th Century and it is mentioned by Archbishop Sigeric in his diary. We got stamps in our pilgrim’s passports at the information centre. We now have about 16 stamps in our passports.

Kathy: I offered to carry lunch today from Berceto to our B&B which was about 7km along the road. We had bought 2 large tomatoes, a bag of shredded lettuce, some sliced Parma ham and gorgonzola cheese. We had also bought a homemade-organic-ingredients, loaf of brown bread from the market, sold by weight! Rayna and I also had a banana each and an apple. This was all put into a shopping bag...Well... I think my arms are now 10 inches longer - the bag got heavier and heavier and at some point Val offered to take it over and we both decided that this was probably a very good plot, because as soon as I'd handed over the lunch bag it felt like my load was halved and I could do an extra 10km with the backpack. Val had a similar experience when she handed the bag back to me!
I'm still battling with hay fever itchy eyes and itchy legs every time we go through fields. The eye drops the Italian Pharmacist gave me have been fantastic and I'm using them frequently so am looking after myself.

Rayna: Well, I was the "Sweeper" today and the girls gave me no work, all remembering their sticks etc. etc. which we certainly need going up the steep hills. It was very hot especially after leaving Berceto as we walked mostly along the main road. There was very little shade. There were many motor cycles out today, even a cycle race with very good seconding that passed us going from Berceto towards Cassio.
After our late lunch Val and I crashed and had a very lekker 40 winks, broken by Val's alarm woofing at us. We are now soaking up the late afternoon sun.

Val: We are in Parma country - Parma ham and porcini mushrooms and of course the real Parmesan - but the mushrooms are only in season from September. The restaurant is part of the hostel and has a real "Mama" in the kitchen. Good menu of home cooked dishes featuring lamb, wild boar and guinea fowl. The body however needs a break so will be choosing something a little lighter tonight.
Whilst we seem to have a preoccupation with food it is not surprising given the demanding days we are having - we average 7 -10 hours of off road climbing in high temperatures. It is hot by 0800am until late evening. We are drinking coke and water to replace the electrolytes regularly. We are also carrying heavy backpacks, supposed to be maximum of 6-7kg - mine however weighed 8.5kg at the airport check-in - surely a little black number cannot weigh that much?
Not surprising then that my highlight and reward is a cool glass of wine and an espresso nightcap and of course something special to eat - our stomachs rumble all day as we burn up the calories so quickly.
So far I have managed to get a glass of wine every night, should I not for some reason, perhaps our song will go a little like this (to the tune of James Browns - "I feel Good")

♫ I feel Grim
Like a sad Pilgrim
when I can't find
A glass of red wine ♫

SATURDAY, JUNE 24: - DAY NINE - Settimo Vittone - Casio (Train/taxi)

SATURDAY, JUNE 24: DAY TEN - Settimo Vittone - Casio (Train/taxi) 3kms

Kathy: Covered over 200km today - no, not walking in case you were wondering! But, by train and taxi. We left Settimo Vittone at about 8am this morning with Moreno (host's son) kindly driving us to Ivrea by car. A really spacious Fiat Ulysses. We then bought tickets, validated them as required and caught the 9.35 train to Torino (Turin) a distance of 62km. As this train was "retardo" - late !! - we didn’t have too long to wait in Turin for our next train. This trip cost ± E4 each. After a yucky cup of station coffee, we set off for Parma in the next train. On this train we had allocated seats - coach 6, seats 111 - 115. This trip cost about E19 each. The first train we travelled in had open seats but these had compartments with 6 seats in each compartment - this train was going through to Bari- long distance - so was obviously an overnight train.
We finally arrive in Parma at 3pm and as it was very hot and we had a long way to go so we opted for a taxi to the Hostel Cassio instead of walking. This trip took 1 hour in another suitable vehicle (a Renault Espace) and it was luckily air-conditioned. The temp leaving Parma was 35oC but we climbed up and up to Cassio with the temp dropping to 25oC by the time we arrived at our youth hostel. What a welcome sight!

Marion: We’ve had a few different loo stops on our walk. The normal conventional toilet, a long drop which Val used, the bushes where one has to be careful where you choose to go otherwise if you choose the wrong spot like Rayna did, you end up crouching on a stinging nettle bush - EINA!! Today after changing trains at Turin we went to the station loo. First of all you had to put 70cents (± R7) into a gate to get into the loo area and WHOOSH - sliding glass doors opened and you stepped into a disco! Purple fluorescent lights! As soon as you sat down the loo flushed - what a fright I got! Upon leaving the loo one had to push a button and - whoosh - the glass doors opened. I wonder what other loos we will find.

Sil: There is something very special about waking up in a castle surrounded by beautiful objects and padding through to a gorgeous bathroom with marble tiles, glass and brass, I stood looking around me and thought "I can't afford this!" But it was only E23 each! And then breakfast - what a beautiful spread. I'm sure Val will do it justice. The owners of this beautiful place are very artistic - Senora Clementine Nicoletta is a painter, potter, gardener and baker. She has made all of the ceramics in the Casa - crockery, light fittings vases etc. as well as paintings and murals all in a very romantic style eg each room has the name of a flower and we were in the IRIS room. Her beautiful son Moreno, is a photographer of note and she showed us one of his photographs that won 2nd prize in a national competition.
When we planned this walk we asked the advice of Joe Patterson, Carol Welch and others about walking a 30 day Via F. All recommended skipping the section between Ivrea and Fidenza or even Fornovo di Taro. So today Moreno drove us into town and we left Ivrea by train for Parma. As we left the Valle D'Aosta the mountains on either side became hills and we entered into the flat plains of the Po Valley. The scenery was rather bleak and industrial. We spent an hour at the station in Turin waiting for a connecting train to Parma. It is a large station and we were able to buy Val another peaked cap – this one with handy scarf attached to the back. As we neared Parma the vineyards returned, green fields and rising forested hills in the distance.
Due to train delays we’d arrived later than planned so we decided to get a taxi to the Cassio Youth Hostel. Climbing the hills from Parma was a little like driving to Cato Ridge from Durban - the further we got the more rural the landscape and then "The Valley of 1000 Hills" (or lower 'berg) with few settlements and heavily wooded hillsides.
One thing that has really paid dividends is the daily info sheet prepared before we left with a photograph of the town or village, a photo of the B&B/hotel/hostel, a copy of the confirmation of the accommodation booked, a map of where to find it and a short précis of the history of the town and area. The driver recognized the hostel right away from the photograph on the info sheet.
It is the job of the Group Leader of the day to read the info to us and tell us the distance to be walked each day, what the terrain will be like and approx how many hours we can expect to walk. Tomorrow we walk about 20kms, beyond Berceto, and Rayna will be the group leader.
After the IRIS room in a castle, we will spend the night in a youth hostel dorm tonight! Val was to sleep alone in the attic room so we carried her bed down to the main dorm to join us. This YH is clean and the ablutions are modern and we had it to ourselves. We were able to buy a couple of VF souvenirs and Kathy and Rayna each bought a shirt. The fellow who booked us in even showed us a catalogue of VF memorabilia that one can order. This is Parma-Fidenza country and the Associazione Europea VF is very active in this area.
Although our windows face the road there is no other building close by besides the tavern across the road so I doubt there will be much traffic and we should all have a good night's sleep. Buona Notte for now.

FRIDAY, JUNE 23:- DAY EIGHT - Pont St Martin to Settimo Vitonne

“Sitting at home and meditating on the divine presence
is not enough for our time. We [must] come to the end of a long journey and see that the stranger we meet there is no other than ourselves - which is the same as saying
we find Christ in him."
Thomas Merton


FRIDAY, JUNE 23: DAY NINE - Pont St Martin to Settimo Vitonne 20kms
Kathy: - aka Motoring Reporter (“guidare a passo d’uomo” – driving at walking pace!)

Really interesting to see the types of vehicles people use here! Every Italian home seems to have a Fiat of some kind. We have seen hundreds of Pandas of all kinds, shapes and sizes colours and ages, also Multiplas, Ulysses, Stilios. Lovely little Lancia Ypselons, Peugeots, and Suzukis. Our favourites however are the little three wheel scooter cum bakkie things that seem to zoot all over town. They are Italian made judging by the name and we would each like one to zoot around Westville, Bothas Hill, Kloof or Durban North. On a more serious note - walked from Pont St Martin this morining after a fanatastic breakfast at Fabio’s B&B. Have been really spoilt. Once again a hot humid day.

Rayna: Tonight we sleep at the L’Ospitalita el Castello. Opposite is a very old church that is a National Monument, the Pieve Di St Lorenzo e Bapttisterio D S Giovani. The murals on the walls date back to the 12th C. The shame is that the paintings are crumbling. There was a group of youths visiting the church who are here for 15 days touring and helping to repair the pedestrian route across the Alps.

Marion: Fab accommodation last night in the centre of town and a charming host. The only problem was the flies. This morning we found out why we had so many - two doors away there was a small herd of goats in the yard. The goats were cute to look at - the flies were not. Again we walked the whole day with mountains on either side of us. A very pleasant easy walk with lots to see, again it was very hot and humid. We had a long steep walk up to the castle but it was well worth the effort.

Sil: It was warm even at 6.30am when we all got up. Left Pont St Martin at ± 8.15am after a great breakfast and had an easy walk through little villages and vineyards mostly on side paths parallel to the main road. We are almost out of the Aosta Valley - Ivrea being the end of the Valley. Our B&B today was in a castle on a hilltop. There was a very steep climb to reach it – once again passing stations of the cross- this time sculptures in niches in the walls - but WOW, was it worth it! We rang the bell at a high, elaborately wrought iron gate and a bronzed young man, washing out a water trough (the upturned lid of an ancient sarcophagus) looked up, saw us and crossed himself before coming over to let us in. This was Moreno – son of Clementine and owners of the L’Ospitalita el Castelo B&B. We are in a renovated section of an old castle complex, the new B&B having been grafted onto the castle walls, the church, the pillars, the terraced vineyards right outside our windows.
After settling in we walked back down the steep cobbled path to the main road passing the 16 Stations of the Cross (knowing that it would be quite a climb going back up again) and got a bus into Ivrea. Walked along the river for a while and then a local directed us to an internet cafe where we were able to post two days on our blog. We were a little concerned about not being able to find our way back to the river and find the right bus stop to get our bus back to Settimo Vittone but once again a Blessing Moment - the bus stop for Settimo was right across the road f