We decided this morning to take the bull by the
horns and do something that has worried us for a while: use the car. We collected it in order to head off with Roger
and Ali to check out Montecarlo, a hill top village a few miles to the east. It was a nice winding journey through green
countryside on the way there, a horrible winding journey through rain and hail
and lightning on the way back. In
between we enjoyed lunch and a wander around the small and quiet fortress town.
We detoured along the River Serchio on the
return to Lucca to see the ‘Devil’s Bridge’, a medieval footbridge across the
river a few miles north of the city. Fortunately
the weather seemed to settle by the time we were there. Also known as the Ponte della Maddalena and
built in about 1080, it was a vital crossing for people doing the Via Francigena
to Rome (being north of us we had not seen it on our trip last month). Before we walked across we did a quick check
to make sure we had no sacks of flour or millstones hidden about our person;
apparently you were banned from taking them across the bridge in the 1600s in
order to preserve the bridge’s structure.
Needless to say that when we got back to Lucca
the parking space had gone….
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