Whereas yesterday was a day of urban walking interspersed with periods of countryside today, as it turned out, was largely the reverse. We had breakfast at 7am, another Basil Fawlty moment:
'What time is breakfast tomorrow?'
'Seven o'clock'
'Until what time?'
'It's at seven o,clock'
Still, it gave us an early start.
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| Every Pilgrimage route should have one..... |
We set out under a cloudless sky down a rather busy road for the first three miles so it was rather reminiscent of yesterday. We spied three or four other people at different times who were clearly doing the Via Francigena too: loaded down with packs, striding out with staffs and generally looking rather ruffled and pilgrim like. We found out later that some had started out in France. Lorraine and I on the other hand were relatively lightly loaded and looking relatively fresh.
After three miles we broke away from the main road and everything was transformed. We found ourselves ourselves in a shaded wood on an old medieval cobbled road with dewy grass growing through and a dusting of white petals from the overhanging flowering ash trees. This felt more like an old pilgrim's route. For the next hour or so we followed the Via Francigena along this road, through a small village and then out into more open deciduous woodland before it took us up into the charming hilltop town of Fucecchio, which reminded us of a small and empty Lucca.
As the afternoon wore on we followed the river Arno and could see San Miniato and its churches set upon a hill some two or three miles away. Generally we made steady progress across fields and along narrow lanes towards our destination for the evening but at one point the road frustratingly retreated away in the opposite direction for over a mile before doubling back. We could only assume that old Italian habits die hard....
Anyway, we are now settled on top of that hill in a nice private apartment, with sore feet, lots of hot water (but sadly no mountain view...) and a strong desire to avoid walking far in this beautiful little hilltop town to find our dinner.
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| Mark's pilgrimage |
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| Lorraine's pilgrimage |
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