Walking with Angels. Capranica to Campagno-di-Roma

LActually the day started to go sideways as soon as we went downstairs for breakfast. We had told them 7am and they agreed to that. At 7am we are downstairs with our packs sitting at the table. It us set for breakfast but there is no one around. We start with our buongiorno, no response. Then we get louder, then we go upstairs and knock on the bedroom door across from ours because we heard voices and a dog barking, nothing. Then we knock on that door. The response was nil. Then we started opening doors, still nothing. Then we go outside and try to figure out where the hosts might be.

Finally we find Signora in the outside kitchen and maybe things will move along now. We sit down at the table and she starts bringing in the usual pre-package buns etc. Then Signor appears and he brings bread and freshly squeezed orange juice and caffe americano. After breakfast we go into the outdoor kitchen and they stamp our credentials, while we give him the money, 50E plus $30E for the meal, which we are okay with. Then he informs us that he wants to accompany us for the first while to show us how the trail goes through the forest and along the river. Right away I start to get bad vibes about this but being Canadian we say okay. There is no rain coming down, yet. Off we go at a quick pace, he in front and us behind. Into the woods and then the rain starts. Pretty soon he us getting real wet and then while it is pouring down he gives us instructions not to take the first bridge but to take the second. Handshakes all around, axrrivaderchi. On go the ponchos, now we really in for it. Rain pouring down on a forest path with the odd VF sticker wrapped around a tree branch. The ponchos getting caught on the bushes, all the while we are trying to stay on the trail with the forest floor/trail covered in fallen leaves. We did come to a bridge. It was on the trail and no other bridge in sight, over we go. No harm done we navigate through the woods and finally pop out on to a road with a big brown Via Francigena sign pointed to the right. We have never trusted these political motivated signs but in a weak moment we turn right. Perhaps it was the rain. Perhaps it was me having what might be called an off day, heaven knows there have been a few. In my defence it was raining and we knew we had a terribly late start and wanted to make time. We did see red/white trail indicators every so often. Finally in a couple if kilometres the sky started to clear and I had a bad feeling that the sun was in the wrong spot. Maybe it was just my imagination because there were the markers. Finally we stopped and realized the red/white markers were not the VF at all. Back we go with an increased rate of speed. This I am sure is a character flaw whenever I know I have screwed up, I increase the pace. In what seemed like no time, the three kilometres we walked from the turn have been erased and we are back at the big brown sign with the arrow. Now that the rain has stopped we realize that sign is for people walking from Rome. It was hours after this that I still wanted to go back and tear that sign down with my bare hands. We looked left and there it was, a VF marker indicating that we should go that way. I really don't understand why in the last few days the marking has been so bad and so close to Rome. We never did like the big brown signage put up by people who don't walk. All we want are the red/white VF indicators put up at regular intervals like they have been for weeks. I really wanted to see the volcanic rock amphitheatre etc. hollowed out of the volcanic rock, but the best we could do is view it going by and get one picture. The distance today was approximately 30k. Now with the screwup it is 36k and to top it off we had a very late start and it is raining. This is really starting to look like another, dig deep day. Thankfully at this stage we are conditioned and can increase the pace. Off we go, no stopping along the way until the 15k mark with a stop at a bar for iced tea and a sandwich. Then it is back out knowing that dark comes in quickly with the time change and overcast sky. The woods trails seemed to be getting harder to see the footing but finally we looked up and there on top of another hill, is our town. We have done it again. Like C says, thankfully this has happened at the end of our pilgrimage when we are better conditioned. We found our hotel on the usual fourth asking of directions to it and the room is very comfortable and the heat is on. We are staying at the hotel restaurante Benigni on via Della Vittoria.  Not many pictures taken due to the rain or my mood or just the time factor.

Did we learn anything from today, yes. If one has the opportunity to tear down a big brown Via Francigena sign that points the wrong way, just do it.

Walking with Angels. Viterbo to Capranica

We left our room around 7am without going down to the kitchen for their breakfast of coffee. We stopped at the bakery for cruisants and a flat bread sandwich. The distance to Capranica is 33 kilometres but there is a revised route that we wanted to try that reduces the distance by 8 kilometres.

There was quite a bit of climbing today but our conditioning is pretty good now so it wasn't a problem that way. The route went up through a forest preserve along the rim of a volcano. The forest was open and quite interesting to walk through. Because it is a holiday today, there were many people out picking mushrooms or having family picnics. We were a little concerned about the route but it worked out fine and we arrived in Capranica about 1:30pm. That was the good part. I always have the name and address of where we are staying on a paper so that I can approach people to show them the name etc. It usually takes me about four try's before we actually at our final destination. This city is built high up on a hill and I mean really high up. On the second try I got a lady with a few words of English. She took the paper and went into the bar with it. She had a big discussion with a number of patrons and then came out and said it is down the street to the end and then take the lift down. So off we go not knowing where we are going but trying to figure out what she meant by a lift. We can see that we are high up and when we came go the end if the street there was nothing other than stairs, a lot if them. Down and down we go right to the bottom. I know now by lift she meant the stairs. There is nothing there and it seems like we are out of town. Back up the stairs until we see an opening with cars. I call out to a woman and she indicates we have to go back down and up a hill. Finally we see a sign for this B & B and we follow it right out of town up a steep hill. When we walked up to the door, they are having a big family gathering and the last thing they expected was us. He tells us to wait and brings us bottled water. Finally 45 minutes later the room is ready. We are starting to get cold as we were still in our walking clothes and sweated up. I found a heater and turned it on and then Into the bed we get with our clothes on and fall asleep. There is nowhere to eat and C had asked him if they would make us a meal and he had said yes. No two days have been the same since we started. When we got to town we thought we would find our place and put our packs down and see the town. We never thought we would have gone through the town and out the other side without stopping. It seemed like such a historic town to look into. About 6pm I went down to talk about dinner tonight. He asked if pasta would be okay and I said yes. I went up and got C and we went down and sat at the table. There were 1/2 litre white and red wine so we poured some. Pretty soon the good started coming. Anti pasta , cold meat tray, grilled egg plant, toasted bread with chopped tomatoes, on and on it went. Then came the penne and tomato sauce. We couldnt eat anymore. We said no to caffe, salad, dessert and anything else. What a meal and just another surprise.

Walking with Angels. Montefiascone to Viterbo

What a great rest we had here in the Urbana hotel. Simon was right, it is a hidden gem. They had a fabulous breakfast laid out for us. I say us because we never saw another sole in the hotel. We ate until we couldn't  hold anymore and left after 8am. We followed the VF signs up to the fortress overlooking the town and lake. The day was beautiful and sunny but there was the hint of fall in the wind. The walk was downhill pretty much and flat all the way to Viterbo. The farmers are planting winter crops and doing their summer fallow. They use a lot of small caterpillar tractors for their field work as well as the standard tractors. We passed a hot spring along the way. As soon as I went to go in, someone came out indicating that I would have to pay. One of the people standing around showed me where I could use a free pool. The water coming out of the ground was extremely hot but the pool it flowed into was just warm. I took off my boots and socks to see what is was like. There were a lot of German tourists there in their caravans, basking in the hot pools. Viterbo is another walled city and we are booked into a pilgrim ospital La Toretta which is located literally in the inner surrounding wall. Maria and her husband are very pilgrim friendly and accommodating. They usually make a communal meal in the evening but with just C and I here, it is not worth their while. They charged us 10E each for staying here and gave us a key to get in and out. We came here more on the recommendation shown in the CPR accomodation listing which called it one of the better stays. Well for us it is just okay. The people are nice but really you should have your own sleeping bag here, which we don't. I am sure when a group of young people are here in the summer it could be a fun place to stay. Breakfast is minimal and the toilets have no seats on them. Strange how you get used to toilet seats. Even another broken one would have been okay. This is their last day to be open for this year as it closes on October 31st. We have bought our own breakfast stuff as we need more than just coffee and a bun in plastic in the morning. We also hit the tourist office for a little English on getting us on the right street in the morning and then we walked it for a kilometre just to make sure we get started right in the morning. Getting out of the cities can be confusing at times with the traffic and signage. I can remember when we started walking how great it would be to see the roads built by the Romans. Now we walk along Roman roads without any fuss at all. This is a very big holiday weekend for the Italians as well as being Halloween. There is an abundance of flowers on busy corners and in front of the cemeteries  for the people to purchase and put on the graves in remembrance of their family members who have passed away. We have lined up a13E three course restaurant meal for tonight. Tomorrow is more climbing up around a volcano rim on forest trails. 

Walking with Angels. Bolsena to Montefiascone

UAfter a relaxing stay with the sisters, talk about quiet, we set off at 7:15am. Unfortunately the marking out of town was nearly non existent and we retraced our steps back into town and then decided to just go ahead. Eventually we found the VF signs crossing the highway and followed them meandering through olive groves and sheep trails. The going was not difficult at all but we both found ourselves struggling after a few hours. We have decided that our bodies are just getting tired generally. Even my wrist watch is getting loose on my arm and the belt on my pants looks more like a rope than a belt. The view out over the lake is fabulous. The town appeared perched on top of the hill like so many are.

I asked a business man where the hotel Urbana is and he invited me into his office. He printed off a google map for me and we had no trouble finding the hotel. It is located within the old city on the main street and that again suits us. We went into the reception with our gear on and asked about the price and to see a room. The place is a very good three star and the rate is 70 E with breakfast which is within our price range for today. If it is a Buffett breakfast as I think it will be, we will really be chowing down since we haven't had one of those in a long time. The views over the lake from this very unique town are absolutely stunning. The fortress here had such a dominating view over the area for many miles in every direction. We are always amazed at the traffic here as one intersection has six raids coming together but somehow everyone dodges each other and the pedestrians. One of the information sign boards along the way, showed how the Roman roads were constructed. It is no wonder that they are still around while the mideaval roads were just rocks put down without the base dug out like the Roman roads were. I like the part where they left either side of the road with a gravel type of surface for the calvary and there was a raised pony type wall along either side of the flat rock road surface for the riders to get on their horses. One of the things we in North America could learn from the Italians are the greetings. We always try to address Italians with buongiorno or buonasera and in the restaurants the people coming in and leaving, address the others with an appropriate greeting.

We did just that when people came into the restaurant tonight and when we were leaving, it made us feel less like a foreigner. The restaurant Borgo Antico just down the street from the hotel Urbano gave us a pilgrim meal with three courses, wine and water for 14 E each and it was very good food. Just once I want to say, with gas, when asked in the restaurant if we want water with gas or no gas.

 I see a real opening for an Italian with an enterprising spirit who wants to make a few dollars. Go into the toilet seat repair/replacement business. We have yet to find a toilet seat, other than the hotel we are now in, that raises and lowers without one side giving way. Perhaps they are worn out from so many uses without someone tightening them up. The other suggestion I would have for an enterpriser is headlight and running light replacement in automobiles. Having seen so many Fiats bearing down on us with only one headlight or running light, I can assure you there is money to be made. C said tonight when we were discussing the pilgrimage, that if she knew before just how tough it is, she might not have agreed to do it. We have a saying, we aren't 70 anymore.

As we were walking along we saw what looked like a herd of dogs coming towards us. It turned out to be a bird hunter with his gun over his shoulder and his four dogs all harnessed together in a gaggle walking sideways.

Walking with Angels. Acquapendente to Bolsena

Relatively short day today 20 some kilometres. We had a great meal last night at one of the pilgrim(discount) friendly restaurants called il Borgo. Two courses each with natural water plus they brought a antiapasta and a small cold bottle of limoncella. Limoncella is a liquor served after the meal. We have only had it brought in two small glasses before so having a container was new and very nice. One could over do it quite easily, it tasted so good. All this for 26E in a very pleasant surrounding.

We left this morning at 7:15am as usual. We have fitted right in with the time change. The walk was quite easy and well marked. It meandered around the countryside and we stopped at 9:30am for a caffe and bun at a pilgrim friendly bar and snack place. The had a sign outside saying that you can get your credential stamped there if you are a pilgrim. As we approached our destination we looked out over the landscape and it looked like clouds or mist like we had in the mountains, but it was the lake at Bolsena. We are both starting to wind down now that we have left Tuscany and started into Lazio and 

consequently onwards toward Rome. After several asking, I think four which is not unusual, we found our destination, Suore SS Sacramento at Piazza Santa Cristina, number 13. We had phoned ahead asking for two beds made up with sheets and towels. The sisters gave us a nice sunny room with beds as we asked.

For this they charge $40E which we are fine with. The place is spotless and the sister dressed in habit was very welcoming. We are right down in old town where we like to be. We have a sunny deck for the washing to dry. Went out this afternoon to look around the town. Went to the museum located in the Castillo. Climbed up the tower and walked around the ramparts. There is a lot of history associated with the lake Bolsena and many artifacts going back many centurys have been disvovered in the lake and surrounding areas. C was a little hesitate climbing the tower, commenting that men like this more than women. Bought some fruit for tomorrow and then found the supermercato where B was not to be denied the tub of frozen yogurt. Back to the room for our trusted sporks from MEC. Out front on the street on a bench watching people going by, eating our frozen yogurt. Then into the local pizza shop for pizza and beers. Oh it was so tasty. Promised C an upgrade on the room for tomorrow night. Simon from the UK emailed us some time ago and called this hotel in Montefiascone a hidden gem. We will walk in with our packs on tomorrow and check out the rooms to see if they live up to our expectations, hopefully for the pilgrim rate as well. I remember in one town the hotel owner wanted. 90E and then asked me how much we would pay. Great day today and only 17 kilometres tomorrow, but it is all up hill.

There is a terrific basilica here, the Basilica of Saint Cristina. I don't have any pictures because they just wouldn't do it justice. It is named after an 11 year old girl from the fourth century who died a martyr. It is referred to here as the miracle of Cristina. The altar alone goes back to the eighth century. Difficult to get your head around how far back these times are.

Walking with Angels. Radicofani to Acquapendente

Well if yesterday was 30 plus kms up hill, today was 30 kms downhill. We started off at 7:15am in the mist. We were the only pilgrims in the facility last night. We saw that Anna Maria from the Netherlands was there yesterday. We had been following someone whose boots were fairly small with not a big gait and I suspected it was a woman's. We had a car rally in town last night. We had seen these little all painted up cars with resonators on going past us. I guess they ran in the night on the gravel roads. We saw a lot of hay bales put up on the sharp corners of the gravel roads. We heard them buzzing around last night when they left town. Our walk today was quite easy compared with yesterday, however going down can be difficult with loose rocks on the footing. We passed land that was not arable and had sheep on it. One big white dog let us know that we weren't to come too close to his flock. As we neared here the landscape seemed to get more scenic and lush. We saw corn being harvested which we hadn't seen in awhile and caterpillars tilling the land on the hillsides. When we walked into town we went to where the tourist office is, and if course it was closed. A lady in an administration office there stamped our credentials and phoned the place here for tonight. We walked over right away and were met by Amalia who let us in and showed us a room. She also phoned for a reservation for us tomorrow night in Bolsena. Amalia showed us where to get a pilgrim meal and what attractions to see in her town. We had to walk on a fairly busy road for awhile today. While we were walking, a car pulled to a stop and asked us where in Canada we were from. They had seen the Canada flag on C's bag. When we told them, they said we are from Victoria, do you know Neville Tencer? When C replied that we did, they took our picture to send to him. They had rented a place here in Tuscany and just happened to see a Via Francigena sign down the road and then spotted us. It was only a few more minutes down the road that we turned off and would have missed them. Amalia told us that she runs a Confraternity here that looks after this building for the church. The person that gave them this building to be used asked that the pilgrims not be charged for staying here. On closer examination of my boots, I might have been a little hasty when I condemned them for not being waterproof. I noticed that they are cracked on the sides. You might even say trashed. They have been through more than most boots ever get abused. I couldn't take them back to MEC and say that they didn't live up to my expectations.

As we get towards the end of this journey, emotions change from one day to the next. Glad when this is over; don't know what we will do when we have to stop walking; we will miss the daily new adventures; we need a rest; ready to go home. Amalia told us to go see the most important church that they have. It is called Basilica del Santo Sepolcro. There has been a church on this location since the 10th century. There is a cript below the church with 24 columns and also shows some of the remanents of the original church. The church was bombed by the allies in 1944 and later restored. The pictures of the bombed church show the enormous devastation inflicted on it. I looked at the screw on top of my (lunch) water bottle, it was really dirty. I used a towel on the threads and lots of dirt came off. I cleaned the cap under the hot water and it looks better now. I call it the lunch water bottle because eating lunch and having something you can actually drink from is better than sucking water through a tube, which is what we do when we are walking. Six weeks of daily use in the dust and dirt plus everything else takes a toll on things. Our packs are starting to look lived in since we stop for breaks or lunch on whatever ground there is to sit on. I really craved another tub of frozen yogurt again and we took our spoons with us but the little store didn't have any so we settled for Pringles and a tin of beer.