Day one of the Tuscan 400 - for me the home stretch to Rome, and for Susan a stretch of numerous muscles that haven’t been required to walk for six hours in a day for a while. Our thoughts of a day’s walk through picture postcard Tuscan scenery were clearly the stuff of dreams, as … Continue reading Day sixty-seven: Lucca to Galleno →

I hustled away from Camaiore with frequent glances skyward at the dark and threatening skies. The first shower had me duck into a five star trailside shelter: an old house listed for sale had a magnificent pilgrim refuge - a covered patio complete with cast iron table and chairs. I put my feet up and … Continue reading Days sixty-five & -six: Camaiore to Lucca →

Another day that required the rain gear to be deployed, but as the path began to head up, and the volume of rain heading down was inconsequential, it was soon stowed once again. Wearing rain gear in light rain usually results in you geting wet from the inside out. Once past the town of Massa … Continue reading Day sixty-four: Massa to Camaiore →

This is written from the end first: the Ostello run by the Capuchins no longer hosts pilgrims, and rather that back track, I resorted to booking.com. After some trials and tribulations - including a dying phone for reasons that will soon be revealed - I found myself in an Airbnb type lodging. When heading out … Continue reading Day sixty-three: Sarzana to Massa →

Actually I'm in a town a few km past Sarzana, figuring that adding a few extra km to a shorter day will ease the burden on the following, longer day. Come to think of it, I'm not even in a town, just that curious outcome of planning that leaves huge swathes of the countryside not … Continue reading Day sixty-two: Aulla to Sarzana →

According to the guide book - which I don't have, but I do have the key stats recorded - today was scheduled to be 32km, which is a few more than I felt up to, so I made some judicious use of the road to pare down the total. It was a pleasant day walking, … Continue reading Day sixty-one: Pontremoli to Aulla →

Despite it being a short day in km terms, I was up at the crack of dawn to make it to the pass in order to see the sunrise - which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, but it never hurts to get an early start on the day. Most of the … Continue reading Day sixty: Cisa Pass to Pontremoli →

Another short day when you arrive at your destination before it's even time for lunch. Casio to Cisa Pass is only 19 km, but the only Ostello is 2km before the actual pass, and after that it is another 19 km to the next town. So the crew from last night's accommodation are slowly drifting … Continue reading Day fifty-nine: Casio to Cisa →

The first of three comparatively short days to go up Andover the Cisa Pass, one of the most famous of the routes through the Appenines. As my B&B was at the top of the hill, the first section was easy: down the other side to the road at the bottom. Of course this section up … Continue reading Day fifty-eight: Fornovo to Cassio →

I'm slacking off and taking a bi-daily approach to today's post. Last night I stayed in an off itinerary hostel, but there were three other pelligrini and we were all native English speakers and therefore writing stuff took a back seat to talking about stuff. It was a pleasant day walking from Fiorezuola to Fidenza, … Continue reading Days fifty-six & -seven: Fiorenzuola to Fornovo via Costa Mezzana →