Alternative energy, something we could have used today! Yet another day with a steep downhill start to ensure Sam's knee never had a chance to warm up. We have moved out of the hills and into a landscape of big farming. We saw more abandoned and crumbling farm houses than we saw being lived in. … Continue reading VF del sud day 18: Troia to Castelluccio dei Sauri, 22km →

View from the trail near Troia Our hybrid route added a few kilometers to our day, but had a double benefit: a gradual gradient (for the most part) and a mid morning cafe. To rejoin the route directly from Faeto would have been a steep downhill, followed by a climb back up to 900m, then … Continue reading VF del sud day 17: Faeto to Troia, 19.8km →

Do you trust AccuWeather? We awoke in the wee hours to the sound of drums and a flickering street lamp. Wrong on two counts, as it was an astounding thunder storm (it had to be to light up the room with the shutters closed!) After a ristretto provided by our host, we spent part of … Continue reading VF del sud day 16: Buonalbergo to Faeto, 31km →

The weather was not conducive to photos today, but it was mostly ideal for a hard day on the VF. The relentless ascents and descents were modestly less exhausting as the sun remained mostly hidden - although the humidity wasn't hiding. The path climbs up and over a number of ridges, and rather than the … Continue reading VF del sud day 15: Benevento to Buonalbergo, 24km →

The leaning Arch of Traiana, built to celebrate the completion of the via traiana. Eventually it turned into a very pleasant day, although Sam's knee may disagree with the first five km being pleasant. The day got off to a rocky start. Our Airbnb was good, but directions to it lacked a street number, and … Continue reading VF del sud day 14: Vitulano to Benevento, 16.5km →

Where we came from. Actually Faicchio is behind the bush on the right, but a 100ft cliff prevented the all encompassing panorama. A double day as the first leg was only 12km, and due to circumstances beyond our control, Telese Terme was also our first cafe stop. Once we'd located said cafe that is. Telese … Continue reading VF del sud day 13: Faicchio to Vitulano, 29.6km →

Where we came from. If you're able to zoom in, the 4th lump from the left has a Norman tower. That was a couple of days ago! A pleasant day with few busy road sections, but some gnarly climbs as we transited across the valley and onto the hills. The landscape has changed from the … Continue reading VF del sud day 12: Alife to Faicchio, 19.6km →

No, not a typo. It was effectively a rest day, although there may be some who would not consider walking for 3 hours in the blazing sun a rest day. It was quite unremarkable as well, possibly due to the fact that it's Sunday. On the list if humourous moments..... the guys doing a home … Continue reading VF del sud day 11: Statigliano to Alife, 13.5km →

A long double day due to either no accommodation existing or already booked. Despite the long day, we felt that we had won the Camino jackpot, as the place we are in is an old house nicely renovated by supporters of the VF, and they also run the bar, which served us huge and fantastic … Continue reading VF del sud day 10: Sessa Aurunca to Statigliano, 39.8km →

Torre do Mola, Formia. Built for the King of Naples in the 13th century. We woke up in our broom closet to a major thunderstorm. AccuWeather unhelpfully said no rain for the next four hours. Clearly their forecaster slept through his/her alarm. The broom closet was the end result of a booking.com fiasco: our original … Continue reading VF del sud day 9: Formia to Sessa Aurunca, 29.2km →