Day 8 Citerna to Citta di Castello

Our longest walk yet, we made 12 miles with three treks uphill each 500 meters up and down. We did this in less than 7 hours which is pretty good for us as we stop often. Today we had our first stop at a place on the hillside that had just made buffalo mozzarella. We sat at the picnic table as the couple we met two nights ago from New Zealand showed up to share it with us. We then walked up the hill a bit further to find the buffalo cows that the cheese came from. That was probably the highlight of today. Again the terrain changed. We walked up and down the hills above the towns below. Some forest, some old country roads. At one point we were in a forest that was totally taken over by ivy. It encompassed not only every tree, log and rock but also covered the forest floor. It was quite cool. We could see the yellow fields of tobacco below us. The trees are just starting to turn colors.

Our feet quite tired, New blisters by the time we reached our airbb in Citta Do Castello. We are staying in the old part of town in an old castle like building complete with a dungeon with a well. Our host is very nice and built us a fire upon our arrival. This medieval town created in the 12th century has many museums and much to see. We are taking tomorrow off as planned, we have two nights in this town. Our host also reserved us a place for dinner at a local favorite place, he suggests the beef Florentine. I'm hungry already. Our lunch was an apple and walnuts over looking the valley below. Another good day, they are going very fast As of the end of today we have walked 

71 miles. 

Jake's bday today and his new baby is on its way right now. They will share a birthday. 

Day 7 Sansepolcro to Citerna

We approached Citerna about 12:30. The only hill was the last 30 minutes so we completed the 8 miles in about 4 hours, we do much better on level ground. Citerna was a very cool Medieval town with a large stone wall surrounding it, definitely created for defense. Our walk started from the center of the old town past the industrial part and into the tobacco fields. We saw tobacco being harvested, transported and even hanging to dry. We enjoyed some time with some gorgeous horses being housed right on our path. I found it pretty cool that not 5 minutes after asking Sonja to explain the crucification of Christ to me that we met Theodora, a woman who once we  greeted she opened the door of her little church and with no prompting began showing us the 12 or so murals of the stages of crucifixion. It was our magic of the day. Seems every day we are blessed, hard for me to use that word, but it certainly feels like blessings, when I ask for rain we get rain, when I ask for Sun, we get Sun.  I hope for salad, it appears, and on and on and on, too many really to keep track of. It feels once again as if the universe is not only looking after us but working with us, a sort of dance you might say.

It was warmer today, lots of sun for our mid day meal at a small cafe overlooking the valley. We are staying tonight at a little argurtismo outside the city of Citerna. Our kind hosts here will cook us an authentic Italian homemade dinner. But first some wine and chocolate on the hill outside our rooms.

We are joined by the cute young couple from Germany we have seen several times. She is going all the way to Rome but her boyfriend runs out of holiday time so he will only go to Assisi. She has done many a trek, so awesome she has that kind of confidence at age 29. 

Day 6

Yay, the photos worked today ;) I am standing in the laundry mat waiting for my clothes to dry. It was an accomplishment to figure it out, nothing in english here. Im hoping what I bought in the farmacia next door is indeed toothpaste and not Desetin. We had an easy day getting into Sansepolcro about 2:30 on an almost entirely flat rode. We started at the lake and walked down into a valley town, larger than those in the hills and newer. We are staying in the old part of town, which I love, great view from my window. We passed many lakes today and were in among the tobacco fields. We had lunch by a gorgeous little lake. My feet were happy to soak a bit in the cold. We considered skinny dipping but the gucky bottom scared me off, that and the thought of leaches.

We spent a great deal of today talking about balance. More later dryer buzzed. Three songs have been running through my head when I wake and throughout the day, I wonder if this happens to my brothers. For me the songs always seem significant. The several days on start of the journey was  "Dance with me, I want yo be your partner, can't you see the music is just starting..." today I thought about the movie Phenomonon in which Travolta makes the spoon dance using his energy and that of the spoon.  This morning I woke with, "Its the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine". We talked about acceptance and I guess for me I'm not quite sure yet where I am with it all. Today was more of an 8 out of ten day for me, I wonder if it had  something to do with physically moving down in elevation. I've been feeling more like a 12 out of 10 with my head in the clouds.

I was thinking about my last post, and surmizing that anyone reading about my complaints about my feet, etc may believe this experience is hell, but it is quite the opposite. I feel tremendous gratitude and am having the time of my life. I am so lucky!

A small bottle of wine from Ivan calls for a drink while we wait for dinner and a chance to catch sunset... life is good!

Day 6

Early morning rant...no need to read

Awake at 5 despite the benadryl. Last nights sleep not nearly as good as the night before which was much needed. I feel pretty good though despite another midnight episode of pounding in my ear that wakes me like a deep drum. My fear, which is another problem, the whole worrying  magnifying the issue I'm sure, my system can no longer process wheat.  It has been a great challenge for me to be in the land of pastas, breads and pizzas and have the self control needed to make a day without toilets easier. I am apparently failing as the pounding in my head is getting worse as are the frequency of bush runs. I was able to push the bread basket away last night and lucky enough to order a gluten free pizza (So I guess gluten is an issue here as well, my thinking was that I wouldn't have any problems here because they process wheat differently, I really believed that or at least tried to, I must have not been totally convinced or I would be fine right now??)but unfortunately I had a small packet of biscuit  in with my lunch, the only gluten I had all day.  I keep trying to prove it isnt the gluten causing problems doing diet experiments. My believe system is that whatever I believe is true so I'm struggling to believe otherwise but I am unable to do so. Breakfast in italy is coffee and a croissant both things I'd love to indulge in but my body can't tolerate. Lunch is sandwiches with homemade breads another favorite, the smell amazing, and then of course pizza and pasta for dinner with amazing gelato stands everywhere, another food issue. Salads, vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs all hard to find. They do not eat eggs or bacon as far as I can see, not even potatoes for breakfast. This is crazy hard for me.

I suppose this is part of my lesson here in italy to learn self discipline that and to learn to let go what is not my own. Ever since I discovered Jake's struggles I have been carrying that with me. But while walking yesterday alone through the gorgeous hill tops it became clear to me that I should carry with me only what I own myself. The weight too much, which does indeed show up in my body in the form of a back and neck ache. As we walk through life it is our duty to care and love others but not to carry with us anything that doesn't belong to us. My mind is already arguing that Jakes struggles are my own since he is my son and I'm getting closer to realizing that isn't so. People say we carry with us our parents burdens starting at the age of two to three, even our grandparents as that's a piece of our parents and so on down the line. But, somewhere along that line we have to break free that load, toss it over the hill and feel lighter in our shoes. I believe I've been carrying too much causing too much weight for my feet to bear, Sonja, a bit heavier and larger build has not one blister. With these thoughts in my head I was able to walk awhile feeling lighter, moving more quickly but somehow the load seems to return. It feels as if I am totally conscious all day, present with each painful step but when I sleep I cannot stop worry.

I watched the author of Deep last night in a video about dolphin and whale communication. Fascinating research and not just that but critical. He says if you ask any marine biologist they will tell you that the oceans ecosystems will all die off beginning in 30 years with no environmental change. The first creatures to go will be the largest. Whales have always had a place in my heart so how do we not worry and carry with us troubles that are endless and all around us. How can I not let the world weigh me down, crush me? Already the largest coral reef located off the coast of Australia has completely died. This is our greatest sin. We are fighting against and killing not just each other but all of the more conscious beings. Whales have a brain much like our own with a frontal cortex but theirs has been adapting for over 30 millions years. I am thrilled that people are going to try to communicate and learn from the whales using their intricate clicking system but those people are few and the destruction too great. What can you say to the whales other than we are so very sorry.

Greed, much like glutin is killing this world much like gluten is killing cells in my body, hmmm the the words so close and the systems so similar. We are out of balance, greed has taken over our existence and is killing everything on this planet. It makes sense that the microcosim mirrors the macrocosim.

I don't know what the world will look like for my grand kids and their kids, I fear it though. Fear, another destroyer, another immobilizer. Faith, I suppose the antidote. Solise in the idea that mother earth will survive and create new life and realizing our own insignificance. That is how I'll walk today, remembering we are here to enjoy the abundance, to let the world's problems fall off of me, but as I write that it doesn't feel right. I believe it is our duty to enjoy our life on the planet but don't I have to look out for it as best I can like I'm trying my best to take care of my own body? Care but not to much?? How's that work?  Action comes to mind but it all seems so impossible.

The line between what's mine and what's my kids or my parents not even clear. We are all meshed together. Some would call that codependent, well aren't we all dependent on each other, every species is dependent on our actions. I feel as if my pack may be even heavier today.

Day Five

We started our day with the bells ringing, our call to breakfast with the other pilgrims. We sat with Aidan from Ireland and Ivan from Milan. It was great to speak English and be understood. Aidan was heading out on a slightly different path. Sonja and I wanted to get going early since we anticipated a long day, 15 kilometers saying it would take 5 hours. In our experience, from the signs posted anyway, it usually takes us double the estimated time, today however we came in only a bit over the estimated time, it was indeed an easy trail, the easiest day we've had yet as it was our first path mostly downhill. We began down right away on the other side of where we came in, to no surprise, the terrain totally different once again. We started in a pine forest with small rocks lining our way and before long came to an incredible older white pine forest with tall thick green blades of grass covering the forest floor. At one point we came across a gorgeous hilltop meadow straight out of the Sound of Music, it was about this time I can remember feeling reformed Scrooge like  with a "I must stand on my head" kind of moment, that lasted a great while. I didnt stand on my head, probably only because I cant, but I did spend some time singing and dancing with my poles.  I was disappointed to see that the photos I took along the way today did not work despite having taken them through blogger. We walked a lot on top of mountain ridges with amazing views of adjacent hill tops. As we stopped for lunch atop a column of white rock Ivan walked up. He is a 24 year old mechanical engineer who after having been lost for two hours seemd to really want our company. He was interesting and tried to help me some with my italian. He was walking barefoot with a stick he had made, he seemed a little Jesus like. Today was his first day walking, he is hoping to walk all the way to Rome. He walked with us the rest of the way down into the town of Sieve Santo Stephano. We left him at the town center and walked an additional kilometer to our hotel outside of town. That makes a total so far of 65.9 kilometers or 40.9 miles. So we are averaging about 8 miles a day which I feel is pretty good for us flatlanders in these hills.

I enjoyed some time walking alone today, contemplating about the hundreds of thousands of people who have all walked that trail but I'm certain no two have ever walked the same path. Still, we have many similarities with the strangers we meet. Two women traveling together from Columbia crossed our path and Sonja enjoyed a moment of getting to speak Spanish. They reminded me of the two women from Holland we have seen from time to time and ourselves. We are all about the same age and I imagine all walking for the same reasons, at least generally.

We have now met up with the larger official trail so we may run into more people, but not yet, those are the only 3 people we saw today. Aidan said he has seen wild pigs and deer but we haven't seen anything like that. I saw what looked like a huge elk print, but no elk.

The peace on the trail is reward enough but I would enjoy seeing more wildlife. Tomorrow's trail is 25 kilometers or almost 15 and a half miles. That is probably more than we are ready for so we are talking about riding ahead some, so grateful we have this option, just as I thought a couple of my blisters were disappearing, they are back. I am once again looking forward to when the ristaurantes open for dinner at 7. It's crazy to me we can't find a place to eat between 3 and 7, everything except convenient stores are closed so more chocolate and chips. Last night's dinner was amazing. We all ate in a large dining hall. It was the first salad I've had since I left home, it was delicious!!

Rather Interesting

Both showers these last two nights have been a learning experience. While the water quite hot and relaxing, there are a few things you need to consider. The shower head comes directly out of the wall, no curtain, no stall, just a drain in the middle of the floor so if you are not paying attention you can ruin an entire roll of toilet paper, get your towel soaked and get the toilet seat all wet. After your shower the floor is covered in water and stays wet for awhile so you want to shower last I guess. So much to learn. Yes, I'm killing time waiting on my dinner, now ready to eat my fingernails for nutrition. What an incredible blast this all is!

Out my window, more rock wall

Day Four

I have to admit I was less enthusiastic about starting this morning's walk. I rose late after a wakeful night so I rushed out of bed and downstairs where Susan and Sonja were already packed and eating. My calves were in pain and though I tried to lance my blister about 3 am, my left heel was still very tender in my shoe. I was thankful for the first aid kit Susan sent me to bed with. We drove once again to start our day, I was happy Sonja didn't want to walk the ten mile day. We started in Rimboccia crossing a stream right away and then back up. Today's even steeper climb was 1800 feet up a rocky trail. It didnt take long, maybe a little less than an hour for my legs to loosen up and the pain in my heel to numb. I was captivated immediately by the change of scenery once again. Each day so completely different. Today's landscape started among a much younger forest, mostly rocks and saplings. We would reach a ridge and have a few moments of level path before the next ascent. The highlight of today's path was the incredible green that came from the sun's rays hitting the huge moss covered boulders. The small rocks of the morning turned to large boulders the closer we came to the monastery. Huge birch trees and giant boulders laid haphazardly along the forest floor like Easter eggs laying await in the green grass. The last rock an incredibly huge mountainside that served as the foundation of our night's stay. We got there early about 2:30 and spent the next couple hours exploring the huge grounds. Starving we found only chips and chocolate, so we are waiting in anticipation for our meal served at 7:30. It's only 5:30 now :( tomorrow will be another big day, 10 miles. I'm looking forward to it and hope my body complies. I'm not sure how, but each day seems even better than the last, I guess I just truly enjoy exploring, never knowing what we are going to see as we pass the next turn. We saw lots of evidence of elk but have yet to be honored with a glimpse. Perhaps we should stop singing "she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes" at the top of our lungs. The women from Holland passed us, they did the whole walk and were continuing past our stop doing at least 20 miles today, but I'm convinced they can't be enjoying themselves as much as we are. We stop often and are present seeing everything there is to see. For us, it is not about how far we go or how fast, but about enjoying the time we have.

In Route

Tonight's stay Monastary

Our walk from below. The building uses the great stone as a foundation.

Along the way.... starting day 4 on our drive to starting point Rimbocchi

 

We had some trouble finding dinner last night, we ended up the only ones to be eating at our Inn. The food wasn't as bad as I thought it might be though and it was easy. Another evening I was incredibly hungry having only a protein bar for lunch. I think this was the first place I had the Nutella, which later became a staple. It was a perfect snack because they would have some packets you could easily take for later. LOVE Nutella. Apparently they have lots of hazelnuts here, the key ingredient in Nutella.

On the drive we see an old cemetery. It's pretty cool how they put people's pictures on the stone and have drawers to put the bodies into, some look as if they are buried in the ground but most are located on the walls. 

 

 

 

We were told to search for the potable water source in town and head out of town on that road, after some debate we decided this had to be our starting point.

 

Taking off

Walk from Village of Camaldoli to Badia Prataglia

So much beauty today!  As you can see I am treating my feet to a soak in the bidet as we have just made our way down into a very quaint little town, Badia Prataglia.  Today's walk took us through a national forest, starting at an incredible eleventh century monastery. Our day started with a couple hours of up. We didn't leave from Consuma, we drove down the mountain we were on and into the city of Stia and then into Camaldoli. We walked through the city and visited the Santa Maria church in the city center. This was an old church but I'm sure not as old as the monastery. We then continued driving down the mountain to start our walk with another up hill climb, due to time constraints we are skipping over a couple of the more difficult days. We learned last night that Sandy Brown had stayed where we were last night just 10 days ago. Turns out yesterday's walk was mismarked moderate instead of difficult along with a couple other errors he had. His new book is supposed to have it right. Sonjas plan to skip a couple of the longer days was well received by me and my feet. Today's hike, all through gorgeous old forest, was only 5 miles instead of the 10 if we had not driven ahead. Surprising to us, we are only going about a mile an hour so it still took 5 hours. We did take our time stopping often to admire one tree or another.

All we have to have is a total of 100 kilometers to receive our official stamp in Assisi and as of today, after only three days we have 44 kilometers completed.

My thoughts were with my brother Jim and his wife Tracy today, reminding me of many of our walks through the woods. They will definitely have to do this trail or one like it. Again we had a light rain but the sun would come out and spotlight certain areas, like the ferns just starting to turn from a green to a gorgeous orange. At times we could see surrounding mountains through the trees especially as we reached a peak. We found and enjoyed wild blackberries along the trails edge.

We did not see a single person on the trail today, yesterday's walk we saw one couple as we were allowing town. We did have dinner with two couples from Holland who also started walking from Florence. Last night's owner of the accommodations and the pizzeria, Irina, was incredible. She offered to dry our wet things from yesterday and had them ready this morning at breakfast. She does a wonderful job taking care of the pilgrims who pass her way. We paid only 50 Euros for a bed, dinner, breakfast, bottle of wine and she even led us to Stia this morning as she was delivering someone's luggage to their next stop.

The people here truly inspirational,  the old woman pointing us in the right direction, the old man with the grapes, Irina and Irina's father among others, even though we couldn't communicate and learn from their knowledge, we are discovering that we can still pick up and learn from a piece of their free and easy spirit. 

Pictured below are shots from Stia and Camaldoli:

Interesting artwork bench

 

 Cool Fountain in Town Center

This was the monastery where we started in the National Park.

We start right away headed up a rocky path into a gorgeous forest. Each morning I make a decision about whether I should carry my poles or my camera. I was happy today that I chose my camera.

About an hour or so in we came across a great place for hikers to stay the night complete with a rock fire pit.

 You can see the Tau, the sign of St. Francis Way on the left of the arrow. We followed lots of red and white stripes as well as the official yellow and blue that marked the official route. This sign says 2 hours and 40 minutes, at this time we had to double that time to account for the uphill climbs. We didn't know it at this point, and we got much better as we went but this day was a long one taking us several hours to reach the cute town of Badia Prataglia.

 We came across a multicolored fern field.

 We stopped in the clouds at this lunch spot atop the ridge. As we sat there the sun came out to highlight the colors and allow the the tiny water droplets to shine like stars around us. We discovered a deer path close by that took us into a high meadow that allowed us to look across the hills.

 

 It was interesting to see this bundling so often throughout our days. They run very tidy forests in Italy.

  

It was always a treat if we could first see the town we would walk into. We got this view as we started down and around the hill we had just climbed. We stood there for many minutes watching the sun travel over and around the town. You can still see the clouds hanging over the distant hillside but the sun was out for us the remainder of the day.

 

 

 Getting closer the road takes us right into town and to our stay for the night.

Out my window as I soaked my sore feet.