Pontessieve to Passo Della Consuma

Wow, today was simply incredible! Theme of the day... Up up and away. It was an entire day of up, 8 hours worth. We soared so high, walking beyond the castles on the adjacent hills into the Apennine mountain range. Our spirits higher even than our bodies as we walked in pure joy. I wish I could share this morning's scene with you. 

We left town before dawn starting under a giant clock archway in to the old city of Pontessieve. We watched the pink sky just before sun up where our directions sent us over the stout bridge. The sun started to peek through just about the time the clocks in town started to ring. 

We walked due east facing the sun as it sent rays across the foggy groves in front of us. For the next several hours as we journeyed upward we heard the bells ring from the surrounding little towns below us. More vineyards and olive groves lined our path until we reached the little village of Diacceto where we purchased some grapes to take with us as we stumbled along on already tired and blistered toes. We enjoyed a fantastic feast of cheese and a fresh made croissant we picked up before we left town this morning. We ate this sitting atop a castle wall looking down into a valley. The morning a definite highlight worth the rain that came shortly after we entered the old forest. I loved it that the rain started within a couple of minutes of me asking aloud for a light rain to give us the sounds of drops hitting the leaves. This was but one of the magic type moments we shared on this journey.

It seemed to take forever to reach the town of Ferrano with some glitches in the directions, the author Sandy, turns out he's a dude, somehow less likeable now, as he sent us a tough mile in the opposite direction by saying "take a left" instead of a right. The rain that was light and pleasant for several hours turned colder and stronger the closer we got to Consuma, our destination for the night. Beat, wet, cold totally spent after 8 hours of up we were thrilled to find our place. We found Susan inside the pizza place where we thought we would be staying. Instead they had an apartment for us a short drive away. It had great views and was a very warm and welcoming little place. The tiny shower stall was a warm welcome. 

This was the city of Pontessieve from the stout bridge we crossed to begin our day.

This is the place we found Susan and had both dinner and breakfast. Irina was a perfect hostess, this is her place and you can just make out her father who sits here at the window all day to greet people. Really cool stop!