Scott got in last night about 8:15, our hosts waited the four course dinner for his arrival. We had a wonderful conversation with Evo, one of five sons who owned the gorgeous property. The served us olive oil from their fields. They also grow grain for pasta. He told us about an abandoned castle across the valley where they enslaved st. Francis for a time. Great night! This morning we woke to gorgeous fog over looking the valley. After breakfast Scott and Susan enjoyed the view as sonja and i took off for our long hike. Today was a day of castles, we walked from our place last night into Biscina, population 25. The only thing in town was an abandoned castle. It was another gorgeous day so Sonja and I had lunch on the back deck of this old castle, more granola bars and cheese. We explored the remains, three stories high before taking off again. Once leaving the castle in Biscina we could see the castle where we would be spending the night, Castello di Giomici. It was across a valley and high atop another hill. We walked for hours never getting any closer to it and often our path took us further away. We had time in the forest and along gravel roads with sweeping views. We could still see the distant mountains of Gubbio. Today was a real struggle for me. Scott brought me another pair of my shoes but while they helped my toes they gave me more blisters on my heels. I was in pain for most of the day. We walked from about 9:30 to 5:30 rescued by a van of Germans we had seen throughout the day. We first noticed them in Gubbio when we were headed out of town, about 20 of them traveling together. Then today they caught up to us. We entered an old church as they were all going inside. They started to sing inside this little church, the sound vibrating off the walls and throughout our bodies. It felt magical, serene. It made me wish I could sing along. We sat and listened with our eyes closed for a couple songs and then snuck out. I was excited to ring the bell in the tower as we left using the rope I noticed laying along the wall. We took off quickly so we would not be walking among them, I like my nature time people free. We caught a glimpse of them one other time as they were rounding a bend on another slope. We thought they must have gone another way until we saw some of them late in the day headed down the highway. I suggested we follow them thinking maybe they may know a shortcut into town. Shortly after though we see them filing into a van and taking off the other direction, so we kept trudging forward on the highway. Just a couple minutes later they turn around and pull over motioning us to come. They squeezed us in the van and took us into Valfabbrica dropping us at the town square. We had our first spritzer drink, a common drink here, and waited for Scott and,Susan to come get us to take us up the hill to our castle. We made it in time for a quick shower before 8:00 dinner served downstairs. Our room has windows three feet deep. It is really an old stone castle. I wish we had made it for Sunset but we did get to see the full moon out our window. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, the clouds already flying in, it felt like Werewolf in London as we peeked through our window.
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