Downhill Slide

Today was day 10 on our 18 day walk. Giuseppe and Laura will be joining us shortly. They were gone for three days to a funeral.

We had threats of rain yesterday, walking in in the afternoon, but today none; beautiful, cool just a little breeze partly cloudy.

We had some very steep climbs in the forest approaching the final village. Today was 650 m of up, although only 20 1/2 km total. That doesn’t include a 2 1/4 km loop around the town (Todi) when we discovered that trail we needed to go down off the hill was closed and barricaded. We ended up right back where we started at the monastery. However, we were all feeling good and the walking was easy-ish.

Gayden has been arranging our plans for dinner and having our packs forwarded each day, sometimes by taxi and sometimes by a friend of the hotel desk clerk or waitress we talk to about it. So it’s different every day. in the absence of Giuseppe and Laura she has managed this without speaking Italian! Ann Marie has been looking after the back of the pack. Today I slipped on a steep route through the forest, not a bad slip but she insisted I use her walking stick after that. It was helpful, and I will take mine tomorrow. Most of the time I don’t care to use it, but on a steep trail with tricky footing, it can be helpful. Actually, it’s Kenton‘s walking stick. 

We saw this door one too many times this morning, I don’t think there are any monks there, though. It’s a beautiful building. We had breakfast in the refectory. I can imagine the monks eating there.

This Piazza fills up with cars when they lower the barricades around it in the morning, and then in the afternoon it empties out. The number of cars driving down the hill out of this town yesterday afternoon was shocking. They have a traffic light system because things are so narrow it’s a one-way drive. We dodged cars all the way up and down in this town. 

I am not going in all the churches that we pass, there are too many, and often are up too many flights of steps from where we are. 

We met this group a week ago, they are the only other people we have come across walking the Coast 2 Coast Trail. I don’t know if they mind being called girls. They do speak a lot of English, but I often talk with them in French. The four on the left are friends from work at Air France. The couple on the right is Sebastian (France) and Amber (Vermont) who joined them today. They are happy, upbeat, positive, and it’s fun to run across them on the trail. 

Today we are in a much smaller town above a lake. We had dinner close by in a fancy restaurant where we were the only diners. Excellent food, but we kept it to a minimum as it was pricey. Thirty euros for a small plate of pasta and a glass of white wine. It was as sufficient and a great experience.

So far my body is holding together quite well, and at this point nothing hurts. I think having my pack forwarded every day makes a real difference. My knees don’t even hurt! We have eight more days to go.

Robert