robertcdeming

This afternoon, we walked into Orbetello, the 18th day of our Italia Coast 2 Coast adventure. I am in a nice hotel room. Tonight we have our last group dinner, and in the morning we’re all catching the local bus to the train station. We will go our separate ways.

Today we got a ride for the first half of the 29 km walk, it was too far for all of us except for Giuseppe. We have walked every day, although on four occasions, I (or we) had a ride for some of it. Some of those days were just too long for our old bodies.The maximum we walked was 27 or 28 km, the minimum 14.

The history and landscapes we walked through are deep. This area has been inhabited for thousands of years, the oldest known culture is Etruscan.

Giuseppe and Laura interpreted much of this for us. Gayden organized transportation for our packs, which was helpful in the ups-and-downs of the mountainous terrain of the walk.

These four French women, an American, and a French guy were the only other coasters we met. We saw them periodically, they overflowed with joy and laughter.

The start was on my 72nd birthday, and I am not the same person I was 18 days ago. I have been blessed by this group of friends. We all helped each other through this physically demanding experience. My body has held together.

Each time I cross the finish line, I wonder if there will be another.

For thousands of years people have lived in this area, sometimes in homes carved into the tuff volcanic rock. The Etruscans (pre-Roman) lived in this part of Italy and there has been a lot of archaeology done here. We walked through many trails and quarries cut deep into the rock. Their tombs were also carved into the rock, called necropolis (city of the dead).

We have three more days of walking, then our group of eight disperses to the four winds. I will be going back to Belgium on Monday. We will have travelled 405 kilometers.

I have learned a great deal about Italy, its landscape, culture, history, and food, and had the privilege of doing so with a wonderful group of people.

We were surprised but a flock of sheep (videos here https://youtu.be/splwsoA1JTo?si=5u00ihxIKtn2hBjS and https://youtu.be/splwsoA1JTo?feature=shared

Coming across a huge flock of sheep is always interesting. They appeared to have just been shorn. They were preceded by a couple Great Pyrenees dogs but without border collies at the rear (usually I see collies pushing in France).

After a nice coffee break we walked through another surprise: a “lost city” of houses built into caves carved into the soft tuff volcanic rock.

This row of homes have been occupied from about the seventh century until 250 years ago, when the last person moved to the village adjacent.

At the bluff at the top of this cliff with the homes, they were at one time two castles and at least one church. These are all just ruins today. 

Up again at the top of a hill with a village, and are staying in what was formally the castle or Fortress at the top of the hill. it’s quite a nice place, here are some pictures of my room, which cost about $100 a night for two. Since Kenton left, I have this room to myself.

Only four more days of walking. Today was short, only 14 km, and not that much elevation, but still tiring. We saw several dozen of the rooms or houses carved into the cliff. Much of it was interpreted in English. This town of Sorano we have ended in has some pretty fancy places; we turned down the offer of a reservation of the hotel restaurant down in the historic district. where did delightful lunch in a small restaurant in the historic downtown, outside under an arbor of leaves, and it is quite possible we will return there for supper. Saturday is the last day of walking.

There are lots of amazing churches in Italy. Somehow, the Duomo in Orvieto was more amazing than most. It’s 5 euros to go in.

This group has lots of energy and enthusiasm. They were waiting for Sebastian to find them a place for the night. They have booked nothing ahead but always fond a place to sleep.

There is an off-road motorcycle event this weekend, and there were 100s in the Piazza de Popolo. When we got back to our apartment here after dinner, a band was setting up. Fortunately the music ended about midnight.

We started up right after the down out of Orvieto,which is on a hilltop. At first a steep paved street, then a dark forest. I was walking solo, the only sounds were my feet on the gravel and the birds.

We have all commented on the flowers today, even more than usual, and every color possible.

This is Bolsena, a lakeside town, quite pretty, where we are tonight. The walk was only 18 kilometers and 450 feet of up. We had lunch here, across from our apartment: pizza, salad, beer. My new favorite food? Porcini mushrooms on pizza or pasta.

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

We took off this morning at 8:30 as the most recent of a night long series of thunderstorms played itself out. Four took the train, four walked. We were in full rain gear at first, but there was never significant rain after that.

We were not on the published trail, we followed a google map walking directions route. It was still 24 km but only 650 meters of climbing and was all on paved or good surfaces. The other route would have had dirt paths, no fun after a big rain.

Assisi is busy. Many large religious groups wander the streets to the historic places.

Very nice Sangiovese (19 euros)

Gelato, then walked back to our rooms for sleep. 9 pm is lights out for walkers

I misspoke earlier; my friend Kenton left because of his knees. I am fine.

Photos from Enchanted Rock -Sandy Creek

I’ve only been on this iconic loop just 9 miles north of town a few times. We went early this morning to avoid the crowds. It was incredible. Eclipse mania tomorrow?