Day 8 and into the second week. I am pleased with how I am going.

The walk continues to delight with beautiful countryside, amazing medieval villages, great food and wine and the whole sense of challenge and achievement. I am spending a lot less time looking at maps as I get a sense of the flow of the journey.

The main challenge is being out in the sun for 10 hours a day or perhaps it’s the couple of beers I have when I arrive. I had 2 today on an old piazza at Caffé Magi.  The wheat beer was superb. It quickly had a friend.

The Hotel at Sansepolcro – Fiorentino Ristorante (Lancanda del Giglio) was good, it was a side affair to the restaurant Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed Sunday night so I didn’t get a chance to try it out. But as anyone who knows me well – with the great Enotica Guido 50m down the road ….

This I considered was my my first big day combining 2 stages (an easy 12.5km to Citerna and a moderate 20km stage to Citta di Castello – making 33km all up – ascending 1000m and descending 1100. The guidebook indicated about 12 hours walking and I had 10 hours of sunlight so … must motor today (Sorry Wies, Lenie & Liesbeth …).

The Walk to Citta’ Di Castello

I arranged for breakfast at 0730 to make an early start – today was a bonus – they had a toasted sandwich maker so I made a couple of prosciutto and cheese toasties and slipped them into my bag for the trip.

Today I wore my normal walking shoes and put my trail shoes into the day pack. I expected a large chunk of the walk today to be on hard surfaces and have been finding the walk particularly downhill hard on the feet and the knees. It worked well and I kept them on all day. Lesson – 6 (I think) – bring a couple of shoe options – its 600kms and surfaces vary enormously.

Topped up the water into the camelback, grabbed a pastry for morning tea and off we went. The first few kilometres were just getting out of town, passing warehouses before I reached rural farms and the beauty returned.

 

Again like yesterday, took the opportunity to skype Jack & Amanda while I had good 4G connectivity close to the city. Jack was swimming (its still early spring) naked in the pool. He was super hyper. Ace was in there with him. Crazy boys. Oh, and the tooth fairy is still on standby.

I was going well but had a brief hiccup when some tape I put onto a bruised toe gave me a blister on the toe next door. It happened so quickly. Anyway, I have been carrying first aid gear for days so it finally got used.

Citerna

I was heading through a number of small rural settlements initially on the way to Citerna – I was blown away by this walled medieval village built on the top of a hill – no surprises it has recently been recognised for its beauty, as one of the winning villages in the ‘Borghi più Belli d’Italia‘ (most beautiful villages in Italy) award. Anyone who has been to Italy knows there I plenty of competition.

The village itself:-

• Has a active convent and monastery
• Has the most amazing vistas back over the valley
• A great restaurant, caffe shop and ambience.

Unfortunately, there is no accommodation there. I stop for a Cappucino, protein bar and a little rest and move on – I was on time – I wanted to get here by 11 cutting an hour off and made it. Here are a selection of photos from Citerna.

After Citerna, I powered on. I took my Nikon out of the bag and carried it for the rest of the walk, it reflects in the better pictures today, iphones can only do so much. My focus was to do the next leg in 6 to 7 hours not the 9 hours indicated.

 

The walk continued down very quiet lane ways, past olive trees, wine, maize  ….

 

 

 

People use Dogs everywhere to scare off unwelcome visitors; some are small, all are loud and some are big (excuse the focus on this shot – he was accompanied by 2 Mastif’s as well and one of these looked to have a serious personality issue)

There were 3 ridges I needed to climb today to get to Citta’ Di Castella. They were tough climbs of between 200 and 300m.

I was pretty tired after the 2^nd ridge and had planned to have lunch before the 3^rd. This would have left 8 to 9 km into Citta’ Di Castella.  But, I started the climb, looking for a good spot to stop. After 15 minute’s I decided to power to the top without stopping. It was hard, I was determined, there was a bit of gritting teeth but I got there.

[Anything from stats]

Citta’ Di Castella (City of the Castle)

I arrived around 345! I had done both legs well inside standard time of 12 hours – just under 8. Great, even though it was Monday and most things are closed, it gave me time to walk around this ancient city.

 

 

 

 

And tomorrows Walk

The walk is another long one at 31 km to Pontassieve. But it has limited climbs and could taker me 8 hours or so.

And Don’t Forget The Good Cause

In honour of the great work Black Dog institute are doing in helping many families, corporate organisations and communities create awareness and support to deal with the pressures of life, I am raising money for this important cause.

I have hit my $3,000 target – but lets do more – no amount is too small – and I need a new donation. 

https://teamblackdog.everydayhero.com/au/walking-the-st-francis-way

If interested, you can read a daily debrief of my walk and see some pics on my blog: www.youcanlive2.com 

Its still work in progress and you can subscribe for updates at the bottom.

 

 

Ciao till tomorrow.