Last night I ran into again 3 lovely Dutch ladies over dinner, I had met them on the first day and had breakfast at the same bar in the morning, also booked by Caminoways. So off we went, a party of 4 on our adventure.The focus of today was to get to the magical forests and Church of La Verna Sanctuary where St Francis spent much of his life.
The big concern today was the weather. I got up early and checked. There were dark grey clouds around and the forecast showed a 54% likelihood of rain after 10am. We would be walking between 600 and 1200m, so I undertook a bit of a repack of the day pack to include all the wet/cold weather gear.
The early morning view was looking ominous – wet weather gear here we come
Of course, when it comes to weather preparation is often pointless, it was a gorgeous day until 1900 when it bucketed down with lightning and thunder. Put a Sydney storm to shame. Thank you, St Francis, for looking over us. Tomorrow the forecast is for temperatures between 6 and 12 degrees? Go figure, I will be wearing a t-shirt.
The trail was hard and included climbs of 1:4 and descents of 1:5 which would have been a nightmare if wet.
There was 2 key lessons for me today; a reminder on how you measure yourself; the ladies powered up the steep climbs providing me a quick reset and lifting me to another level. The second was on the usefulness of the walking sticks. They had been tied to my bag for the last 4 days…wow they made amazing difference downhill and were very useful uphill.
Badia Prataglia (BP) to Della La Verna
The walk itself involved 2 major climbs and 2 major descents . The most arduous being the descent into Rimbocchi and the climb out. In between, we were lucky the Rimbocchi bar was open for morning tea. Now the climb out is the toughest on the route 500m climb in 3 km as we climb to Poggio Montopolo at 1022m. Our peak descents today were 1:4 down and 1:5 up. Phew. Not great surfaces either. But what a marvellous walk. Up 1200m and down 900 was a fair day.
The decent into Rimbocchi from around 3 hours and the climb out were mammoth.
The focus of today was to get to the magical forests and Church of La Verna Sanctuary where St Francis spent much of his life.
One of the many shrines to Mary along the way
One foot after another …
Rimbocchi – had morning tea here and a good rest before the big climb
Fern forests very dry and also similar to Australia
Tough and steep walking surfaces add to the challenge
The walk became magical at around 15 Km when we entered the La Verna forest. This is amazing, tall pine and birch trees, moss covered boulders, light through the trees and the aura of St Frances who spiritualised the whole area.
The moss covered rocks of La Verna Forest – see the trail marking on the tree
Autumn is coming
This rock is part of the sanctuary – St Francis used to pray and meditate here and received hi stigmata here
La Verna Sanctuary comes into view high ahead
A beautiful last walk towards the sanctuary
Buildings off the square in the sanctuary
Sorry it’s dark – one of the caves St Francis used to meditate in
Light drizzle commended when we got to the sanctuary and sunlight streamed through the clouds
A drink on arrival at Albergo Giovanni was well deserved by all
Tomorrow a bit of juggling to do … I am booked in Caprese Michelangelo but and walking to Pieve Sante Stefano – 10 km’s away. A call to caminoways required first thing this morning.
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 – only $200 to go.
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.