Hiking – Page 3 – Following your feet

Day 149: Radicofani to Aquapendente

A quiet day on the walking front. 23km. The first 10kms to Ponte a Rigo, predominantly, but not only, downhill on a gravel road. The rest of the day was along the “dreaded” SS2, Via Cassia, main road. It is recommended to take an 8km longer alternative, to bypass Via Cassia, but at least on…

Day 148: Bagno Vignoni to Radicofani

It was going to be a long, hot and hard day, 29kms with over 900m elevation, half of that coming in the final climb to the hilltop village of Radicofani. Also no services along the way, apart from a couple of water fountains, before reaching Radicofani. After a good nights sleep and a really superb…

Day 147: Buonconvento to Bagno Vignoni

Sometimes you just have to give in. So far the Via Francigena hasn’t really done it for me. There have been some great stages and fabulous towns, but the predominantly stony/gravel paths, sore feet, an eye infection, spending half the night being sick in Siena have taken my focus from walking. On the rainy day…

Day 146: Cuna to Buonconvento

Today was another short stage, ca. 18km. It was just as well as I haven’t fully recovered from my sickness. I’d slept the best part of 11 hours, but whilst feeling better, wasn’t feeling great. Really a day split into 4 parts, The first and last 6kms were spectacular with fantastic views over Tuscany, the…

Day 145: Siena to Cuna

I had planned today to be a short stage, 15km, so I could spend the morning in Siena exploring. However, the best laid plans don’t always pan out. One thing was that it rained non stop until ca. 3pm. But much worse I had been up twice during the night, bringing up whatever it was…

Day 144: Colle di Val d’Elsa to Siena

I had a good nights sleep overlooking the castle in Colle di Val d’Elsa. Breakfast was at 8, but I hadn’t set an alarm and slept until 7.45, so before I’d washed and dressed it was later than expected. I was further delayed by a pleasant chat with an American mother and daughter and an…

Day 143: Gambassi Terme to Colle di Val d’Elsa

A day of two parts, a morning trip of 13km to San Gimignano and an afternoon trip of the same length to Colle di Val d’Elsa. A lot of climbing, 713m on a day that was mostly overcast, but the temperature still reached the higher 20’s at times. There was no chance of an early…

Day 142: San Miniato to Gambassi Terme

“Only” 24km and not quite 700m in elevation, but a brutal stage, with no infrastructure, limited water supplies and a hot sun beating down all day – the average temperate whilst I walked was 27C, but well above 30 in the middle of the day. Rod and his friends were on their way by 8am,…

Day 141: Galleno to San Miniato

I got a good nights sleep and didn’t make it down for breakfast until 9am. There was another Italian pilgrim at breakfast. She was walking for a few days, before going back to work. I was on the road by 9.45, hoping for a better day than yesterday. It was going to be hot, it…

Day 140: Lucca to Galleno

An uninspiring stage, at least until Altopascio where most pilgrims end today’s stage. I continued to Galleno, making it a predominantly flat 26km day, and shortening tomorrow’s walk. I was up early, and went to a nearby laundry to wash my clothes for the first time this trip. After a later breakfast I was on…

Day 139: Pietrasanta to Lucca

A long day. It ended up being 35km with a couple of steep hills with almost 700m in elevation, and a steep downhill on a track that could barely be called a track. It was beautiful weather all day, if anything too hot to walk. I was up early and had finished the ultra-processed breakfast…

Day 138: Avenza to Pietrasanta

Avenza is a small town close to Carrara, in the Apuan Alps. The town is world famous for its marble, an almost white marble that has been mined since Roman times when it was a sign of prestige and high status. Likewise, the Catholic Church used it on important Churches and Cathedrals and it has…

Day 137: La Spezia to Avenza

It rained off and on throughout the night, but had stopped by the time I got up at 7am and was eating breakfast at 7.30 breakfast. Italians like a sweet breakfast with lots of different cakes and croissants full of cream – whilst I love cakes, it isn’t my dream breakfast, preferring cornflakes and oatmeal…

Day 136: Copenhagen to Genoa and Voltri to Genoa

I left Copenhagen on the 9.20 flight to Amsterdam. With a very short connection to Genoa, I was hoping that there wasn’t going to be a delay. We boarded on time, but the first thing the captain said as I found my seat, was that there was traffic congestion in Amsterdam, and we would be…

Day 135: Aigues-Mortes to St.-Gilles

The pain in my ankle intensified, super irritating but mostly manageable when I walked slower than I normally would. It is good that it is my last day, as I wouldn’t want to continue walking. At least the weather was pleasant, sunny and 20 degrees. Today I continued along the Canal Sète à Rhône, leaving…

Day 134: Carnon to Aigues-Mortes

A short 19km stage, with no mistake missing turns today. However, it wasn’t plain sailing. I have a swollen left ankle/shin, and not sure whether it is an allergic reaction or shin splints. Whatever, it was painful each time my left foot hit the ground. I left through Carnon’s high rise flats, soon reaching the…

Day 129: Roubia to Capestang

A 34km day with a very high probability of rain, and according to the forecast, the possibility for torrential rain after 4pm. The forecast was correct. There was heavy rain as I reached halfway, which lasted an hour and torrential rain at 4.45pm. Whilst I walked through the rain around lunch time, luckily I was…

Day 127: Carcassonne to Marseillette

It was clothes washing day, so after an early breakfast I found the closest laundromat and washed and tumble dried the four days worth of dirty clothes. The chore finished I walked up to the medieval city to have a final look around, with fewer tourists. Check out was at 11am, so I had a…

Day 126: Bran to Carcassonne

I decided to walk back through Bram after leaving the hotel. I had read that it has the largest and best preserved circular center of any village in Europe. I’d walked around the outside of the old village centre yesterday. Bram, like so many other towns in the area was originally a Roman settlement, serving…

Day 124: Donneville to Port Lauragais

A beautiful sunny day, but extremely windy and unfortunately it was a head wind, so todays 30km was heavy going. I left the hotel after breakfast, leaving Donneville along a main road, without a lot of room for walkers, but it wasn’t long before I reached the canal. The nature of the canal hadn’t changed,…

Day 123: Toulouse to Donneville

I was up at 4.30am, at the airport by 6am and in the air, on a half-full flight and slightly delayed flight to Toulouse. Copenhagen was bathed in beautiful sunshine, so fog in Toulouse, which caused the departure delay, wasn’t what I was expecting. I left from the new extension at the airport, which I…