Stage 7: Sutera - Racalmuto, 23 kms, hot and sunny, +30

Ok. Where's The Damn Trail Markers?

Last night our hosts took us into town and showed us around. Amoung the interesting things we saw, perhaps the best for me was a tour by a well known scholar who was in town as an advertised guest giving guided tours through the town. He was known to our host who arranged a private tour for the three of us through the local museum. They were so proud to show us their local history. Amoung the artifacts was a very good collection from the landings by the British and Americans on Sicilia during WW II. Where we have been walking the past two days and will for the next two was the route the American army took from the south. That's Agrigento at the bottom of the map where we will finish in a couple of days and If you enlarge the image you will see our stage stops on the map. 

Also interesting to hear how the Allies drafted all the donkeys they could find because the route was so challenging. Tell me about it!!!

The only way to get through some of the territory. Dad, thought you might find this interesting. Of course Patton and Montgomery never saw eye to eye and raced each other to the straights. If I recall my history correctly, even though the abritish had the easier route up the east coast, Patton and his army beat them over much more challenging terrain. From there they invaded southern Italy via Anzio. 

There were some other interesting items including a spaghetti maker,

and old packaging.

Afterwards we dropped at an out of the way restaurant where the locals frequent (we would never have found this place) and the beer (so Sicilian mob looking!) which was a huge bottle of excellent quality,

complemented my wonderful lamb feed! Cooked in the traditional Sicilian manner. Not sure what that entailed, but they were excellent for a very hungry perigrino.

Ok, now on to today's walk! We agreed that due to the increased heat that the tree of us would be up early and on the trail early. After a good German breakfast (our hostess is from Germany) we headed out as the sun was rising and I can provided you with my first sunrise photo. 

From there it was the usual, "how the hell do we get out of town ritual"! I'm ok with this, but our Italian pal seems to take this pretty personally. She is actually pretty funny when she winds herself up over the injustices of missing trail markers. I think we too find this frustrating, but have infinitely more experience to draw on and pretty much take it in stride. Well at least until the temperatures get over 30 and you can't find your way. Patience gets a bit thinner then! Eventually we found our way out of town, some how, and descended steeply from Sutera.

That limestone mount (not lava plug as originally thought) followed us all day.

Some really nice trail walking along the way in the relative cool of the morning. At one point we deviated to find that there was no bridge, likely destroyed during the last war and never replaced. 

Well the fun began as we had to find a way across the river. Too deep by the bridge and literally no route way points through this section. No options, so I was forced to push through heavy tall grass, near as tall as me along the river bank until I literally stumbled across a trail going down to a river ford. By then I was soaked in morning dew coming off the tall grass. The water was shallower at this point, but we had to remove our boots and stumble across. Annemarie said I went across pretty comfortably, but it didn't feel like that with the mud and concealed rocks. Then it was my turn to watch and have a chuckle as the ladies crossed:)

Not the toughest thing, but we all had to redo our feet and boot up again which burned up time in a steadily warming day. We had a couple of stiff climbs.

Still beautiful, though it's definitely beginning to dry as we travel south, now just 40 kms from the south coast. This was what some of the trail was like today. Beautiful, but you really had to work to pass through.

At this point I seem to be having a technical issue. So will head out for dinner and see if I can't fix this afterwards. Stay tuned. 

Stage 6: San Giovanni - Sutera, 21 kms, Hot, +30.

A Following Wind

This morning we skipped the breakfast offered at our accommodation because it wasn't served until after 8, and frankly it wouldn't have been very nutritious. So we went to a pasticerria for breakfast so that we could at least pick out something we liked. Check out Annemarie's coffee. A very happy lady! See Rob, there is coffee on this walk, but you have to find it before leaving town.

Hey Erin. Check out this tea pot. Warms your cup and everything!

We headed out of town and of course we almost immediately experienced problems as the organizers of the route have not seen fit, of perhaps have been unable to put any route markers through the towns or cities. I understand that they have the street tiles and are waiting for funding from the towns to install them, but in the meantime simple red and white markers would do very nicely. Even a walker like Constanza who reads and speaks the language has experienced many frustrations. 

I chatted with a business owner who turned us around, back up a hill, and later I flagged down a car for further hints. 

A farmer high up in a tractor eventually confirmed that we were in route so we relaxed and let the fun begin. The landscapes here are very dramatic and I repeatedly found myself say this...usually to myself. 

We split up today as we did yesterday with Annemarie and I on our own, but we checked in throughout the stage. We had some interesting interactions with locals, which is one of the best parts of these rural walks. Our first was with a farmer who offered us handfuls of unshelled Lima beans. So there we were walking along munching away! I guess even the locals know how unfilling the local breakfasts are for the walkers:). Our next interaction was with a sheep herder who had worked a few years inthe UK and had a little English. Seemed like a nice guy with four dogs that were under very good control, though they were pretty defensive as we approached. However, we are quite use to this response and know that the shepards always have complete control.

Up until this time the route had been pretty kind to us, but of course we knew that wouldn't continue and that a climb was well overdue:) Almost on cue we began the climb of the day, but it offered great views and even a small town along the way where Annemarie was able to find herself some refreshment. 

Part way up while I waited for Annemarie, I tried my limited Italian on an old fellow who was sitting in his car smoking. His response wasn't really too positive and a few steps later I began to wonder if anyone in these parts was very welcoming. The 'signs' suggested otherwise (sorry).

It was on the way up to the small town of Acquaviva that we bumped into our next character. This fellow said that he was from Sicilia, but his parents raised him in the UK and he prefers to speak English...with a heavy accent. Very entertaining, and he sent some beans for us along with Constanza when she passed by his farm. By the way, this water was potable and very refreshing. I forgot my bandana and am missing being able to wet it and tie around my neck. Usually we carry industrially bottled water in our hydration systems as this had been recommended, though we haven't felt the need to do this on our other walks. Everywhere is a bit different, and sorry for adding new plastic into the system. We are really careful about this.

A stop for a quick refreshment at the town, and on our way again as we tried to figure out how to get out of this town.

We passed by the resident watch dog, and without moving he just growled at me when I tried to congratulate him for not barking! 

We summited the first climb and the views were, dramatic?

It was getting hot by now as we approached the noon hour. There has been a shift in the weather and it was very warm overnight. We had an email from Cory and Jim in Greece and they said that it was well into the 30s there and we've since learned that we can now expect higher temps for the foreseeable future. To the north temperatures are falling, but we are tied to the eastern heat for now. Unfortunately this doesn't suit Annemarie and she suffered today, but gamely made it across the stage. We were gratefully assisted by a following wind. Not one that you'd happily walk into, but one that cooled us from time to time without getting in the way. More sheep and again the four big dogs were under good control.

A really nice walk. I took a selfie as Annemarie wasn't taking much in the way of photos today. The new 30 litre pack and boots are working great with the boots pretty much broken in now. AND I had new socks! They felt great for at least the first half hour. I'll tuck the boots away after this walk and they will be all ready for our fall Camino For Alzheimer's Awareness starting Sept 21st. How's that for a plug? My blog, my rules:)

Creeping closer, but still 10 kms to walk and it was getting a bit warm. Annemarie was beginning to use words that she only uses when things aren't going well! I do what I can to help, but we both know that it comes down to the individual. I wisely plug in my music and follow along behind taking photos and watching for stray dogs. Annemarie, head down continues onward. It is getting warmer, but the tail wind is wonderful!

It felt like walking through Osoyoos in the middle of summer! 

Just the ridge walk to complete now, and then the climb around the back of the lava plug and into town. So excited for a cool drink in the shade at the first bar!





We arrive in town, but nothing is open at 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon, so no cold drink. Just an image of what might have been!

We wait inthe shade fo Constanza to arrive, and when she does she offers to call our B&B who tell her that they are located down the hill. We'd been unable to connect last night. Off we go together and we are very warmly welcomed with many cold and hot drinks and cookies. This is lunch today. It turns out that Constanza's place is another 5 kms down the road and when our hosts let her know that she can stay here, she's over-joyed in a way we've learned only Constanza is capable of...great shouts and hugs all round! 

Now washed and resting (Annemarie having a very rare nap) our hosts will take us up to see Sutera shortly and also show us where we can get a well earned meal and cold beer. Lovely people, as we've come to find almost everywhere. Well except I guess for the old guy with the alleged rifle!

Hope all are well. Our very best wishes for our mate, Neil from down under who will leave home tomorrow to begin his own Camino in Spain. We will be following your adventures Neil! And in recognition of what you are about to experience, I'll end with the traditional,

Buen Camino Neil!

Stage 5: Castronovo - San Giovanni Gemini, 13 kms, cloud, sun, a little rain, 18

Better Not to Judge A Tappe By It's Distance!

Annemarie is writing a piece that I'll add at the end about our evening with our hostess Francesca. What I will first show you are a few photos from our walking tour with our host Francesca of Casa Paradiso as she showed off her lovely town of Castronovo, holding about 3,000 souls. 

This is at the laundry area from past times. Inside are the places the women would scrub their clothes and most likely those of their families. A different time! 

The old town is pretty interesting dating from Byzantium with Arab and Frankish influences. As you can see, the city was originally built into a cliff hollow which provided excellent protection and as we discovered walking in and later out of the city, tremendous concealment.

These photos are taken from the high cliffs above where the Byzantine fortress was situated. The city is below these cliffs. 

Looking out the other side to the NW.

With Annemarie writing a bit of a feature bit for today, I'll wait until I receive it and add my photos from our dinner to illustrate. In the meantime I'll post photos from our walk today. It was a pretty nice day for walking with cloud and sunny periods for the majority of the time. Definitely not too hot considering the steep climbs today. We have really found our legs these past two stages (tappe in Italian) and generally speaking the jet lag is in our rear view mirror. A last look back at town as we walked out. You can see the fortress in the upper centre of the photo and perhaps get a better sense of the way the old town was enveloped by the U-shaped cliff face. 

We enjoyed a nice down hill piece at the beginning of the day, but it was to be a false sense of security! Here we are walking through a field of flowers. Almost impossible to see the trail. Very cool!

A sharp rise brought us back to reality and we wondered why we couldn't just walk around this hill following the road. But ours not to question why:) a nice view back to Castronovo.

We passed into an area that Francesca told us we would reach, it being her parent's farmstead Colle San Vitale, and we walked through the olive trees until we reached the Neocropolis of Capelvenere with tombs from far in the past. 

This would be the bath or pool I suppose. 

However the best part of the farm by far was Francesca's instructions to help ourselves to the oranges in the orchard. They were amazing! So sweet!  So juicy! One wonders what one must have done along the road of life to have experiences like this? I don't understand, but I'm just thankful to have them. 

Peter, the only thing that would have made this a better experience would be to have someone peal, separate and hand feed the pieces one at a time into your mouth as you reclined in said ancient pool. Strangely the Princess was having none of it? 

At some point in the valley you come to a bit of an obstacle. The size of said obstacle depends on the depth and speed of the current and your willingness to take a chance. I opted to jump stone to stone, but...

...Annemarie smartly decided to soak her feet in the cool water. I'm a slow learner:)

A very short time later we arrived at a famous discovery, the Casals di San Pietro that was excavated by universities in York and Rome. It's felt that it was built on top of the grounds of an ancient Muslim settlement. History all around us!! 

Sadly it was either closed or condemned. Not sure which, but we walked on in the increasing heat and humidity. And we found the next climb. Oh joy!

Ah, but the early part was really pretty with the flowers punctuated by the ever present barking of dogs of all shapes and sizes as we passed by. It's been like this the entire walk. We chat nice things to them like, "nana, can't get us" as we pass. Of course it's ok because we have it on good authority that the Italian dogs don't understand English. Then the climb gets really interesting and you know you're going to pay some sort of price. The old adage that we've used in the past, "just think of the views" wears thin:( 

But you know deep down inside that no matter what, your going to climb, so swear a few times if you like, then climb the god damn thing!
Then climb the next section...

...and the next...

Then there's more climbing, but at some point you look to your right and see where you started from...

...and wonder to yourself if there wasn't a more direct easier way to get here?! But then after another period of grinding up hill suddenly...the rain starts to fall. Yup, it rained all the way into town. This town.

Needless to say we made it. And in the best traditions of The Camino Provides, our other three pals drove by us in a van in the middle of town and picked us up and took us to our hostel!! Does it get any better than this after a long Tappe? 

I'll post photos of town tomorrow, but Annemarie has written a poem:)

Francesca’s story

She first welcomed us on Facebook; her first Canadians

She is young, and savvy on social media - it makes sense

Her story is an example of the hopes on which this Camino is built

Bringing new life to these villages without guilt

Her grandmother recently passed at the age of one hundred and four

Little did Francesca know what was in store

She had recently graduated with an economics degree

It was time to find a job, but in these parts that’s not easy.

The Magna Via Francigena put out a call

They were looking for accommodations for pilgrims last fall

Her grandmothers house was renovated with care

While protecting the character that was already there

Francesca would offer this home as a unique b&b

With an option for dinner of Sicilian specialties 

She joined us for dinner, offering pasta with sardines,

Home made bread and wine, broccoli, and garbanzo beans

Fresh squeezed orange juice and stuffed artichoke hearts

And olives of course, all grown locally in these parts

The meal was tasty, beautiful Mediterranean flavours

The tastes and the memory will song be savoured 

She welcomes pilgrims, new ones each day

She adopts them as family during their short stay

For those she connects with she offers special treats

Views from the castle on the hill, and a guided tour through the streets

Her future holds travel and a masters degree

As a digital marketer she can work from home you see

She wants to walk this route herself to better connect with her guests

But she’s concerned it may prove too much of a test

This delightful young woman shares her home, hopes and dreams

Making this place even more special than it initially seems