Day 58: Stage 46: San Gimignano, 15 km, Cloud & Rain, 17°

Chianti Classico Central! 

I’m sitting safely at my destination, a little wet after a few wet moments during this stage. I’ve found myself a sweet little taverna where I’ve just finished having a hot chocolate followed by a delicious lunch, and now I’m sipping on a spectacular glass of Chianti Classico! After all, I am in the heart of the Chianti Region, and it is the one month anniversary of my sitting at the top of the Grand Saint Bernard Pass. So I thought I’d celebrate a little! Why not?😂

I had a funny night of sleep. I was comfortable enough in my small bed, but I kept waking up through the night. The rain and wind were relentless, but I was probably excited knowing that the stage today is considered to be one of the top five stages to walk in Toscana. I’m sure that’s what it was, right? Anyway I fell back asleep at 6 o’clock and woke up very suddenly at 7 o’clock after having dreamed about retiring from work. What an odd things for my brain to be focussed on at this time and in this space. Just weird! 

I looked out my window and saw all the Italian guys already heading off overdressed in wet gear and everything else. I looked out the window and it looked pretty good. I quickly dressed and headed out the door without breakfast thinking that I would find a nice little bar in town and get breakfast there. 

And that’s exactly what happened. I was joined by two young German girls from Frankfurt who had started in Lausanne and had stayed at the San Bernard Pass the day after me, on the 31st. As usual their English was pretty good so it was nice to have company for breakfast. They were caring huge packs in the realm of 50 to 60 L, completely full. I figured they’d made it this far and that they must be pretty strong young ladies. Good for them! They did seem to be casting envious glances at my much small pack though.

I had a look around Gambassi Terme on my way through. A pretty little town, and if the weather hadn’t been so questionable yesterday I might’ve walked in and had a good look. But then I’d have missed a great conversation with the Spanish fellow. I didn’t see him at dinner last night, but fortunately we bumped into each other on the way out, shook hands and wish each other a buen Camino. He has quite the adventure in front of him for the next 3 1/2 months. 

There are some Hot Springs here that are quite famous, but I never saw them. That’s ok. I don’t have a swim suit with me!



The sun was poking through from time to time, but there was lots of cloud around. I was just in my T-shirt and shorts and I really hope that the rain would hold off for the short distance I had to walk today. Almost a rest day with lots of domestic stuff to do at the end. 

As I said, I am in the heart of the Chianti wine region of Tuscana. At 8:30 I could’ve stopped for tastings at a number of wineries, but somehow that just didn’t appeal to me. I made a plan to have lunch today accompanied by a fine glass of this wine.

Like so many before me, I find that I love this region. The colours and the play of light across the landscape is something special to behold. Even on cloudy days like today. No wonder so many great artists thrived and worked here. 

Another winery trying to tempt me in! Only 8:30 am🫤

I found Saoirse lots of horses today. I particularly liked this one. I must remember to send her some more videos. I’ll soon be her favourite!😅





There was indeed some up-and-downs today.

I was wishing there were a few grapes available for testing, but no such luck. 



In a far distance on the left of this photo is Gambassi Terme. 



This double strip of cypress trees are well known to those who walk the VF. 

I got a few reactions when I posted a rare selfie the other day, so I thought I’d try again amongst the cypress trees. Still a little beat up, but better scenery behind me this time. (Later: showered and shaved now). 

There’s quite the interest story concerning the church in the distance. I’ll let you read about it for yourself

Inside. I also received my second stamp of the day!!

I came around a corner and in the distance was San Gimignano. Yet another UNESCO world heritage site. There are 15 remaining mediaeval towers in i town, and I understand there were once 72. The towers were built in the 14th and 15th centuries to show the power and affluence of the wealthy families. Apparently they kept a lot of their wealth in their tower. Of course many of these families like the Medicis of Florence were notable bankers. As I understand it, few were as wealthy as the Medici clan. 





I slowly got closer and closer to town. It always amazes me just how long it takes to get in once you see your destination. It’s even more pronounced here with the towns on a distant hilltop.



I stopped in briefly at a wine shop just to check the inventory. Always fun to do!

I was then into the old town. It’s too bad it was so wet today. I pulled on my full raingear about halfway through the stage. I’ve sat in this little restaurant now for about two hours and I’m all dried out which is great. I’ve already bought my ticket to see the duomo and I’ll head back there later this afternoon after many of the tourists have left. It’ll be much more pleasant at that time. I think I’ll also returned to this great little tavern for my dinner tonight. They close their kitchen at 18:00 so I’ll plan to come here for an early meal. The prices are much better than I’ll find at the regular restaurants with all the tourism. 





The church where I have my ticket to is on the right of this photo.





These are some of the frescos in there museum entry area.



I really pretty little mediaeval town, and I can see why it’s on the tourist trail.

The taverna I’m sitting in.

This is my warm-up hot chocolate. It was really yummy!

Then lunch accompanied by a great glass of Chianti Classico.

Tomorrow will be a long day. I think the walk is about 30 km and then I have to find my way into Siena. Its a very beautiful stage with lots of ups and downs but also some really interesting towns to walk through and a beautiful river side pathway. I’ve been looking forward to this stage for a long time.

Sienna waits for me on the horizon. I’ll be there for three nights and two full days tomorrow which is a decent amount of time to see this very special city. I think one of the real highlights of this walk. I’ll do my best to post tomorrow, but I don’t know how late I will be getting in . Things will unfold as they as they do.

Now it’s time to finish this up, go out and see the Duomo and then have an early dinner. I had hoped to walk around without rain, but it’s since started and of course there’s thunder!

Day 57: Stage 45: Gambassi Terme, 24 km, Sun & Cloud, 20°

Ah, There They ALL Are!

After the sunset last night I went out in search of some sort of dinner. What I discovered was that I am in Tuscana in a pretty hill town which translates to double the price for a simple meal. So I did a little sightseeing while I tried to figure out where I could get breakfast in the morning and also what other dinner options there might be. 



After a brief conversation with a young woman in a café I had my breakfast situation sorted. Now on to dinner. As I was walking through the streets I noticed people were happily chewing away on some nice sandwiches. It didn’t take me long to find the source, and to my delight I found the shop operated by a fellow from Belgium and his friend. Of course the Belgian had great English and we had a lovely chat about what might work best for my dinner and also what type of sandwich would be best suited for carrying all day in my pack (lunch). Then it was on to selecting a beer to go with my dinner sandwich. They had an amazing selection of beers from all over the world! There were dozens to choose from and he told me they were constantly changing their inventory, bringing in new types of beer on a regular basis. I told him I was partial to European lagers and pilsners. He pulled out one of my favourite beers to which I responded rather enthusiastically. Many will argue this point, but few really make as good a beer as the Czech Republic does. My opinion, and I stand by it😂

Dinner in my room! 

This morning knowing that the stage wasn’t overly long I decided to stay in bed longer and catch up on the news. I eventually made my way through the town square and down to my breakfast spot. What a nice find! I’d also eaten a nice banana on my way to the café. 

I had a quick look around the town centre because I hadn’t been able to have a real good look the day before due to the weather.

And then it was time to go. A nice port in a storm, but time to move on.

Much to my surprise there was lots of blue sky and the warm sun was actually making an appearance. Could the weather forecast be wrong?



A final look back as I turned a corner. 



Time to find new vistas! 

It was such a beautiful morning that I set out a little slower than usual. Seems that somehow I had managed to get a good size stone into my left boot. I’m not sure how I did that, and I decided to see if it would just shift out of the way.

A short time later an Italian pilgrim who had just  started in Lucca caught up to me, and for a time we chatted. He with his horrible English and me with my horrible Italian. We both apologized about our poor knowledge of each other’s language, then decided what the hell, who really cares! He took a phone call and continued on all the while talking very loudly in Italian and emphasizing everything with his hands. I really like that, and I’m

trying to do more of the same when I speak Italian. The two go together like salt and pepper!  He turned and waved back at me as I had slowed right down taking photos and also thinking that I’d better get that left boot off. There was indeed a large stone in my boot. I have no idea how the heck it got in there, but it did. Issue resolved, I continued, still at a leisurely pace. 

It was so nice as I walked. Like I said it was supposed to rain heavily today and here I was walking in the beautiful sunshine. Totally in my happy place. I kind of let the Italian guy move on because I really wanted to focus on the beauty around me and it’s really tough to do that when you’re chatting with someone in a different language. Besides I was pretty sure I’d see him again later. He was carrying a 50 L pack fully loaded with his poles attached to his pack. He commented on just how small my pack was, everybody does. I commented on just how big his pack was and he laughed. I made a motion of taking stuff out of his pack and throwing it away. He understood that and he laughed again. He was on day three of his walk and seemed in a big hurry.

I continued along at a moderate pace and saw two more pilgrims in front of me. I caught up to them and discovered to my delight that they were from Aosta and were also on day three from Lucca. They told me that they were on their first Camino and that they were having some challenges. I told him not to worry that they would find the rhythm by the end of their first week. They laughed and said they were only walking for a week, but when they returned to work they would be all ready for next year‘s walk! 😂 I told them that  I’d see them for dinner at the ostello and carried on.

As I carried on I began to catch up to more and more pilgrims. All of them except three were newbies, having started in Lucca. There were two Italian fellows that I recall having passed in the Apennine Mountains when I was with Costanza. They didn’t remember me, but I went past them pretty quickly with just a quick word of support. 

There was also this great Dutch guy who was sitting on his small portable chair with his boots off when I caught up to him!  He said the chair was the best thing he was carrying. He told me that he’d started in Harlem where he lives. He had just retired and had headed straight off on his walk 2 1/2 months ago. Unfortunately, he’s not staying here tonight as I would’ve enjoyed chatted more. No doubt I’ll see him on the trail tomorrow and I’ll see if he’s available for dinner. I have a soft spot for the Dutch.

I came across parts of the trail that had obviously been hard hit yesterday. I felt for the people that were caught on this stretch during the heavy rain. Today as people arrived they all complained about how bad the rain was yesterday. I went out really early to try and miss it and that’s why I didn’t meet any of these people. They were walking in the rain for at least 20 km compared to the 10 that I did. 





As I continued there were some massive clouds building up to the west of me which is the direction the weather comes from. I could even hear rumbling so I knew there was likely some heavy isolated rain storms. I ate some more food as I walked to fuel up and then I increased my pace. If it was going to rain I wanted to get off this sandy clay soil.



I fairly quickly caught up to the first Italian fellow that I’d met this morning. As predicted his pace had slowed under the weight of a heavy pack. He was pretty surprised when I caught up and passed him. I told him I’d been taking photos and then I pointed to the thunder clouds and waved goodbye. I didn’t see him again. 

I passed by a derelict house and this old bike all rusted out kind of caught my attention. Love this pic.

As did this door where the only occupants that I could see were pigeons.

Still a splash of colour in the old garden.

It was looking pretty touch and go there for a while, with the rain hitting other areas around me. 

However the sun came out and even though the winds picked up I didn’t get any rain. Hooray! So far on this walk only two hours of rain in two months. That’s totally against the odds, but I’ll take them.

The skies the last two days have been just amazing! At times it takes my breath away. Nature can create some spectacular displays.

I arrived at the ostello to find a Spanish Pilgrim already there. Between the two of us with my broken Spanish and a translator app it became clear that he was walking from Rome to Santiago de Compostela over the coming four months. My friend Neville and I have discussed on numerous occasions how to get from Rome to Santiago in three months given our visa limitations. This walk is still on my mind. I think the only way that I can manage this is to consider that I have already walked a good piece of it. Having now walked down through Italy, almost to Rome plus having already walked the Arles route in the south of France all the way to Santiago there remains just the Italian and French coastal sections to walk. Ha ha! My mind is always working on possibilities. However, the real thing is to try and do it in one go, and Neville and I haven’t yet figured out quite how to do that…yet!

The Spanish fellow is going to stay out of the Alps which at this time of year is a smart decision and instead walk up through Genoa and around the coastline and into the French Riviera which will be warmer and obviously lower. He will have potential issues taking the Somport Pass in November as it’s a high crossing through the Pyrenees, I told him that Annemarie and I really enjoyed our crossing in late October 2018. We had almost 2 hours to discuss his plan and exchange ideas. Four months makes so much more sense so you can take rest and minimize injury risks. Neville, we have much to discuss. I’m sure Annemarie would like to join me for the French section, right?

As we sat waiting to get inside the clouds continue to build and the rumbling was basically nonstop. It was quite a beautiful site. However, the rains have stayed away from this area and I hope they do tomorrow.

The view from my little room in the ostello. Look closely and you’ll see 4 more Lucca pilgrims. €30 for this room plus a little more to include my breakfast and dinner. Such a deal! This Ostello is considered one of the better experiences on the Italian portion of the Via Francigena. It’s often sold out so I booked it well in advance knowing that I had to be in Siena on a specific date. This walk took so much planning to do during Covid times, but fully worth the effort. 

Tomorrow is almost a rest day. Well there is lots of climbing, but the stage is only 15 km to San Gimignano. I’ll try to get away in decent time because there’s lots to see there. Apparently this town is on the mass tourism trail, but most of them will be gone in the late afternoon which means that it’ll hopefully be a lot quieter late in the day. 

That’s it from here. See you tomorrow!