Day 51: Stage 41: Alberge Bernardone, 31 km, sun, 24°

Walking To Wait!

We’ve arrived at our destination after almost 31 km only to find the place is closed. It’s basically in the middle of nowhere because there wasn’t an appropriate accommodation available in Camaiore. We’ve contacted our hosts and have been advised that they’ll be here in about an hour, at 16:00. 

It’s kind of a funny story. Last night we were looking at our accommodation for tonight and realized that somehow things got mixed up and we only had one room booked with a double bed. Clearly that wasn’t going to work, and Costanza got on the phone immediately and we were able to book a second room. As I said, this place is kind of isolated, but it has a full restaurant on site and the place looks rather nice. I think it’s an actually a three star accommodation. Living the highlife here on the Via Francigena!

I’m actually now officially past the 2/3 mark on this walk. That happened yesterday. Effectively there is three weeks until I arrive in Rome. The last eight weeks when viewed in the rearview mirror seem to have flown past. In reality they haven’t, and at this point it’s easy for one’s mind to turn towards home. This is where the focus and experience come into play. There is still 430 km to walk, and while I’m enjoying this journey immensely, it begins to become more of a head game every day. Family and friends come into your mind a bit more every day. I’ve been here before and I know to expect this. As my Basque friend Didier always said to me, moment prèsent. 

On Wednesday night I ordered a single dish of pasta for dinner. While it was excellent, I was still hungry when I went to bed. So last night I ordered two plates and the servings were overwhelming! The food was excellent, but there was so much food with the first course that I was concerned that I’d be unable to eat the squid I’d also ordered for second course. So I ate all the wonderful seafood and half the pasta. 

The squid were fantastic and cooked just the way I like them best. I managed to eat everything together with a quarter litre of local Merlot. Unfortunately, there was no room left for dessert!! My Aussie friends Peter and Dave would be disappointed in me. 

We were kind of slacking this morning, having breakfast at 7:30 and then heading out the door at 7:45. My slave driver sagely agreed to a slightly later start. She only has two stages to complete this walk, but I have 20 stages left to go and I need a little personal care. If that’s just an extra 15 minutes in the morning, then so be it.🙂

We started our day on the side of it a very busy highway full of people hurrying to work. Thank god those days are done! After about 4 km of this thankfully we turned off the highway and began our now morning ritual, a good stiff climb!







After getting off the hill, I smelled something in the air vaguely familiar.  Turns out we passed a marijuana growing operation. Apparently it’s legal to grow marijuana here just like it is at home under government regulated methods.

The mountains were always on our left, just in case we forgot about them.

There were some very nice trail markers that popped up for the first time today.



I had no idea just how widespread the marble industry is in this area. There were staging and processing areas all the long the early part of the route. 

It’s now past 16:00 and our host has not yet arrived. Where are you? I’m ready for a shower and a cold beer!

We continued along a bit of a river today on top of a dike, so I assume that there’s a flood risk in the spring. 



At one point I found the perfect truck. A gelato truck! What a great way to finish off the VF! 

After 17 km we stopped in Pietrasanta because my friend wanted to visit her favourite bookstore to pick up, what else, but a book. The city is a very interesting place and we would’ve stopped here anyway. This town was under the influence of Pisa, Genoa, Lucca and Florence during the Middle Ages.



There are some amazing frescos on the inside of the church and some famous art as well. There’s famous art everywhere in Italy, so nothing special. I really liked the rose window above the organ pipes.

We sat in the piazza for a refreshment, which has now become our lunch for the day. At this point our hosts are a half hour late. Not impressed! 

I was able to get a stamp in my credential in the cathedral which was great because I don’t think they’ll be one where we’re staying tonight.

We walked on. 

Into a bamboo forest at one point. I wasn’t expecting that, and I felt like we were in Japan for a while.

Erin, if you’re reading this this pomegranate tree is for you!

We arrived into Camaiore which is the traditional end of the stage. We had a quick look around and then pressed on as we still had almost 4 km further to go. Of course as it’s turned out we could have waited another hour!

Last night I plotted some way points to help us find our way here.

We are here, but where are our hosts? It looks nice, and I bet you there’s a shower inside with my name on it. 

Tomorrow will be about a 20/21 km stage because of course we’ve walked a part of the stage already. It will be our last stage together. From there Costanza will travel onwards to visit family and I’ll take a restorative break (that was for you Dennis) to prepare for the next stages to Siena. 

The weather forecast is beginning to change. It appears that the fall rains might be arriving a little early this year. We may even get a little taste of them tomorrow afternoon. No doubt my slave driver will have us on the road very early! 

I’m really trying to have peaceful thoughts, but our hosts are still not here and we are now coming up to an hour late. Costanza tells me there’s no point in phoning again. I may call. 

PS. We did call and they finally sent someone. No apology. The room is nice, except only a tub, no shower! No shower in 2022? Hopefully dinner will smooth everything over. A free dessert would go a long way, but I’m not holding my breath!