I’m sitting here on my bed with a nice glass of Chianti Classico feeling quite satisfied with my day. This morning at 6:30 I was lying here wondering if I should get up and walk the variant to Altopascio. I checked the weather, and while there were a series of wind and rain warnings most of them applied to later in the day. Today was definitively forecast to be a better day than tomorrow, and I reminded myself just how hard I’d worked at home sorting out this route. I knew that if I missed this opportunity because I was feeling a bit lazy that I’d always regret it. So a little, shall we say less eager, I got up, geared up and ate some food that I’d prepared last night.
I stepped briefly into the Roman arena to take a starting photo for the video and then headed for the western city gate.
Porta San Pietro leads to the Lucca train station where there is a pedestrian overpass across multiple train tracks.
A little winding through the streets brought me to the bottom end of the aqueduct. This aqueduct isn’t old having been built in the 19th century to supplement Lucca’s water supply. It’s no longer in use, but it still looks in very good condition. This building is called the Tempietto at the foot of the aqueduct.
The route out alongside the aqueduct is just over 3 km long. A lovely walk!
It was early morning and I pretty much had it all to myself. As I was saying yesterday, not very many pilgrims are aware of this variant. It’s marked a little bit in places, but generally if you don’t have some sort of GPS routing then it’s considerably more challenging to find your way across. I’m putting a bit more detail in this post to possibly help those who read my blog and plan to walk the VF. I was actually involved in an online thread a couple of days ago, so I’ll need to go back into it and share more information.
After leaving the formal part of the aqueduct my plan was to walk a further kilometre up to the headwaters, or spring where the aqueduct was fed from.
This place is called the Parole d’Oro where the water is sourced. The writing across the bridge is the builder’s self glorification.
Retracing my steps I turned onto a small country tract and started climbing up Monte Pisano. There were a number of signs up that might have said something about not trespassing. Thankfully I can’t read Italian very well😂. I could hear people shooting their guns ahead (presumably hunting) and figured it was OK to proceed. So I did. I had turned on my flashing lights and put my red pack cover over my pack, making myself as visible as possible. I’ve been down this road many times before when walking amongst hunters in Europe.
The walk was just beautiful!
Sure enough, I came upon a hunters blind. I called out loudly so that anyone up there would know I was around. However, it seemed that there was no one present. I walked on singing a song out loud just in case. It seemed like a natural thing to do anyway🙂
I was surprised to find a rifugio. I didn’t think the elevation warranted a rescue facility.
The Pine Forest was lovely to walk through as the clouds started to move in.
I must say that it felt a lot like walking at home in the hills around our area on a fall day.
Sure enough, I came upon a hunters blind. I called out loudly so that anyone up there would know I was around. However, it seemed that there was no one present. I walked on singing a song out loud just in case. It seemed like a natural thing to do anyway🙂
I was surprised to find a rifugio. I didn’t think the elevation warranted a rescue facility.
The Pine Forest was lovely to walk through as the clouds started to move in.
I must say that it felt a lot like walking at home in the hills around our area on a fall day.
I got high enough that I even found Heather!
There were plenty of chestnut trees as well. A little different from the varieties we have at home, but the nut inside looks pretty much the same.
The walk just kept getting better and better.
Eventually I reach the summit of the climb and started down towards a small village that I knew was at the bottom.
There was supposed to be a bar open here where I planned to take a break and hopefully get something more to eat. I never found it, and continued on. I always carry food in my pack so I wasn’t particularly concerned. Actually every place that I’d identified at home as a source of food was closed today. Sigh, I may never figure this out.
There were plenty of chestnut trees as well. A little different from the varieties we have at home, but the nut inside looks pretty much the same.
The walk just kept getting better and better.
Eventually I reach the summit of the climb and started down towards a small village that I knew was at the bottom.
There was supposed to be a bar open here where I planned to take a break and hopefully get something more to eat. I never found it, and continued on. I always carry food in my pack so I wasn’t particularly concerned. Actually every place that I’d identified at home as a source of food was closed today. Sigh, I may never figure this out.
I ended up a little off course at one point, but I wasn’t disappointed because I got to see this beautiful home. Besides, it was easy to find my way back onto the route a little further down the hill. Some people sure are good at making their homes look really appealing.
The first climb completed, it was time to begin the second and last climb.
The second hill was pretty sweet as well. Not nearly as high so I passed over it fairly quickly.
Before I knew it, I was off the hill and into the valley agricultural belt. Easy walking, but still many kilometres left to go.
Looking back towards the mountains I was feeling pretty good that so far I had avoided any rain.
It was a pretty walk across the flats, at least the first 2/3 of it were.
As I was crossing a small bridge a large flock of small birds started to fly around me circling above. I pulled out my phone and started to record. I was really filming by instinct because I couldn’t see anything through the phone screen. A real limitation when using a phone camera to film birds. Somehow I got lucky.
The first climb completed, it was time to begin the second and last climb.
The second hill was pretty sweet as well. Not nearly as high so I passed over it fairly quickly.
Before I knew it, I was off the hill and into the valley agricultural belt. Easy walking, but still many kilometres left to go.
Looking back towards the mountains I was feeling pretty good that so far I had avoided any rain.
It was a pretty walk across the flats, at least the first 2/3 of it were.
As I was crossing a small bridge a large flock of small birds started to fly around me circling above. I pulled out my phone and started to record. I was really filming by instinct because I couldn’t see anything through the phone screen. A real limitation when using a phone camera to film birds. Somehow I got lucky.
Like I said, pretty country.
A small friend that Costanza would no doubt have enjoyed…while I walked on😂
Looking back to where I’d crossed the slopes I thought to myself that the clouds were getting heavier. However, there was more blue sky around than when I started the day. A positive indicator!
I noticed that the olives are beginning to change color. I suspect that they will start to harvest fairly soon, and I may get lucky and witness this event. Always fun when it’s done manually.
I walked into the train station, bought my ticket from one of the machines and sat down to wait for my train. I waited for quite a while and then they announced that a couple of trains had been canceled, including mine. Not particularly concerned I began working on my blog post knowing that I had at least an hour more to wait.
Eventually my train rolled up and shortly afterwards I was headed direction Lucca.
I noticed that the clouds were continuing to build.
Eventually I could see heavy rain off in the distance. I really hoped it wasn’t raining in Lucca.
It got uglier the closer I got to Lucca.
When I arrived in Lucca fortunately there was no rain, but the clouds were pretty cool.
Tomorrow’s an easy day. I’ll sleep in a little bit, have an 8:30 breakfast then pull my gear together. My thought is to leave my pack here while I go wandering and eventually find some lunch. Then it’ll be time to head to Altopascio on the train and prepare to walk out the next day, Wednesday. Lucca is a really nice city, but I was happy to get away from the tourists and walk up into the hills. No regrets!
Such a variety of landscapes! Ken
ReplyDeleteIt was quite the stage! Thanks for following along Ken.
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