Day 56: Stage 44: San Miniato, 30 km, Cloud, Rain & Wind, 20°

Batten Down The Hatches!! 

Well, that was a day for the books! As planned I was up early to get a jump on the weather that was coming in. To the best of my understanding it was to arrive sometime around noon, so I thought I could get most of the walk in by the time the weather arrived. As they say, the best laid plans..,

As I quietly left through the side door I remember to take a photograph of the bell tower that was still lit up.

I had a voucher for a small pastry shop where I was able to get a couple of croissants and that all important pot of tea before heading off down the dark road.

The good news is that I was presented with something of a decent sunrise. It’s always like a little personal reward for getting up and underway early. Those very special moments where it’s just you surrounded by nature. 



The less positive news was that heavy cloud rolled in soon afterwards prematurely ending a very nice beginning to the day. Such is life, and I was just pleased to have had that moment. 

The first third of the stage was pretty routine. Rocky trails interspersed with softer, gentler grassy ways. 

For a time the sky looked quite promising, but I knew this was likely fleeting. I’ve been watching the weather like a hawk!

I think the highlight for me during the first third was this beautiful patch of flowers that lined the trail for maybe 50 m. I stopped and took a little time there, but not too long because I was in a hurry this morning.

I was delighted to find this marker. It typically represents the boundaries of some important person’s holdings. Normally I would’ve walked right by, but I’ve seen these before so I was pretty sure what I was looking at when I saw it. This was confirmed by a broken sign laying in the woods a few metres down the trail. 

Of course I did slow down and stop whenever I saw some animals, particularly horses, that I could film for my lovely granddaughter Saoirse. These two are having their breakfast so I sent off the video so that Saoirse could have breakfast with the horses today when she gets up.  

But otherwise I didn’t linger because I was crossing ground that had seen heavy rain just a day or two ago,  and there were lots of deep foot prints where the mud was. I didn’t want to get caught here should the rains arrive early. Our good friends Jim and Corie wrote me an email from Sicily where they are walking the same route that we crossed in 2018. Jim reported that they had experienced incredibly intense rains which of course created some very ugly mud and water running down the streets at boot depth. They were lucky because someone stopped and picked them up. A day like that would be quite terrible to walk through. 

It was getting dark and I watched the clouds closely. Clearly it was raining in the distance, but so far I was staying in my dry bubble. 

Speaking of bubbles, I deliberately planned to leave Lucca after a weekend and I’ll do the same when I depart Siena after this weekend. There’s a good reason for this. Typically other pilgrims begin their journey to Rome from these two locations on a weekend. As a result I haven’t seen anyone since I left Lucca, and I don’t expect to see very many people all the way to Siena. I’m actually quite happy with this. Yes I like community when I’m walking, but I actually prefer to walk alone during the day taking in what I see around me, completely focused. No distractions. We all walk differently.

I arrived in Ponte A Cappiano after about 14 kms. I’d been looking forward to this moment because this is where the 16th C Medici bridge is located. The Florence Medici family rebuilt the bridge in its present state and for centuries the Hospitallers of Altopascio protected the bridge for the pilgrim traffic. There is still a pilgrim ostello above the bridge that one can stay in. Quite a few pilgrims stage from here.

This stage was suddenly looking up! The skies lightened somewhat and that Tuscana beauty slowly began to reveal itself.



I slowed right down. You can’t begin to imagine just how beautiful it was. 





I waved to a hunter who with his dog was busy shooting at the small ducks along the canal. The dog was collecting. When someone is carrying a gun I find it best to put your opinions to the side for a moment and wave. He waved back. 















I arrived in the town of Fucecchio at around 20 kms. I had thought to take a break here, but I decided to get a stamp in my credential and then move on to try and beat the rain. The woman in the T.I. was kind enough to give me my timbro for the day. As you can see it’s 10:50. 

I was just about to cross the bridge after leaving town when the first drops started to land. I decided to press on, but after crossing the bridge it became clear that this was going to be more than a few stray raindrops. Fortunately, I was beside an old industrial building which had a couple of stained awnings covering a bunch of odds and ends and garbage. I pulled in there and waited for at least a half an hour to see what was going to happen. The staff drove their forklifts past me a number of times, but they seemed mostly intent on keeping dry. It rained, and then it rained even harder. 

I amused myself by cleaning up the photographs I’d already taken and then trying to sort out the best way to take a selfie with a phone. I’m still playing with this technique.😂 My buddy Rob asked me today how much weight I’ve lost. I replied a bit. I actually have no idea, but I feel like I usually do late into a distance walk. Comfortably at my optimal walking weight. Lien, but with energy.

As the rain intensity ebbed and flowed I began to come to the conclusion that there was really nothing for it, but to get my rain gear on and begin walking the last 10 km. I congratulated myself on making it 20 km without getting wet, but at this point I really had no choice. Walking 10 km in the rain is just fine with the quality gear I have, but 30 km is a little more than I’d typically enjoy, though I’ve done it a few times. I have my stuff in ultra light dry bags and the Gortex rain gear I found in Japan is amazing. I wondered if my Gortex boots with all the kilometres under them were still waterproof. I’ve literally walked the crap out of them! 

I can only blame myself for missing a turn, however, some turns and signage on this route are just terrible. The long and the short of it is that I found myself on a very busy highway that had huge puddles on the sides of the road and the many large trucks flying past didn’t of course worry too much about the puddles or one damp pilgrim. I had both my flashing lights turned on which I think saved me. I pulled into a petrol station where I could get undercover and figure my way out of the situation. It was raining heavily and clearly I was in the wrong place. I figured out that I needed to cross the highway and climb to the top of a steep sided dike. Neither a particularly easy task in heavy traffic and the rain. However, the Camino always seems to provide and in this case it provided me what I needed and wanted. Some kind soul actually stopped quite suddenly on a busy highway and waved me across. Nice. Not the norm here. I scrambled up the grassy slope of the dike and suddenly I felt quite safe and a little relieved. 

Safely back on the route I had still to get up to the top of the hill in front of me where I knew that my small room was waiting for me, and that all important shower! Still a ways to go, but making progress. 

I found this artwork when crossing under the train tracks. I walked slowly under the tracks because it was the first dry place I’d found in a while.

And a little more art work!

Then it was time to climb. Don’t you know? Every mediaeval town in Italy is on the top of a bloody hill! A steep hill at that. Thankfully the rain decided to pause while I climbed up. Thanks for small gifts. 

As I walked through the beauty of Tuscana today I began to realize that I’m going to see this area like very few ever do. Yes I might get rained on from time to time, but walking across this beautiful countryside will be special. I’ve been quietly counting the days. 

I stood at the top and looked back across some of the country I’d crossed. The rain continued to fall relentlessly in some areas. I hoped that if there were others walking that they’d arrive safely. 



The rain began to fall as I entered town. I was lucky in that a small specialty food store was still open. I picked up a piece of tomato and cheese pizza, a cold EstaThé which has become a personal favourite and also a strong lager I’ve been wanting to try. 9% alcohol by volume! I must say it went down pretty smoothly.

Anyway, I arrived at the door with the address in hand. There was no answer when I rang the bell and of course I cursed a little under my breath. However, a young boy showed up and rang a different buzzer and his grandmother answered the door. She asked me if I was staying upstairs, to which I replied, si! She then called to a woman upstairs who took me up to my room. She told me that the shared bathroom will be mine alone tonight because the other room wasn’t rented. Same as last night. Talk about a lucky day! 

For my €40 I have a small two-piece bathroom attached to my room, and more importantly I have a little sundeck with a wonderful view to the west. I may get lucky enough to see the sunset tonight!

My view! 

The wind is really blowing now, and as I write this the sky is beginning to clear. Excellent! 

Wouldn’t you know it, my boots haven’t looked this clean since I left Victoria two months ago! And they only got a little bit wet inside around the toes. Or, it might just have been my feet sweating. In any event my boots performed better than I had hoped. 

I will shortly have a look at the weather for tomorrow, hoping that it’s better than today was because the stage tomorrow is considered one of the top five stages in Tuscana. It’s only 24 km, but my guidebook rates it is moderately hard. I’m really hoping for some sunshine. One last personal note, my father wrote me to say that an old family friend has been following the blog for the past month. I just wanted to pass on to Mrs. Dixon that many people follow the blog and never post a comment, so don’t worry about this. I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying my travel journal. 

Ok, 18:00 and time to go for a wander and perhaps find a place to eat.