Day 62: Stage 48: Buonconvento, 31 km, Sun, sun, sun! 25°

Crete Senesi!

So the plan was for a somewhat long stage today. I’ve just after six and on the road by 6:40. 

First though, we had to find a place for breakfast, or should I say Rob’s coffee?



Day 3: Rob + Coffee!

That important task taken care of we worked our way out of Siena. What a great stay we had in Siena! I’ve been waiting to see it for years, and the wait was well worth it.



Again this morning there was ground fog in the surrounding hills and valleys.



The golden sun rise was lighting up Siena.



The weatherman promised it was gonna be an excellent day today, and for once recently it was the correct forecast.



Rob’s more proficient with Selfies than I am. I’m still a work in progress!



Fair is fair, and yes we are only five years old!



Rob exits Siena.

Today we moved into the Crete Senesi area of Tuscana where are the soil changes to heavy grey clay/sand soil from the bright red heavy soil north of Siena. You might’ve noticed it. Neither very nice in the rain.





We saw this cool family of three deer running across the road in front of us, and also in front of a pick up truck coming towards us. We’ve been hearing gunshots through the day, and I was afraid these critters were heading in that direction.



The scenery south of Siena continues to be beautiful, with a different look to it. As we walked along the hill tops, to the east of us it was greener with more trees evident, while to the west it was more agricultural with fewer trees. 

Cypress trees on the hills continue to draw my eye! 



Oddly, at one point Rob turned away from the Francigena and when I called out to him he just continued on. Very strange!

Finally I yelled to Rob that I’d see him down the road somewhere for a beverage and I carried on. 

That’s not exactly what happened, but it makes a good story! Rob had a small injury to his knee before leaving home and we decided that it made more sense for him to limit a couple of these 30 km stages to ensure that there wasn’t further injury that would mess up the rest of his walk. So Rob took off down the hill and eventually caught a train and met me in Bonconvento. 

I continued onwards across the hills.



It was beautiful walking today through the hills. I really like this type of walking with the uphill portions kind of nice and the down hills fairly gentle.







At one point I passed a group of four day walkers, who I think were from Canada. They weren’t carrying any gear and had just started a 10 kms walk, so I think they were just out for a day hike. They did ask me if they were going the right way. Hmmmmm. It’s a good thing I’m trustworthy😂



I’m not sure if these numbers are correct, they often aren’t. Still moving in the right direction though.

I passed through Ponte d’Arbia, the usual end point for this stage. I carried on a further 5 km because I couldn’t arrange satisfactorily accommodations here. Besides, Rob was waiting for me in Bonconvento!😂🍻

Nice to have it confirmed that you’re moving in the correct direction!



Quite a different landscape, right?

After a decent climb I contacted Rob and told him that I was looking down on Bonconvento, and we made arrangements to meet.

It’s a beautiful little town with lots of history. Of course it’s medieval, but it’s also been recently impacted during WWII.

Geoff arriving. 

Rob hanging out waiting for a better offer?

None was forthcoming so we went and found a little restaurant where we each had an amazing bowl of mushroom soup.

After we checked into our room with the usual showers. Laundry and blogging about done it’s almost time to go and have a look around. We decided it’ll be a pizza night as many restaurants in town are closed Monday and Tuesdays as is the norm in Italy.

Because I already walked almost 5 km of the next stage we will have about a 21 km stage tomorrow which Rob is fully up to taking on. Excellent! My guide says there’s a few steep hills which makes this tougher than average, but apparently if the weather is good we will have stunning views. I think we’re really looking forward to this! More tomorrow, cheers!