Day 3: Stage 2: Consuma, 21 kms, sun, 18°

Jet Lagged, But Legs Still Work!

I woke early to a little bit of sun and blue sky above and no sign of rain. My weather apps indicate that while it won’t be warm, thankfully it will be cloudy and dry. It was freezing in my room last night, but at least I had a dry bed and my hosts were very nice in this simple establishment. They recommended a restaurant just down the street and I arrived there just as it opened at 7 (it was full by 7:30). As usual in Italy I was treated very well and the scampi risotto, accompanied by a glass of Chianti Classico was amazing! And yes, those are blueberries, raspberries, and blackberry on top. Such flavours! In case I didn’t say this earlier, I am in the region of Toscanno for a short time at the beginning of this walk. So a glass of Chianti seemed in order.

I walked down the hill to the little pastry shop where I had lunch when I arrived in town yesterday. I immediately ordered my favourite Italian breakfast, and of course, send a picture to Rob. 

I picked up a sandwich for lunch as well then headed off to find my way out of town at 8:00. I passed through one of the restored city gates. Pontassieve was a key transportation centre during WWII and the city was almost totally destroyed from Air Force bombing. It has been rebuilt with special care given to the town’s historical buildings. 
By chance I looked upstream from a viewpoint and found this very nice bridge, which I crossed just a few minutes later. No doubt this bridge has been reconstructed as well, probably an old Roman bridge originally.

Once across the bridge, I turned onto a trail and began climbing almost immediately. The client will continue paying for a full five hours.
I was a steady walk for the first 10 km. There are lots of beautiful vineyards along the way.
There were also lots of fortifications and castles on the hill tops. It all combined to be very easy on the eyes!
I am heading up somewhere in that direction

I liked how the Sundanced across the centre of this vineyard. I don’t think I’ve seen that before.
I noticed that there were teams working in the vineyards, and it look like they were pruning the vines. I stopped to speak with several of the workers, and one of the young women’s spoke English. She explained to me that they do a major turning in the fall after all, the leaves have fallen off the plants, and then the do a light pruning after the greenery begins on the plants. They’re doing that right now. Later, as the plants begin to develop the grapes the top the plants so that the energy goes into forming the grapes. It was a very interesting conversation. This is one of the things I really enjoy on these walks, the personal interaction along the way.
There were two small villages on the way up. I stopped to pick up some dark chocolate to enjoy with my lunch. Parts of these old villages are really well-maintained.
The route alternated between small roads, main trails and secondary narrow trails.
I crossed and jumped lots of small streams, still with a fair amount of water coming down after all the rain during the past week. When I arrived at my destination my host showed me videos of what some of the larger streams look like in the area a couple of days ago after the heavy rains. It was actually quite frightening to see. Apparently nine people were killed just two days ago just a few kilometres up the valley from here. A real tragedy for these smaller villages.
A private castle!
Yesterday, I believe I said something about the beautiful flowers, particularly the bright red poppies. I was so jetlagged that I can barely remember what I said yesterday in the blog🤣 The poppies, were even more extraordinary in the bright sunlight.


I eventually left the small roads and headed off on a steep trail, which I remained on all the way to Consuma. Before I got too far, I ventured off on a small side trail that took me down to one of the local creeks. I took a short break and ate some of the food I was carrying so I didn’t have to haul it all the way up the side of the next mountain.
As I gained altitude, it became apparent that the new deciduous leaves had just recently come out in that beautiful green colour trees initially display.
A higher I went the more beautiful it became

Regardless of what the video at the bottom shows, it took me just four hours to climb up to the turn off into town. Although my brain is still a bit messed up from the jet, lag and lack of sleep, there’s a little wrong with my legs!

This morning at breakfast I was reading my guide, and it suggested that there was a variant available close to the top which would take me on a further climb to a viewpoint. I was previously unaware of this variant because I haven’t been reading the guide prior to this trip, deciding that it would be far better to just read about each stage just before starting daily. There are pros and cons to this approach, but I thought it might be a more fun option. 

So I follow the variant, and it was absolutely the right thing to do! It was very striking in the forest.

There were little creeks and waterfalls everywhere
I did eventually make it to the top of the climb
This is the view from my lunch stop
And this is the bench that the guide had promised was there. Sometimes you never know what you’re going to find when you get to a view point. Sometimes bushes have been allowed to grow and there is no view. Today everything worked out just fine.
I’m staying in a nice ostello tonight, which is not crowded, meaning I have my own room. A communal supper will be served, which is always a real pleasure went on Camino. I’ll have company for dinner tonight! So I’d best get this posted.

It turns out there were six of us for dinner. A couple from Germany, a couple from Switzerland and a solo walker from Austria. The food was all prepared by our host, who grows the majority of it in his own massive garden in another village. Our host is on the committee that manages this route and he was a wealth of information. It was a dinner that I will long remember.