Day 27: Stage 22: ROMA! 20 kms, Stinking Hot!

It’s The Journey, NOT The Destination! 

And what a journey! Twenty seven days of wandering through Tuscana, Umbria and Lazio roughly following the Via di Francesco. I’m a very fortunate person to be able to enjoy these types of experiences. It takes the support of family, close friends, a few resources and as my father would say, “good health”. 

I will admit there were a few times, the deep muddy days immediately come to mind, when I wondered what I was doing here🤬! But most days were a joy, frankly even the crappy days had special moments that would take far too long to explain here. To again be walking through Italy with complete freedom was endless fun. 

Today was a very full day. There would be a lot to fit in with many moving parts. I woke up just before 5:00 thinking about those moving parts. I decided that there was no point wasting anymore time trying to sleep, so I got up and ate some cold leftover pasta (I’m getting to like this for breakfast), two small containers of yogurt, and for the first time in a week, I savoured a hot cup of tea! Nice! 

I set off out of town as the sun was climbing. My additional rationale for going so early this morning was a missguided thought that perhaps there wouldn’t be so much traffic on the roads early on a Sunday morning.

This theory held up well initially. The only traffic for the first couple of hours were farmers on their tractors transiting out to their properties for the day. This is a very busy time of year for the farmers.

The sun rose quickly, and it became really quite hot almost as quickly

It wasn’t very long before I was directed off the road and into the fields

Just as quickly, I ran up against some pretty nasty mud areas. My somewhat clean boots soon were not quite so clean. I was even getting mud on my legs.


After about a half hour of this I was back on dry ground and making time. There were some moments of beautiful scenery, and with the walk pretty straightforward, I found the time to take a few photos of flowers and such. 




This picture reminds me so much of Spain in June. Blue skies, ripening fields of grain and isolated trees beside a dirt track. I may have to return to Spain to walk again.

About this point, I noticed that there was no route signage or markers to be seen anywhere. I checked my GPX tracks and confirmed that I was on course, but I wondered how my friends from Australia would do when they pass this way in a couple of days with just the basic instructions from the company they hired to set up their walk. I suspect that they have been getting lost and frustrated quite regularly. I’ve gone off route twice in the past two days due to a lack of signage. Fortunately I quickly get the sense that things aren’t right and check my GPX before making a correction. I’ve learned that many people don’t have that sixth sense for direction.

Spain?

Honestly, I could be walking in Spain instead of the outskirts of Rome. 





I took this photo for Rob, and I’ve already sent it off to him separately. I’m thinking that the words on the front translate to vigilante, and I’ll have to look that up

The number of cyclists, walkers, and joggers started to increase. This told me that I was approaching the outskirts of Rome.
I passed this really interesting sign. Of course the mileage numbers are generally wrong, but it was really interesting to note that I’ve walked to, from and through most of these cities. I think I’ll be giving that walk to Jerusalem a bit of a miss! Hmmm? You never know…
This was the first true indication that I had hit the city limits of Rome! I must admit that it felt pretty good, maybe even satisfying. I did a little dance all by myself😂
Suburbia.

Followed by many kilometres of noisy urban walking. Yuck! 

So I made a little adjustment. I had mentioned to Rob last night that I was thinking about deviating to the metro station once I was well into the city. Rob‘s usual sage advice was to do it, because I deserved it. I’m not so sure that I deserved it, but I figured what the hell. In the big picture no one will really care. After all, it’s the journey, NOT the destination. 

I receive some interesting glances as I boarded the metro. My walking sticks lashed to the back of my pack, mud on my boots and my legs and wearing a wet likely pretty smelly t-shirt! 😂

Arriving at a crazy busy Termini train station, I purchased my train ticket to the airport on the Leonardo Express train and then went in search of lunch. I had Pollo della Romano, which was basically chicken and potatoes in a tomato sauce. It was great because I didn’t have to cook it! I messaged Annemarie today and told her that I estimate that by cooking so many of my own meals that I’ve saved anywhere from €500-€600! And I told her we could spend it in September and October when we return to the EU for a wander. She seemed to like that idea.🙂

Lunch out of the way, I had a couple of hours to kill before my train. So I decided to do a whirlwind trip around Rome to see the sights!

First stop of course was the Vatican to get my Testimonium. I know that I said I wasn’t going to do this, but I had a couple of hours and decided that two Testimoniums is better than one!

Once again, the Pope didn’t come out to greet me. However, his first in command did grant me an audience and explained that the pope was in hospital. I of course was very understanding and asked the Cardinal to pass along my best wishes for a speedy recovery.🙂

It was then onwords for a quick fly past the ‘wedding cake’ is it’s known in certain circles.

Followed by a quick tour through the Roman baths. I could’ve sworn I saw these last fall with Rob?🤔

Anyway, I soon moved on to see the Colosseum and the Forum, personal favourites.🙂

Needing another photograph in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica I hurried back across town. The metro here is so good! 

I logically followed that visit up with a brief walk past the famous Castile. You can’t miss these places when you come to Roma! 

Then it was onwards to see the obelisk close by the Spanish Steps. Obelisks are so cool! 
As I crossed the city I discovered that they were again cleaning the Trevi Fountain. Of all the dumb luck! It was the same last October! 

It was really tough getting through the crowds at the Pantheon! The tourists have returned to Rome in massive numbers this year. And I thought it was bad last year! 

But the hole in the roof is always worth a look. 

It was good to see that Remus and Romulus are still the symbols of Rome and in full view. 

The Forum looked unchanged from the four other times I’ve seen it. Some of these sights really are timeless, right? 

How is this for a selfie Rob? Pretty good I thought considering the position of my phone.

Then Rob said it was time to go have a beer before catching the train to the airport. Phew, that was a busy two hours! 

Tomorrow bright and early I catch a flight to Geneva where I will spend the rest of the day having a look around. On Tuesday I will start to walk again as I see what the west end of Lac LeMan looks like. I hear that it’s also stinking hot in Switzerland. Hopefully the Toblerone chocolate bars are not melting! More seriously, hopefully the glaciers are managing OK in the Alpine.
Lastly, a special thank you to Annemarie!❤️ I’ve had my walking ‘fix’ and there’s a smile on my face again after surviving another long winter🙂  After a few more days of wandering in Switzerland I promise that I’ll head home to cut the grass and weed the gardens.🍷🍷

Now on to that fine, but cheap, bottle of Italian wine with Norwegian smoked salmon on potato chips for dinner. They didn’t have any crackers in the local store, but they did have wine and potato chips! Fortunately, I had my main meal at lunch. This just gets better and better!😎🙏

NB: I just looked out the window of my odd little place I’m staying as I hear a real roar. There was a jet landing almost on top of me! Wow! I Google Mapped it and I’m at the end of a runway🫤. I wonder what time they stop landing at night? I’m going take a photo!