The short cut

It is quite a relief to be writing this as it indicates that we have settled into our accommodation for the evening after a long day. We are actually hobbling around the room in fits of laughter as we are all incredibly stiff and tired after a late start and a longer than expected day walking into La Storta.

We enjoyed our evening with other pilgrims last night and met again at a bar for breakfast - the usual coffee/hot chocolate and brioche healthy breakfast I recommend to all my patients - then covered about 9 km by 11 am. We had many hills to climb and descend, and passed a couple of quite emaciated horned cattle, a bit too closely for Sophie's comfort, in a national park. Our reward: hot slices of pizza and fresh pork rolls in Fornello. But we started to drag after that and decided to take a short cut that would cut our journey from 25 to 20 km. We began along it, but the traffic was so intense I told the others that I couldn't face it, so we changed plans and walked back to the official via Francigena after all. This route was very rural, but had quite uneven surfaces to walk on, with roads closed, damaged bridges and strewn rubbish from the recent floods. We had an interesting river crossing with huge stepping stones, thankfully intact after the floods. So our short cut ended up being a long cut, and it was getting cold and dark as we finally walked into La Storta. Tim, our trusty team leader, stopped at a bar for hot chocolates to warm and encourage us. We had hoped to stay in a monastery tonight, but couldn't easily find it. Sophie noticed a hotel right behind us, so we booked in here instead. Hot showers, in-room wi-fi and a pizza delivery to the room for tea. We have been laughing at the smell of our feet as we took off our boots.

We have been laughing also today about some of our attempts at language. Walking along the road yesterday my mobile rang. Assuming (correctly as it turned out) that it was a priest returning our call about accommodation in Campagnia di Roma, I attempted to copy what Tim says on the phone, we are 3 pellegrini from Australia, do you have lodging for the night. The priest was trying so hard to understand me, but thought I was saying we wanted 43 salami to stay. Tim got the message through much better, even able to understand the response. On the other hand, it is good we understand a little Italiano, otherwise we could be slightly offended when we arrive in a parish house, and the welcomer says kindly, Stanke? (This is actually asking us if we are tired after our long walk, but the English phonetic is probably more accurate.)

So, very tired, slightly silly, stiff and sore, we are also extremely grateful for the adventure we have had so far, and very excited about walking into Rome tomorrow.

With love from Merran.