One kitchen chair

What a day! Another one full of the unexpected. As I write now, Tim and I are sitting in the kitchen of a 15th century convent (actually he is standing at the stove as I am sitting on the only chair) and we are about to have a bowl of minestrone soup. We had thought we would be the only ones here tonight but to our joy our French pilgrim friends, Anne and Stan, have just arrived after deciding to join us here rather than the hostel they had booked. We are only now missing Francoise, our other co-pilgrim for the last 2 nights.

This morning in glorious sunshine we started out from under the tower on top of Radicofani expecting a long but mainly downhill 30+ km day. An initial steep descent over a few k through sheep country brought us in contact with a few dogs and the chance to confirm the effectiveness of my dog deterrent. We have over the last few days often come across large white sheep dogs that live with their herds, and are very protective. We had the choice after 12 km to take the via Francigena for another 21 km or walk alongside the via Cassio (a main road to Rome) into Aquapendente and cut about 8 km off the day's walk. Foolhardy as we are, we took the long route. What a glorious walk it was! We zipped into our shorts, and strode out, feeling ever so fit and strong. I have noticed my energy is fine for maybe 90 minutes then I crash. A bite to eat and I'm off again!

We were delighted to arrive in a beautiful town called Procena and even more delighted at the prospect of an afternoon treat. Walking up the main road in our shorts we realised that a funeral procession was coming down towards us. We slipped off our hats, pulled to one side and hoped that we looked respectful enough as the townspeople followed the priests and the hearse to the cemetery.

By now we were pretty stiff and sore and knew that if we had taken the short route we would have arrived by now. A ginseng-spiked coffee restored my spirits and off we went for the final 8 km. Probably the most dangerous stretch of road we have been on with cars tearing through the hilly roads often missing us by whiskers. Then we turned off the main road again onto a track which went up. And up. And up some more. The feeling of exultation I experienced on turning a corner and realising that we had arrived at our destination was short-lived.

The next hour was one of the strangest we have yet experienced on the trip. The official route took us behind a restaurant, down past an abandoned orchard, through a grotto type trail with stinging nettles everywhere, then up past pigpens and kennels up a really steep road and through an arched gate, all to miss walking alongside the via Cassio we presume. We then got a little off the track so to rejoin it, went up and up and up some more, until finally Tim found where our accommodation was on the GPS. Of course the convent was at the end of another huge hill. I practised my turtle impersonation again, and could hardly make it to the convent. We were met at the top of the road by a very friendly couple of children who were so excited to meet Australian pellegrini (pilgrims) and rang the convent bell for us. 2 old nuns greeted us, and we were shown the kitchen with a well-stocked pantry, and given the choice of rooms upstairs. A hot shower and minestrone soup cooked by my husband, what more could anyone want!

One of the thrills of being here, at the top of the hill, is that we now can look back as far as we can see to Radicofani to the north, and only yesterday morning it was as far as we could see to the south.

So here we are, an extra chair was found in the old Refettorio, so we now have one each to enjoy the pasta, and recover from 67 km in 2 days. We have had a chat to both our daughters and are very excited as we look forward to Kaye and Sophie meeting us at Bolsena tomorrow and visiting Orvieto.

Buon apetito! From Merran