Sutri and Campagno

We have had two good days of walking even though Soph is still battling blisters with her new shoes. The weather is clear and very cold. We can now add the crunch of ice (frozen mud and water) on the tracks to our collection of VF sounds. It soon warms as the sun rises and we can strip off a few thermal layers.

Lazio is not generally as beautiful as Tuscany although there are some wonderful forests we have been through. These are a bit spoilt though by great mounds of uncleared rubbish around the provided refuse skips. They obviously haven't been cleared for a while as things have blown around the area and been disturbed by animals. The towns generally seem poorer, we often do not have good phone or Internet connections in the local areas even though they are sizable townships. Yesterday we walked for 1/2 an hour into Campagno beside a creek which had recently flooded with what was obviously raw sewerage. It was still running. Hard to know whether this was a normal or the result of a malfunction due to recent floods. It looked like it was how things worked. We entered the old walled town by what was obviously the back entrance. The more modern part of the town was to the South.

It is interesting seeing another side of Italy as we head further south. the churches seem to be responding to this need. Again the parish centre in which we stayed was well set up and running education and support classes for kids and families.

We spent last night in an upstairs room (no heating) with a french woman, Polish man and Lebanese woman all on their way to Rome and a Spaniard on his way back home after walking the Camino to Santiago, the Camino North along the coast to France and then the French Mountain and Coastal route to the VF and the Rome. he was caught in the same floods as us and lost his backpack with all his gear, keeping only his documents, hat and pilgrim staff. It was great to meet him as he had spent the last few days with another pilgrim friend, Manuel and bought greetings from him.

Photos when we have a 3G connection, hopefully tonight at our last stop, La Storta.