Pilgrims and a sense of identity and place

Our fellow pilgrim, Roman, whom we spent two meals with a couple of days ago and is now ahead of us on the road made some interesting observations. He is a veteran of 9 separate Camminos to Santiago along different routes and many other pilgrimages throughout Europe. He was surprised to think we had heard of the VF as he said he only heard of it recently on one of his walks to Santiago and decided immediately to do it.

Roman's reflection was that pilgrims have a respect, identity and place in Italy that he has not experienced in other countries. In France, he reflected he was often asked to keep going in towns where he sought lodging, being given the sense that he was not particularly welcome. His experience in Spain was different largely because the Cammino Frances is huge with hundreds of people walking each day, there is quite a different level of servicing of pilgrims.

Italy appears to be different. The VF is not yet well known and has not become commercial in any sense. Here we have experienced the most extraordinary hospitality and respect. This evening we are staying in a specially set aside room in a large modern medical complex run by a branch of the church. The room is especially for pilgrims. There is a large pilgrim sign on the door. The are four beds, a bathroom and just the basics as needed. A quick call to Mario (he is obviously a professional of some sort) as we arrive and he collects our credentials, and makes us individualised certificates of our journey through San Miniato Basso. These are delivered back to us by a young handicapped man complete with a solid plastic pipe container so they do not get crushed in our backpacks.

In Lucca, we were fed and cared for with four meals by the leader of the Franciscan community who did not share sparingly but very generously, the best of meats and the finest of wines, as Isaiah would put it. In other places people have gone out of their way to assist and look after us. In places we stay, there are blessings for pilgrims displayed on the walls.

In our room this evening the prayer in 5 languages is.....

Wherever your journey began, and whatever your destination might be,
know dear pilgrim, that Christ's cross, the sign of love, will be your constant guide.

In Berceto, a picture of Jesus has the inscription, I was a pilgrim and you cared for me.

We have not always felt welcome or that we have a place, but this is very much the exception. Each evening we have no idea what we will find when we arrive at the accommodation we managed to arrange. All hotels seem the same, they are primarily commercial ventures, but pilgrim accommodation is rich, varied and full of surprises which are often great blessings. Most are free, simply providing a means for a donation if you are able to contribute. We give what we have worked out is about the standard amount. All we really have to offer is our heartfelt thanks and the blessing of the pilgrim in return.

"Pace e bene"

We hope and pray the VF does not become so over run with pilgrims that this generosity and care is lost.

A : See Details(Google Map)

The real Via Francigena

The actual ancient Via Francigena is mostly now buried under the concrete and asphalt that make up the modern roads connecting the towns through which we walk. There are sections in the old cities which are close to original in some places but most have been re-cobbled over the centuries. Like most pilgrimage routes the VF has been re-routed through farm lanes, along dykes and back roads to make the walking safe and interesting for modern pilgrims. The towns are the same but the actual route is quite different. The walking is great but you don't quite have the sense that this was the very road that thousands of pilgrims have walked before and that Sigeric himself walked home from Rome.

There are a couple of exceptions, and we enjoyed a couple of kilometers of one of these today. A section of ancient Roman road has been preserved between Altopascio and Galleno through an old forest. This is the actual pilgrim trail used by the Roman army, missionaries and pilgrims going North and South, Sigeric himself and the Knights of the Tau as they travelled to maintain the bridge over the Arno. We walked this today and you could almost sense the history come alive.

Pilgrimage - the old and new ways

No place yet has bought the differences between Medieval and modern pilgrimage into quite as sharp a focus as Altopascio. For centuries this small city was home to the legendary Knights of Tau - an order of lay and religious monks committed to the care and protection of pilgrims on their way to Rome. Each evening for 1/2 an hour before and after sunset, the great bell 'La Smarrita' was rung from the church tower to guide pilgrims safely to town. The great hospital, one of the most important on the Via Francigena was a place to care for the many pilgrims rich and poor who became ill or needed assistance or even just lodging on their journey. Pilgrims were not always poor, many were nobles and the wealthy, so towns on the Via Francigena became wealthy, as did the thieves and brigands. The Knights of the Tau were given charge to watch over bridges in particular and to provide of safe crossings of dangerous areas. The Hebrew letter T, Tau, their symbol, is clear in the earliest documentation, in their seals and we saw it this evening painted still in the sanctuary of St Jacobi church. It was quite something tonight to walk around the now redeveloped buildings which once were the medieval hospital all surrounding the Piazza Ospitali.

Our journey in this afternoon was quite different... We too lost the way, three times, the marking on the VF is improving but still tricky in many places as we discovered. However a quick check on the GPS enabled iPad with Google Satellite Maps revealed where we missed an unmarked turn or an overgrown sign. No worries, a couple of streets later we are back on track. We have fitted back packs, with hydration systems, some snacks, good quality walking gear and local mobiles to stay in touch. Merran even carries a high tech protection device to deter aggressive dogs (and it works as we discovered a couple of days ago, as an angry set of bared teeth were sent backing up a drive way).

Although pilgrimage and the VF are definitely making a comeback, sadly the Knights of the Tau are now history, their great hospital, a restaurant and tourist centre. Pilgrims can still get a bed there in the summer months. Closed for us unfortunately. We still enjoyed a quiet moment in the historic church and had the priest stamp our credentials with the Mark of the Tau.

A : See Details(Google Map)

Lucca and beyond

Hello from Altopascio! We had 2 nights in Lucca staying at a wonderful monastery where we received genuine and warm hospitality. Tonight we are in a hotel having been unable to make contact with the local pilgrim lodge last night, and we are planning to begin our week in the Tuscan hills tomorrow.

It was a real thrill to arrive in Lucca on Friday and walk through the historic walls of the city - then to be confronted by young people everywhere in character costumes and strange garb took us by surprise. Finally we saw posters and realised what we had walked into - the annual Lucca Games and Comics convention, a 4-day festival culminating on All Saints Day. We read in the papers today that there were 50,000 visitors in Lucca, so we were thankful for our welcome at the monastery.

The monastery at Lucca was run by the Third order of the Franciscans, an old but well cared-for building. We had individual rooms, overlooking the cloister which was full of pots of roses, and also overlooking the city with its towers and gardens and mediaeval buildings. The weather has been superb and the sunrises, sunsets and night skies just beautiful. We received wonderful hospitality from Jean Paolo, who delighted in sharing wines and good food with us. I loved hearing about his vision for the place: a balance of caring for the elderly monks, offering a home to several homeless men and developing the monastery for pilgrims coming through.

Our rest day was spent in and around Lucca, walking around the walls and climbing a tower which had trees growing on the top, Torre Frediano. We also took a bus to and from Pisa, and took the obligatory photos. It was much more beautiful and remarkable than I had imagined, surrounded by lawns and SPACE. I loved it, but that was enough of being a tourist for me, and I was ready to take up the pilgrim staff again today.

Today the actual route was not particularly inspiring, but it was great to add another 20-plus km to our journey. We were glad to arrive at our destination, but could have kept going. Along the way, we continue to appreciate "Cristinas". These are red and white labels with a black pilgrim on them, a consistent signage put along the via Francigena by a young Milanese woman earlier this year. We get off the trail every now and again, and Tim's iPad helps us find the correct path, but if we are following Cristinas we know we are on track. We have seen further news about the devastation in northern Tuscany, hard to imagine now that we have had perfect weather the last few days here.

I often find myself smiling as I walk along, just as I do when I'm out in the garden at home. I am extra-appreciative of this journey after my time out, thankful for every step, and even the tiredness after a long day on the road. We are often stopped by people just wanting to find out where we are from and where we are going, and we appreciate the friendliness of the local people.

So, that's all for now, love and best wishes from Merran.

Some photos from the Journey to Lucca

The three of us just love Lucca. From the moment we walked into the walled city we were captured by the history, art, architecture and 'feel' of the place. The walk here was not the easiest and our walk out tomorrow is not particularly inspiring but the stay has been great. We even fitted in a trip to Pisa so Soph could see the leaning tower.

Weird and wonderful photos

It was the last thing we expected to end up caught in the Annual Games and Comics festival held at Lucca. Still one can never predict the adventures of a pilgrim. Check these people. We heard there were 10s of thousands involved today and I can well believe it. The streets were jammed and it was pure entertainment walking the walls. Not sure what to make of this from a reflective point of view. Will need some time to think as we walk out of town tomorrow heading to Altopascio.

A meal with Frata Superiore of the Franciscans

We finally found some Lucca pilgrim accommodation in Franciscan Monastery. A woman drove past us on the way in and asked if we were pilgrims. Sure enough she was the monastery welcomer and was very helpful. The place is old but clean and well set up. We were shown the kitchen and told we could cook for ourselves. We were just settling in when she called me aside and indicated that the church service would be at 6:00 pm and we were invited to dine with Frata Superiore (head of the order) at 7:30. Thankfully, Roman, a Swiss pilgrim (serious veteran with 18,000kms under his belt) also turned up and joined us. He spoke enough Italian and English to help us through a fascinating meal.

The food provision was wonderful, Spaghetti, pizza, bread, meats, cheeses, salad, local wine, sweet cake and coffee all prepared and served by Jean Paulo.

Then the conversation. Once he found out we were genuinely interested in the order, it's history and the monastery, we had a guided tour of building and the story of it's history and the order in the this region. Jean Paolo told us that there is a copy of a Gutenburg Press Bible (thats like late 1500s) in the Scriptorium along with manuscript copies of the bible from earlier times. I might even get a look tomorrow if the 84 year old guardian is up to it.

Lots of pilgrim talk with Roman. He has travelled nearly all of the Camminos through France, Spain, Portugal and even across North Africa. He is now on his way to Jerusalem. He thought tonight with it's generosity and fun was great and is sorry to be heading off on his normal 40 or 50 kms tomorrow. We just raised our eye brows and felt a little bashful about our 17km effort to get here today.

It was encouraging although a little unbelievable when he arrived as he indicated he had heard of us on the road, the pelligrini (pilgrim) family from Australia who spoke OK Italian. I think this is mainly because we smile a lot and simply say "si" ( yes) when we have absolutely no idea what is going on.

Weird and Wonderful

We really have not had much difficulty finding accommodation once we could make telephone contact as we are well outside the tourist season. Finding a place is fairly plain and straight forward. That is till we tried to find a place at Lucca. Everything full!! All the recommended places were fully booked. Finally someone who spoke English explained that this weekend was the Annual Lucca Comics and Games Festival. Literally thousands of games and comics fanatics in full dress walking the streets of Lucca. Sophie was totally amazed, mainly because she knew who 1/2 the characters actually were, Merran and I were just shaking our heads in disbelief. Capt Jack Sparrow walking past a patrol of Storm troopers, who were avoiding Rapunzel (complete with frying pan) and trying not to get in the posed photo of Batman and Robin. Some rather grim Samurais heading the other way have to dodge the characters from South Park. All of this in the wonderful Medieval town of Lucca with it's churches and towers. Enough to seriously warp the mind....... Photos to come....

The Magra river wipes out towns around us......

It is gradually becoming clearer just how serious the situation we were involved in in the last few days actually was. People here are talking about the destruction of villages in the Cinque Terra, a beautiful tourist spot in Italy close to where we are. Another pilgrim, Roman fro Switzerland was walking through the Cinque Terra on Tuesday and believes he may have the last photos of the villages before the rain began that afternoon. We were right on the upper reaches of the river Magra which flooded downstream causing something like the floods which took out some of the towns in Queensland earlier this year.

These are photos from the local Italian press - not ours however we did see some of the bridges and damage as we trained out of the region yesterday. We are now safe and sound in Lucca - quite another story.

L Plates

Today has been just great! Again, very different to what we planned for the day. Let me explain.

We left our hotel in Pontremoli this morning and had breakfast (dare a Nutritional Medicine doctor tell you that we had hot chocolates and croissants at the prize winning Bar Moderna for breakfast) fully intending to walk the 18 km to Villafranca. However the local newspaper was almost totally devoted to the story of Tuesday's deluge with pictures of bridges down, cars on top of each other, and Aulla (our next major town) without potable water, gas or electricity a fifth body just recovered and 300 people in emergency accommodation. Heading further downstream did not seem wise, especially as landline phones were still out of action and we could not pre-book a place to stay. After numerous attempts to find a place to stay for the night, we were finally offered a warm welcome in the region of Camaiore at a parish house. This meant a big jump in our journey, as we had to take a train to Pietrasanta, and saw much evidence of the flood damage as we raced through the district.

What this reveals is how much our daily journey is influenced by finding accommodation for the next day. The via Francigena is not in any way set up for pilgrims to just drop in and the understanding is that you need to arrange lodging 24 hours in advance. That is not always easy, especially when phone or Internet connections are down. So not being able to confirm a place to stay this morning, as well as the uncertainty about the trail following the floods, has moved us quite a distance forward.

We happened on a wonderful restaurant for lunch - the Locanda la Monarche, highly recommended if you are passing through Camaiore - where we enjoyed soup, seafood risotto and kebabs and a superb house white. The waiter was really friendly, the atmosphere comfortable and I even got a phone call from a friend from Tassie who is presently in Florence and hopes to join us walking for a day. Let's make it happen Jen! We began our day's walk about 1 pm very satisfied!

So finally we were really on the road again, and it felt GOOD! Even Tim and Soph were glad to get walking again, after our extra day in Pontremoli. The country side with early autumn colours was just superb, and I even got the chance to prove my prowess against dangerous dogs.

When we arrived in Valpromaro, and asked directions to the church, we just happened to ask Benetto who was actually waiting in the street for us to arrive. He indeed gave us a warm welcome - a most surprisingly wonderful welcome. We are staying in a town that has welcomed pilgrims since the seventh century, and the hospitality is quite moving. We have come to expect nothing, and here we have a washing machine, heating which was turned on for us, a fridge and cupboard with food, coffee, and clean linen and hot water. The pilgrim log book is filled with appreciative entries and postcards that have been sent on after pilgrims have arrived in Rome, and most of them say 'grazie mille'. It is such a privilege and very humbling to receive hospitality as total strangers, with no expectation that we will give anything in return.

It looked as though we would be unable to find accommodation in Lucca for tomorrow night as there is apparently a big games event or convention in the city this weekend, but Tim found a place and we are looking forward to entering this beautiful city. Only a short walk, so Sophie may finally get her longed for sleep in before we head out.

So, the L-plates? We have been commenting that with our use of public transport much more often than we considered we would, and our stumbling ways of learning to do Pilgrimage, we may not be 'proper' pilgrims at all, and that maybe we should consider this our learning pilgrimage and do a 'proper' one in a few years' time. Mentioning this to Jenny on the phone, her response was that really that's how life is. It's all just the L-plate version.

Love from Merran.

After the storm

We just have phone contact restored now to Pontremoli and can get Internet access for the first time since yesterday's storm. We called Maddie to say we were safe and found three messages from her family who had been concerned about us. Apparently this storm was quite severe, with landslides in the Apennines and people died. We can actually well imagine it as the locals even seem to indicate this is quite unusual. A lovely park at the junction of two rivers in the town was flooded last night. Many trees are lying near the river denuded of branches and leaves. It was quite awesome watching the water raging through the town and pounding past the medieval stone bridges. I don't think we understood how serious it all was till this morning. Very very glad we decided to train down to Pontremoli and not walk. The forecast looked bad and as we were all planning a meeting at Berceto we decided to keep going to Pontremoli. We are now glad, safe and warm.

The photos below are of the river back to normal .... Quite different to the torrent we saw last night!!!

Back on Track

Hi everyone, it was really great to have a week back in Milan with Maddie and her family. They say the only thing to expect on a pilgrimage is the unexpected, and that has surely been the case. I feel a bit of a fraud to have pulled out thinking I had a serious injury, but had such a lovely time chatting, reading, resting, seeing Maddie's school, and experiencing warm hospitality, that I have returned to the journey renewed and refreshed. Our planned meeting at Berceto yesterday went to plan. Tim and Sophie were waiting at the station in a thunderstorm, and looked glowing from their walk over the past week. They might have been glad to see me again too!

The train pulled in to Pontremoli (literally, Trembling bridge) as the storm continued. We had to put on all our wet weather gear to make the short dash to the Franciscan monastery we had booked into. Due to the rain we arrived far earlier than we had planned, and were left in a cloister for an hour before our host arrived to show us our very basic rooms. No heating, and not particularly clean, not even a kettle, and still pouring outside. Then the phones and Internet went down, so we could not book any accommodation for the next night after trying for over an hour. Finally we thought dinner was the priority, so Tim decided to brace the elements alone and bring back takeaway pizza. An hour later he was back empty handed, having found only one trattoria open in the whole town. As we tried desperately to keep up with him racing through the town, in the continuing rain and with emergency service vehicles everywhere, the impossible happened: Mr GPS could not find it. Finally just before 8 we found a supermarket about to close and grabbed a few things for ham sandwiches back at the monastery. Having somehow taken the wrong key with us that evening, Sophie had to jump the gate for us to get back into the grounds. Dinner tasted pretty good after our adventures.

Today we had planned to walk on to Filatteria or Villafranca but the Internet and the whole TIM phone network is down. We didn't want to keep walking on without booking accommodation first, so we booked into a hotel here. Tim and I wandered the streets and realised that this has been a major flood, one older lady looking down from the bridge over the flood waters indicated that she had never seen anything like this in many years. Traffic is being redirected through narrow winding streets, trucks sent backing down the road due to blocks ahead, and big pumps operating on the main road underpass to drain the floodwaters. People are cleaning water and mud out of their houses, and there are logs strewn along the river banks. People are out in force inspecting the damage and shaking their heads. We even have helicopters flying overhead and there are still numerous emergency vehicles patrolling the streets. Phones are still down too, even landlines, so it is good to be in a comfortable and clean hotel room for the night ahead. We are planning to eat at the now rediscovered trattoria tonight- Mr GPS has redeemed himself!

From Merran.

Tomorrow's connection to Merran

A quiet walk today to Berceto, a town nestled way up in the Appenines, the last before the pass. It is now wet, densely foggy, and dark. Last week Merran had a definite diagnosis of tendinitis from which she will fully recover. We are thankful for this and are looking to meet up with her again tomorrow. The challenge will be actually connecting. So our plan is to get to the train station, 10 kms down in the valley below us before Merran's train comes through at 1.30 pm. With some local assistance this evening,I think I have arranged a bus for 11:00 outside the church, but who really knows. Our plan is to meet at the Berceto station and then stay in Pontremoli for the night. We are looking forward to being back together again and working out how to do the rest of the pilgrimage together.

Keep checking our Picasa Photos we put more up all the time.....

Emilia Romagna Photos.

Album Link

We made it.... 22 kms of epic uphill, still 2 days to reach the pass....

Both Soph and I think that today has been the epic day of our trip so far. We left a slightly industrialized valley, wound our way up through farms and farming villages then into the deciduous forests, all a blaze of golds and reds with Autumn leaves, and finally finished in amazing conifer forests and mountain escarpments. We travelled everything from major roads to goat tracks. The views were superb and even awesomely scary, when we realized we have to walk these hills. The weather was beautiful today but all is due to change in the next few days. We have some rain to cope with the day we plan to cross the pass.

Sister Maria brightens our day

As we talked to the pilgrims we met yesterday who are travelling opposite direction, they encouraged us not to push on too far today but take an easy day and prepare for the pass coming up over the next two days. I think their real motivation was to share a gem of the VF with us. Sister Maria from Togo in Africa is one of two sisters who live and work at a Centre for Spirituality attached to the Church of Fornovo del Taro. Don Mario the parish priest met us at the 8th century church and drove us 2 kms up the hill to the retreat centre where we were given a warm welcome, our own hermitage cottage and served an amazing lunch and dinner this evening. Sister Maria laughs and smiles non stop. Her joy is quite infectious and had us all feeling great very quickly. The walk was only 11 kms so we are now feeling more ready to tackle 21 kms of mountain pass climbing tomorrow. The hostel in the next stop point does not seem to open or functioning so we have resorted to a small country hotel for the evening. I am aware from the books that many of the mountain hostels close at the end of September due to the weather. Thankfully it looks OK at this stage but it could be wet and cold over the top in two days. Sister Maria has offered to make us breakfast before we leave so it is now off the bed ready for an early rise and shine.

A collection of photos from Emilia Romagna

This collection of photos is from the section of our route which passed through Emilia Romagna

Our next set of photos.

Into the Apennines.... We may not be heard from again....

We got our first climbing workout today with a 22 km walk through the foothills of the Apennines. Fidenza to Medesano. The Autumn scenery was stunning on a cold but clear day. The recent rain which we caught two days ago and which also flooded Rome had made the clay farm tracks a sticky quagmire. In several spots even the farmers had given up attempts at driving on these roads as their tractor tracks showed. We had to laugh at our attempts to keep our pack weight down when we were carrying about a kilo of clay on our boots.... It would not come off, try how we would. Check the shoes photo and the ball of clay which would not leave my walking pole. Farm tracks up and down hills for most of the day. Many of these photos today are Sophie's.