Strolling on the Via Francengina: 02/08/21

Day 6 - 19 April 2019 - Siena to Lucignano d’Arbia - 21 km

Day 6 - Siena to Lucignano d’Arbia, about 21 km

After a rest day we were ready to get walking again. 

It was flatter today but that meant a change of scenery- still pretty but not as spectacular as the hillier countryside.

There were more pilgrims around today - many people start in Siena. We met a girl from BC who had started in Turin, she said she walks between 20 and 40 km a day - FORTY KILOMETRES!!!!! Crumbs, that’s a lot!

The official route today is 25 km and finishes in Ponte d’Arabia but we are shortening a few days so we finished in Lucignano d’Arbia. Our instructions said that our accommodation was 1 km from the Via Francigena- hahahahaha, more like nearly 3. As we got near we realized they were replacing a bridge and we couldn’t get by! Instead we had to climb down a steep bank and across a muddy ditch then walk through a field of wheat!(what are we like!) to finally find our way.

We are where the orange dot is.

Not too many ups and downs.

Leaving our hotel in Siena.

The gates of the city.

Siena in the distance behind us.

A cool bridge. We stopped to fill up our water here at a 
trailside fountain but the tap didn’t work!

Another pretty deserted house.

Ugh! Walking through an industrial estate with lots of cars.
.
And then a small town.

That's better!

We came from over there.

More pilgrims.

Cypresses.

You can see the trail winding away into the distance.

Wouldn't this be pretty if it was renovated.

Turning off the Via Francigena to head for our accommodation.

Our home for the night.

Not too many hills.

Day off - 18 April 2019 - A rest day in Siena

Day off - Siena

What a beautiful city. During our up hill climb through the suburbs yesterday with all the cars rushing by I wasn’t impressed. But today wandering the web of narrow back streets of the old town it was beautiful. 

As is our habit when we arrive somewhere new we geocached our way around the town - it’s a great way to find unexpected gems, we weren’t disappointed!

This church is just around the corner from our hotel - we went there to get our stamp for our pilgrim passport. As I took the photo of these windows Gary spotted the sign saying ‘no photography ‘ so it’s a bit blurred but still shows how pretty they are.

Our first geocache of the day!

Looking over the old town. The tower is in the square where 
the famous Palio di Siena is held - a crazy horse race!

This is a beautiful ‘fountain’ built in the 12 century. It was very tranquil.

The town has lots of small fountains too.

Took this while trying to find a very elusive geocache. 
We actually gave up but then saw some other people had 
found it so we went back again - second time lucky!

The Duomo di Siena - it is quite spectacular.

This is the square where the horse race is held. 
People stand in the middle to watch and the horses and their riders 
(riding bareback) gallop around the outside! Bonkers!!!!

No water in this fountain but a lot of pigeons.

An other fountain.

After we had climbed up a huge hill we saw we could 
have used these outdoor escalators! 

You can sit and stare at this view for ages and keep 
spotting different things.

So much for a day of rest!

Day 5 - 17 April 2019 - Monteriggioni to Siena - 20 km

Day 5 - Monteriggioni to Siena, 20 ish km

It always amazes me how late some people have their evening meal. When we were on the Camino in Spain some restaurants didn’t even open until 9.30 in the evening. Last night there were 3 couples staying at our hotel. We had dinner at 7.30, when the restaurant opened, as we were leaving at 9 another couple were arriving, who knows when the third couple ate! 

Today’s walk seemed to take for ever. I guess we are tired after walking everyday for 5 days. We did meet some other people though. A group from Ireland who were walking from Lucca to Siena and some Canadians from Ontario and a Brit from Devon, they were cycling through Tuscany. 

We are staying in Siena for a rest day - so tomorrow we get to explore, to rest our feet and to find some geocaches!

We did a slight diversion to avoid some of the busy
roads half way through the day - it added about half a km

It doesn't look too bad does it? It lies!

Leaving our hotel.

If only we had a saddle and bridle!

Nice stony road - Gary walks over it so quickly, I like to take my time

A medieval bridge - we went over it.

Another pilgrim. One minute the road was
empty and the next he was there!

The road just keeps on going.

A castle/house - who lives in a place like this?

Flowers!!

Well these signs are helpful!

A pilgrim rest stop that someone had made. It had seats, a book to sign, a stamp for you pilgrim passport, a corkscrew for the bottle of wine you always have in your back back, a first aid kit .
In fact everything except a toilet!!!

We left the path to walk up a hill - of course - to an old hermitage from the 1200’s. Luca was meant to be there to show people around when they rang the bell - well Lucca had gone AWOL so we sat and had a picnic on his medieval patio instead