It has been a learning experience that I want to write more about but for this blog I want to share a few pictures of the last few days before and as we came into Rome. We did not take very many pictures the last day and the trail was very poorly marked. This meant we were unsure many times of our journey that day.
In Sutri we were treated so well by the couple that owned the B & B. They invited us to lunch with them and treated us as if we were good friends. They had only been open since July and were excited to meet each guest that came their way. This helped us prepare for our last leg of the journey. We were to walk the day we left but it was raining so he drove us to the next town to our B & B. Riccardo thinks maybe the Lord is preserving my feet. They seem to take a beating with very many miles.
We spent a cold day at our next place, it rained all day and they built a fire in a fireplace the size of a small room. It did eventually throw off some heat and although they advertised a restaurant, they did not have one this time of year. They did feed us well, for a price, when they realized we had counted on this since they were several miles from town. The next morning it was still raining so again instead of walking the owner graciously gave us a ride to the next stop on our trek, La Storta. Our B & B hostess picked us up to drive us out to the agriturismo, again outside of town.
This place was extremely beautiful, with a hotel just opened. The restaurant they advertised is only open on the weekend but she graciously made sure we had a lunch and dinner, for a price of course. We were happy to pay each time as we were out in the country. She also upgraded our room to a suite with an antique wooden tub since we were the only ones there that night. So the night before our final trek we treated ourselves to a long soak.
The next day we walked into La Storta and caught the train to the next town to take a few miles off our journey that day. We should have ridden it a lot further because the map was a bit misleading for the distance. The trail went through some towns that were not very nice and the trail was very poorly marked. At one point we were at a crossroad and had just turned the corner when a car drove up to the intersection and asked us if we needed help. We told him we were walking the Via Francigena and he pulled over, got out of his car to give us very clear directions in broken English. Again, divine intervention as we had just turned the wrong way at the exact moment he pulled up. He had walked it and knew just how to tell us to go with the added benefit of staying off a very busy main road.
We walked for many miles and finally came to a park shown on the map. It was obviously part of the Via but the signs have not been kept up and vandals have obscured many of them. Again, we were not sure the direction we took was correct. As we climbed up and then back down we could finally see Rome and knew we were almost there. The following pictures were taken as we came off the hill into Rome. We were very excited but also very tired. We had already walked about 10 miles and Rome was still in the distance. A very kind Italian man that lived beside the park took this for us and wished us Buon Viaggio!
A beautiful close up view from the distant hill of one of the domes.
We walk into Rome, turn our data on to see where our B & B is and how far. It is still over 2 miles and after trying to figure out the buses we give up and walk since we know nothing of this city or the sections and streets. All said and done we did our longest trek of the trip, 14.31 miles. Waiting for us though was a very nice room with a pretty sun porch, a bottle of wine, another tub to soak in, and a very kind hostess. That is me on the couch, hiking shoes off and not to move again until dinner time.
Yes, we had to walk to a restaurant, but we celebrated our final walk and enjoyed the wonder of it all.
We did it! Although differently than we originally thought, it is still very satisfying. We are pelligrini! As Riccardo often said during our trek, "All roads do indeed lead to Rome."
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