Pilgrim’s Blog

Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 30 degrees    

Distance: 22.7 km – Elevation +60 m -60 m Weather: Thunderstorms/rain/Sunny. Temperature: High 27 degrees I had really enjoyed my time in Lucca and the Puccini Festival but today I start out on the final lap of this pilgrimage to Rome. There had been thunderstorms overnight and it was still raining when I left the Villa la Donga after a good breakfast and having said my farewells. This was the first rain I had seen since

Distance: 26.0 km – Elevation +230 m -120 m Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 30 degrees I had a long 30 kilometre walk ahead today so I left early before breakfast. It was a beautiful morning as the path led me through the back streets of Altopascio to the open countryside and the hamlet of Villa Campanile. Continuing along quiet country roads the path then begins to follow the original Medieval road of the Via Francigena to

Distance: 25.2 km – Elevation +490 m -350 m Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 31 degrees I slept well and rose early and was the first in the kitchen of the Ostello. There was a stovetop espresso coffee pot, a type I had not used before and I was struggling with its use when Barbara arrived and took over and showed me how it worked. I had agreed the evening before to walk with Barbara, Laura, and

Distance: 13.7 km – Elevation +320 m -260 m Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 30 degrees The Ostello Sigerico is excellent, so friendly and well run. I shared my room last night with 3 other pilgrims including a young couple an Italian man and an English woman. They had started in Lucca and were walking to Rome. He was keeping a journal of those pilgrims he meets along the way and quizzed me about my pilgrimage from