We had a surprisingly great sleep last night and woke up to a hot and powerful shower. I opened my eyes before my 6 am alarm again but no visible sunrise today. I'm always up first, for my shower and then I proof read my blog before sharing while Julie does her thing. This morning we discussed the bus option to Siena and I was fully prepared to walk alone. Julie didn't want to arrive in Siena exhausted and we both agreed a rest day would do her good. I know she doesn't want to spend the day alone but she knew from day one that I came here to walk. She is really enjoying the walk, even with the aches and pains. But when we hit the 20km mark at the end of every day, she hits a wall and is done. Really done. As in not another step.. done. She usually looks mad and says things like "why do we need to torture ourselves like this?" or "this kind of thing serves no purpose in my life" I don't know what to say to that so I usually get quiet and let her figure out what she needs. And she always does.
Usually I write at night until I pass out from exhaustion. Last night I sat upright in an old arm chair in our common/shared living room alone.
I am fairly certain that after almost completing the day's entry, my body slowly slithered down in the chair and my head slowly tilted back. My jaw naturally dropped and I fell asleep, drool and all. I know this because I was woken up by the late arriving neighbours. They had to pass me to get to their room and I'm guessing I looked dead. I decided then that it was time for bed. I planned to leave early in the morning to get a jump on the day since breakfast was not included. It was a bitter, cold morning. Julie was coming with me to get coffee and then we were going to seperate. The problem was Monteriggioni was a ghost town on a Sunday morning.
Nothing was open and not a soul in sight. Just us. No coffee... no jet fuel. We walked on empty to the Southern Gate thinking there would be more... but there wasn't. Jules stopped to tie her shoe and as I stood there waiting I looked up at the sky to see a Great Blue Heron pass over us. My Dad's favourite bird so I knew my angel was with us and that had to be a good omen. We left the walled town and immediately started to climb up into the forest.
It was a hell of a climb to do without breakfast and at that point I could only assume Julie would not get her rest day. We looked back and took a last photo of the walled town sitting pretty, perched high on the hill and then we disappeared into the woods.
It was a pleasant walk but it was still cold. My hair was still wet so I wrapped my sweater around my head for warmth and had to shove kleenex up my nose to stop the faucet. I looked ridiculous but couldn't care less. No one was around for miles.
Julie prefers wearing her backpack on her front and today she wrapped her jacket around her waist and over the pack. It started out so cold today but after tackling some big hills we warmed up quickly. All I could think about was coffee. After reaching the top of a good climb I looked back to make sure she surfaced. I stood there catching my breath and when I saw her I broke out in laughter. From my perspective and her pack in the front of her, Julie looked pregnant.
She let me take pictures of her profile and we were amused for a while. It was a long and winding road. I have no voice today. Nothing. I can whisper softly and that's it. Bless Julie for having patience with me. Being an avid talker or border line motor mouth, it is frustrating for me as well. A day of silence is unlikely but perhaps necessary. I continued to walk up ahead. I figured if we set a quick pace we can have enough time in Siena to explore it.
The soil has changed to a reddish hue and to me is a sign of our proximity to the infamous red town. We emerged from the ancient forest with the old Roman roads and were surrounded by farm land.
Up ahead we could see some castle towers overlooking some small, likely strategically placed towns. There were bushes to my right and views of the Tuscan hills to my left. A rustle in the leaves told me I wasn't alone and Julie was quite far behind me although still within my sights. I stopped and listened as the movement in the bushes grew louder, much louder than the constant rustling of the many lizards. As I watched and waited, Julie almost caught up but halted when the noises moved from me towards her. We were both stopped with space between us and facing each other. Then with a sudden burst, a giant hare flew out of the bushes between us and darted at top speed across the farm field and out of sight. Julie said as she caught up, "I thought it was a kangaroo". I guess an indication of how big that thing was. We turned a corner and were faced with a large group of about 30 or more older pilgrims, all photographing the castle towers we passed.
I made my way through the crowd and was beyond amused when I looked back at Julie being stared at as she passed them. Perhaps they were impressed at the gumption of my very pregnant friend hiking the Via Francigena. I tried to convince Julie to fake labour pains but we were close to coffee now and the shenanigans would have to wait.
We came to a house with an eclectic collection of things all over their yard and signs with inspirational words. Tables and chairs were spread out amongst it all and a bathroom at the back of the house. I went to the back while Julie ordered a couple cappuccinos from Marcello. In the yard they had at least 20 recycled bathtubs each filled with soil and used for gardening.
Though it looked odd, it was quite genius. We sat and enjoyed the atmosphere, the sunshine and our coffees. We left a donation before prepping to leave the rest stop. As we were walking away, a pilgrim named Paul arrived. Paul, originally from Germany, was walking alone and admittedly was carrying too much gear. A brave soul though who made use of his sleeping bag and slept out in the cold one night. He caught up to us eventually after meeting at Marcello's. We walked together and shared a bit about ourselves. He was friendly and pleasant company. Just a young guy enjoying his new found freedom. He is taking time for himself to reflect and figure out where the road will take him after Rome.
He wished us well and went ahead on his own. We walked at our own pace and respected his desire to walk alone. The road to Siena never seemed to end. Forests and hills that just kept rolling into each other.
We took a rest at a bench near a cemetery and took off our socks and shoes. It feels great to let the aching toes see the light of day and feel the breeze but it makes the day that much longer.
We climbed a monster of a hill and walked on a ridge around a collection of hilltop homes only to descend once more. Julie was running out of fuel at this point and had to dig deep to make it up another climb.... the sign to Siena had said 2kms about 5kms ago.
Perhaps the sign was for Siena's city limits because we still had a long way to go to get to the centre of town. Every Camino I have ever walked has been off by a few kms on every mapped section. There are always 3 more kms. Always.
When we made it to civilization and had street signs marking our location, we called a taxi. Julie has been doing really well but she was done, not one more step left in her. We were within city limits and Siena was much bigger and busier than I anticipated so I didn't protest to getting a chariot to carry us home in the final stretch. The road had hairpin turns and no sidewalks anyway so it was safer for us not to walk the last 3 kms. Besides, seeing the look of relief on Julie's face was priceless. We were dropped off at a lovely B&B.
The property was in a very old home with beautiful antiquities throughout. The high ceilings had frescos and the wooden window frames were original as were the wood and wrought iron railings along the central stairway. The bathrooms were of course updated and our room was extremely comfortable. Julie needed time to unwind and I just needed wine. She was shocked at my desire to just drop everything and go but with little daylight left, I wanted to maximize our outside time before the cold and dark night took over. Rain was also forecasted so the window to see Siena was small. I found a patio overlooking Siena that was 3 mins from our new home.
I made myself comfortable and happy with my wine. The view was spectacular and there I waited for Jules. It was probably hard to nap with Siena waiting and she joined me just as I had my last sip.
We walked over a small bridge into the old town and were welcomed by a massive church.
We went in and though it was beautiful, it was also very cold.
We each lit a candle and left to explore. More hills in the streets of Siena but what a fantastic town. We walked along a street with high end shops and made our way to the Duomo.
It was minutes from closing so we missed out on the inside tour but the outside was very impressive. I vowed to return to Siena another time. Perhaps to walk the Via Francigena in its entirety. If my super, amazing boss let's me that is π
Our next stop was the Piazza di Campo.
I used to have a painting of it on my wall years ago and it seemed surreal to see it live and in person. There was a chocolate festival and the piazza was swarming with locals, mostly the younger generation, enjoying their Sunday evening with friends.
We sat on a patio and again ate more than we needed to but how do you say no when you're in Italy burning 3000 calories or more per day? It was getting cold fast and at the first sign of rain, we paid our tab and bolted. We didn't quite make it home without getting wet but took shelter under one of the many arches in town.
By the time we made it to our room we were both completely spent. I think I fell asleep first for a change and with that level of exhaustion, nothing could wake me... not even a jackhammer.
Buona Notte x
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