Chuck's News: Day Eight - Wednesday, October 29, 2026 Midpoint of Day 3 stage back to San Miniato

Weather-sunny & warm, High 69, Low 49, Clear blue skies all day with a few high clouds. On Route 7.45 miles, Total Distance 9.76 miles, 22,877 steps

Swimming Upstream

Stage 3 of this journey from Lucca to Rome is about 15 miles long. Too great a distance for us to hike in a day. The question is, how do we shorten it? There are no services along the 15 miles long stretch. No towns. No shops. In researching I found a road the crosses the route at exactly the halfway point. Now, how to utilize this fact. Upon arriving in Miniato yesterday we asked the woman at the hostel if she knew of a taxi. She did, and quickly secured two rides to this midpoint for us, one for today and one for tomorrow. Today, we will hike north instead of south, back the 7.45 miles to Miniato. Tomorrow we will hike south from the midpoint, on to the next town, Gambassi 7.38 miles.

We awoke about 7:15 along with our roommates Sebastian and Sabine. They were up and out the door quickly. Our taxi didn’t arrive until 8:30 so we leisurely had our eggs and yogurt for breakfast and shrunk down my pack for a day hike.

The taxi arrived promptly at 8:30 with Roberto at the wheel. It took about twenty minutes to drive to our starting point in the tiny collection of about five buildings called Coiomo. We paid Robert the 35€, and off we went.

The route was all on dirt roads on the ridge top, winding along with views off both sides. It was sunny and cool, a beautiful day in every aspect. We knew we would meet everyone today as they headed south so we made a bet as to what time we would run into Sebastian and Sabine. Sally guessed 10:00, I took 9:45. About 9:55 we stopped for a break in a spot with a commanding view south and had settled into a patch of grass and a snack when around the corner appeared our two new friends. We started to laugh. It was 10:04. We shared our delight at Sally’s good guess as they sat down to rest and have a bite to eat with us. 15 minutes later we took a photo and said our goodbyes. Just then two women from London came by. A quick chat and we were on our way.

The route continued as before, running the ridge top. In the near distance we saw a picnic table with a man seated at it. We stopped to take advantage of the bench and found he was from Idaho, but used to live in Centralia and worked for Northwest Hardwoods. What a small world!! After we left him we ran into Vanessa, another roomy from last night who teaches in the international school in Rome, but is from Toronto. About half a mile further we found a sunny spot with a good view, a grassy seat and a fence to lean against to enjoy our lunch.

The route dumped us out on a paved road with light traffic that we followed all the way back to our hostel in Miniato about two miles. We arrived right at 3:00. We immediately set out to climb to the highest point in town where Fredrick II built his massive brick tower to lord over the countryside. The tower was closed when we got on top, but the views were amazing from the grassy field at its base.

Back down, we wandered town waiting for the grocery to open at 5:00. We stopped at the same coffee shop as yesterday for a Coke and some planning for the days ahead. At 5:10 we found our grocery open and bought spinach to supplement our planned stir fry for dinner and more focaccia bread, some bananas and more lunch meat and cheese for lunch tomorrow.

Back at the hostel we cooked dinner and talked with Ken from Michigan and the woman that has been walking since July who we neglected to find her name. She is pulling a cart with her pack on it. She is 61 and quite reserved and quiet. I had hoped to write after dinner but was too tired to do so and quickly fell asleep about 9:00. Another amazing day.