Weather-sunny & cold (7°F below normal) with clouds covering 90% of the sky and strong winds - High 55, Low 41, On Route 9.14 miles, Total Distance 11.89 miles, 28,812 steps
Cold, Blustery and Busy Day
It was hard to leave our cozy nest of an apartment this morning. The heat came on during the night, keeping it nice and warm as we showered, dressed, scrambled eggs and packed up to go. Yet, we arose at 6:30 and were out the door at 8:00 on the nose.
What a contrast to yesterday afternoon. The crowds of tourists were nowhere to be seen. In Gambassi at 8:00 the piazza was full of locals grabbing a breakfast at the cafe and visiting in the square. Here a few tourist cafes were open to feed the locals as they came to work, but there was no clusters of people chatting.
We walked the main street to the southern portal and exited this amazing city, the buildings perfectly preserved, spotlessly clean overlooked by its columns of stone towers.
Right away we had two ladies from France pass us. Within a mile a group of twenty, each with a dog passed us. As the morning progressed and the miles passed under our feet we had people catch and pass us, perhaps 40 in all? Two German women, a couple from the Czech Republic, a man from London, three groups of Italian men, and others we didn’t get a chance to talk with. We saw more pilgrims today than we have seen in all the other days combined. Most were finishing their walk in Siena. We suspect it is the weekend that is the cause of the crowds. People out for a three or four day hike between towns.
Our route was downhill the first 2.5 miles as we left San Gimignano perched on its hill. We started on busy city streets and then ducked onto country roads, some rutted from erosion and only passable with an off road vehicle. After the long descent we climbed past extensive vineyards, topped out on a ridge and the descended only to repeat the process. It was again stunningly beautiful in spite of the cold wind and threatening skies.
At about the halfway point for the day, as we descended a rugged dirt road, we came upon a bright yellow house on the left. As we approached a man climbing up to the house from below with his dog turned into the entrance, set out an aperto sign and set some menu boards up. I asked if he had Coca Cola. He replied with a strong “Si!” I dropped my pack on the bench out front and entered his cluttered outdoor dining area. Sally was only a few steps behind and we sat at a table and asked for two Cokes.
The proprietor was a happy man in his early sixties, humming and singing as he passed behind a curtain of stringed beads and returned with our drinks, glasses, and two small bowls, one with four dates and one with four cookies. Sally paid the €6. He busied himself feeding his dog and working behind the curtain, turning on opera music on his speaker system and singing along. Soon he was cutting blazing white slices off a ball of something about the diameter of a football. “What is that”, we asked. In broken English but mostly Italian we told us it was a fungi he finds in the surrounding forest. There was another on the table, the size of a soccer ball. He described finding them up to 25 kilos in size. He quickly surmised our interest and brought out a platter of open face sandwiches, bread with a grilled slice of this mushroom on top drizzled with olive oil and lemon. He plated two for us and refused our offer to pay. I was carrying food for lunch, but this offering made them dead weight in my pack as we completed our fair.
We would have loved to stay longer, but we had to keep walking. We thanked him for the lessons and the food and were on our way. Another climb of 300-400 feet brought us to a plateau with a paved road and houses spaced as if on 20 acre lots. Soon we were dodging traffic in the city of our destination, Colle de Valle d’Elsa. We stopped for a potty break at a cafe, buying a acqua frizzante for its use. We walked into the beautifully preserved old town on the hill. It was devoid of people on this Sunday afternoon and we walked the length of it before descending a steep bricked road at the far end into the more modern lower town. The wind had made its presence a nuisance and it was really quite cold. We wove through the town and navigated via gps to our Osteria for the night. It was locked up. We tried a weathered wood door and found it barred, but suddenly it opened from the inside and a young heavyset woman let us in. There was no one else inside this large, 50 bed hostel. A phone call to the manager steered us to room five. We had to use our headlamps to find it because the power appeared to be shut off. The lights worked on room five. We picked two beds to use from the eight in the room. We made ourselves at home although without heat we left our jackets on. At least there was no wind in here. After half an hour the manager came to collect our €42 for our night’s stay. We got the code for the door from him, then locked up our stuff in a cabinet and headed for a Donar Kabab place just a five minute walk away. We hoped it was heated so we could sit and plan the next day’s route while we ate. It was. Hal an hour later we took a quick walk 4 minutes further to a grocery store for yogurt to fill out our menu for the coming days and we scurried back to the hostel as the wind blew and light rain began to fall. We were surprised to find another occupant, a woman from France. We got the tea pot working and chatted with her in the dining area, keeping our hands warm wrapped around our cups. I nuked a full Platypus water bottle for Sally to use as a hot water bottle and tucked it inside her coat.
We climbed into our beds about 6:30, happy to have a fluffy quilt on top to keep us warm. What a luxury to be able to hike all day and then have no responsibilities in the evening. We laid in our separate twin beds and read and planned and both were asleep by 7:30.
The weather looking forward shows no rain for another week and the temperatures are coming up again. Another great day complete, with many more in front of us. Life is good (even if a little chilly).
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| San Gimignano before the tourist buses arrive |
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| What a gorgeous town in a gorgeous setting |
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| People with pooches walking the Via Fracigena |
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| Beautiful fall forests to walk through |
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| A stream crossing at a low point before climbing to the next ridge top |
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| Signs mark the way |
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| Halfway up a ridge with the previous one behind us |
 | | Salvatore’s “cafe” |
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| Cokes and Fungi |
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| Fungi and Eggplant |
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| Walking into Colle di Valle d’Elsa |
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| In the old part of town |
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| Looking down on the new part of town from the old hill town |
