Via Francigena day 18

Montefiascone to Viterbo

Viterbo is an interesting place. It has a population of about 67,000, so we had a long journey through complex highway systems and roundabouts to get to the old part of town, which has an almost completely intact wall surrounding it.

For a few decades back in the 13th century, it was the papal seat and it was here that the idea of a conclave to elect a pope was first floated.

In fact, five conclaves were hosted here.

They weren’t hasty affairs. The conclave of 1268-1271, was decided after an invasion of the populace, annoyed at the delay.

The cardinals were more or less locked in until they elected Gregory X, (the front-runner was taken away and thrown in jail) who didn’t do what was expected of him, moving the papacy to Ovieto.

There are many versions of this story (of course). Read some of them here.

Our day can’t compare with that, but it didn’t go as expected, mostly because of the heat, which goes on and on.

See what I mean? It got hotter.

Winding back a bit.

Last night we had more pizza.

They’re great, but our bodies are crying out for fruit and veg.

We rose at 5.30am and made a stealthy exit from our hotel at 6am

They’d left us out a couple of lunch bags, but I don’t know why we bother to ask. Dry bread comes into it a lot. At least this one had a banana in it. They gave us 500ml of water, even though we told them last night we had that under control. Three kilograms of water is a lot to carry, but necessary.

We did find treasure though, just as we were about to leave.

The day’s supply of pastry had just arrived and was waiting under a cover for the breakfast of hotel guests.

We snaffled a couple. I went for the custard filled version I love so much. It was the best croissant I’ve ever had.

We crammed them into our mouths and ran like naughty school children in case we were caught.

‘Ran’ isn’t quite the word. We crept up these steps as the morning sun hit the buildings above us. Our tired limbs groan at such cruel treatment early in the day.

On the surface, today was to be easier than yesterday. It was about the same distance (18km), but was either down or flat.

Sadly, the downs were so steep we had to take them slowly and the flats were exposed completely at all times.

There was no shade. There were no seats or picnic tables. There were no towns, no coffee stops, no remission of any sort.

Although there was wind and dust. The wind helped relieve the heat a little, but the dust got into every pore of our body, not to mention our clothes and shoes.

The surface was interesting for quite a long way. Examples of the early Via Cassia leading to Rome.

We hopped along that for several kilometres.

These two chaps weren’t walking very fast.

We saw vast crops of this - alfalfa?

And this - who knows? Maybe some sort of berries?

Plenty of this right now.

About 500m from our hotel we found a bar and stopped for the first caffeine hit of the day - and some icy fizzy water, which is always very refreshing when you’re feeling down.

After our 6am start, we arrived soon after 11am. We had a warm welcome and fell straight into our room, which has a wonderful sunny terrace for the drying of clothes. We both wear the same thing every day - at least I do. The same shorts, T-shirt and socks, although today I noticed that my toe had gone through my favourite socks, which I wore on my first Camino Frances in 2019.

After showers, we checked out the Saturday market in the piazza.

It was almost all junk clothing and other tat. Who buys this stuff? There were truck loads of it being packed away when we arrived soon after noon.

The other thing we noticed was a proliferation of barber shops, maybe a dozen in close proximity to the piazza.

We saw the same thing in Carlisle last year during our England walk. There, they were explained as a front for money laundering. Is it the same here? Many of them had dodgy characters sitting around inside or outside. I wouldn’t trust my head to one of them.

Our other cultural experience today was the supermarket.

Every night we have the business of finding somewhere to eat. It’s always too late, with most places not opening until 7.30pm. As well as that, it’s expensive and we never quite get what we feel comfortable with. Pizzas are all very well - pasta too. Salads are available, but always as an extra.

On the other hand. at the supermarket we got a couple of boxed salads for €3 each. We also got a bunch of yoghurt pottles, some fruit, a half bottle of Chianti and a couple of beers - all for €17. I didn’t mention three litres of water for 56 cents. The water here doesn’t taste that good and gets a low rating online, so we have enough to see us through tomorrow.

I was sorely tempted by 700ml of Johnny Walker for €11, the cheapest I’ve seen, but I still have a little in my travelling flask, so resisted.

Tomorrow is Sunday - new plan. We’ll see how it goes.

Here’s today’s photo albums.