Via Francigena day six

Happy endings

It doesn’t matter whether we start early or late, or whether the day is short or long, there’s always at least two hours prior to arrival when it’s unbearably hot. The destination made up for a lot.

The timing of breakfast today wasn’t bad - 7.30am is about as good as it gets and we were out on the street soon after 8am.

We walked a strange zig-zag through the streets of the awkwardly-named Colle di Val d’Elsa, before we descended to a scenic track along the banks of the river Elsa.

The water was a very nice shade of turquoise, apparently a result of the calcium carbonate flushed from the rocks of the region.

There were some very quaint river crossings with safety ropes - just as well, as the wet rocks were very slippery.

We were caught by English Kate, who’d been at breakfast with us too.

After 5km or so, we were sweating nicely and couldn’t resist.

By then the temperature was 28 degrees. The water was a bit above 20, so very refreshing.

Things continued to heat up. We found ourselves on exposed roads, some sealed, some (like this one) gravel and some just plain gnarly.

For a spell we had a beautiful forest path.

Nice buildings. We found a coffee and ice cream stop too.

More exposed fields on rough tracks through grape vines and olive trees. The haze from the Canadian bush fires has started to abate, so we could see distances more clearly. After 15km and nearly five hours we arrived to the luxury of a swimming pool.

We could have walked on 2km in the heat to the historic town of Monteriggioni, examined the churches and artifacts and walked back again, but we stayed by the pool all afternoon.

There’s no cheap food, no supermarket, everything is overpriced. We’re just going to be brave.

Here’s today’s photos

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