I yearned for the beauty, the wine and the food just as I had tasted several years ago in Perugia.This time I was doing it slightly differently though.
No soft days basking
No long lunches with wine
This time I would become a part of Italy
This time I would feel the history
Of journeys
Trudged across terrain
Forbidding and demanding.
This time my eyes would open
To a deep culture of challenge
This time I would see
People of the ages would make their stories known.
From Turin to Aosta was easy
Aosta to st Rhemy en Bosse after being told the Col de St Bernard was closed
Too much snow they said
My friend is tenacious and seeks adventure
So he found someone who would give us a lift
The Pass was open.... first time after winter
Came down from 2495m across the snow that covered parts of the Via Francigena... our road to Rome.
Steep and my knees were forced to react
Down to St Rhemy and found comfort in a beautiful B and B
Hidden way off the path.
Food wine and desperate sleep.
Then we continued for four days
Up steep slopes and down
Tortured muscles I had never known screamed!
But my wonderful friend knows how to walk and talk.....
My gratitude is palpable
Ancient roads
Broken houses of stone
Communal gardens of tomatoes and aubergines
Food of the region..... we have been immersed
Roman history etched in roads and massive buildings
Napoleon’s incursions into Italy and the stories he left.
So much
My head is full
And today as we take a zero
I have time to ponder
The beauty I have walked through and discovered.
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