To Acquapendente - Jan 27

A winter wonderland walk!

Morning in Radicofani.

Petra gets up before I and braves the cold house to start a fire in the kitchen stove. The bedroom is not warm when I get up but least the kitchen is warm when I get there. Thanks, Petra.

We are out in the snow early. Beautiful sun but cold--around 30 F. (-1 C.)--the coldest we have walked in. It in pleasant and the sun keeps us warmer that the thermometer would indicate. And as a bonus, the frozen ground makes the mud from yesterday's rain and snow a non-factor in our walk. Thank you for the cold. It is a winter wonderland of ice and snow and sun. But the cold is a bit too much for my digital camera. Several pictures do not record correctly and I end up with too much useless static.

The panoramas are worth having taken the side-moving path to get to Radicofani yesterday. Maybe that is the reason for the dog the other day, to slow us. Without him we would have been walking this way yesterday in the rain and snow. We would have seen nothing.

A German living up here is walking his dog as he pass. We talk a while of the beauty of the area and the numbers of people that walked this way in the Holy Year, 2000. The numbers have dropped off every year since.

The signs point the way even in the snow. Looking back towards Santiago.

The signs point the way even in the snow. We're looking back towards Santiago. Yellow to Santiago. White to Rome.

Back down at the highway we discover another apparent reason for the dog. The refugio here, which could have been a destination had the dog not slowed us, is only a couple containers next to the church. Perhaps they are just wonderful but they look Spartan. Besides Ponte a Rigo, where the church is, is only a bridge, a couple houses, and a bar. Looks a lot bigger on the map and in the guidebooks. But as we cross its bridge we enter Lazio Province, the last before Rome. And like entering Galicia on the Camino de Santiago there are about 93 miles to go (150 kilometers) to go.

We have just entered Lazio Province, 146 kilometers (90 miles) to Rome.

We have just entered Lazio Province. On the road it's 146 kilometers (90 miles) to Rome. It's a bit more on foot.

The rest of the way follows SS2 except for a few short stretches and the last few kilometers over a ridge and into Acquapendente. The sun makes the walk pleasant while the ever-present traffic keeps us on our toes.

In town we stray from the marked path and, following directions from a passer-by, end up on the constraining car path through the town. We arrive at a new refugio we find not so inviting (cold and dark). We walk up a long path to the sisters of Lazzaro and stay in their unheated pilgrimage room. Again a heater in the kitchen keeps us warm while we are in the kitchen. But the path down the long hall to the toilet in the middle of the night proves to be very long. At least our breath and presence keeps the small room we are sleeping in a bit warmer and damper than the rest of the house through the night. But we pilgrims are supposed to be thankful for a place to stay out of the elements. We are. Thanks sisters.

We walk into the dark, twisting, medieval streets of the city for a pizza in the evening before making our way cold back up the icy path to the convent. Acquapendente is not inviting to us. It is probably a wonderful town, but we do not feel at home here.

Radicofani 26 Jan Contents Bolsena 28 Jan