Gambassi Terme

While putting my socks on this morning I noticed I have been using my feet to clean the mangy floor. Required washing asap. Choice was shower - no good as just an overhead shower head and it seemed silly to shower when only my feet were dirty, bidet - if the floor was that dirty I wasn’t putting anything near that, which left the basin. Despite not being at my Stretch & Mobilise classes for a few months that was no problem. Never mind standing on one leg while brushing your teeth I think I could recommend regular washing your feet in the basin to help maitain your balancing ability. Stephen, you are excused that one, no-one wants to see your hernia yet again.

It is a sure sign of a tourist trap of a village when I passed numerous restaurants on my way out but not a single useful shop. No food for today. Still it’s only 15 miles so not too much of a problem. I was also out of water but there were fountains apparently somewhere on route.

Lovely walking today. Tuscany looking good although late in the year so not nearly as green as it would have been earlier. Don’t know what crops were there but they are long gone, leaving brown earth.

No end of other walkers about. I must have passed at least 15. Almost all in 2’s or more. Not that I am walking faster than them all, I think, I just don’t stop to fidget as much. For example lots of folk need to stop to have a drink. Basic mistake. You really need to be able to take your bottle out of, and back into, your rucksack side pocket while walking, especially if in a group of 3 or 4. No idea where they are all going, or started from, I didn’t say more than hello to any of them. I’m not here to chat. Tomorrow I will start earlier and avoid this nonsense hopefully. At least 3 couples were American judging by their voices. Common factor is they were all just carrying what looked like day bags. They must be using a baggage transfer service.

Passed a small memorial for the first batch of 150 Swiss troops that rested here on their way to Rome to become the Swiss Guards at the Vatican ever since. It is things like that that are reminders that the Via was the main route North to South for an awful long time.

Arrived about 2.30pm but couldn’t get into my room until after 3pm. Plenty of time for a welcome ice cream. I asked in the local bar what time they served food tonight and got the reply 8pm. Bit late. No wifi in the b&b and no signal so I needed to head back to the bar to buy some water and use their wifi. It was pay-day at the playgroup and I had work to do. It’s amazing how long a Scot can drag out a bottle of water. While there I noticed that some folk seemed to be ordering food at 6.30pm. I moved fast. It seems that if you want something that they have already prepared, like lasagne, they were happy to heat and serve it straight away but if it needed actual cooking then you would have to wait. Excellent. Ordered and eaten before 7pm. Interestingly it is now about 8pm and there isn’t any sign of any cooking or anyone interested in food. Really don’t understand this country sometimes. Been forced to have a couple of pints while following the rugby and writing this epistle. Better get to bed now rather than hang about which would need another.Read more