Passo della Consuma

“Small steps in the right direction are better than big steps in the wrong one.”
~Every Hiker Out Here (Actually, just us)

Whoever said that has pretty much summed up our last 72 hours (each of our phones has not had cellular service because of issues with international data).

Instead of telling you the whole story, because who has time for that? We decided, instead, to just put together this “Bottom 6 List That Actually Became The Top 6 Things” about this journey so far:

6. Spent hours ascending a “hard” route on this trek, only to realize we were off track by MANY steps (both small and large with an etch-a-sketch recording of this attached!).

As a result, we met the most lovely Italiana who kindly chatted with us and pointed us in the correct (and opposite than we were going) direction.

5. Our solar chargers stopped working and we had no way to charge our quickly-depleting phones to guide us through to the next point. And it was getting late in the day.

As a result, we had to hang out at a “bar” to wait for a bus to take us down the last stretch of the walk. While waiting, we met several citizens of Diacetto and enjoyed gelato with them.

4. Italy has a great public transportation system. And we weren’t afraid to use it (that’s a lie, we were terrified and had no choice). The bus we took runs through this valley of little villages all over “the island.” While enjoying the Tuscan views around us, we didn’t notice that we should have changed buses at a stop.

As a result, we arrived safely, hours later, in the quaint and locals-filled piazza of Consuma ready to walk to our B & B.

3. Unfortunately, the B&B was farther from the piazza than we realized. There were no more buses running and no taxis in this little town.

As a result, we met a shopkeeper, his 2 customers and a high school student wanting to practice her English skills, who not only helped us figure out where to go, but drove us there as well. Who knew talking to strangers could be a good thing?!

2. Our phones were now dead. Once dropped off, we were in front of a legit Tuscan villa and knocked on the door (with the keys still in the lock), rang the doorbell, and could hear a phone ringing in the background. No one was home. This was beginning to feel like an episode of Dateline. Finally, a neighbor, probably wanting the pounding noises to stop, got the owner who had left because he thought we weren’t showing up.

As a result, the owner gave us a tour of his gorgeous estate, checked us into a lovely room, and then left some snacks out for us, knowing we were hungry.

1. The owner then told us he was leaving for the night and that we would be there all alone. Forget Dateline, this was now moving toward a Stephen King finale. We went to our room, put the mace next to our beds, and propped our trekking poles against the door handle. When the owner showed up a few hours later, we probably frightened him as much as he scared us. Spoiler alert: we survived.

As a result, we woke up the next morning to an amazing breakfast outdoors with another view of the Tuscan countryside. Unfortunately, we realized too late that we had on very similar outfits. Awkward.

Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong almost every step of the way. And, as a result, it was another great day in Italy…Read more