Stage 14: Acquapendente to Bolsena

23.4 kilometers
Elevation gain/loss: 638m/676m
Steps: 31,049
Total distance traveled: 267.2km
Distance to Rome: 143.6km

When we started out at 7:10 this morning, the temperature was only 11°C, but it didn't feel that cool. Although the skies were overcast, our weather apps indicated we would skirt around any rainfall.

Leaving Acquapendente, the scenery left a lot to be desired. It wasn't horrible, but there was literally nothing of interest to look at except for the clouds. At around the 6 km mark, very light and scattered rain began to fall. It was so light I didn't bother putting on my rain jacket. And so we trod on through the boring, moist countryside until we arrived at our 11 km rest stop in San Lorenzo Nuvo. The first thing we saw when entering the town was a market with the biggest Porcini display I've ever seen. Good omen.

After consuming a very good cappuccino, and two excellent pastries that were in the take-away breakfast provided by our previous host, we set out.

Those delicious pastries must have contained fairy dust, because from that point on, La Francigena regained it's beauty.

Mere meters into the second half of today's walk, we entered a wooded trail that resembled something from a classic Disney cartoon. The soft path was covered by a canopy of mature trees, and bordered by a forest floor carpeted with pale purple cyclamen. There were a few rocky, technical climbs and descents, giving us the impression that this portion of La Francigena had been teleported here from BC. As we continued on, the forest opened up to give us stunning views of Lake Bolsena.

Lake Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe, and it contains two islands formed by underwater eruptions. The volcano has been dormant for over 2000 years.

After we checked in, Brenda and I walked down to the lake and admired the scenery and the wildlife. I've often been called a miserable old coot, but I've never actually seen a young coot until today. The black water fowl wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask is a coot! Huh. Who knew? There were dozens of coots and Mallards swimming and walking the shoreline during our visit, all of them seemingly fearless of us humans.

For lunch we stopped at Kebab Queen and had THE BEST falafel wrap of our lives. I know we're in Italy, but sometimes you a little spice in your life.

Along today's walk, I saw three things I've never seen before:
1) Hunters using their dogs to flush fowl from tall grass.
2) A pile of porcupine quills on the trail, probably left after a battle
3) A shepherd directing his dogs to herd his flock. The whistles followed by the dogs' immediate response was a thing of beauty.

This evening we'll climb back up to the historic old hillside town to enjoy one of the local restaurants, which will hopefully feed us as well as the Kebab Queen did.Read more