Sutri to Campagnano

We made our own breakfast - a welcome first after several weeks - and walked out around 8:30 on a sunny day to see, just across the road almost, some grand Etruscan tombs. Then the lowlight of walking beside or on a road for quite a way until we were in hazelnut orchards and chestnut forests, and later on olives and grassy fields with sheep.

Only one town - Monterosi - was on the way today, and will be remembered for the many police cars and uniformed people in the narrow main street, seemingly for an official function. Then over a freeway and more roads through farmland. It was open country, but definitely not the rolling hills and scenic views of Tuscany. We detoured into a national park with small cascades (the Gelato Falls), and had a lunch break around 1 :30 on the edge of an olive grove. More roads then until a 100m climb up to Campagnano, which is another town stretched along a steep ridge. This time it was by design: the duchy owner redesigned the town in c 1700 and had people build grand houses along the new, straight(ish) main street.

Our hotel is "dated" and basic, to the point of having no hooks or things like soap racks. We could check in at 2:55, though, and it was very quiet: we were the first guests. I doubt there will be many more. We have only seen two other walkers today, so numbers of “pilgrims” must drop quickly in November, when the camino organisers stop operations here. Campanagno seemed to have moved with the times: at 3pm, most shops and churches were closed. We walked around the streets again from 5pm to see whatever was to be seen, and by 6pm the traffic was non-stop (Rome commuters?), with quite a few bars and similar-looking restaurants looking like they would be open. Lots of smokers on the streets, and some awe-inspiring parking, like the odd tiny Fiat at 90 deg in an area of parallel parking.

Dinner was a challenge: we had several similar but widely-spaced alternatives, so where to go? Downstairs - outside was 11 deg. Home- made sausages, salad, pizza and pasta, and real(ly good) bread.

36,550 steps, 29.5 km and 25 flights. Tomorrow’s walk is similar to today’s - around 24 km, and a stretch on roads - and we will already be in the outskirts of Rome.Читать далее