Maria och Lennart

Walking on small roads and the last part on the main road I reached San Lorenzo Nuovo on mid-day. Time for coffee, panino and some rest at Bar Centrale.

The way soon turns left into a park area and stays there all the way to Bolsena. No sign of human life except for a few other walkers. I think there were about 3 other persons walking the same section that day. During the day I saw two of them. The track went uphill and downhill on small trails. Mostly there were signs to follow except for one crossing where there were signs in two directions. I took the right path, while the left was correct. It stopped at an open field in fallow. Walking along the edge of the field and with help of some instinct I soon joined the correct track.

The track later follows small roads with almost no traffic. The most common flower that time of the year was the poppy that sat a red tone to all fields.

Next morning began with a decent breakfast with yoghurt and juice. Good, for this was to be a long day, even though I was not aware of that yet. I took off at eight.

The first part goes along Via Cassia, the main road to Rome. The original Via Cassia, today called Via Cassia Antiqua, was built 200 – 300 years before Jesus walked around in Palestine. The current version is a main road for motorised traffic and has the same name all the way to Rome. The path turns right after a few km after passing a Coop where supplies can be refilled. Pellegrinos are guided to stroll along a beautiful landscape on small roads. The way is fairly clearly signed although a map can help shorten the way a little.

Feeling strong after a healthy lunch I decided to continue after visiting the borgo and its fantastic view over the Lago Bolsena.

Passing a thermal bath on the way, where people sat outside in several small pools, I finally reached Viterbo by six in the evening. Ten hours on foot except for the lunch in Montefiascone. Now I just needed a hotel and then some rest. Then I learned something; Viterbo is not a town, it is a labyrinth. There are whole blocks that have only one common entry and exit point, even for pedestrians. There are crossings on the map where there in reality is a bridge with five meters between the streets, and so on. Normally in an Italian village you just walk into the centre, find a decent hotel and get a room. I went around in the centre for one and a half hour without seeing any hotel. Two B&B found on Google maps were closed. Then I was asked by a woman if I spoke English.
–Yes.
–What is the thing in the middle of an olive called?
–Kernel, I suggested which was accepted.
It should have been stone, but kernel is used in computer language for the software in the middle. As a fair deal I asked for an albergo qui vincino, a hotel nearby.
-Si, va dritto al la chiesa, girare a sinistra, proseguire fino al porto, girare a destra, proseguire circa 1 km e albergo è a destra.
Super, there was a hotel. It was a **** hotel with price accordingly, but it was almost eight in the evening and I was tired and hungry.

I had some of my lunch supplies from Coop in Bolsena and fell asleep.

Morning on a **** hotel means a steady breakfast. Good for a pellegrino.

Leaving Viterbo the path takes a detour through an important Etruscan site. I was curious to see what they had left for us to discover. Etruscans were the people living here before the Romans came, saw and conquered. The Etruscans had a rich culture with a lot of influence from Greece.

Shortly after that, there was a nice place for rest where I stopped for lunch. I had the last remains from Coop in Bolsena and some water. It was windy and almost rain in the air, although it never fell down.

The track passed over the Via Cassia main road and continued into an area with small houses, continued into a forest and ended up on a road with absolutely no signs or hints on which direction to take. Thanks' to the offline map I could choose the correct way and continue up to Vetralla.

Unfortunately the restaurant with the same name driven by "La Nonna" was not of the same quality. The simplest bruschetta ever, bread with olive oil, basta! It was me and one woman (obviously Italian) in the same room and a large "famiglia" in another. The staff paid all attention to the other room and hardly looked at us when serving.

Breakfast in the morning and off again. I had not even left the old town when the rain started. This was my day of rain. The track went into a beautiful forest with some strange messages on the trees.

At lunch time I reached Capranica in heavy rain. I stopped at a bar just before the portal in the village to have something to eat and a coffee. It was Saturday and the bar was filled with men playing cards. They were hardly looking at a stupid man spending the day outdoor of free will. I was already wet and no chance to get dry in near time so after the coffee break I continued in the rain. No photos taken for the rest of that day due to the weather.

Time for some siesta waiting for the dinner. No restaurants open before 19:30 so there was also some time to look around the city. Sutri is a very old city, as most of the cities along the road.

Time for dinner. The restaurant "Via Roma 54" has "pilgrim menu", meaning a fixed menu for pellegrinos at an attractive price. Va bene! I entered and got a seat. Strange, but in the same relative position to me as yesterday was the same woman sitting, also having dinner. Since we now had met twice I was invited and we had dinner together. This was actually the first conversation I had since leaving home. Stefy, as her name is, is bilingual English-Italian so conversation in English and some mentorship in Italian. A nice conclusion of a hard and rainy day.

Morning and breakfast. The clothes were not dry yet but wool socks works perfectly even when a little humid. I left Sutri, passed the amphitheatre and denied help from a lady that tried to divert everyone into a long detour through a forest. The correct way was to keep straight on following the main road for a while.

I reached Monterosi just when getting hungry. I was focused on finding a bar so I missed the left turn in the village. Found a nice bar where I could sit outside and have a coffee and two tramezzini. I looked at the map and realised how to get back on track again. There were a few drops of rain when I left the bar, although almost sunshine. After crossing the Strada Regionale 2 (SR2, Via Cassia main road to Rome), that now had become an autostrada there was an important track selection. First alternative was along the SR2 on a parallel road, not recommended. Second alternative a 4 km longer detour through some forest area, recommended. Looking at the sky and knowing the weather forecast I decided to take the shorter alternative. After all, it was not on the autostrada, I thought. How wrong I was. After a while the parallel road disappeared and the only alternative was to jump down on the roadside of the SR2. It was a little scary meeting all Italians out on Sunday tour. After 300-400 meters I could leave the SR2 and walk on strange abandoned roads. The last part while leaving SR2 I was forced back on the roadside and walked on the slip road meeting all traffic entering on the SR2. Yes, they were looking backwards on the upcoming traffic and not forward toward me. I walked very close to the railing.

I had a nice dinner with Stefy and two German women. Now I learned about the different groups walking in parallel. There was the Brazilian, a group of women filled with jet lag and some injuries. The Italian group, that I passed the day before yesterday, slow of all stopping and talking. The German group represented in today's dinner and the Italian/English represented by Stefy. I was then the Swedish section and the only male pellegrino of all.

During the dinner I got a report on how it was to take the longer, safer track in the forest instead of along SR2 as I did. Actually it was even worse! They were all hit by the rain, a hefty thunder storm. They walked on slippery, muddy trails in the forest with the thunder all around them. I was happy that I took the SR2 version.

There was some talk about next day's walk where there should be a fording (Swedish: ett vad) over a torrent. I did not think it could be so dangerous bearing in mind that most pellegrinos eventually reach Rome.

Good night and good sleep.

Breakfast in the morning and then pay for the room. We had to wait while the woman in the office were finishing her cigarette and then could pay attention to us. I was the last one to leave the hotel and take off.

I later found out that it was a Green whip snake (Swedish: gulgrön pisksnok, Latin: Hierophis viridiflavus). You can see it on Wikipedia. It has always been considered to be non-toxic but recently someone has discovered that after around five minutes of biting there can be "suspect symptoms, including problems with neuromotor skills". I wonder who came up with the idea to test. "Let all snakes bite me for five minutes to find out if which actually are poisonous." How many did they test?

Here the route was not fully clear. Some descriptions pass outside Formello and some enter the city. So after Formello there was uncertainty about the track. I suggested following my map and going straight to the point where we joined the track passing outside of Formello. So we did and ended up on a narrow road with heavy traffic. We had to walk on the roadside for some kilometres. I don't think the Germans ever forgive me for that. If you happen to read this: Please forgive me, the other way was probably better.

Then there were more discussions about the fording. What if the heavy rain yesterday had caused flooding so it was impossible to cross? I said we have poles and they can be used, no problem.

The following day was the last day of my walk. The path here goes a lot along the Via Cassia and later Via Trionfale, two main roads with heavy traffic. Still in company with Stefy we decided to bypass that section. A bus took us to Stazione La Storta. A short visit to the Capella della Visione, a small chapel built on the spot where Saint Ignatius Loyola had a vision on his way to Rome 1537. Then we took the train to the Stazione Monte Mario.

Collect your last stamp i the pellegrino passport in the pilgrimage office on Piazza San Pietro. It is also possible to obtain the Pilgrimage Testimony here. This is the proof that you have done a pilgrimage of sufficient length. But if you feel that to be real the testimony shall be collected in the Vatican city, do not get one here; you can only get one.

I went to my B&B and Stefy went to her family outside Rome. This is a thing when walking on a Camino. You meet new people and find a lot of things to talk about. You spend some interesting days together and then just "arrivederci".