Today we went our separate ways.

Very sad.

It was a fabulous group of people, including Ivan the Terrible and his Beautiful Wife Giovanna – and for a very brief time, Sigrid and her husband Roland. Sigrid is a die-hard pilgrim, and it was wonderful to catch up with her again.

Meeting and getting to know Patty Talbot has been a true highlight for Jen and me as well.

She is a remarkable lady – she has a sharp intellect and an even sharper sense of humour. She creaked us up many a time. I look forward to her coming to Australia, so that I can show her once and for all that Drop Bears are in fact real, and will suck out your brains.

Also, for someone who claims she did no training for this tour, she did amazingly well over some of the steepest terrain. She nailed a few long days, which on this walk was no mean feat. I hope we stay in touch…

So this morning, Jennifer and I woke up early and went up to the Basilica one last time –

I took too many photos of Jennifer and she tried to kick me – which I didn’t think was very pilgrim-esque, nor appropriate behaviour for where we were…

We said goodbye to Patty, who took a cab to the train station to head back to Pisa, then home to the UK – then we loaded up the small rental and piled in – Jennifer and Marie in the back, in between luggage –

Me driving and Pete in the front beside. Ken and Angie waved us off –

They’re staying in Assisi for a few more days before heading back to Oz –

We then whizzed down to Rome, where we dropped Peter off at the airport, which was sad too. Peter has been a strong and steadying figure throughout the walk – and a huge amount of fun too. Over the past two weeks we’ve shared many a laugh – in fact I’ve shared many a laugh with Ken and Angie too, and Patty, and Marie, and Ivan and Giovanna – bloody hell, it’s actually been a very funny tour.

I forgot to mention, we got our Via di Francesco Compostelas yesterday. That was very cool…I’ll finish off this blog bow with a series of photos I took of Marie last night.

Marie had asked that we bring her an insect net from Australia, because often she walks and has problems with bugs. She had seen someone wearing an insect net in one of the posts I’d done from Uluru – and asked if we could get her one.

Yesterday we gave it to her – and I asked her to do a little modelling – firstly I asked her to  act like she was a bank robber or killer – then I asked her to dance.

I’m not sure which is the scarier…

Today was the last day of the tour – a free day in Assisi.

And we made the most of it.

After breakfast we wandered up to the central square area of the town, stopping to take photos of interesting things –

We got to the main square, where bleachers were being assembled for activities tonight to do with the May Spring Rites Festival.

We have tickets to attend, and it should be a wonderful way to finish up the tour.

(pictures and story on this tomorrow)

Jennifer had found the house where St. Francis lived and grew up, and we visited his bedroom and the place where his father locked him up for being too compassionate.

We then hopped in the van and drove down to the plain below Assisi, to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli – a huge Cathedral and the most sacred place of the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church.

This is where St. Francis renounced his world of privilege, decided on a life of poverty and to help others – and where the Franciscan Order was established.

The small chapel where all this started is now housed within the Basilica, and it looks strange – this tiny medieval chapel in the middle of a massive cathedral. But it’s this chapel that attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and worshippers each year.

After sneaking off dozens of photos – under the tuft-tutt eyes of guards – we walked across the road to a well hidden local gem of a restaurant, and our final meal together; a lunch of local meats, cheeses, beautiful wines, scrambled eggs with truffle, risotto with truffle, spaghetti with truffle, beef with truffle, and truffle with truffle.

Oh yes, and Peter has become fixated with Buffalo Mozarella so we made sure to order a serving. He will go into withdrawal when he returns to Melbourne. I feel an importing business coming on.

After lunch we drove back up to Assisi – and then said our farewells to Elena, who has been a most wonderful van driver and assistant and general all round help and lovely young lady. We will all miss her.

She dropped me at the Perugia airport for me to pick up a smaller rental, while she drove the van back to Florence.

It’s been an intense and incredible two weeks. And I will write separately on that in the coming days. But everyone has had profound experiences on this journey. For one or two, it’s triggered some major reshuffling.

For Jennifer and me, it’s the completion of about 12 months planning, and we’re mightily pleased that everyone has had such a wonderful time, and everything has gone to plan without incident.

More than that though, we too have had some profound experiences – and this two weeks will live with us for a very long time.

Tonight we made our way back to the square to see the last night of the Spring Rites festivities – hundreds of townsfolk dressed up in medieval costume, with heralds and musicians – and several teams of operatic singers doing a kind of “Battle Rap” amongst themselves.

The music was extraordinary. It was hard to believe these were live performances, they sounded so good. They were cheered on by thousands of spectators, who clapped and booed like it was a footy match.

We sat on the bleachers and watched this all, and marvelled at the quality of the singing. What a great way to complete the tour.

Tomorrow we go our separate ways – Ken and Angie are staying on in Assisi a few more days; Marie and Patty are heading back to their respective homes, as is Peter, while Jennifer and I prepare to fly to Turkey the following day.

Tonight Peter and I did a calculation – we added up the total metres climbed during our nine days, and the total metres descended. Over nine days we averaged a per day climb of 600m, and a per day descent of 640m.

The climb to O’Cebreiro is 600m or thereabouts – so each day for nine days we averaged an O Cebreiro climb, and an even bigger descent.

No wonder we felt knackered.

Unfortunately I can’t post my full contingent of shots this evening – because the internet is so weak – however I’m hoping that either in Rome or Turkey I will have better connections, and I will post those shots you’ve missed out on.

It’s been an extraordinary day.

We left Valfabbrica early, and headed off in cool sunny weather. The heat had yet to settle in. On the outskirts of town is a wall of hand painted murals depicting the story of St. Francis.

By the way, we’ve completed this walk without it raining once. The two weeks before we started, it poured down. Even in Florence, the day before we started, it was raining. But the first day we set off from La Verna, it was sunny – and it hasn’t rained since.

So, my record for rainless walking tours is intact!

Now, blatant self aggrandisement moment over, back to today…

We all wanted to walk this 14km stage into Assisi – even though it was going to be another difficult one – with two big ascents totalling nearly 600m.

This countryside once again was breathtaking. I’ve said this before, but this is the most beautiful walk I’v ever been on. But it’s also been the hardest – for me, most probably because of the chest infection I’ve carried for most of it. It has sapped me of energy, and I’ve found it hard to breath going up the hills. But it hasn’t stopped me, just slowed me.

The others have powered. Truly powered.

We stopped at a cairn with a cross on it – surrounded by rocks and pebbles left there by pilgrims. We decided to leave our bottle of barnacles, as a mark of respect.

(Thank you Lynda and Dale Lozner – we all wore our barnacle bottles each day, and I think it was fitting we left them there, in sight of Assisi… )

As we got closer, Assisi loomed. From afar, it looked magnificent.

At the base of Assisi is a statue of Padre Pio.

We were in good spirits when Marie walked up –

After a final long and steep climb we finally reached the gates of the town.

We’d made it!

We celebrated by having a very long lunch at a Trattoria just inside the gates. We drank too much wine and laughed too hard and toasted Drop Bears too many times.

Peter and Ken had written a song about Jennifer, and how she (allegedly) has to put up with me – and over lunch they sang it to the old Donovan song Jennifer Juniper… I have a video of it which I will post separately. It’s hilarious, with Marie getting up and dancing.

Afterwards we went to the Basilica on the edge of the Assisi escarpment, which put the walk into a solemn context. We were humbled by the magnificence of the church, and by the spirit of St. Francis that enveloped us so very quickly and powerfully.

We went down into the lower levels, to the tomb where St. Francis’ relics are kept. Jennifer and I have been there many times now, and yet it still hits you with enormous power. The energies in that Basilica, and in Assisi generally, are extremely potent.

It’s the kind of place where you just have to sit and think. Some people pray, some people meditate, and some simply take stock of things that are important, and not so important, in their lives. You can’t walk down into those lower tombs of the St. Francis Basilica and not be deeply affected.

As hard as the walk has been, we all feel very strongly that it’s been worth it, to end up here in Assisi – one of the most powerful spiritual centres on this planet.

This unfortunately will have to be a placeholder post until I can put up a full post tomorrow. We have arrived in Assisi, and so I will do that post later – and come back to this penultimate day tomorrow as well, when I have more time.

Right now it’s past midnight, and it’s been a long day and a long walk. But here’s a shot from day 11 – leaving our digs at Biscina and heading to Valfabbrica, only 15kms from Assisi…

Doesn’t this shot remind you of the Abbey Road cover…?

OK, so now I have better internet connection, and I can post some shots from yesterday.

Today was an easier day – thank goodness – and so I have a little more time too, because we got into our end town by 2pm. But more on that on a separate blog. Now for yesterday…

Our route out of Gubbio took us past the spot where St. Francis is said to have placated the wolf. There’s a church there – built in the 12th Century, and inside two people were praying. There were very old murals on the walls, and a sense of calm. A beautiful chapel.

Peter the day before had broken the strap on one of his poles, so we stopped in at a sports store on the way out of town, where he bought a new set – Nordic walking poles, like Ivan had. Quite different to the poles we all use – thinner, lighter, and connected at the wrists by gloves.

Peter hit the tar with these new poles fairly singing – notice the backward slant of the poles, which is the way they’re meant to be used, as against the perpendicular way we use our normal trekking poles.

We then had several kilometres walking through relatively flat and pretty countryside –

The path then began to climb – and this was the start of a series of hills and mountains that would tucker us out by the end of the day.

At lunchtime we ducked into an Agriturismo along our route –

Elena had prepped them to have lunch prepared – beautiful handmade pasta, wine, and frittata.

We staggered out into the now blazing heat to continue – another 13kms to go, with more mountains to come.

I discovered I had a brace malfunction – my leg brace had slipped down off my knee – and so I found a deserted farmhouse and sat on the front steps and did a little readjustment, which involved taking off my trousers and retightening the brace –

Turned out the farmhouse wasn’t abandoned. The owner of the place – a woman – hearing noises outside (Peter and Ken making wise cracks about my state of undress) opened the door that I was leaning against, took one look down at this semi-naked man with a metal contraption on his leg, gave a little squeal of dismay or disgust, I’m not sure which, (it certainly wasn’t delight),  then slammed the door on me.

This is how I felt about that –

Having fixed the brace malfunction, we quickly moved on.

The paths got steeper –

Angela had hurt her knee climbing out of a steaming bath the day before, and so she was in the van. It was just Ken, Peter and me.

Jennifer and Patty had done a jump and were in front of us. We finally met up with them, impressed that they’d managed to climb some of the steep paths we’d climbed, and not taken the van. Mind you, there was no way the van could get in to where we were…

We finally broke out of the close cover and reached the top of a hill, or a mountain, only to find Elena bounding down to greet us with a bottle of water. We were so glad to see her, because that meant we were close to where we’d be stopping for the night.

Unfortunately there was another big hill to climb first – we climbed up first then took photos of the girls coming up after us… (this photo gives no indication of how long and how steep this hill was.)

We thought at the top of the hill that we would find our hotel, but we discovered it was a further 1.5kms on before we reached the Tenuta di Biscina – a hotel for pilgrims.

It had an amazing view…

It had been a long and very demanding day for us – but we felt good that we’d achieved it.

It’s coming on midnight and so I will make this brief. 

Also, I am in the mountains north of Assisi now, and Internet is sketchy. So I can’t post any of the photos I took today. I will have to do that later. 

Today was another hard slog. We climbed a total of 900m, and descended a total of 650m. Perhaps the biggest toughest climb was right at the end of the day, to reach our hotel.

We are now at Tenuta Di Bascina – only about 30kms from Assisi. 

Magnificent country. 

We are having enormous fun – Ken and I had Patty going about Drop Bears this evening. You know, the vampire koalas that drop from gumtrees and attack you with their fangs. 

I showed her a bunch of scary images of fanged koalas from Google Images. 

Patty cracked up. 

Highlights were stopping in the original 12th century chapel on the outskirts of Gubbio where St,Francis is said to have placated a rogue man eating wolf. The chapel was magnificent. 

Another highlight was having fresh home made pasta from an Agriturismo for lunch. Oh yes and Grappa in our coffee. 

And the Ladies of Leisure making it up a mountainside that nearly killed the rest of us. The girls walked a long way today, through some very tough mountain country. They’re a strong bunch, and getting stronger each day, with their Proseccos and now their firewater infused coffees. 

I’ll have to post photos tomorrow – but in the meantime, here is a shot I took while walking to dinner tonight. We’re staying in a very remote Albergo, with a family run kitchen in an adjoining farmhouse. 

Just beautiful… 

Edited with BlogPad Pro

So far it’s been a gnarly little walk.

But through some of the most stunning countryside you can imagine.

My pictures in no way capture the grandeur and magnificence of some of these vistas. In my new book, Photo Camino, I talk about how hard it is to capture landscapes in photos that fully represent the feeling you have when you look at them.

My pictures of some of the scenery we’re walking through are testament to that failing. But what we’re seeing, and what we’re experiencing, is truly memorable.

As I said earlier, most of us are walking most of it. Some of us are walking all of it. But we all are being swept away with the beauty of it all – and with the spirit of St. Francis which is with us all the way; in the churches, the small shrines along the side of the track, and the history that permeates all the town and villages along this sacred route.

Here are the elevations of the past several days –

Sansepolcro to Citta di Castella –

Citta di Castella to Pietralunga –

Pietralunga to Gubbio –

And here’s what we’ve got coming up –

Gubbio to Valfabbrica –

Valfabbrica to Assisi –

The food along the way is typical Tuscan / Umbrian food – delicious. Lots of handmade pastas with wild boar ragu, grilled meats with rosemary and olive oil, sorbets like you’ve never had before.

We have only seen one other pilgrim so far on the track. And no-one who has come from La Verna. This is the classic St. Francis Way path – from his monastery to his home in Assisi. And it’s a good length too – just under 200kms, which given the terrain is enough.

Elena is proving to be a real sweetheart – we knew she would be, having worked with her in Tuscany last year for the PGS film. She is always smiling and laughing, and nothing is too much trouble.

She’s having to do some jump pick-ups each day with some of the walkers – and sometimes these tracks are tricky to get to in a nine-seater van, but she’s managed admirably.

Everyone seems to be having a great time. Each night we’re staying in beautiful towns, right in the historic centre, in good digs, and we’re eating amazing food. And we find ways to make ourselves laugh which are sometimes completely inappropriate.

I know when I’ve crossed the line when Jennifer frowns at me and says: Now Bill, you’ve gone too far this time…

I strive for that at least once a day.

It’s been great spending time with Peter, Ken, Angela, and Marie again – we had such fun on the Portuguese Camino, and now we’ve picked up where we left off with this one.

Here is Marie doing a yoga stretch –

Meeting Patty has been a total treat. She’s hilarious. She has such a wicked sense of humour. She fitted in immediately. And given that she said she didn’t have time to train before the tour, she’s been an amazing walker. She has got up some hills that had me gasping for air.

I can always pull out an excuse to stop – I take out my camera and pretend to take a photo. And then of course I have to check focus and exposure. And then of course I have to take another one because I’m not happy with the first one… that usually takes a couple of minutes, and by that time I’ve regained my breath, and my strength, and so I continue on, until I find the need to take another photo.

Having Ivan and Giovanna join us too for three days was a very special treat. We miss them now that they’re gone – again they slotted into the group energy immediately, and again, largely by making us laugh so much.

It’s been fun. And it’s not over yet. We have three more days of walking – then we arrive in Assisi in time for their springtime festivities. That should be wonderful.

View out hotel bedroom window this morning. 

So far on this tour we have not had any rain. 

Rest day today, and market day here too in Gubbio. 

Need the rest. I have a chest infection, which has been sapping my energy. 

And tomorrow is another big day. 

But man o man, this is fun! 

Down to brekkie now… then hit the market. 

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Stupid me, thinking that yesterday the hardest day was over.

Today was tough going too – 27kms, and three quarters was up and down mountains again. For those of you who have walked the Camino Frances, imagine this: each day we climb at least 3 O’Cebreros, if that gives you any idea.

Up to the top, then down, then up to the top again, then down, then up to the top again, then down again.

That’s tough, right?

The day started off with sad farewells to Ivan and Giovanna.

But perhaps they will join us on the Celtic Camino tour which we’ll be staging next year. I hope so – because they were totally delightful, and kept us laughing all the time they were with us.

I asked one of our group (who will remain nameless) to take a shot of me with Ivan –

But there was an issue with headroom…

We then headed out of Pietralunga, heading to the beautiful medieval town of Gubbio 27kms away.

Jennifer, Patty and Marie left later, and climbed two of the impossibly high mountains before calling in what I have dubbed The Magic Bus. (Thanks, The Who!)

Believe me, there was no ignominy in calling in the Magic Bus – I was struggling up those steep slopes. I was amazed the ladies made it.

Meanwhile Peter found an abandoned farmhouse and we made ourselves comfortable inside out of the sun. We had jelly beans and dried banana and plenty of water.

I asked Peter to pose in the doorway so I could take a photo –

I told him he looked like a creature with a prehensile tail that drags his knuckles in the dirt –  or a Hawthorn football player. Really the two are interchangeable…

We kept on walking…

Sometime later the Ladies of Leisure joined us for a picnic lunch –

– and I played The Who’s song – The Magic Bus – care of Spotify. Marie got up and started dancing. She surprised us with her sexy moves – and we laughed a lot.

The Ladies of Leisure then retired to a nearby bar for coffee, or maybe it was Prosecco again, I can’t be sure, while the rest of us slogged out the last 10kms in afternoon heat.

We finally got to Gubbio about 5pm – feet very sore and legs almost incapable of walking a further step. We were greeted like old friends by Sonia, a beautiful young lass who was on reception at our luxurious hotel, The Hotel Gattaopne, right in the heart of the historic centre.

For dinner we had fine dining at a restaurant deep in the heart of the historic centre. Beautiful food, exquisite wines, and lots of laughter.

Tomorrow is a much needed rest day. It happens to be Market Day in Gubbio – and after the market we plan to take a funicular railway to a church high on a mountain at the back of the town.

I’ll post photos of d7 at a later time. Right now it’s after midnight, and I’m bushed! Only three more days of walking and we’re in Assisi. Can’t believe it!