Pilgrimage #5: The Italian Caper

[newfydog]

I never realized when we did our first Camino ten years ago how many doors we were opening.

We're off in a few weeks, this time from Nice to Rome, taking the via della Costa to the via Francigena.

We'll be on mountain bikes. Maybe we'll see some of you on the trail!

Ultreya!

Newf

 

[jirit]

I never realized when we did our first Camino ten years ago how many doors we were opening.

We're off in a few weeks, this time from Nice to Rome, taking the via della Costa to the via Francigena.

We'll be on mountain bikes. Maybe we'll see some of you on the trail!

Ultreya!

Newf

Look forward to reading your stories

Neville
An Italian Odyssey

 

[lovingkindness]

Bon chemin, bonne route y bon courage, pelerins! Wish it were me.
-LK

 

[newfydog]

Hi Neville,

I enjoyed reading your book last week. We'll have a bit of an advantage, in that we have a good GPS track to follow and won't have the as many frustrations in route finding. Unfortunately, we don't have your skills in the Italian language, so we won't take in as much local color.

I need to sort through your book and pick out a few special places to stay. We'll give them your best regards.

-Newf

 

[jirit]

Hi Neville,

I enjoyed reading your book last week. We'll have a bit of an advantage, in that we have a good GPS track to follow and won't have the as many frustrations in route finding. Unfortunately, we don't have your skills in the Italian language, so we won't take in as much local color.

I need to sort through your book and pick out a few special places to stay. We'll give them your best regards.

-Newf

Hi Newf

Glad you enjoyed our book. There has been many changes and improvements to the Via Francigena since we walked it back in 2008. So I think you will have a grand time as you head south towards Rome. Don't forget to time out to enjoy the fine food and wine along the way too!

Cheers

Neville
PS Some photos from the walk to inspire others to follow in your footsteps
http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=982628

 

[AJ]

I never realized when we did our first Camino ten years ago how many doors we were opening.

We're off in a few weeks, this time from Nice to Rome, taking the via della Costa to the via Francigena.

We'll be on mountain bikes. Maybe we'll see some of you on the trail!

Ultreya!

Newf

I write this from Sydney airport. Tomorrow I arrive Rome and Sunday start walking towards Santiago. Via Francigena to Sarzana, Via della Costa to French Border.....

Maybe we'll meet!

 

[MermaidLilli]

I am walking the Via Francigena early May. Any and all advice needed. Need to fly from Barcelona to London first. Then...how to get to Canterbury and where to stay there.
Thank you
Lillian

 

[newfydog]

I am walking the Via Francigena early May. Any and all advice needed. Need to fly from Barcelona to London first. Then...how to get to Canterbury and where to stay there.
Thank you
Lillian

We will do the northern part of the Francigena later, maybe this fall. I've found a few good mountain bike routes on Garmin connect with nice trails from Heathrow to Canterbury, so we'll do that by trail to see a bit more of England.

 

[newfydog]

Well, after 1000 kilometers, four flat tires, three broken spokes, crashes into hay, mud and nettles,we are in Rome. quite a trip, with some of the best and some of the less than best of the pilgrimage trails we've seen. The mud and nettles are the fun parts, the traffic in Genoa, well, a bus would be a good idea. I'll put a summary together sometime when we return. We now are only missing a short segment near Toulouse to complete Santiago to Rome.

We only saw a few pellegrinis, A few walking every day, and only four bikers the entire trip. Italian drivers, dogs, restaurant owners and passerbys are all very kind.

From here we have a unique route back......car to Livorno, ferry to Corsica, ferry to Nice, the town we flew into. Paid the British airway extortion so that we don,t get two middle seats again.

now, what to do next?

Newf

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The son of a friend bicycled with two friends from London to Istanbul mostly camping. The only "disaster" was at a fork in the road. Literally. One of them ran into a (pitch)fork in the road, which tangled the spokes, destroyed the wheel, and caused a fair number of abrasions to the cyclist.

 

[William Marques]

Glad you had a good pilgrimage. I will look forward to reading your story.

Have a safe journey home.