Via Francigena: Lucca to Altopascio

  

After scrambled egg we set off at 8.30. Perfect weather for it - about 20 degrees but cloudy and quite nice and fresh. 

Ready for action

On the city wall in Lucca

Viaduct just outside Lucca -  3.5 km long

There were lovely views of the Tuscan hills. A lot of road walking to start with but then up wooded paths into the hills. 

Sara and  Caroline weren’t with us as they took the other, slightly shorter route

Getting water from the spring - lots of locals filling up their jerrycans and bottles

Lots of trees bearing this fruit - a stone fruit with a semi-hard, pitted skin. Tasted apricot-like.

On coming back down to the plain, we thought we’d take a short cut but it was a really bad decision because we ended up walking along a horrible fast road and then having to double back along it when we realised we’d gone a bit wrong. 

Wishing we didn’t have another hour to walk

Elizabeth and I made a futile attempt to call a taxi to take us the last 3 miles as I had squashed toes and she had blisters on her heels from new-ish boots. We walked it in the end and were exceedingly happy to arrive. There wasn’t much ascent today but it was a long distance and quite hard on the feet and hips because of all the tarmac. My sandals were once again a lifesaver for the final three miles. We had a delicious dinner in the local restaurant and all retired quite early to bed.