Safe Return Doubtful

On a fine cold day here in southern Tuscany Roja and I took on another section of the Via di Francesca (St Francis’ Way) this morning. It’s similar weather across mainland Europe at the moment, high pressure in, and an easterly air flow. It got up to about 15C under the clear sky today, but will drop well below zero tonight.

Not long after we had left I met a guy from Derby walking the trail in the opposite direction, the first hiker I’ve seen on the trail. We chatted for 5 minutes, he was doing the whole trail in a week, but using public transport on some of the sections that interested him less.

It’s a really good time of year to hike the trail if the rain can be managed, and there’s none forecast this week. It’s as well, he told me, to call ahead to be sure of accommodation being open, and there being a restaurant. Some of the smaller villages are all closed up during the week at least.

I had thought I would move on today, but with the weather set fair, and this being an attractive setting, I decided to stay.

I plan to cross the Alps at the weekend, which I hope will give me a few days in the Vosges, in the north of Alsace, and then into Wallonia for a few days.

It’s good to be able to be flexible with the weather. The northern area of Tuscany is much colder than here at present, today for example, the high temperature around Bologna was just 2C.

So another reason to stay put. That, and I was completing my second 5 star book of the year so far, that’s 2 out of 7 so far.. I don’t score many books with 5 stars, less than 10% last year, so it’s a pretty good start to the year. I’ll post the review later, it’s a non-fiction book about a little known nineteenth century explorer, and highly recommended.