It's interesting as I take a moment or two to write this to think how much more difficult these past few days have been than those at the beginning. Even considering the ridiculously hard ascent up Mount Subasio, since leaving Piediluco the days have just felt so much harder. And today was no exception.
A quick breakfast in the cafe opposite kicked off my day and then I sent my luggage on its way and got going myself.
I paused at the top of the hill and prayed the pilgrims prayer and got surprisingly emotional as I did so. Had to fish out a tissue and sort myself out! I think it was the realisation that there is just one more morning to pray this prayer, so goodness knows how I'll be tomorrow!
The initial part of the walk was ok - but as per my comment this morning I definitely had to 'dig deep' to get all the way through to Monterotondo.
But as another marathon quote I happened to come across today, by Cameron Jacobs, who became the youngest barefoot marathon runner yesterday, said:
"Believe you can and you're halfway there"
I'm not sure sure I was halfway, but I trusted that I would be able to do it and got going.
Firstly, as a much needed encouragement, whilst I haven't listened to much whilst I've been on this walk a song called 'Desert Road' by Casting Crowns, one of my favourite bands, has been popping up on social media so, as I had decent connection for once, I played it as I went along:
https://youtu.be/g8sazOiolF8?si=DMRc2Qit2WoJfQnD
And the words of the chorus just hit me:
I don't know where this is goin'
But I know who holds my hand
It's not the path I would've chosen
But I'll follow You to the end
Lord, as long as I am breathing
I will make Your glory known
Even if it means I'm walkin' on this desert road
And God and I had a little moment together at this point - much to the surprise of an older man and his dog out for a walk together along this same path!
Interestingly someone drove past just after this and stopped to offer me a lift - I thanked him and told him I was a pilgrim to which he nodded and then drove off.
Though in hindsight I do wonder if I maybe should have said yes as Palombara Sabina took almost as long to get out of as to get in yesterday! An hour and forty minutes including a rather dicey walk along a stretch of road with no verge and fast cars again!
At this point I was rather relieved to get away from the traffic - I ended up having to run for part of the length of the road so got extremely hot and sweaty and had to pause to recover in an olive grove.
Once I'd cooled down I carried on but realised that getting up off the floor having covered so much distance in the past few weeks was a bit more tricky than I'd expected 🤣
I'd already planned to stop in a town about halfway called 'Castelchiodato' for a coffee so I was just about there when I happened to encounter a lady coming the other way who asked me where I was going. When I told her I'd walked from Assisi she was amazed and told me I had great faith and gave me a hug! We swapped photos and names - she was called Euliana - and it was a really special God-ordained precious moment of encouragement! She was so lovely!
Duly encouraged I was grateful to find there was a cafe round the corner so I stopped for a proper rest with a cappuccino sitting on a chair - so much easier to get up out of! And then I continued on towards Monterotondo. I had another stretch of scary road to endure and then I spotted my first wild boar - 'cinghiale' - glad they were at a distance though.
Now my app seemed to be suggesting I carried on along the scary road, but I simply couldn't take the stress so I looked at the map and figured out I could take a detour through a forest and rejoin the route at a later point.
The forest was so lovely - such a relief not to have to be walking with such a sense of fear and apprehension! And what was nice was discovering the red/white markers of another trail. I'd had to use them previously for short parts of the walk in previous days so it was nice to have the reassurance of these as I made my way through to the rejoining point. Made me think of Gloucester as their colours are cherry and white! And also as Andy is such a fan, having told him I was going off route these frequent bright markers felt like he was really with me!
Funnily enough when I rejoined the route it had me following the red/white markers anyway! But I was so glad I'd chosen not to go the road route - though unbeknownst to me my adventures with scary roads were not yet over!
It was a really lovely forest walk and even when I lost the cloud race, at least initially, the tree canopy kept me fairly dry so that was a relief.
But...all good things seem to have to come to and end and as I exited the forest the rain began to come down more heavily and then I was taken back onto scary roads once again - and this time the scariest yet!!
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| Just had the realisation I can wear my coat backwards arms and all as the weather got worse! |
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| A welcome sight having not seen blue/yellow markers for quite a while! |
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"To stay is to exist, but to travel is to live."
-Gustave Nadaud-
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There aren't any photos of this extremely terrifying road because I had to keep my wits about me as the cars passing me were going so quickly and the opportunities for pausing out of their way were limited and given the weather as well it all got quite fraught. I did have yet another person stop to offer me a lift, but as I was on the opposite side of the road and their stopping caused traffic to come to a standstill behind them it felt easier to wave them on. But again, as the next part of the walk took me the best part of an hour rather than about 7 mins drive I do kind of regret saying no thanks!
Finally, foot sore and weary, though thankfully unsquashed, I entered Monterotondo.
This is where the official walk concluded, but I still had another 10 mins walk to my hotel.
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| One very, very, relieved pilgrim!!! |
When I said foot sore I really mean it - whilst the padding and plasters stayed on all day the foot was sore all the way - all 21.33km (13.25miles) of it. The blistering has got worse and I am now seriously debating whether or not to follow the last section tomorrow. Though it has to be said when I'd been looking at the plans before I even started the pilgrimage one thing I'd made a note to do was walk to the train station here and catch a train into the centre of Rome so I could drop my stuff off at my hotel and then walk the 50 minutes to Saint Peter’s Basilica/Basilica di San Pietro to get my testamonium.
Speaking of which, my pilgrim brothers sent me a photo of them receiving theirs! I'm so so happy for them and am even more eager to get mine now!
I will make the final decision about the last section in the morning - but suffice to say that having walked more than 250km (155 miles) or already I think I'll be happy to go with my alternative plan. I've always said I was never wedded to every step - and if this sore foot is the reason I don't walk the final 12km/7.5miles then that, I think, is fine with me.
As I reflected earlier in a chat with Andy the 'flavour' of the walk has significantly changed in the past few days, and I can really see why people walk Rome to Assisi rather than the way I've done it. The walk just seems to have felt harder each day, the terrain has changed and it is has felt busier and busier as I've got nearer to Rome. Maybe in a way that's a good thing - preparing me in a way to be more ready to come to the end of this pilgrimage.
But for now, one more night before my arrival in Rome.
