Day 32 - Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano- Thursday July 16, 2015

We had a discussion yesterday about getting to San Gimignano today. It was only 14 km, but I was totally exhausted from yesterday and I think I was suffering from heat exhaustion. I mentioned getting a ride with the baggage taxi but the lady at the B&B seemed indignant about that idea because it was such a short walk. My thinking was that if we walked we would be all hot and sweaty when we got here (a lovely tourist destination according to Ross and Joyce and all other information). Our bags might not be here yet, the hotel might not be prepared to let us check in that early. If we got a ride, we could dress for sightseeing and not care about checking in or our bags. Breakfast at the B&B wasn’t until 8:30am. I swore to Russell after yesterday that I was never walking past noon again on this journey unless the temperature was no more than 30 degrees. The forecast for today was 40 degrees again. So we told the lady to leave us a breakfast so we could leave early.

It was an absolutely miserable night. The air conditioner gave up the ghost. The bathroom and laundry stank, but we couldn’t even open the bathroom window without having the non-functioning air conditioner turn off. Hindsight is 20-20, we should have opened all the windows and to heck with the air conditioner.

I had a splitting headache in the morning, so instead of getting up at 5:30am we got up at 6:30. The laundry was all wet and smelled moldy. We had a pretty minimal breakfast (there was no milk for coffee, which we made using our own instant decaf), and left at 7:30am.

It was another pleasant walk through the country-side. We had a terrific descent off the mountain Gambassi Terme was on, through vineyards and olive groves, followed by a terrific ascent on the mountain San Gimignano was on. Early on, we were passed by a fellow pilgrim from Holland, and later we were passed by two pilgrims from Austria.

 The two from Austria already knew all about us from Louis, the German pilgrim we met on our first day at Bourg St. Pierre. I was very excited to hear news of Louis. It sounds like he is one day behind us, walking with the older German gentleman we met getting in to Pavia.

It may have been early, and only 34 degrees when we walked today, but I had a splitting headache and was totally worn out from yesterday.  When we hit the upward climb today, my body just didn’t want to do it. I took a Celebrex, this time for the headache, and felt like I was walking through molasses.

We passed the Austrian guys at a bus stop, and Russell joked the only bus was at 7am. Of course they were just taking advantage of the bench to have a break.

We were warned that there were no restaurants along the route today, but at km 8 we passed a hotel/restaurant. The patrons were all sitting outside having their breakfast, and looked at us as if the aliens had landed from space! We met the fellow from Holland at the bar, who was having a cappuccino and a 1.5 litre bottle of water. We got into a great conversation with him. He had both his hips replaced, a year of physio, and then walked the Camino. He said his kids had predicted he would walk 10km and then come home, but he finished the Camino. He, like us, was looking for a similar experience, and decided to walk the VF. We all agreed this was a pretty hard core alternative to the Camino. Russ and I each had a lemon soda, bought a bottle of cold water and carried on. The pilgrim from Holland didn’t pass us again today.

It was a massive ascent from that point on to a monastery. We saw the Austrians ahead of us on the road. After the monastery, which we decided not to tour because it might take us beyond noon getting to Gimignano, we had a descent to a major highway, where there was a VF sign saying ‘leaving VF safe zone”. We walked along the highway for too long, and then began the ascent to San Gimignano along a dedicated sidewalk.

Our instructions to the hotel were excellent today (way to go Beppe). We stopped at a bar for a cold water first and got here at 11:30am. The room wasn’t ready, but we snoozed on a couch while it was being readied. Had a shower etc, and then slept until 4:30pm. We got up and took all our wet clothes from yesterday, plus all our other clothes that weren’t on our backs, and went to the laundymat and washed everything.

By the time we got back it was dinner time. Another excellent supper. This time we told the waiter our dinner was included but he still gave us a menu! We picked a meat, vegetable, salad to share and each had the Tuscany soup as an appetizer. The fellow said we could also have dessert, so we shared apricots in wine soup and ice cream. Another excellent dinner! Ross – Russell got a Vinsanto. Very nice – like Sherry. We love the San Gimignano wine – Vernaccia. Apparently it is the bestselling wine in Italy.

Tomorrow is a 29km walk to Monteriggioni. The forecast is 40 degrees. According to our route notes ‘San Gimignano is so famous and there is so much to see that it is better to follow a guide book.’

We are going to take tomorrow off. We both need to recuperate and there is a lot to do here. I am hoping we might see Louis tomorrow. We will take a bus to Monteriggiomi around 4pm. It is a 1hour and 13 minute ride. I am confident that if we take a break, we will be fine again on Saturday.