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After a couple of evenings in the high places, it was time to resume our trek to Rome. After breakfast, we began our trek down the mountain toward our next destination, Chitignano.
This was supposed to be a short stage (only 10.8 KM). We descended the hard stone mule path from La Verna, and entered the tiny town of Breccia, which sits at the foot of the mountain.
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| Mary of the Mule Path |
Things immediately went wrong. I was under the impression that we were to proceed through the village of Breccia. However, as we entered the village, we saw a Via waymark, pointing to the left.
"Must be the usual Via practice of routing us around towns," I quipped to Mary. Dutifully, we followed the arrow (although we should know better by now).
I felt that we were going the wrong way, as we walked along a shady forest path. Nevertheless, my doubts were assuaged by the reassuring presence of additional Via arrows, guiding us forward. We continued to follow the arrows until we reached a small town. Then the arrows disappeared.
Time for the GPS. Actually, the time was back when we had first turned left in Breccia. I discovered that we had reached the town of Chiusi della Verna. A quick consultation of both guidebook and GPS revealed that we were well off the established path.
Later, when we had time to scrutinize the Via website, we learned that the path to Chiusi della Verna is a possible side trip. Evidently, Michelangelo was baptized in a church in Chiusi della Verna. We didn't know that as we stood, scratching our heads on a main street of a town that was nowhere close to the route that led to our ultimate destination.
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| La Verna |
This is not the first time that the waymarks had led us astray. It was not even the first time in three days that we had been led astray. Some more thought needs to be put into this. Maybe the Via Association could come up with a different colored arrow (blue?) that would signify an interesting deviation that will take the pellegrino away from the main route. Arrows that deliberately point in the wrong direction are frustrating.
I resolved the situation with my GPS. I told it to take us to our hotel in Chitignano, and, happily, the road we were standing on, Provincial Road 60, led right to our destination. We walked down this 10 KM asphalt road. Fortunately it was lightly traveled, and we spent most of our time in the shade.
Slightly less than two hours later, we reached Chitignano, no worse for the experience.
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| Today's Selfie |
Today’s Distance: 12.7 KM
Total Distance: 849.1 KM
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