Author Archives: Steve Walker

About Steve Walker

Once a tech in-house PR type, now professional photo/videographer and recreational drone pilot. Violinist. Flautist. Occasional conductor. Oenophile.

Day 1 – Altopascio to San Miniato; a long, long walk

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Monday 12 May 2025 – Right, then. This is it, the start of the Long Walk To Rome. As ever with these organised walks, day 1 seems always to be a bastard, and on paper, this one added further credibility to that assertion – 29km in all, a distance which we’d walked as we practised, but this time we would be toting backpacks and there would be hills. The last couple of kilometres, particularly, featured a climb of 150m, in itself not a huge amount, but coming after all those km made it seem a daunting prospect.

We would start the walk not in Lucca, but in Altopascio, some 20km away. To get there we would take the train and the earliest sensible candidate train was at 0831 if we were to breakfast at our hotel. That’s what we did – again, not at all an inspiring breakfast, but at least it provided calories for fuel for the day. The Hotel Rex is brilliantly located for station – it’s about 80 metres away.

so (having bought our tickets in advance) we were promptly on Platform 3

The lines are in constant use, but it looks like they run through a field!

and the train arrived fairly promptly after its scheduled time. Altopascio was the first stop, about 10 minutes later

and we used the very helpful app provided by the local agency who organised our itinerary, S-Cape, to find our way to our official start point through the town, which has some attractive corners.

A ripple of excitement passed through us as we spotted out first official Via Francigena signpost

so we used that and the town square for the only type of selfie I will tolerate – the start or end of a long walk.

And then we were off! At first along the road

past the local cemetery

and then on to woodland tracks.

where we encountered other pellegrinos – a pair of French ladies and a Dutch lady walking solo. Since our pace and theirs were very similar, it was a little awkward at times as we would go past, but then pause to take a photo and be overtaken. All very good natured, of course, but I would have preferred for us to have been alone whilst we got into the rhythm of walking decent distances again. No matter, we soon separated and were able to carry on at our own paces.

The signposting for this section was very good, if at times a tad ramshackle

As well as the signpost, you can see an example of the concrete waymarks which dot the route.

The scenery was pleasant and rural

and the track eventually led on to a section of cobbled road originally several hundred years old

which, as well as being uphill, was occasionally tricky underfoot. But we made it OK to the town of Galleno, about 9km in to the walk, where we had planned our first coffee stop. Very welcome it was, too.

Galleno features some nice properties. We were quite taken by this pair of houses,

the left-hand one of which had a rather nice trompe l’oeuil picture on it.

There was some mystery artwork on offer, too.

We pressed on through woodland, and every so often there would be a roar of aircraft engines as an aeroplane flew over.

It turned out to be a C130 Hercules. We weren’t sure why, but it flew over us several times as we walked along; perhaps the pilot was practising circuits and bumps, but I couldn’t work out where that might be based.

Our (OK, Jane’s) original plan had been to have two stops during the day, one at Galleno for coffee and one at Fucechhio, as these were about 10 and 20km into the overall walk. However, as we approached Ponte al Cappiano, about half way between the two (and halfway along the day’s route), it was 1pm and we thought it would be a good idea to stop for lunch. The first restaurant we came to, called Cerris, served us salads, chips and beer, which was exactly what we needed. As we were lunching, the three ladies we’d passed earlier came in to eat, and we also had a brief chat with a proactively friendly American lady called Kim, who was walking bits of the route with a British friend. As we finished our lunch a group of British lady bicigrinos (doing the route on bicycles) came by and so we were able to offer them our table.

During the morning, although we’d only seen the three ladies I mentioned earlier, we were overtaken by plenty of bicigrinos, all men. Up to the point where we met Kim’s chap, I had been the only male walker we’d seen on the route; nominative determinism hard at work again!

Ponte al Cappiano is an attractive place

and, unsurprisingly, features a bridge

which crosses the Canale Usciana. Our route took us beside the canal on a sort of levee

whose nicely trimmed grassy path soon  degraded into a narrrow track which often had us wading through waist-high grass. The scenery was nice enough,

but the going was (a) somewhat tiresome and (b) getting very hot. I suppose the temperature can’t have been much higher than 20C, but in unshaded sunshone it felt a lot hotter. After a while, we got a good glimpse of Fucecchio

where we fondly hoped we could find refreshment, because we were getting fed up with the incessant wading through grass.  One has to go up through the town

and, having climbed up to its centre, it seemed that everything was shut, which was a disappointment. However, once we got down to the other side of town, we found, to our delight, a bar which was open so that we could have a rest and a cold drink, both of which were sorely needed by this stage.

The way out of the town passed an interesting property

but then once again found its way on the levee

where we got a decent view of our eventual destination, San Miniato, and an idea of how much we’d have to climb to get there. As before, there were passages through swathes of waist-high grass

and we got a closer view of San Miniato.

San Miniato has a lower town and an upper town. Guess which one our hotel is in, go on, why don’t you.

We passed a bodega which clearly was interested in getting some pilgrim business

and, at 28km into the walk, started the climb to upper San Miniato.

There were some great views to be had as we walked.

and we eventually hit the outskirts of the town, which has a wide variety of twinning operations in place.

It’s clearly a place with a lot of history, and a lot of impressive chunks of masonry;

our hotel, the eponymous Hotel San Miniato, has a very impressive frontage, as well.

We arrived a few minutes after 6pm, having covered just over 30km and feeling very tired indeed. It was all we could do to grab a cup of tea in the bar (we provided tea bags and mugs to ensure it was up to snuff) before basically collapsing for the rest of the evening and night. So I fear that I’ll not be able to regale you with further shots of San Miniato, as the plan is to head out promptly tomorrow. The reason for that is that Day 2, while not being an utter bastard like today, is still 24km and with a substantial climb at the end. Worse, there are no places to stop for coffee, so we will have to get ourselves some kind of packed lunch in the town and feed ourselves as we go. This is the first time on any of our long walking holidays travels that we’ve had to deal with this tragic turn of events, so wish us luck and come back to find out how we got on, won’t you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Lucca round

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Sunday 11 May 2025 – Our last day of “freedom” before the serious walking starts, and the local variant of Mother’s Day here, which meant we (the two ladies, that is… some assumptions being made here!) benefited from some extra chocolate at breakfast.

The breakfast available was, otherwise, rather woeful; particularly absent was any hint of fresh fruit. Still, we fuelled up on what we could find and made our way out into a delightfully sunny day.

We had some formal objectives for our wandering – a couple of towers, a couple of churches and, particularly, a lunch in the Piazza del Amfiteatro which we hoped would be a Nice one.

Selecting our activities based on when the light might be best for photography, we started with the Torre Guignigi, which is unique in having holm oak trees growing out of the top of it.

It is one of only two medieval towers surviving in Lucca where once there were more than one hundred.

There are over 200 steps to the top, but despite this it is a popular tourist site

and it offers some fine views over the city.

We felt we’d earned a coffee break before we walked along to our next place of interest. This was the Church of San Michele in Foro, which boasts a very impressive facade

but which is a little unusual in that it’s clearly more a place for meditation and prayer than a place to listen to the word of God – there are no pews, and the space is entirely open.

By this stage, we knew that the cathedral would be open for visitors, and so headed that way, passing, as we did, the 12th century church of of San Giusto, which, like several churches in these parts, has a very striking facade.

The cathedral, the Church of St. Martin, is, as one would expect, an imposing building, again with a wonderful facade (the picture below was taken later in the day when the sun illuminated it better).

Inside is the sort of space one would expect in a significant cathedral

lavishly embellished

with some impressive marble work

and some lovely stained glass

some of which was throwing wonderful colours from the sunshine.

There’s a sort of “temple within a temple”

which, under normal circumstances, would house the Volto Santo, the “Holy Face of Lucca”, an 8-foot tall carving of Christ on the Cross

 

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

but at the moment contains just scaffolding, as the figure has been removed for restoration work, and can be seen displayed in a workshop setting in the church.

Inside the cathedral is a statue of the eponymous “St. Martin and the Beggar”

showing the saint using his sword to cut his cloak in two in order to give half to the beggar. This is the original and there’s a copy now on the facade of the cathedral,

looking, it has to be said, in need of the ministrations of someone with a power washer and a long ladder.

With over an hour left until our lunch appointment, there was clearly time for those of us with courage, fortitude and good quads to climb the other tower of note in Lucca, the Torre del Ore, the suitably-named Tower of the Clock.

It turned out that I was the only one of the three of us prepared to make the journey, and it turned out to be rather a lovely experience; in striking contrast to the Torre Guignigi, I was the only person in the tower, apart from the gatekeeper, who charged me €8 to climb the steps. At the top I had the entire platform all to myself

and could enjoy the lovely views over the city

including a great view of the Torre Guignigi.

Whilst I was climbing the tower, Jane and Caroline relaxed at the near(ish)by Gorilla Craft Beer and Cafe, where I eventually joined them so that we could sample some Italian gins as an agreeable prelude to lunch. That was taken back in the Piazza del Amfiteatro, at a very good restaurant called Sotto Sotto. We were well looked after by Eugene and eventually tottered back to our hotel so that we could get some rest and prepare for the forthcoming rigours.

Tomorrow is Day 1 of The Walk; we will walk to Rome, and Caroline will join us for the first week, as far as Siena. The significant datum is that we have nearly 30km to cover tomorrow, after a short  train journey to where we will start, in Altopascio. We’re all feeling a little bit daunted by the thought of the distance we have to cover, and you’ll have to keep in touch with these pages to see how we get on, won’t you?

 

A Lucca Round

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Saturday 10 May 2025 – On paper, the day’s schedule was quite relaxed, starting with a 10am transfer to Lucca. However, I wasn’t done with Pisa; I wanted to take a photo of the tower and baptistry in the morning sunshine. I thought that if I got there early enough, I might be the only one there and so could get a photo of the tower with no crowds. I was very nearly right.

I woke up shortly after 6am and decided that I would walk up to the Piazza del Duomo, so I arrived there well before 7am. The site was, indeed, very quiet. But, right bang in the middle of the shot I wanted to take, was a couple who had obviously got up really early so they could get their own shot at a classic view of the site,

except, of course, they were doing fucking selfies! And they were taking their time about it, too, so, rather than wait for them to finish, I walked around the site to get a photo of the baptistry in the morning light.

On the way back to see if my shot was clear, I passed another, clearly serious, photographer setting up with his big camera on a tripod, only to realise that he was doing fucking selfies, too!

Anyway, I got the shot I wanted in the end.

I really wanted an aerial version, too, and I had the drone with me. There was a sign on the site saying “no drones”, but I thought that maybe if I launched from just off the site, I could sneak a quick shot with no-one to notice.  Sadly, DJI’s software had already thought of this, and declared the area an “Authorisation Zone” – I would have to get a special code even to launch. Not only did I not know how to get this, but I realised that if I did, They would know that I’d taken an illicit shot. So, with a sigh, I packed up and walked back to the hotel.

Pisa looked very fine in the early morning light,

which made me feel extra glad that I had made the effort to get up early.

Our 10am transfer went very smoothly, with an entertaining driver who got us to Lucca in about half an hour, and deposited us at the Hotel Rex

whose staff seemed somewhat disenchanted to see us so early and bade us come back at 2pm to check in. They did allow us to leave our bags there, so we did that and wandered off into a lovely sunny day.

Embarrassingly, I had never even heard of Lucca before we planned this trip, but when I mentioned it in various conversations, people cooed about how lovely the place was; I’d seen a photo of the cathedral and heard about the walls, but that was about it. According to Wikipedia, “Lucca is known as an Italian “Città d’arte” (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic centre.” The hotel lies just outside these walls, and so we went with a plan to walk around them, as Jane had confirmed that this was A Thing. We first had to find a way through them

and soon found a path that led through a tunnel

and up into a delightful area. There’s a well-developed and wide path that completely circumnavigates the walls, allowing for walking, running, cycling and

the cycling equivalent of pedalos, which are for hire at many spots round the walls. The route is tree-lined and very pleasant to walk along.  It offers many a great view of the city and its buildings,

all the nicer for it being a beautful sunny day.  The round trip is around 4km, and we covered about half it before diverting off in search of a coffee, which we found in the Piazza del Amfiteatro. Jane had mentioned that there were maybe a couple of restaurants there, and actually the whole amphitheatre area is rammed with restaurants

and featuring a market in the centre.

We chose a place at random (OK, the first one we got to) and passed a pleasant hour over coffee and drinks before completing our circuit round the walls, a process which took us to just after check-in time.

En route, we passed the very pleasant Piazza San Frediano

which gets its name from the Basilica which stands on one edge, a building with a very striking facade

which features a fabulous mosaic image at its head.

It was open, so we went in, and found that the interior was every bit as striking as the outside.

It’s “Chapels’R’Us” down the sides of the nave

and there are many interesting details – lush decor and frescoes.

An extra side chapel has, among all the other splendours, a wonderful ceiling,

and, all in all, it was a very worthwhile detour. We carried on round the walls, past more splendid edifices

and, for reasons not entirely clear to us, a giant panther.

I mean, obviously it’s something to do with the Giro D’Italia cycling race, but exactly what we don’t know.

The hotel was more welcoming when we arrived at 2.15pm, and checked us in smoothly. Behind the reception is a neat floral display;

the shape of the walls, made out in hydrangeas – as can be seen in the track of our walk.

Having checked and settled in, we then mounted an expedition to find lunch, which is where we struck the first (minor) obstacle; all the serious restaurants had clearly shut their kitchens. We stumbled about until we found somewhere that could provide us something better than a packet of crisps, and had a relaxed time over focaccias and salads. There seemed to be a few hen parties in town, and one passed us whilst we were at lunch.

They were clearly having a good time, as were we.

We repaired to the hotel for a restorative cup of tea and, as the sun was going down, ventured out again, this time in search of gelato. It amazes me that we’ve been in Italy almost a week and this is the first time that ice cream has featured as part of the plan. So we headed back towards the old town, taking the opportunity to pass the cathedral, which has a very impressive facade.

We then blundered about a bit, ending up by the Piazza Napoleone. We had wondered, earlier, whether there might be restaurants here.

Yup.

It’s-a nice-a place; we may well end up having lunch here tomorrow. Jane also found a highly-recommended gelateria for us to sample – Caffè Casali, on Piazza San Michele. This is a civilised ice cream parlour

which also serves cocktails and pastries. It made for a pleasant coda to the day.

Tomorrow is the last chance we get for a leisurely schedule; after that the hard walk starts. There are a couple of towers to climb and maybe a couple of churches to visit (no shit, Sherlock – Ed). So stick with us and you’ll find out how we spent our last non-walking day.