Tag Archives: Castiglione

Day 11 – Castiglione d’Orcia (almost) to Radicofani – Ford Focus

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Saturday 24 May 2025 – We knew that the day was likely to be a longish and toughish one, as the overall distance was going to be over 20km, but not as tough as it might be – despite the total lack of coffee stops. We were also aware that there were three fords to cross, a couple of which could be problemmatical after heavy rain. However, the weather has been dry, and so we hoped these wouldn’t present a problem; but there’s always the tinge of doubt in the back of the mind.

The “official” stage end should be Radicofani, which is at the end of a climb which the S-cape app describes as “challenging”. We, however, will stop short at an Agriturismo; tomorrow morning they will give us a lift into Radicofani, I’m glad to say.  All the above means that the elevation profile we had to deal with went as far as the chap in this pic.

This left us with a walk of about 21km and a climb towards the end of over 300m.

We bade goodbye to our room, which (as Jane discovered yesterday) has a great view of the Rocca fortress,

and headed down to breakfast, which was served in the restaurant linked to the B&B, the same place we’d had lunch yesterday, and was served from 8am – a bit later than we’d like, but never mind. It was a slightly rudimentary breakfast, and so we were on our way before 8.30. We passed the Pieve, of Santi Stefano and Degna, which was open, so we looked in.

Stained glass, presumably of the church’s two eponymous saints

Inside was the friendliest church cat

which was happy to meet both of us, and sat, possibly mournfully, watching us as we departed.

To get back to the offical Via Francigena, which doesn’t pass through Castiglione, we headed (steeply) back down the way we had (steeply) come up into Castiglione the day before. We made things slightly tougher than necessary by missing a turn and having to pant back up to it, but eventually joined the Via and got under way. In the extreme distance, we could see the tower of Radicofani’s fortess, which itself is quite a lot higher than the town.

Looking back, we had a great view of Castiglione in the morning sunshine.

The scenery was great, as one would expect on a sunny morning and viewed from altitude

and in the distance we could see Radicofani – just about.

For a long while we were on a dirt road, and this led us to another slip in navigation. The Via departed from the dirt road, but the signposting was very poor – practically invisible from the direction we were walking. Luckily, Jane noticed that we’d once again passed our turning, and we hastened back to get on the right track. It led past scenery of which one could say, in one’s Chandler Bing voice, “could it be any more Tuscan?”

At around halfway through the walk, we came to the first ford

which, as expected but still somehow to our relief, was not at all difficult to cross. Shortly after, there’s an abandoned hospital, Le Briccole (where St. Francis of Assisi is rumoured to have stayed at one point) and the chapel of San Pellegrino,

which we’d hoped might provide somewhere to sit in the shade for a bite to eat. Sadly not, but we benefited shortly after from the beneficence of Gruppo Trekking Senese, the Siena Trekking Group, who placed a picnic table along the track.

This provided a welcome rest stop, where we shared a banana and actually ate one of the Mule Bars which I’d carefully bought to fuel us for our Camino Francés a couple of years back, but which, until now, had remained uneaten. Thus fortified, we walked on, past a second

and a third ford.

Since there has been no rain of any pith or moment recently, these were easy to cross, but one could see that the third one could be quite dangerous if a flood were running through it.

The track became grassy

to the point where once again we sometimes found ourselves wading through waist-high grass. I was pleased to get a photo of an Old World Swallowtail butterfly

and we were generally well-serenaded by the wildlife as we walked along. Sometimes it was the frogs, but we also heard larks, blackbirds, blackcaps, swallows (or swifts) and, delightfully, nightingales. Over the kilometres, we’ve had a great selection of birdsong, including golden orioles and bee eaters, but I’m particularly pleased that we’ve heard nightingales in so many places along our walk.

The fortress tower of Radicofani was often visible in the distance, and sometimes the road even seemed to be leading us that way.

We passed a couple of places where sheep were being farmed; almost all the farming we’d seen so far was arable, so sheep were rare.

Our track led beside a river, the Torrente Formone.

Its name seemed a bit optimistic, but one could also see that it could be quite a sight in the rainy season. I was beginning to flag quite seriously at this point, and it seemed that Gruppo Trekking Senese had my number, as we passed another of their excellently-positioned picnic tables

(a crap view of the main road, but a very welcome rest point).

It seemed to me, in my weary state, that our destination was receding as we walked. Our destination was some 4km short of Radicofani, and seemed that we always had 4km more to go.

We forded the Formone (again being grateful that there hadn’t been heavy rain)

and started the long pull up to our accommodation, an Agriturismo establishment called La Selvella. Wearily, I took a photo of what I hoped might be it

but it wasn’t; it was much further on and much higher. Of course.

That establishment, though was very much agri but not turismo. We passed it, watched by (I assume) the farm cat

and later on (and yes, higher up) saw the sheep that they were farming.

Some of them had been saddle-sheared, leaving a patch of fleece on their backs; we’re not sure why. Anyway, it was their lunchtime and so they all ran off to collect their food when it was brought up.

Courtesy of the ICCE, we got an update on our journey;

only 147km to go, now!  I felt it was shame that the ones we were covering at that particular time were so emphatically uphill. The temperature wasn’t hot – maybe only 20°C – but we were in the direct sun all the time, and I was finding it hard going. I had to stop and take photos of the scenery now and then to give myself a bit of a rest.

Eventually, though, we got to our accommodation, whose gates were

closed, of course. Jane got on the blower to one of the numbers listed and they opened the gates and let us in.

We were checked in by the very friendly Max, who showed us (and, to our relief, carried our bags) to our room, which is all very nice – large, seemingly comfortable and equipped with the things that make our lives good: extra pillows for the bed, a bidet for Jane’s feet and a kettle for some of Twining’s finest Earl Grey. Dinner was not until 8pm, and so there was nothing for it but to relax (I indulged in the first bath I’ve had since 2002) after our fairly heavy day.

Tomorrow, as I say, we get a lift into Radicofani, for which I’m exceedingly grateful – the last 4km into the town are even harder than the last pull we had up to La Selvella. Then we head for Aquapendente, but things are a bit complicated, as one section of the trail runs along a major road and we have to phone someone to be driven along it, as it’s too dangerous to walk. So we probably only have about 20km to walk and most of them are downhill (but we can’t see any coffee stops). Who knows how this will work out? Not us – but we will report back to let you know.

 

Day 10 – San Quirico d’Orcia to Castiglione d’Orcia – short but sharp

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Friday 23 May 2025 – Despite the short distance we had to walk today – 10km is the official distance – we still found ourselves up and ready to depart by 8am. I had looked at the profile of the walk offered by the S-cape app

and formed the opinion that it should be really quite easy, with only gentle ups and downs.

Wrongly, as it turned out. I should instead have looked at the representation offered by Garmin Connect for the same track,

which gives a far better impression of what the day will bring.

Anyhoo…

The breakfast arrangements for our B&B took the form of a voucher to be used at L’Officina del Gusto (The Office of Taste), which had interesting decor

but a limited selection of breakfasts: sweet or savoury. As we continued on our route, the weather looked a trifle ominous

and the various weather apps suggested that there was a real possibility of rain.  However, none materialised and the morning was cooler than we’d experienced before on this walk. We soon left the tarmac for a dirt road, with the usual offering of great scenery.

As we walked along, Jane and I agreed that the Via Francigena was better than the Camino Francés for scenery, but the Camino offered much better infrastructure, particularly rest stops. I guess if you want the scenery, you have to be prepared to walk up the hills.

We passed a few frog ponds,

which were all as noisy as the first one we’d seen a couple of days ago. It struck me that you don’t get that kind of racket in frog ponds in the UK, but I’m not an expert in country ways. Jane, however, has roots in the countryside and she agreed that frogs in the UK weren’t that noisy. Perhaps it’s because these are Italian frogs? We’ve noticed that Italians in groups and silence are to a large extent mutually exclusive.*

A large lump hove into view,

giving us the opportunity to disagree on exactly what it was. Jane thought it might be Radicofani, and I thought it might be Ripa d’Orcia. We were both well wrong, but we did find out eventually what it was. (That’s the bait to keep you reading, which is a bit pathetic, really, but this is the level to which I’ve sunk.)

We knew that there were a couple of interesting stops on the way, and we soon saw the first,

the roofs (rooves?) of Vignoni Alto, described as “one of the best-preserved fortified villages in Tuscany”. Our route led us through it, and it is indeed a very attractive place; we think it’s mainly holiday apartments to let.

Some of the apartments have a simply staggering view.

It was very quiet and therefore too good an opportunity for aerial photography to miss out on.

The road from there leads down

and down and down; it’s a dirt road, but one with signs for motorists warning them that it’s a dangerous slope. We were still fairly high on the road when we realised what the lump was.

It was Rocca di Tentennano (sometimes called Rocca di Castiglione); the reason we rumbled this was that it had been hiding Castiglione d’Orcia behind its bulk and we could now see that we were in for a bit of a climb to get to our destination for the day. However, before we could start the ascent, we had to complete the descent, which led past the other point of interest of the day – Bagno Vignoni, a thermal spa.

While it was always going to be interesting to see the baths, the main thing for me was the presence there of a coffee stop.

It was a popular stop and there were a many cyclists there as well as pellegrinos and a few posh-looking people in civvies – there’s an upmarket hotel attached to the spa. You can tell because the inevitable cypresses are manicured to within an inch of their lives.

It’s an attractive setting.

and we enjoyed looking around it almost as much as we enjoyed the coffee and (very good) filled croissants that were on offer.

The Via route after that continues down and has to cross a river at its lowest point. In theory, there’s a pedestrian bridge across it

but it’s closed; they really don’t want you to use it.

We therefore walked around the road and started the ascent. This is where I realised how much I had misread the profile diagram. Bits of it were really steep – 18.6° was the steepest I recorded, and that is 1 in 3. I hastily revised my decision not to use walking poles and we made our way up the slope (it wasn’t all up, but the bits that were up were quite hard going). Of course, the views improved as we ascended.

and we eventually reached Castiglione

which was very pretty

and very full of cyclists.

We found out that our visit had coincided with the Tuscany Trail; some 600 lunatics cyclists completing a 430km ride. I didn’t notice any e-bikes among them….

Castiglione d’Orcia, being a place with a long historical record (first noted in the year 714) has a street layout that doesn’t owe much to common sense, and a street numbering system to match.  Jane did a great job to actually find our B&B, Il Vecchietta, which, it being only about 1.30pm,

was, of course, closed. However, a phone call brought forth someone to let us in, and we were able to hose ourselves down before heading down to the restaurant, Il Cassero, whence the kind person with the keys had come to our aid. We had a Nice Lunch there; very Italian and very affably served. I continued the pasta experiment and will report on it in due course.

After lunch, we had some time before the local Coop opened and we could buy milk for any cups of tea we might plan, and so I took the opportunity to do some more aerial work.

Rocca del Tentennano, which is a fortress. Really, it is.

You can clearly see the castle that gives this place its name

The walk to and from the Coop gave us the chance for some more pictures of the place.

Like Horace Wimp’s girl, it’s small, but veeery pretty.

And so to tomorrow, where we are back to dealing with a long walk, towards Radicofani, which involves a fair bit of uphill work and several fords, so it’s likely to be interesting as well as testing. The arrangements are all very complicated, but All Will Be Revealed in the next post.

 

* Sorry to appear racist, but I couldn’t resist