Days of Rage and Awe

the night was quiet at Radicofani: i heard a few crashes but as Marissa and John were in another dorm it didn't disturb me too much. the next day i headed off into a chill morning: not so much due to being so high up in the mountains but i guess mainly as Autumn was drawing in. the day went quickly as the path didn't take the extremes of mountain-valley-mountain-valley but instead seemed to wander along the tops of the highest mountains taking the higher paths inbetween. after the previous days huge climb it was really something i appreciated and i saw some great views, including when i turned back and saw the castle sitting on top of Radicofani which was so far back that i could hardly believe i'd walked the distance i had in just a few hours. the main part of afternoon was through forests and up then up again (why so many recent ascents in the late afternoon? its a killer!) into a town called Acquapendentre. this was quite a major town on the VF in its day but my initial impressions weren't good. it felt closed in, dirty and unwelcoming. sure i'd seen many other small towns with narrow streets on overcast days but the very feel of the place didn't inspire me. after my 2 days of successes with church accommodation i decided to try for a third time but luck had deserted me. it was in a run down area by a run down chuch and was filthy, dilapidated and very unpleasant. the shower was cold and as i left it running (to see if it would warm up) i heard a cat outside the window so i let him in. he was SO cute: peachy-ginger-white and he let me stroke and cuddle him like i was his new best mate. i ran back to my flea-pit room to get my camera and by the time i got back the cat had wandered back outside onto the neighbouring roof so i leant out and got a picture. then i heard a sound of something slamming and as i turned round Marissa opened the bathroom door and stuck her head in. there was me standing in my underpants with a camera in my hand. it just didn't look good. we both looked at each other and it was one of theose moments when you think 'lets just both back away and ignore what's just happened shall we'. which is what we kinda did. how those 2 always got to the pilgrim accomodation before me i just don't know. not very enthusiastic about the town or my bed for the night i spent the afternooon and early evening reading and then happened to chance upon a Trattoria where i had the best meal i've had in Italy so far - completely by accident. if i said pecorino souffle with sweetened soaked figs you might get my drift. i was in foodie heaven - completely transported to a paradise of gastronomic delight. so full i could hardly move i half staggered, half limped back to the flea-pit to get some sleep. the morning dawned and as i was paranoid about bed-bugs i was relieved to find i hadn't been bitten. this next day was only a 22km trek to a town on the edge of a volcanic crater called Bolsena and even though the sky was still overcast and threatening to chuck it down it actually held off and then cleared completely leaving me with superb views over a lake that gradually appeared on my right the further on i walked. i got to Bolsena relatively early for me, about 1pm, and found it to be quite a popular tourist destination which luckily was quiet at this time of year. like Lake Viverone back at the start of my trip it had a serene calmness to it with a wonderful light and immense clouds building up and reflecting off the silky water. i stayed there reading for a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel for a long hot shower to get rid of the flea-pit feeling from the night before and did some washing, actually watched some BBC news on Sky (i feel so divorced from what's happening in the world right now) and went to bed very early as i had to look forward to a 32km trek the next day, and a 36km the day after. now this next day was a Saturday and already my suspicions were aroused as on the last 2 Saturdays i'd managed to get lost in forests on 2 separate mountains. when i checked my route towards a city called Viterbo i found that there was no forest on any mountain so i felt reassured that i would be ok. my stupidity in assuming that fact came back and bit me hard later. the morning was fantastic: there was lots of walking through fields and minor pathways all along the edge of the volcanic crater. the mountains had declined (i guess the volcano exploding had levelled the landscape) and i was more walking up and over gentle rolling hills which made things a lot easier and more bearable, especially as it had become quite hot again. i also found a small stretch of an original Roman road which really was quite special. you've got to say about the Romans that they did know how to build things so they'd last and if the roads hadn't been dug up or the stones stolen then i'm damn sure that many of their roads would still be in use today. it was a great morning especially as the VF signage was clear and i didn't get lost once. until i reached by half-way point in the day which was a town called Montefiascone , on top of a bloody mountain. Saturday. Mountain. i should have known. the problem wasn't so much getting into the city it was bloody finding my way out again. the VF signs disappeared, my guidebook was useless and i went up and down numerous alleyways, roads and pathways with no bloody idea which exit i should take. i wanted to avoid walking along a major road called the Via Cassia which goes straight to Rome but which is a major highway like the SS26 back (again) at the start of my trip. i found the local tourist information office but the guy there knew nothing. Nothing!!! and he pretended he did know something by sending me the wrong bloody way- right onto the Via Cassia!!! i was in such a foul mood i cannot tell you - the whole afternoon i spent walking on a bloody bastard major highway with no turnoffs and it was just indeterminable. i arrived at Viterbo about 4.30pm as fit to drop as if i'd walked 10 Parramatta Roads which i probably had (it's a Sydney reference, mentioned before!). i was so tired that i just slumped in a chair at a cafe and tried to think about how to get accomodation but i just couldn't think properly. it took me an hour to get myself togther and that night i couldn't even order food from a menu i was given: i was that exhausted. i slept the sleep of the dead and woke feeling a little more alive which was lucky was it turned out as i had more bad luck that day. as it was Sunday all the Italians disappeared to god-knows-where and i did lots more country walking, some on the Via Cassia, but most in-amongst dense forest and it was a very reasonable day. i covered the 36km quite quickly and got to Capranica about 3.30pm which was an hour earlier than i'd thought so i was very pleased with myself and settled down, had a beer and then started to look for accomodation. to my horror i found there was none: not a hotel, a pensione or a B&B despite what my guidebook said. this was a minor mountain town so it wasn't huge and i covered every street, every cafe, every bar to no avail. i kinda realised there was no hope so at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon i had to sling my pack on my back once again and walk another 6km along the Via Cassia to a town called Sutri. i swore, cursed and literally howled my way down that road as i could just not believe my bad luck or my bloody awful bad guidebook. looking back i can at least say that this was the first and only day it'd happened to me whereas on the Camino de Santiago it was an occupational hazard: you'd get somewhere only to find the accomodation was full so you'd have to go to the next town. the VF being much less travelled i'd kinda forgotten that this was a possibility but luckily it all worked out as Sutri turned out to be one of the nicest places i've stayed in so far ...