For the second day running breakfast wasn’t included in our accommodation so we decided to meet at 7.30 am in Cafe Roma on the main square of Acquapendente.
Another coffee and another chocolate croissant and we were ready for the final day of walking on this trip. (Its a treat to have to consume lots of calories on big walks such as this 😁)
We had 15 miles left to walk from Acquapendente to Bolsena to complete our full Lucca to Rome walk of 419 km (260 miles).
We made our way through the cobbled streets of Acquapendente to the official start point.
Which was at the Cathedral of Santo Sepolcro.
We left Acquapendente along the main road which was uphill. The sky turned dark at this point but thankfully we only had a couple of drops of rain and not enough to warrant a digging out our waterproofs or jackets.
We turned off the main road and onto a quiet track which more or less continued for about 7 miles to San Lorenzo Nuovo, the half way town on this section today.
The track was flat so the terrain was easy. The temperature was fairly cool at around 19 degrees and a moderate breeze made the walking quite pleasant.
There wasn’t too much to see on this 7 mile stretch which took us across the plains of Acquapendente. We walked through huge fields of dead sunflowers which would have been quite spectacular a couple of months ago.
But we did see the occasional splash of yellow with some perennial sunflowers growing at the side of the track.
As mentioned, the only small town we passed through today was San Lorenzo Nuovo where we stopped for a coffee and a sandwich.
Following our mid morning snack we walked through the octagonal piazza of the town as we continued on the Via Cassia.
As we were leaving San Lorenzo Nuovo we saw our first glimpse of Lake Bolsena shimmering away in the distance.
We came across an older French pilgrim couple having a rest and a snack on the bench. Despite being in their mid 70’s they were going at a similar pace to us as we had passed them earlier in the morning… just!
From San Lorenzo Nuovo the second half of today’s walk was very different from the flat plains earlier. This section began in a lovely woodland area.
The trail continued through the woods and the occasional clearing.
It then left the woods and joined a well defined track.
We went past several olive farms.
We kept catching glimpses of Lake Bolsena to our right.
Entering Bolsena district.
We saw lots of wild cyclamen growing in the shady woodland areas.
We were happy to see Bolsena town approaching after 14 miles of walking.
Hurrah! We made it to Bolsena!
The official VF route took us through the familiar streets of Bolsena, those we had explored at the very beginning of our first section of the Via Francigena when we walked from Bolsena to Rome in May 2022.
Above is the quaint little street where Chris and I had a lovely memorable lunch over 2 years ago.
Finally we entered the square of the Basilica of Santa Cristina which we visited last time.
We obtained our final official Bolsena stamps in the same convent from where I had obtained the then blank empty pilgrim passport, which is opposite the Basilica of Santa Cristina.
Chris, Russell and Roza back under the arch where we began our first Via Francigena on our way to Rome!
We stayed in the Hotel Platani again and Chris and I had the same ‘orange’ room as last time with its lovely views of the town and the lake (above) and the castle (below).
We were fortunate to have been given this room again, at the top and on the corner.
We had a rest and a freshen up in the room and then Chris and I decided to walk down to Lake Bolsena.
From the Hotel Platani we walked for about 10 minutes along the ‘Avenue of Sycamores’! Its not actually called that… (or at least I don’t think it is) Chris and I were impressed by these huge ancient American sycamore trees which line the road from our hotel down to the lake.
Lake Bolsena is huge! Two years ago it took us a few hours to walk around half of it on the first leg of our Via Francigena as we walked to Montefiascone. In fact, Lake Bolsena is the largest volcanic lake in Europe.
Next to the lake is Bar Porto where we decided as we’re on holiday we should have a cocktail 🍸
We both had my ‘go to’ Margarita cocktail and on a scale of 1 – 10 this was only a 6… partly as the measure was small but also it didn’t taste quite right. However at only 7 euros (currently £5.83 due to better than of late exchange rates) we couldn’t really complain!
Shortly afterwards we walked back towards our hotel and in the square outside we met up with Russell & Roza for a celebration pre drink
We then had a fabulous meal in Trattoria Tipica da Picchietto where I had an unintended lemon theme going on tonight.
We were pleasantly surprised at the bill for two, for such high quality food including a bottle of wine per couple which was just £62.
We ended the evening in a quirky Argentinian bar.
Summary
The end of another brilliant week of walking the Italian Via Francigena. We saw some beautiful scenery, were lucky with almost perfect weather each day and as always enjoyed the company with lots of laughs along the way with Russell & Roza.
It was great to experience a different time of the year, rustic browns and fruit ready for harvesting instead of poppies and green fields.
All of the logistics worked well with Sloways providing their excellent luggage transfer service once again, some wonderful and varied accommodations stayed in and the overall warm and friendly nature of the lovely Italian people throughout the week.
Next we are off to Rome for the final night of our trip before heading back home tomorrow. This time we will be going from Bolsena to Rome by bus and train rather than walking!
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