Drink, Pee, Walk
It had to be done.
Via Francigena #19 of 20
Monteriggioni to Siena
Seems we have a bit of the Ground Hog Day going. We keep hitting the same no-food snag; one of the hazards of researching a guide book. All we can do is hydrate, pee and keep walking.
The last food we had this morning was what we always find at 7:00am, cappuccino and pastry. It’s not really enough to walk on, particularly if the walk turns into 7 hours.
There is a notion with so much walking that you can eat whatever you want. Only it’s not that simple. You may not find suitable food, and if you can’t find it you can’t eat it. Further more, what you prefer to eat at home you may not be able to eat while walking. I have developed a new found appreciation for pasta with almost anything on it. Heavy proteins are my go-to at home, but in this heat they are too hard on my digestion.
Weight loss is a real thing on Camino and I’m of the mind it’s a good idea to come with reserves on your body. It’s important for stamina and in the issue of unpredictable food sources.
By the end of last summer’s 5 week Santiago Pilgrimage, I had dropped 5% of my body fat. That’s actually unhealthy weight loss. The year before, when returning from a 4 week solo walk, Sandy was down 15 pounds and I didn’t recognize him at the airport. Having a newly shaved head didn’t help matters.
I am only walking a portion of the Via Francigena, which weighs in at an epic 1800km, and I have felt a difference in my psyche from the start from other Caminos where there is a Big Kahuna finale, man made or natural. Think Rome, Jerusalem, Mecca, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, the Matterhorn. There are many, but because I’m cutting out in the middle of this Pilgrimage, it feels like unfinished business.
Today there is no official office for me to check into after my final day of walking, no emotional hallelujah moment, no closing mass to mark the completion of 250 miles of pilgrimage. In short, none of the usual pilgrim rites of passage.
However. That doesn’t mean there is no joy. It’s just more mundane. In keeping with what seems to have become the organic theme of this Camino, the polarity of either no food or great food, it should come as no surprise that upon finishing our walk today in Sienna, in the absence of the usual pilgrim hoopla, that the first utterance out of my mouth was a very primal, “Point me to the pasta, Sandy.”
We are in Firenza and for the first time in days I’ve washed my face. Crazy right? From the woman who doesn’t wash her hair, it was actually Sandy who pointed out how much better his skin felt if he didn’t wash it. Even Shisedo, who I worked for a few years acknowledges we over wash or faces. But they are in the business of skin care so they just sell you products that wash it less.
We’ve trained it to Firenza, and today we see The David and The Birth of Venus.
See below for final Camino photos with commentary
©Theresa Elliott, All Rights Reserved
It’s the end of the Camino purge. Stuff that is worn out and beyond redemption does not get to go back into the pack. All my socks got the boot.
Morning silhouette, showing the walls of Montireggino as we leave on our way to Siena.
Beautiful Monteriggioni and part of what keeps it that way. A large parking lot down the hill to the right, just outside of the historic center.
Ponies and clouds.
Hilarious and necessary graffiti. The stone sign says 2km which we quickly knew was incorrect, as did the graffiti artist. The top reads “I think that’s a lie.”
Walls of Siena.
This is the food Sandy pointed me to.
Inside the historic walls.
Sandy Brown photographing the Piazza del Campo.
Funny, the name of this towering center piece in the Piazza del Compo is the tower of eating, certainly a theme for this Camino.