Sep 17, 2023, The rest of stage 8
I didn't sleep very well last night as I was alternately either too hot or too cold. All the windows had fly screens so at least there were no mosquitoes.
Rather than carry a backpack Paul had fabricated a two-wheeled cart to carry his backpack, recycling the axle from a stroller and the waistbelt from a cow's neckband. A friend TIG-welded the frame. It worked surprisingly well as Paul had no trouble navigating difficult terrain.
We stopped for lunch at Montagne where we were joined by a collie who brought us a tennis ball to play fetch. If we didn't throw the ball quickly enough he'd pick it up and drop it at someone else's feet.
During a subsequent break we were joined by Veronica, a nurse from Verona who's studying to be an opera singer and we were passed by four young girls from the Czech Republic who've been camping.
We stopped at the Montecasale Hermitage dating back to 1192 as a waystage for pilgrims crossing the Apennines.
During the steep descent from Montecasale Ken slipped and fell, landing on his tailbone, just like me on the Kungsleden.
Paul, Michael, and Veronica had all booked beds in the Foresteria attached to Chiesa Santa Maria in Sansepulcro whereas I had booked an apartment close to the same church.
After dropping off our backpacks and checking out what facilities were available in the kitchen. The apartment appears to have been recently refurbished. The kitchen was well-equipped so we went to the nearby supermarket to buy food.
At PAM, we bought beer, wine, ribollita, two veggie pizzas, apple strudel, ice cream, etc. I messaged Paul to tell him that he, Michael, and Veronica could come by and make dinner at this apartment if they were so inclined. They came by but said they wanted to go out for dinner and Michael had offered to pay for their meals so why not? We suggested they return for dessert.
We ate our soup and two pizzas with extra mushrooms and basil. Paul, Michael, and Veronica returned for dessert. Just after the three of them left a woman knocked on the door and complained that we were making too much noise. Michael was making most of the noise.
Sep 18, 2023, Stage 9
Ken and I had an awful night's sleep. I found it too hot as there was only a small window in the bedroom.
During breakfast I called and booked a place just outside Citerna, Poggio Villa Fano, the nominal end of stage 9, €140 for a two-bedroom apartment.
We set off walking at 10 am, stopping at the cathedral of San Giovanni in Sansepulcro to get a stamp for our Credenziales.
At Gricignano, we were going to stop for a coffee break in a park but as I was walking across the park a woman across the street motioned for me to come over. She gave us bottled water and invited us to help ourselves to bowls of figs, peanuts, and grapes. It turned out that people in Gricignano had created a reenactment of the story of Jesus' life as a model with moving parts in a dark room. Spotlights came on highlighting the various scenes that were synchronized to the Italian commentary. The lady gave us a written, English translation so we could better follow along. She was very enthusiastic. "C'est incroyable", she said, because we were conversing in French.
We continued along paved roads almost the whole way to Citerna. We reached the village, situated on a hill, at about 14:00 and sat outside the only shop that was closed with no posted opening hours. Using Google, I determined it had closed at 14:00 and would reopen at 17:30. We had just missed it being open before the riposa (siesta) but we were carrying enough food to make dinner.
Then Ken realized he was missing his umbrella. so he took a bottle of water and left his pack with us. The umbrella wasn't at the picnic table so he started down the hill, figuring he'd left it where we had stopped for a break before the climb. I decided to head down to our lodging for the night, Poggio Villa Fano, because I was having trouble communicating with the lady owner and I was afraid she'd think we weren't coming and give our apartment to someone else. There's very little accommodation available in Citerna and there are a lot more pellegrinos than we had expected to encounter.
At the Villa we were again met by the woman who showed us around. She gave us a small carton of milk, some pastries for breakfast, and showed us how to light the gas stove. I asked if we could have another carton of milk so she brought us that plus four eggs from her own hens.
Patsy and I made dinner that consisted of pasta with passata sauce, onion, and garlic, rehydrated Karen's mixed vegetables, and mushrooms. It was fortunate that we'd been carrying all this food otherwise we'd have had to climb the hill back up to Citerna.