Our room overlooks one of the main piazzas adjacent to the so-called duomo (strictly it is a collegiate church, not a cathedral since there is no bishop or diocese based from it). It is conveniently central and also comfortable. We enjoyed our rest day lie-in this morning despite the cleaning truck coming through very early. That’s why the centre is so clean! Breakfast is not provided, and on Tuesdays many eating places are closed, but the cafe/bar on Piazza della Cisterna around the corner was open so we sat in the warm sunshine for breakfast, watching the world go by. The tourist groups began arriving at about 1000 so we retreated back to our room to catch up with chores and sort out our blocked email account.

Having arrived reasonably early yesterday afternoon we were able to get our laundry washed and drying last night, so this morning’s tasks were to catch up with the blog, decide which of the many sights and museums to fit in, and then go in search of a nice lunch. There is a huge amount to see and do here, including several notable churches, tower houses, museums municipal and private, and simply wandering the streets soaking up the history and atmosphere.

Modern San Gimignano is famous for saffron and Vernaccia wine which is only produced in this area so that settled what to have for lunch, with pasta, of course. There are also many shops selling leather goods, as well as tourist memorabilia, none of which we have capacity to carry so after a brief walk on the ramparts our next stop was the duomo.

Sadly, like Lucca, everyone is expected to pay an entry fee to be allowed into the duomo, but unlike Lucca there is no exception made for pilgrims with their pilgrim credentials. Clergy and the disabled are the only exceptions. We were allowed to enter to pray, but escorted to seats in the north transept, watched over, and then required to leave without being able to look at the church. It was a most demeaning experience as we were made to feel like suspects in a church which was only built here because of the Via Francigena pilgrimage route. After a tense stand-off with a man who behaved like he was guarding the church’s artistic treasures from us we went to the tourist office to complain. Here we were encouraged by a very sympathetic woman who told us that they receive many similar complaints from pilgrims. She encouraged us to lodge a formal complaint, which we did, and also to write to UNESCO, since it is a World Heritage Site. It leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth after walking 2,100kms to get here! Even Pisa, with its expensive entry ticket, allowed free entry into the duomo, choosing to profit mainly from tourists wanting to climb the leaning tower rather than from pilgrims or worshippers.

Needing to limit our efforts on a rest day, we decided just to visit the civic museum (housed in the 13th century Palazzo Comunale) which holds many medieval art treasures, and climb the tower (Torre Grossa, 54m high, built in 1311) for the views, which were spectacular. The Tuscan countryside is very beautiful.

An enjoyable rest day, rather marred by the attitude of the local church towards pilgrims, but overall a good place to regather our strength for the onwards walk. It just remains to find a bar for a drink and a good restaurant for supper.

Our B&B, the Casa del Principe, tucked away on the south side of the town was very comfortable. From our bedroom window we had a clear view across the landscape to San Gimignano, our destination for the day. Our landlady booked us into a lovely restaurant for supper just a few steps away. So, we ate well and slept well and, with the prospect of a shorter day ahead, started a little later.

We started out on the road, but were soon onto well made tracks passing from farm to farm, some perched on hilltops and others nestled down into small valleys, most surrounded by vineyards and olive trees.

At a newly renovated organic vineyard we were able to google the names of the owners to learn that they had brought a successful legal claim against the Hong Kong government, securing equal financial treatment for married same-sex couples, ie pension and income tax rights. It’s amazing how much you can find out about people on the internet!

The only village on today’s walk was Pancole where there is a sanctuary church. The story goes that in 1668 a young deaf-mute girl saw a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary and was cured. Her family was thereafter provided with all the basic necessities of life; flour, wine and oil. In 1670 the Sanctuary church was built. It was destroyed by occupying German forces in 1944, and rebuilt in 1949. It looked well kept and well used.

Outside there is access to a ‘grotto’ in a passage running beneath the church, which we decided not to venture inside.

After Pancole the road wound around the leeward side of the ridge, much to our relief as the wind had become quite strong during the afternoon and it was very cold, blowing in from the north-west. As we got closer glimpses of San Gimignano, the sun started breaking through the clouds – both warming us and lighting up the views for the first time today.

It looked as though we had only a short distance to go, but then the Via Francigena took off uphill towards a small hamlet of houses and a ruined tower. However, a bit further along the road we suddenly came upon the monastery of Bose, an active community of monks worshipping in a simple church, La Pieve di Cellole, and providing traditional hospitality. Had we arrived in time we could have partaken in lunch there. The church was built in the late 900s and was originally dedicated to St John the Baptist. In the 1200s lepers were cared for here. Today, the monks offer peace and friendship to all, in return asking for respect for their rule of silence from 8pm to 8am, and during prayer times.

A short walk down the track brought us to a busy main road, with the footpath hemmed in behind crash barriers – worryingly damaged in places. We had been seeing signs stating that San Gemignano was 3kms away for some time, and still the signs said we had 3kms to go! This last stage of the walk wasn’t pleasant, with fast cars whizzing by too close.

As we approached closer to the town it looked like the planners had allowed modern tower blocks to be built in the centre and our hearts momentarily sank.

Approaching closer still we could identify many medieval towers inside the walled town. Reading up afterwards we were almost right: during the middle ages there were 72 towers of up to 70m in height, each built ever higher than the last by competing families, until the local council placed a limit on building height. Today, about a dozen tower houses remain.

Stopping briefly at a cafe for a warm drink and tasty not-too-sweet marmolada biscuit, we carried on up the street towards our digs overlooking one of the four central piazzas.

Today we enjoyed being in the countryside with magnificent far-reaching views alternating with small sheltered valleys. We can imagine how lush the scenery would be in a few more weeks’ time when spring really gets going. The monastery of Bose was a pleasant surprise: we find ourselves drawn to these simpler places of worship and the peaceful vibe of a working monastery. Fortunately, San Gimignano had emptied out of tourists by the time we arrived, but it is evidently a honey-pot as several tourist buses were leaving town as we were arriving. We shall find out more tomorrow as we are spending a rest day here.

Our hotel was comfortable, though we had to share a bath towel as only one set of towels had been provided! Breakfast included scrambled eggs and bacon, cooked by a very nice half-Italian woman from Newcastle, setting us up for today’s long walk. We retraced our steps back through the centre of San Miniato, now buzzing with a Sunday market selling local produce and bric-a-brac. Rare white truffles are the speciality here, and they cost a lot more even than brown truffles, apparently. We didn’t try any.

As we saw from the tower yesterday, San Miniato is strung out along the hilltop and our path took us almost to the eastern end before descending southwards into the surrounding countryside.

Today’s route mostly followed a long ridge which winds its way generally southwards through a landscape which looks a bit like green rounded sand dunes with occasional spikey outcrops of yellow sandstone. For the first hour we were on tarmac roads, but thereafter it was mostly on well made tracks.

As well as resting places and water sources for pilgrims, there were several plaques along the route celebrating 500 years since the Swiss Guards were formed in 1506. We wondered whether it is common for the young Swiss men serving at the Vatican to walk to or from their posting, like the young man we met near Passo della Cisa back in November. We have yet to meet another Swiss Guard walking in either direction, although there aren’t many pilgrims around yet.

Rather oddly, there was also a wooden sculpture celebrating a mere 20 years of the Via Francigena – that ancient pilgrim route in use since the sixth century! We assume this is intended to celebrate reinstatement of a walking route through this part of Tuscany, or was it some EU sponsored political event? With the amount of road walking we’ve had to do in Italy so far, this lovely track across country certainly is good cause for celebration and we appreciated the strategically placed rest areas.

By lunchtime we had arrived at Coiano, a windy pass with a couple of houses, a barred and gated castello, and a derelict church surrounded by Heras fencing. It seemed a rather sad place. Sandwiches hurriedly eaten in the bitingly cold wind, we pressed on down into a sheltered valley, passing through vineyards and olive orchards.

After warming up by walking through several small sheltered valleys, we emerged again onto the top of the main ridge we had been following southwards, with huge spectacular views over the Tuscan hills opening up in front of us.

As we approached Gambassi Terme, we passed through more frequent and more extensive vineyards, some offering direct sales. Several were based in large villas with strong security. Perhaps the signs alongside one area of vineyards exemplify the approach to security around here…

The late afternoon became colder, as the warming effect of the sun was overtaken by the wind. The photographer gave up, gritting teeth and marching on to get to our billet before it got dark. So, no photos as we approached Gambassi Terme, perched on the top of a hill, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Fortunately our room was comfortingly warm, and our landlady booked us into a very good restaurant nearby for supper.

We enjoyed being out into more open countryside today, with wonderful views interspersed by intimate small valleys, and getting off tarmac roads at last. But, today was surprisingly difficult for all that, with a lot of undulating terrain and some uncomfortable gritty tracks. We’re looking forward to a shorter and easier day tomorrow.

According to the guides, the staged walk from Altopascio to San Miniato would have been a ‘challenging’ 29kms with a final steep climb, to be followed by another 24kms of ‘challenging’ walking tomorrow. So we decided to pace ourselves more realistically by stopping short yesterday on the outskirts of Fucecchio. With only about 10kms to go today, we were able to make a leisurely start this morning.

We woke to bright sunshine, blue skies, and another warm day so set out in shirt sleeves wishing we hadn’t left our shorts at home. About 2kms along an avenue of plane trees bounded by a mixture of light industrial and residential buildings brought us into the centre of modern Fucecchio. The old medieval centre is perched atop a smallish hill dominating an historically important crossing of the river Arno.

After extensive modern suburbs, the old centre of Fucecchio was delightful, with numerous signboards explaining various important buildings and historical events. The 12th century convent church, Abbazia di San Salvatore, was being used by a large group of nuns so we couldn’t look around inside, but there was a good view from the parking area outside, with snow-capped mountains just visible in the haze on the horizon.

Sadly the town’s museum was closed, but tucked away through an adjacent courtyard and through a covered alleyway we came to the bottom of the medieval towers which dominate old Fucecchio. With commanding views over the surrounding plains, the towers were built in 1322 by the Florentines to fend off the Lucchesi during one of the many wars between the city states of Lucca, Pisa, and Florence.

Descending into another piazza, we then walked on southwards out of town. In a carpark on the outskirts an elderly couple had set up a fruit and veg stall, and were doing a brisk trade. We selected a couple of oranges for tomorrow’s lunch (it will be Sunday and nothing will be open) but they refused all attempts to pay. Such acts of kindness and generosity catch us unawares every time. It reminds us how simple gestures can make someone’s day.

Having crossed two flood barriers we came to the bridge across the Arno river, fast flowing but relatively low for the time of year. Looking at where the flood defences are positioned one can barely imagine how terrifying this river would be in full spate. Over the bridge, we turned immediately left to follow the river upstream, passing allotment gardens strung along the riverbank. Broad beans are well advanced here compared with home, although Nando, who we met tending his beans, was bemoaning the lack of rain this winter and concerned about climate change.

Much of the morning’s walk followed the top or alongside flood defence banks, before rejoining a minor road briefly, and then striking out along a farm track through cultivated fields. Here we saw our first crop of oil-seed rape just coming into flower.

Around the corner, under a railway bridge, and between more allotments we came into San Miniato Basso, lying on the plain below San Miniato.

As we couldn’t get into our hotel room until after 2pm, we decided to pause at a cafe/bar in San Miniato Basso for lunch, saving our focaccia sandwiches for tomorrow when shops will be closed. It was then a slog to climb about 100 metres straight up the hill to San Miniato via a footpath rather than by the gentler but longer busy road. Our reward was huge panoramic views over the Arno river plain stretching to the mountains on the horizon.

Once installed in our very comfortable room, with views across the rooftops towards Lucca, we ventured out to explore San Miniato. The website told us that the cathedral was closed until tomorrow morning, but in fact the doors were open, so in we went.

The exterior is essentially 12th century, when the building became a cathedral, but inside the 19th century restorations made heavy use of gilding. The rather gaudy effect is not to our taste, but at least the organ is being used for recitals and maybe also for services. Just behind the cathedral is another church with an even more elaborately decorated interior, and recently renovated exterior, complete with smooth plaster, new paint, and smart copper drainpipes. After seeing so many churches in a poor state of repair it was good to see these two buildings well cared for, though with declining congregations we wondered about the relative benefit of such expenditure.

As we had found in Fucecchio, so in San Miniato there is a medieval tower standing guard on the very highest part of the hill, again built to protect the town from the 15th century warring Lucchese and/or Pisans. It is evidently now a place frequented by groups of young people and courting couples, as well as tourists like us, and a couple of policemen checking we were all behaving. There are magnificent views in all directions, especially in the low afternoon sunshine.

Back in our room, we were just in time to see the sunset, giving us the clearest view of the mountains we had seen all day.

Today’s highlights were the glorious spring sunshine, and the historic centres of Fucecchio and San Miniato. Both would merit more time spent exploring, but for now we must press on towards Rome.

Although set in unpromising surroundings our hotel was comfortable, the staff were very friendly, and the restaurant provided a good set menu supper. We had an interesting conversation with the owner before we left, about various things including the widespread use of dogs in Italy for home security. She explained that this is reaction to TV news of bad things happening. What a pity to live in such a state of hyper-vigilance/ paranoia. Tom suggested turning off the TV!

Provisioned with focaccia sandwiches and fresh oranges for lunch, we set off out of town. We had been told that we would be walking along a busy main road at first, though with protection for pedestrians made at considerable expense. After our near-death experience walking into Vercelli along a dual carriageway we were just very glad not to have to walk in the road!

Within about 15 minutes we were out into countryside, walking along dirt tracks carved through deciduous woodland, currently bare of leaves. What a joy it was to be off the tarmac having been on it all day yesterday. It looked as though there had been a lot of rain yesterday, with large puddles still lying on the track in places. We could hear lots of birdsong, again reminding us that spring is well on the way, whilst overhead a Hercules aircraft repeatedly circled low and slow, presumably with a pilot in training.

At the edge of Chimenti we were brought back onto a very busy road, briefly, before branching off onto an old medieval road, said to have been laid at the time of the Third Crusade in 1191, and well preserved by keeping more modern traffic off it. A quiet and friendly springer spaniel emerged from a garden and walked with us all the way to Galleno. It was as if his job was to guide the passing pilgrims. Curiously, as we passed by, another dog penned into its garden barked furiously at ‘our’ dog rather than at us. What a nice change!

In Galleno we had a short rest sitting in the peace garden, before pressing on through town and back into the undulating countryside of this area, known as the Cerbale. Here, on the tertiary sand heathland there were conifers, broom and gorse with few deciduous trees growing on generally drier ground. A circling buzzard ensured that no small birds gave themselves away by singing – if there were any left. The walking was easy on a level gravel track, if a little uninteresting for want of any views. It reminded us of a section of the Pilgrims Way approaching Canterbury and another a bit later near Laon – it’s all about the geology!

As we descended back into the valley we saw more wild flowers in bloom – purple crocus, yellow marsh marigolds, daisies and forget-me-knots in profusion, and some larger purple daisies facing towards the sun. We saw more butterflies today too, both red admirals and brimstones.

We arrived in Ponte a Cappiano just as one of the cafes on the square was closing – the others were already closed – but the very kind woman tidying up took pity and made us a couple of hot lattes before she left for the day. Fortunately it was warm enough to sit outside, and we left our empty glasses behind a plant pot, as requested. A cyclist passing through was so impressed by our journey from Salisbury (once he realised it wasn’t Salzburg – there is no ‘y’ in Italian, so many Italians mispronounce Salisbury as Salzburg) that he immediately sent a photo of the banner on Tom’s rucksack to his friend in Belgium.

Ponte a Cappiano was apparently mentioned by Siguric in the diary of his journey back from Rome to Canterbury to take up his Archbishopric, and was important in medieval times as a strategic bridging point in the marshes that extend southwards to Fucecchio, our destination. Today, the latest iteration of a covered and fortified bridge spans an irrigation channel and the drained former marshland is being cultivated. However, the pilgrim hostel is still there on the bridge and in use.

We had a pleasant walk alongside the canal, spotting a very large grey heron and lots of black billed ibis feeding in the fields, a sight we’ve not seen since crossing the Po valley back in November. Our path then peeled off southwards, along a raised track through the fields towards Fucecchio.

Our hotel is situated in an industrial area outside the town centre, and seems to be a popular place for a Friday night pizza. It is good to see such businesses doing well after the privations and challenges they’ve endured over the last couple of years.

Highlights of today: lovely spring weather and the flowers.

Today, 2.3.23 (a memorable date!), we finally got going on the last stage of our walk to Rome, fortunately in sunshine after yesterday’s persistent rain. In fact, so warm was it that we were rather wishing we hadn’t left our shorts at home! Deborah, who had made us tasty ham and cheese omelettes for breakfast again, very kindly came outside to take the departing photos and see us on our way. She also recommended a good bakery around the corner to stock up on lunchtime sandwiches before following the Via Roma out of town.

On our way towards the medieval city gate we were overtaken by a woman who, spotting the banners on our rucksacks, remarked that we hadn’t far to go now. (A mere 414kms in fact.) We felt a spring in our step, enjoying the last of Lucca’s medieval cobbled streets in the morning sunshine.

It took about an hour of walking on pavements alongside busy roads to get out of Lucca, and even then we spent most of the day walking on or beside roads, passing through almost continuous semi-urban sprawl. We were also back to the tedium of barking dogs hurling themselves at garden fences trying to intimidate us, though amusingly today the most ferocious dog’s companion dog ignored all its frenzied barking. Older and wiser perhaps – seen so many pilgrims it knew we’re benign.

As we’d noticed on the train from Florence two days ago, there is a lot of horticultural activity on these fertile alluvial plains, with a mix of rice, wheat, olives, trees and shrubs being grown commercially, as well as individual vegetable allotments. Intermittent fields gave us views to the surrounding hills, the higher parts still covered with a dusting of snow.

In Capannori we noticed that the Athena Archaeological & Ethnographic Museum was advertising that it offered stamps for our pilgrim passports, so we wandered in. The exhibition was all in Italian, but it looked as though the building had been home to disabled children in the 1930s, and there were references to anti-fascist activities around the time of WW2. Intriguing, but sadly well beyond our linguistic comprehension. However, the signboard outside about the Via Francigena was written in English as well as Italian (bad luck for the many French, German and Eastern European pilgrims!) with a useful map. We are now close enough that all of the remaining route to Rome is shown.

Capannori’s church looks simple from the outside, built of limestone rather than marble, though it’s altar is heavily gilded, and it has an elaborately painted ceiling for a small village church.

From the sprawl of Campannori, our route took us across a busy main road and into an extensive industrial area with huge international lorries serving a range of businesses. We now know that a lorry marked BIH had come from Bosnia-Herzogovina and another marked MDA from Macedonia (we think)! We found a grassy bank beside an irrigation channel just off the road for our lunch stop, sitting amongst daisies and forget-me-knots in the sunshine.

The industrial estate gave way seamlessly into a residential area. Around the corner the village of Portari came into view, perched on the side of a hill, the church standing dominant at the top and the well-tended cemetery at the bottom on the edge of the village, as is usual here.

From the church steps we enjoyed the magnificent view back towards Lucca and the snow-capped hills beyond, before descending down into Portari, pausing at a cafe for a cafe latte and a latte calde with chocolate biscuits to keep us going. We find Italian coffee too strong later in the day.

Once clear of Portari, our path first left a busy road for a more minor road, and then plunged off across a field, much to our relief after spending all of the day so far walking on tarmac and fretting about speeding traffic. A short stretch along a track through fields bounded by woodland brought us to the back of a cemetery and adjacent vineyard. Sadly, the adjacent monastery was fenced off and in a very poor state of repair. Unusually, even the war memorial appeared uncared for, despite listing the names of 26 soldiers killed in WW1 and 6 soldiers/civilians lost in WW2.

Passing another vineyard offering direct sales and worldwide delivery, we came into the bustling town of Altopascio, just in time to get our pilgrim passports stamped in the town hall and have a quick look inside the church before it closed at 5pm. Tom was also able to get a new battery put into his digital watch which had gone blank earlier in the day. Having identified shops to buy fruit and sandwiches in the morning, we stumbled exhausted into our hotel just off the main square.

Although the walking wasn’t very interesting today and most of it on roads, it was warm, dry and sunny. We enjoyed seeing elements of spring: several camellias and magnolias coming into bloom, and daisies out on the lawns. Tom saw a red admiral butterfly and several brimstones, and shrub elder was coming into leaf. There is no blackthorn here and no evidence of daffodils. The east wind was at times tiresome but spring is definitely on its way here.

A rest day you might ask. Well, we think the best way to start a new leg of our pilgrimage is with a rest. Why not? Especially after a long journey. It reminds Tom of a Health Safety and Environment Review he once led of an infamous French subsidiary of Rio Tinto which started with lunch!

Tom had to see the leaning tower of Pisa as it featured in his introduction to engineering geology as a student in Plymouth all those years ago, so off we went on the train to Pisa this morning. In the rain. The forecast said we should expect drizzle today, but it was definitely proper wet rain.

After another excellent breakfast at La Boheme we headed across the city to the station again, passing an avenue of magnolia trees in bloom. What a thrill so early in spring.

The train ride to Pisa San Rossore took just 25 minutes and as seems to be usual here the train was spotlessly clean, modern and comfortable.

A short walk from San Rossore past the University brought us to the gates of the Piazza dei Miracoli which is the cathedral complex.

Despite the inclement weather there were many other tourists from all over the world. We joined them to climb the 293 steps to the top of the leaning tower, or torre pendente, with far-reaching views out over the cathedral and city, to the hills beyond.

It’s very disconcerting as you climb up the spiral staircase to find yourself lurching from the high side to the low side of the leaning tower. Even more so at the top, where the central floor slopes away and when the stairs are wet and slippery with rain. As we reached the top the bells began to chime the angelus (it is a campanile) but to our surprise it didn’t affect the tower in the way that the bells in our church at Chew Magna used to cause the tower to sway. Perhaps that is because the bells are quite small relative to size of the tower, and they are struck by hammers rather than being swung.

Once back on terra firma we visited the cathedral next. Like the duomo in Lucca, it was built from the local marble between the 9th and 12th centuries, with one significant period of renovation following a fire in 1595. The duomo owes its extravagance to the haul of treasure from overseas raids made by the Pisan navy on other city states in north Africa and Sardinia, and of course to the skills of the medieval architects and sculptors.

By this time we were in need of some lunch, so wandered into town to find a nice restaurant where we enjoyed freshly made lasagne and a seafood risotto, both delicious. Feeling replete and a little more energetic we next tackled one of the museums. A few of the cathedral’s treasures stood out for us.

The rain had stopped – a couple of hours earlier than forecast – so we went to see the cemetery on the enthusiastic recommendation of our Italophile neighbours. It was built in 1277 and is called the Campo Santo because, according to tradition, the soil was mixed with earth brought back from the Holy Land after the Third Crusade. Apart from the stone carved sarcophagi around the cloistered perimeter, there is a sequence of enormous painted murals all along the outer walls, much faded but still very striking.

On the way back to the station, walking amongst hordes of students disgorging from their University lectures, we particularly liked a dentist’s letterbox.

Back in Lucca, we rounded off the day with an excellent meal at the Osteria very close to our B&B. It had been highly recommended but impossible to get into when we were in Lucca in November because the Lucchesi book tables weeks in advance to sample the fresh local ingredients cooked to perfection and accompanied by well chosen local wines. It was well worth the wait.

It’s 1145 local time and we’ve just arrived in Italy again. Guess what? It’s snowing. Why? It isn’t April 1st yet!

Our train is 17 minutes late. What a surprise! We’ve not yet been on a train on this line which wasn’t late. Never mind, we’ve given ourselves an hour’s transfer time at Turin before the next leg to Florence.

1401 now. We got the Florence train ok and are now on our way. The weather is grim and grey as we head out across the flat rice paddies, so familiar from the last leg in November. This Italo train is very comfortable but discipline with noise from electronic devices is poor, making it quite difficult to get much needed sleep. There are surprisingly few passengers on board. Next stop is Milano Centrale. After Florence it continues to Rome and on to Reggio Calabria in the far south. Julie just suggested we stay on the train to Rome and spend the next four weeks there. There’s plenty to do there. What an idea!

Left Milan about 1445 and the sun is shining. Next stop Florence.

Arrived in Florence on time and in time to catch an earlier service to Lucca than we’d planned. It’s beautifully sunny this side of the Apennines with a light dusting of snow on the hilltops. Let’s hope that bodes well for the rest of the week. There’s clearly lots to see in Florence but we can’t do everything. We’ll just have come back another day.

Our ongoing train arrived on time at Lucca. It was then a brisk walk over the city wall past the duomo and across the city to our lodgings in Via Del Moro; the same place we stayed at in November.

There have been many hurdles to get over during this pilgrimage, from COVID to Brexit, which have both delayed us, to weather and injuries, which have made the walking that much harder. By the end of stage four, in November, we had regained a reasonable level of fitness, and shifted some weight, though much of that was undone by the excesses of Christmas compounded by too little regular exercise. Sadly, we found that even well-honed walking muscles don’t cut it for cross-country skiing, even at high altitude with plenty of snow, but snow-shoe walks in the sunshine were very enjoyable.

Tom first suffered with cramp in his calf muscle back in March. That problem seems to have been resolved by daily sipping of soluble magnesium tablets – as advised by his obstetrician! (Many thanks, Jude.) This remedy, plus 6-7 litres of water a day, even got us through the exceptionally hot and dry Aosta valley in July without further mishap.

Julie thought she’d cracked an early problem with blisters by using toesocks (thank you, Jules, for that advice) and wider boots, only to find that the latter put such pressure on her left Achilles tendon that a tender lump developed during the last stage in November. Walking was very painful unless with loosely tied laces, resulting in smashed up big toenails from the downhills. She is now hoping that 3 months rest, plus insoles prescribed by a podiatrist to correct over-pronation and different boots (with straighter backs) will have done the trick. The blackened toenails haven’t come off yet, but they can be taped up to prevent snagging on socks whilst the new nails grow through underneath. Toes crossed!

So, we set out for the final 414kms from Lucca to Rome with a mixture of anticipation of finally completing this long walk two and a half years later than planned – we had originally hoped to get to Rome by November 2020 – and trepidation as to whether our bodies will hold out, at least until we get there. The initial signs were not promising. The hot water pump failed over the weekend when heating engineers aren’t working, but that repair can await our return. And we found a mouse in the sitting room minutes before the taxi arrived to take us to the station. Mice had already damaged both sofas whilst we were away walking in the summer, though we thought we’d caught them all. Thank goodness for good friends and neighbours to continue the hunt for its mates and move the bird food into a mouse-proof bin for us.

After a cold and early start yesterday, we’ve had an even earlier start this morning, leaving Paris by the 0639h train for Turin – that’s 0539h GMT! – and onward trains to Florence and Lucca where we left off walking in late November. We plan to spend tomorrow being tourists in Pisa, before resuming walking on Thursday. We have to see the leaning tower which featured in Tom’s first engineering geology lecture at Plymouth all those years ago!

For this final stage we have continued the strategy of booking all our accommodation in advance, though with shorter walks than the guide books suggest, partly to savour the reputedly spectacular scenery of Tuscany, and partly to ease the physical challenges. Our longest days will be around 24-25 kms rather than the 35-38km longest days we have done previously. Most days will be 12-20kms instead of 22-28kms, with the shortest day just 8km, leaving plenty of time to enjoy mid-morning coffees and long lunch breaks in the small towns and villages we will be passing through.

What a magnificent place! Several friends had told us that Lucca is marvellous and well worth spending some time exploring, and it certainly has been.

Our B&B, La Boheme (Puccini was born in Lucca) has been very comfortable and conveniently situated in the old city. Breakfasts have been excellent, with cheese omelettes freshly made for us, as well as delicious pistachio tarts which Tom particularly liked.

Next door to our B&B a Carrefour Express supermarket produced filled rolls to order, so our lunch for tomorrow’s train journey is sorted. Chores done we set off in search of the Duomo, delighting in paved street after street of historic houses, cafes spilling out onto pavements with the help of gas heaters, and attractively dressed shop windows. In Piazza Napoleone the Christmas ice-skating rink was being used by one lonely skater, but then it is Monday today.

The duomo is breathtakingly beautiful. Built from the local white marble and adorned with exquisite stone carving and sculptures, it is quite different from the cathedrals we’ve seen so far, both outside and inside.

The original building was founded in the 6th century. Rebuilt in the 8th century, at around that time it became the cathedral for Lucca. Further rebuilding and extending took place under Bishop Anselmo da Baggio, who was later elected Pope Alexander II. The current building was consecrated in 1070, with later modifications being made in the 12th, 14th and 15th centuries. Essentially romanesque in style with early gothic additions, it seems to have escaped the modernising which took place elsewhere in the 17-18th centuries – and it is, we think, all the better for that.

The labyrinth, embedded in a column of the west portico, is thought to be 12th or 13th century and may even predate the famous labyrinth at Chartres, although its design is the same. The Latin inscription translates: ‘This is the labyrinth built by Dedalus of Crete: all who entered therein were lost, save Theseus, thanks to Ariadne’s thread.’

Not only does the cathedral contain many fine works of art, but there is also an adjacent museum housing other treasures removed from the cathedral at various times for preservation or to make way for new ideas. As pilgrims we were not required to pay to enter the cathedral (this is the first and only cathedral which has charged an entry fee so far) but we did have to pay a small fee to enter the museum, though it was more than worth it. At least the treasures were on display and not locked away out of sight.

The museum also contained statues removed from the outside of the cathedral to halt their deterioration, and the ceremonial tapestries that used to be hung around the cathedral on special occasions.

This reminded us of a lecture we attended many years ago at Dartington Hall which explained that medieval ecclesiastical buildings were designed to be acoustically most effective or pleasing to the musical ear with their ceremonial tapestries in place, rather than with bare stonework as we tend to use these buildings today. Apparently experiments were carried out at San Marco in Venice which confirmed that the music of its time sounds better with its tapestries hung as intended. It was a fascinating lecture which demonstrated the difference in a building’s resonance, not only due to its shape but also according to how much reverberation is generated.

Sadly, our experience on this pilgrimage so far is that church music has declined in Italy just as it has in France, and is a mere shadow of what it used to be. There have been no resident choirs singing in any of the cathedrals we have visited or services we’ve attended in other churches. It is some irony that it is the English (Protestant!) cathedral schools which are keeping European church music alive by educating and training generations of choristers. As choral singers ourselves we have been keen to support the opportunities offered to talented young choristers at our home cathedral in Salisbury by supporting the Choral Foundation.

Having exhausted ourselves looking at the cathedral and its museum we went in search of the amphitheatre, where medieval houses have been built around the outline of the Roman structure, now turned into shops, restaurants and apartments. When we got there we realised we should have used the other part of our museum ticket to climb over 400 steps to the top of the campanile for the views over the city as this would have given us a better perspective…but we couldn’t be bothered on our rest day!

Instead we went to look at the wonderful Basilica di San Frediano with its eye-catching mosaic on the west gable. This depicts The Ascension of Christ the Saviour and was created in the 13-14th centuries. Inside the Basilica retains its simple romanesque style, and is completely different from the duomo save for having a soaring nave.

The original building was commissioned by Frediano, an Irish cleric who became Bishop of Lucca, in the first half of the 6th century and it was later rededicated to him. Here was yet another historical link extending across medieval Europe.

We rounded off our rest day with a good supper at an Osteria near the amphitheatre recommended by the helpful young woman at our B&B.

Tomorrow we set out for home, for a longer rest, before returning to complete the remaining few weeks walk into Rome next year, when we have rebuilt our Brexit credits and, we hope, spring is on its way again.