Hello there, all. Well, here I am, sitting in Cambridge, once more packing up the grubby socks and the wicking t-shirts and wondering why I have so many summer dresses when all I ever seem to require is the odd linen shirt and a pair of rather tatty cycling shorts. Yes, somewhat terrifyingly, given the woeful standard of my Italian and the even more limp-spaghetti like state of my thighs, I am off on the ole stealth bike once again.
After finally completing my magnum opus on mediaeval France, I am off on the Via Francigena, the old pilgrimage route to Rome and Caesar's (not sure which one, probably the ubiquitous Julius) 'Route to the Sun'. Given the state of the English summer, the latter is rather appealing. The prospect of the 2,400 m of the Grand St. Bernard Pass over the Alps less so.
For those of you who are already scheduled to meet me, may just be tempted into joining me (how about that Old Hags Convention in the thermal spas of the Etruscans?), or just like to follow me whilst you fester in your cubicles, clearing the Augean stables of corporate life, here is a rough outline of my route:
Canterbury - Val D'Aosta (ca. ten days) via Arras, Reims, Châlons en Champagne, Franche Comté, Lausanne and (gulp) the Grand St. Bernard. (Monks and puppies apparently in residence). (And you all know how fond I am of monks ;o) )
Val d'Aosta, Piedmont and Lombardy (ca. 3 weeks). Wandering the highways and byways of the former Kingdoms of Lombardy and Savoy, from Aosta to Turin, taking in the Spumante of Asti, the vineyards of Montferrato and wending east along the hot and humid valley of the Po as far as the violin-making capital of the universe, Cremona.
Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio (ca. 4 weeks) serious loafing this, around the Renaissance landscapes of the city states of Florence, Siena, Lucca. Expect a photo of me holding up the Torre Pendente single-handed. Then skirting south and east - Perugia, Assissi - before an audience with Pope Ratzinger in the Eternal City.
The former Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (ca. 3 weeks). Heading inexorably south, I plan to traverse the Pontine marshes (as was), dodging the environmental health disaster that is Naples to bob along the Amalfi coast. I'll probably get a boat to Palermo from Salerno and then explore Sicily and the Boot heel as the weather begins to cool (a bit).
The Adriatic coast (ca. 3 weeks): returning north to take in Ravenna, Bologna, Verona, Vincinza, Mantua, Padua, Venice, the Palladian villas of the Veneto, and maybe even Trieste and a bit of Slovenia / Croatia, before sprinting north up the Adige via Bolzano and Trentino to see if I can make it over the Reschen Pass (1,500 m), former Via Claudia Augusta (50AD), before winter closure.
So I shall reach Innsbruck just in time for a bit of Gluhwein, a spot of ski-ing and the odd Christmas market...
International phone no. to follow for those in the know.
Saluti a tutti quanti!
V
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