12. Of wolves, sheep and wild bore

Castiglione d’Orcia to Radicofani/ Agriturismo La Selvella

We had a delightful evening last night back at the enoteche (wine bar) in Castiglione d’Orcia, joined by a friend we have made who is travelling solo. The proprietario was a gentle giant of a man, bearded and softly spoken with a passion for his wines and enough English to share it with us. We tried a Rose based on local Sangiovese grapes and then a local Sangiovese red, both very good. In Italy drinks come with very generous nibbles and one of the nibbles was locally made sheep cheese pecorino. My goodness, run, don’t walk to get some if you can. I mentioned that up until then I had only seen six sheep and wondered where they were. His reply was that they had to be kept in barns as the threat of wolves and wild boars was so significant! We have seen wild boar once on the walk, but wolves are another prospect.

Today we saw sheep in the wild and it was weirdly exciting as they are so different to the ones we know in NZ and Australia. As far as I can tell these are a breed called Sarda, originating in Sardinia, and they have long legs, a bare face with along nose and wool that lies over their backs like a rug, with a bare underbelly. Huge udders.Their milk is used to make the pecorino sardo cheese. They are guarded by beautiful dogs which look like giant golden retrievers mixed with border collies. I googled them and they are Maremmano-Abruzzese which I’ve never heard of before. They would be miserable in Australia so luckily I’m not tempted, but I have made friends with one at our accommodation.

Today’s walk started off nicely with a descent from Castiglione d’Orcia and a long walk through farms across ridges, until we came into another Valley. Things have changed again and the vineyards are gone, as are most of the olive trees. There were vast green fields of what we now think is barley, scattered and lined with a red flowered plant which I don’t recognise. That combined with the white clay paths we were following felt like walking in an Italian flag!

It was very hot and very humid and really not nice walking conditions. We crossed several streams, rock- hopping, but I think they will be a challenge for walkers on this leg over the next couple of days if the forecast rain eventuates. The end of the walk today was a murderous 6km climb towards Radicofani. We both almost kissed the ground when we saw the sign to our accommodation at the top of yet another rise. We are staying at our first Agriturismo and I like it a lot. It’s a working farm with accommodation for guests. We have half board so it’s dinner and breakfast so we don’t have to go anywhere. I’ve communed with the chickens and the Guinea pigs and wandered the vege gardens and am now watching the rain fall on teams of men trying to get the concreting finished on a very smart new pool.

Tomorrow is wet and cold and we have the choice of a 31km slog with an estimated time of 12 hours or we can take a short cut which will chop 10km off. At this stage we are leaning that way- particularly as otherwise we are likely to have to rush what will be a particularly good farm breakfast! Priorities. As I said from the start I am not doing this walk to impress people with my stats. I’m doing it for experiences, so am not in the least concerned about the odd short cut.

The picture below was taken from our accommodation and shows not only the interesting green and red patterns of the day but also some of the grey clay that make this area distinctive.

Tune in tomorrow to find out if we went the full crazy or did a little detour :)

love Marie