1. First Impressions

Day one done and dusted! San Miniato to Gambassi Terme.

What did I learn?

1. Tuscan countryside is far more beautiful and the green far greener than any photo can do justice to.

2. My anxiety about getting lost was unfounded. The trail was so well marked we only looked at our map once.

3. 20 km is doable but the big climb at the end is a killer!

We are now in Gambassi Terme. Terme means hot springs apparently, so we will go in search of them and a beer once we have done the showering and resting thing. It is a small town on top of a hill with a beautiful outlook. Segeric, the Archbishop who originally described the stages of the via Francigena, stopped here and is commemorated in the first church we met at the top of the hill. I wasn’t feeling very pilgrim at that stage!

What is a pilgrimage for a non Catholic and rather tenuous Christian? For me it isn’t about the faith journey to Rome, though I hope to use this time to give that area of life more consideration. It’s a personal thing, but not in an Eat Pray Love narcissistic kind of way.(That is the only book I have thrown across the room after reading - appalling philosophy in my opinion). Here is how I see things…I am at a very important stage in my life. I have retired, my kids are adults and my partner and I have to navigate potentially another 20-30 years together. I want to use this time to think through what this means. As I mentioned in my introduction to this blog I am very inspired by Anne Morrow Lindberg’s notion that this is the Argonaut stage of life and relationships. (Not arogonaut as I typo’d in the heading - though the image is amusing). It is the time when you have let go of most of your responsibilities and have the chance to find yourself as an individual. This is not a selfish thing, as finding out who you are and becoming a fuller and more complete person means you have far more to offer the people you love. She (Morrow Lindberg) describes two long term partners meeting again as whole people and discovering each other again. I love that idea.

So that, in a nutshell is my pilgrimage. I look forward to sharing what I discover on this journey with you.

Tomorrow is the shortest and easiest day of walking - a mere 18km to San Gimignano. There is a wine tasting involved I believe!

In the meantime here are a couple of shots from today. Stunning countryside, quite undulating. Olives, vines and a crop we couldn’t identify which was a dark lush green and looked like velvet from the distance. Wild flowers galore, including poppies. We have seen other pilgrims but its very quiet and most of the day we walked alone. Bliss!