After a surprisingly good breakfast at 8, we're off at 9. down the hill out of town, past the bar/cafe/pizzeria, to the main street, across that and then along a farm road across the high plane. At some point we turn off left onto a trail across the plan which we follow for the next bit. Beautiful weather: warm and sunny with a light breeze. It's a bit hazy, but otherwise it's tough to find anything to complain about. :-)
After a while we hit the old ruins at Peltuinum, a settlement that predates the Romans, but that they built out and expanded. We take a break and explore the impressive ruins for a bit and then continue along.
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| old ruins at Peltuinum |
After turning "right at the gas line" across a street, head through the hedge, and cross a field to find another path through the woods. Of course we aren't the only ones following the Rotpunkt book, so someone has been here before us and there's a clear trace to follow. Now we're on a nice path, climbing gently through the woods, heading towards Tussio. Another break on the piazza in front of the the church (being held up by wooden beams and together by cables) and then onward again.
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| church in Tussio |
Outside of town we pick up another path which leads us slowly upwards through some light woods, up, up, up, until we reach a lovely meadow just below the pass. Hey! Look! It's lunchtime! Nice lunch break in the meadow and then onward up to the pass. The path leads down to Bominaco, but we divert off to the left to explore its very nicely situated, and quite big, castle. This has a great panoramic view of the next high plain and our day's endpoint: Navelli.
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| view from the castle above Bominaco to Carporciano, Civitaretenga and Navelli |
Following the winding steps down from the castle, we end up above the church of Bominaca. We skip the town itself and head down, some on path, some on road, until we hit Caporciano. We opt to go through town instead of skirting it (always fun in these old mountain towns: "I hope this winding road/walkway leads somewhere reasonable and not just a dead end!") but rejoin the path after not too long. Along the path out of town we go, between fields and forest until the path ends. Across the field, turning towards the big white house with the red roof, right at the power lines, following the traces of a farm road to the main road (it's fun to follow Hennig's directions! Of course, at least for the first bit, it's clear that others have come this way as well). Across the big road then up the hill to Civitaretenga. This is supposed to have an actual village life and a nice bar near the church, but unfortunately that whole part of town was severely damaged in the earthquake so it's all barricaded off. Damn! Ah well... onward we go, out of town, through some more fields, past incredible blocks of poppies, until we reach Navelli.
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| poppy field in front of Navelli |
As we come into town, we take a bad turn while looking for our B&B and end up at the top of town. Nice views and then a walk down through the very, very cool old town. Amazingly tight streets, part abandoned, part active, part collapsed, part whole, very, very cool. We eventually make it to the B&B (yay google maps on the iPhone!), check in, and then head down to the piazza for a cool drink. Shower, nap, more exploration of the old part of town, and then dinner and sleep.
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| in the old town of Navelli |
Very, very nice day.
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