Day 45 From Viterbo to Sutri 33.4 km

Thursday 24th October   33km 

We take an alternate route, mapped out by the local Viterbo via Francigena group who hosted us last night. The path goes up to the village of San Martino, around the rim of the volcano and lake, then into Sutri, missing out the towns of Vetralla and Capri....

We walk out of Viterbo nice and early at 7 am

Through the impressive portal out of town.

Clouds fulfill their destiny, and start to deposit a light misty rain, that soon turns into real rain! on with the wet weather gear! It's still a pretty rural walk, even though a bit damp!

San Martino, a lovely looking village, even in the rain.

The Abbey looks worth spending more time investigating, except we need to keep going, its raining and we have 33km to walk... 

We have a Caffé doppio and toilet stop, after peeling off our wet weather gear outside. The bar is crowded with locals avoiding the wet weather, but still socialising!

today turns into "a walk in the clouds part three" As we climb steadily upwards to the rim of the volcano 911 m altitude

It would be a glorious walk in sunny weather!

 We walk through woodlands, Hazelenut groves, chestnut forests.

The rain and fog makes it difficult to see the markers

My gorgeous Teletubbie outfit below!

My feet are squelching in my wet shoes and socks! "water resistant" shoes only cope with a certain quantity of H2O . I love the chestnut forests, I get the feeling that people have lived harmoniously with this environment for thousands of years. harvesting nuts, fungi and timber as needed, and taking care that enough of the trees remain, regenerate and stay healthy.

We arrive finally in Sutri at 4:25 pm and walk through the old town portal, our accommodation is only about 20 m inside the portal.

Arranging our accommodation this afternoon proves to be a very bizarre experience, we buzz the bell of the Carmlite and announce "due Pellegrino", the door clicks and we're let in, there is a timber gadget in the wall in the foyer - we communicate through the timber mesh, we hand over our passports and pilgrim credenzas, the round thing spins around so the nun can get out our documents- 

she's on the other side, in another room, we can't see her. it's €30 for the both of us, the room is a couple of doors up the street, she gives us a key on the round thingy that she spins around so we can collect the key and our passports.

Out we go into the rain again, walk about 15m use the key to open the door- there's a stairway, it's dark, by the time were at the top, of the stairs the light has gone out... I get my phone and put on the flashlight app, find the light switch - then try and find our room... all the rooms have names on them, I think Saint's names...none say pelligrini... we find the door with the name that matches the key, it has two beds in the room with a message to leave the key in the mail box the next morning. Quite a contrast to our warm friendly welcoming experience yesterday!

After our shower and rest we head to a trattoria in the piazza for dinner, inside there are photos of the Piazza covered in snow! seems hard to believe it can get that cold, when we are walking in shorts and T-shirts in October! the waitress tell us it gets cold in January -February  and snows every couple of years.

a long day of wet walking in the rain!

Our Accommodation tonight;

Monache Carmelitane Di Clausura

Via Garibaldi 1

PH: 0761609082

€15pp

other options

Sutri

Seminario bed and breakfast,  in the middle of the town at 37 piazza del comune.  

 30 Euro pp
Francescane Oasi di pace  Via Delle Viole, 1501015 Sutri +39 0761659175  http://oasidipace.it/ 

MONASTERY OF OUR LADY OF PEACE - VETRALLA

Address: Via del Giardino, 4 - Vetralla
Phone: 0761 481519
Type: Religious Structure
Open all year
Price: 25 €. Breakfast included. 30 euro breakfast and dinner
Number of places: 30
Use of kitchen: NO.